Aramark

Aramark
Type Private
Industry Managed Services
Founded 1959 (as Automatic Retailers of America)
Headquarters Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Key people Davre Davidson, founder
Joseph Neubauer, CEO
Products Managed Services
Revenue $12.57 Billion USD (2010)
Net income $30.7 Million USD (2010)
Employees 254,000 (full-time and part-time)
Website www.aramark.com

Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American foodservice, facilities, and clothing provider supplying businesses, educational institutions, sports facilities, federal and state prisons, and health care institutions. It is headquartered at the Aramark Tower in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] Aramark’s revenues reached $12.3 billion USD in 2009 and was listed as the 189th largest employer on the Fortune 500.[2]

Contents

History

Aramark was founded in 1936 by Davre Davidson,[3] who began providing vending services to plant employees in the aviation industry in Southern California. In 1959, Davidson partnered with William Fishman to establish ARA (Automatic Retailers of America), which became publicly traded a year later in 1960.

In 1968, ARA provided services at the Mexico City Olympic Games, the first of 14 Games they have serviced, including Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008.[4]

In 1969, ARA officially became ARA Services, to reflect its growing range of businesses.

In 1983, Joseph Neubauer was elected CEO of ARA Services and a year later, in 1984, Neubauer led a group of executives to fend off a hostile takeover bid by coordinating a management buyout.[5]

ARA Services changed its name to Aramark in 1994.

In 2001, Aramark returned to the New York Stock Exchange as a public company under the RMK ticker. In 2006, a group of investors led by Neubauer proposed the acquisition of all outstanding shares of the Aramark Corporation, which was approved by shareholders. The merger was completed in 2007.

In 2004, Aramark acquired a 90% stake in the Irish catering company Campbell Catering.

Global operations

Aramark provides food and facility services to thousands of clients in 22 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Ireland and Spain. Those services include:

In 2006, Aramark acquired SeamlessWeb, an Internet-based service that allows users to order food from local restaurants.[6]

Aramark owns half interest in AIM Services, a leading outsourcing food provider in Japan.[7]

Chilean miners rescue

Aramark was hired to help feed the 33 miners trapped in the 2010 Copiapó mining accident after a local catering company was unable to meet government requirements. The Chilean Ministry of Health contacted Aramark, which specializes in remote site food preparation and delivery. They arrived in Copiapó on September 6 and developed a method of delivering vacuum-packed meals, at the correct temperature, meeting specialized dietary requirements until the miners were extracted about 45 days later. All told, the company provided five meals each day, about 6,000 meals total.[8]

See also: 2010 Copiapó mining accident, International Government Participation, and International Corporate Participation

Ethical history

In recent years, Aramark has made several moves to boost its social responsibility image. In 2008, Aramark Building Community, a company-wide volunteer initiative, was created to help neighborhoods rebuild community centers as well as provide support for job readiness programs, nutrition and wellness education, and basic human needs for families and neighborhoods. A spring 2009 survey of over 92,000 students supported the company’s concept of trayless dining, which was developed to reduce the amount of campus waste.[9] In July 2009, Aramark and the Colorado Rockies opened what is believed to be the first gluten-free concession stand in major league baseball.[10] By 2010, Aramark made gluten-free foods available at all 12 of its major league baseball accounts.[11]

In response to First Lady Michelle Obama's childhood obesity Let's Move! campaign in February 2010, Aramark, along with other major food service providers, pledged to reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt in their meals over the next five years.[12]

In April 2010, Aramark and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers reached a resolution that called for a 70-80 percent increase in wages for tomato pickers.[13]

Aramark has also been the subject of a number of scandals regarding labor practices and business ethics. These include firing workers for reporting unsanitary food conditions, paying fringe wages, not paying backpay, and firing or eliminating the positions of those who file EEOC claims.[14][15][16][17]

Competitors

References

  1. ^ "Contact Aramark." Aramark. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
  2. ^ "Fortune 500 2010: Top 1000 American Companies - Aramark - FORTUNE on CNNMoney.com". Money.cnn.com. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/snapshots/2309.html. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  3. ^ Profile Davre Davidson & William Fishman
  4. ^ Byrnes, Nanette (2008-08-07). "3.5 Million Meals In 16 Days". Businessweek.com. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_33/b4096048848674.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  5. ^ "BW Online | September 23, 2002 | Joseph Neubauer, Aramark". Businessweek.com. 2002-09-23. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_38/b3800018.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  6. ^ "Aramark Corp. has acquired SeamlessWeb Professional Solutions, Inc.". http://food-management.com. http://food-management.com/mag/fm_imp_13142/. 
  7. ^ "Aramark acquires half interest in Japanese contract company". http://findarticles.com.+2002. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_39_36/ai_92458924/. 
  8. ^ Bonnefoy, Pascale; Mackey, Robert (15 October 2010). "Miners no longer forced to order in". The New York Times. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/miners-no-longer-forced-to-order-in/. Retrieved 17 January 2011. 
  9. ^ Horovitz, Bruce (2008-07-25). "More college cafeterias dump food trays". Usatoday.Com. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-07-22-trays-college-cafeterias_N.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  10. ^ "Gluten-Free Concession Stand Now At Coors Field". cbs4denver.com. 2009-07-25. Archived from the original on December 08, 2009. http://wayback.archive.org/web/20091208051335/http://cbs4denver.com/local/gluten.free.Coors.2.1100414.html. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  11. ^ "Concessionaires add gluten-free offerings to ballpark menu". Sportsbusinessjournal.com. http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/65703. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  12. ^ "Childhood Obesity Battle Is Taken Up by First Lady". The New York Times. 2010-02-10. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/health/nutrition/10obesity.html. 
  13. ^ "Aramark, Coalition of Immokalee Workers agree on wage hike for UF’s food service field workers". Gainesville.com. 2010-04-02. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. http://wayback.archive.org/web/20110615011612/http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100402/ARTICLES/100409917. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  14. ^ "Aramark". Knowmore.org. http://www.knowmore.org/wiki/index.php?title=Aramark. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  15. ^ Appel, Allan. "Aramark On The Way Out". New Haven Independent. http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/04/aramark_is_out.php. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  16. ^ "The Hawk - Scandal surrounds Aramark". Media.www.sjuhawknews.com. http://media.www.sjuhawknews.com/media/storage/paper763/news/2008/04/02/News/Scandal.Surrounds.Aramark-3295202.shtml. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
  17. ^ jtizzi posted at 10:11 am. (2010-02-18). "The Independent Florida Alligator: News - Students, farmworkers appeal for more money". Alligator.org. http://www.alligator.org/news/campus/article_15086ad6-1c4f-11df-8042-001cc4c002e0.html. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 

External links

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