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Aramark’s U.S. FSS unit has become a company to watch because of its 2022 fiscal performance, which reversed three years of revenue drops and saw the number rise above the $10 billion mark for the first time since 2018. More significantly, the unit’s foodservice operations—it also offers some facilities and other non-food support services—grew even faster than the unit as a whole, expanding revenues by 56.5% in fiscal 2022. Contributing to that result was some $400 million in net new business, which was more than 40% higher than fiscal 2021 and about 20 times greater than fiscal 2019.
Oak View Group (OVG) is a new and aggressive player in the sports/entertainment market that operates not only in the catering and concessions areas but in venue development, consulting and management. Founded less than 10 years ago, it has since built and opened four arenas in major markets, including Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and UBS Arena on Long Island, and is in the process of creating an NBA arena and surrounding entertainment district in Las Vegas. Its Hospitality unit, built around the Spectra Food Services & Hospitality organization OVG acquired in late 2021, manages F&B at two newly built, state-of-the-art venues—Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif. and Moody Center at the University of Texas, Austin—and will also oversee food and beverage at CFG Bank Arena, the soon-to-open Baltimore arena that just underwent a $200 million renovation.
Cenavera is a new company consisting of three formerly independent K-12 market specialist foodservice contractors, including 2022 Top 50 firms #10 Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE) and #33 SLA Management along with and another firm called OrganicLife. Together, the companies offer a sophisticated array of branded concepts designed specifically for K-12 programs, with OrganicLife also bringing a strong chef-driven culinary focus and SLA offering expertise in the charter school market.
Pomptonian not only posted a 171% revenue rise in 2022 over 2021 but it blew past all its pre-pandemic results, which had never exceeded $100 million in annual revenue. Key factors seem to be the company’s ability to leverage its expertise in dealing with New Jersey school meal policies as it operates exclusively in the K-12 market in the Garden State, combined with creativity in resolving supply chain issues and developing recipes and programs that appeal to district administrators and student customers.
Formerly the contract arm of the defunct Luby’s restaurant company (Fuddruckers, etc.), Luby’s Culinary has continued to operate through all the distractions of its parent’s dissolution and has in fact begun to thrive, posting a 36% revenue increase between 2021 and 2022 by focusing primarily on its hospital core market while diversifying into other areas like B&I and senior dining.
No company in FM’s market coverage has had a rougher three years than FFT, which derives most of its revenues from offering social and business catering services, a market obviously devastated by COVID, to the point where revenues plummeted more than 80% between 2019 and 2020. However, FFT proved extraordinarily resilient and has come back to post revenues within reach of its pre-pandemic high by adjusting menus and services and exploring new markets and territories beyond its core Chicago area market, even ranging into Florida for an event.
