About Aramark

Aramark operates as a global provider of food and facilities services to education, healthcare, business and industry, and sports, leisure and corrections clients. The company's core market is the United States, which is supplemented by an additional 14-country footprint. The company also provides its services on a more limited basis in several additional countries and in offshore locations. The company partners with thousands of education, healthcare, business and sports, leisure and corrections clients to serve millions of customers including students, patients, employees, sports fans and guests worldwide. Segments The company operates through Food and Support Services United States (FSS United States) and Food and Support Services International (FSS International) segments. Food and Support Services The company's Food and Support Services segments manage a number of interrelated services, including food, hospitality, procurement and facility services, for school districts, colleges and universities, healthcare and senior living facilities, businesses, sports, entertainment and recreational venues, conference and convention centers, national and state parks and correctional institutions. The company is the exclusive provider of food and beverage services at most of the locations it serves and is responsible for hiring, training and supervising the majority of the food service personnel in addition to ordering, receiving, preparing and serving food and beverage items sold at those facilities. The company's facilities services capabilities are broad, and include plant operations and maintenance, custodial/housekeeping, energy management, grounds keeping and capital project management. In governmental, business, educational and healthcare facilities (for example, offices and industrial plants, schools and universities and hospitals and senior living), the company's clients provide it with a captive customer base through their on-site employees, students and patients. At sports, entertainment and recreational facilities, the company's clients attract patrons to their site, usually for specific events, such as sporting events, concerts and conventions. The company manages its Food and Support Services business in two geographic segments split between its United States and International operations. In fiscal 2023 (year ended September 29, 2023), the company's FSS United States segment generated 62% of its total revenue, and its FSS International segment generated 23% of its total revenue. Clients and Services The company's Food and Support Services segments serve a number of sectors across 15 countries around the world. Its Food and Support Services operations focus on serving clients in five principal sectors: Education, Healthcare, Business and Industry, Sports, Leisure and Corrections and Facilities and Other. In the FSS United States segment, the range of services provided by sector are as follows: Education: Within the Education sector, the company serves Higher Education and K-12 clients. It delivers a wide range of food and food-related services, as well as procurement services, at more than 1,300 colleges, universities, school systems and districts and private schools. The company offers its education clients a single source provider for food-related managed service solutions, including dining, catering, food service management and convenience-oriented retail operations. Healthcare: The company provides a wide range of non-clinical food and food-related support services to approximately 725 healthcare and senior living clients, which consist of approximately 130 client families, and more than 765 facilities. The company's food and food-related services include patient food and nutrition, retail food, environmental services and procurement services. Business and Industry: The company provides a comprehensive range of business dining services, including on-site restaurants, catering, convenience stores and executive dining. The company also provides beverage and vending services to business and industry clients at thousands of locations. Its service and product offerings include a full range of coffee offerings, 'grab and go' food operations, mailed gift boxes, convenience stores, micromarkets and a proprietary drinking water filtration system. Sports, Leisure and Corrections: The company provides concessions, banquet and catering services, retail services and merchandise sales, recreational and lodging services and facility management services at sports, entertainment and recreational facilities. The company serves hundreds of venues for professional (including minor league affiliates) and college sports teams, including 28 teams in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and the National Hockey League and at more than 115 colleges and universities. It also serves convention and civic centers, national and state parks and other resort operations, plus other popular tourist attractions in the United States. Additionally, the company provides correctional food services, operate commissaries, laundry facilities and property rooms. Facilities and Other: The company provides a variety of support services to approximately 445 facility clients, which consist of approximately 300 client families, and more than 800 locations. These services include the management of housekeeping, plant operations and maintenance, energy management, custodial, groundskeeping, landscaping, transportation, capital program management and payment services and other facility consulting services relating to building operations. The company also provides procurement services for a number of clients in a variety of industries. The company's FSS International segment provides a similar range of services as those provided to its FSS United States segment clients and operates in each of the sectors. The company has operations in 14 countries outside the United States. It also provides its services on a more limited basis in several additional countries and in offshore locations. The company's largest international operations are in Canada, Chile, China, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Purchasing The company purchases most products and other items through food service distribution companies, including Sysco Corporation (Sysco), US Foods, Performance Food Group and other regional distributors. Sysco is the company's primary distributor with respect to its food and facilities business, while US Foods is the company's primary distributor with respect to its procurement services business. The company's distributors are responsible for tracking its orders and delivering products to its specific locations. In fiscal 2023, Sysco distributed approximately 45% of the company's food and non-food products in the United States and Canada. Sales and Marketing The company maintains selling and marketing excellence by focusing on optimizing resource allocation and deployment. The company targets growth by aligning its efforts directly with the sectors and services in which it operates to deliver differentiated and innovative solutions. The company has established consistent tools, methodologies and trainings to efficiently support the development of its employees as they work within its individual businesses to help ensure a close connection to the business, their teammates and client partners. Types of Contracts The company uses contracts with its customers that allow it to manage its potential upside and downside risk in connection with its various business interactions. When the company enters into new contracts, or extends or renews existing contracts, particularly those for stadiums, arenas, convention centers, colleges and universities and business dining accounts, the company is sometimes contractually required to make some form of up-front or future investment, which often includes capital expenditures to help finance improvement or renovation, typically to the food and beverage facilities of the venue from which it operates. Competition In its FSS United States segment, the company's external competitors include other multi-regional food and support service providers, such as Compass Group plc, Delaware North Companies Inc. and Sodexo SA. Internationally, the company's external food service and support service competitors include Compass Group plc, Elior SA, ISS and Sodexo SA. Seasonality The company's revenue and operating results have varied, and it expects them to continue to vary, from quarter to quarter as a result of different factors. Historically, within the company's FSS United States segment, there has been a lower level of activity during its first and second fiscal quarters (year ended September 30, 2023) in operations that provide services to sports and leisure clients. This lower level of activity, historically, has been partially offset during the company's first and second fiscal quarters by the increased activity levels in its educational operations. Conversely, historically there has been a significant increase in the provision of services to sports and leisure clients during the company's third and fourth fiscal quarters, which is partially offset by the effect of summer recess at colleges, universities and schools in its educational operations. Significant Events On September 30, 2023, the company's Uniform and Career Apparel (Uniform) segment was spun-off into its own public company, which provided a full-service employee uniform solution. Governmental Regulation The company's operations are subject to various laws and regulations, including but not limited to, those governing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act and other anti-corruption laws. As of September 30, 2023, the company's subsidiaries held liquor licenses in 44 states and the District of Columbia, 4 Canadian provinces and certain other countries. The company is subject to various environmental protection laws and regulations, including the United States Federal Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and similar federal, state, local and international statutes and regulations governing the use, management and disposal of chemicals and hazardous materials. Intellectual Property The company has the patents, trademarks, trade names and licenses that are necessary for the operation of its business. Other than the Aramark brand, which includes its corporate starperson logo design, the Aramark word mark (its name) and the Avendra brand. History Aramark was founded in 1959. The company was formerly known as ARAMARK Holdings Corporation and changed its name to Aramark in 2014.