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Food Managements 2007 Top50 management companies 11-20

Mike Buzalka, Executive Features Editor

September 18, 2007

7 Min Read
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Mike Buzalka

11

Xanterra Parks & resorts
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO
www.xanterra.com

Sales Vol.

2006: $250(e)

2005: n/a

Contracts

2006: 25(e)

2005: n/a

Major Segments Served: Parks/Recreation (100%)

Xanterra manages operations in national parks like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It also operates at several resorts and eight Ohio state parks. The operations include managing foodservice (both full-service restaurants and quick-serve cafés) and operating a variety of guest services and amenities.

12

All Seasons Services, Inc.
BROCKTON, MA
www.allseasonsservices.com

Sales Vol.

2006: $185(e)

2005: $184

Contacts

2006: 100(e)

2005: 101

Major Segments Served(e): B&I (75%), K-12 (15%)

All Seasons is primarily a vending company but also has a substantial manual foodservice business (about $35 million). The company serves more than 10,000 clients in offices, education, manufacturing and government sites. Manual foodservice sites include Atlantic Cape (NJ) Community College, Cumberland County (NJ) College and Herkimer County (NY) Community College.

The bulk of the business is concentrated in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. However, All Seasons has branched out into the Southeast, Midwest and Texas with sales offices in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Wisconsin and Dallas.

13

Gourmet Services, Inc.
ATLANTA
www.gourmetsvcs.com

Sales Vol.

2006: $171

2005: n/a

Contracts

2006: 23

2005: n/a

Major Segments Served: College/University (45%), B&I (35%)

Gourmet Services recently named a new president, Raymond McClendon. It also is moving into the hotel segment while exiting K-12. This summer, the company signed a five-year lease agreement to operate and manage the historic St. James Hotel in Selma, AL. It is the company's first hotel operation and will open at the end of September.

Gourmet Services is also initiating a relationship with Universal Vending Services to open all its accounts to vending services. A deal with Focus Brands will put franchise units both on the street and in its managed units. Recent new accounts include CNN, UPS and Wachovia sites. These augment the company's traditional client base among prominent black colleges like Hampton University, BethuneCookman University, the Morehouse School of Medicine and Alabama State University.

14

Valley Services, Inc.
JACKSON, MS
www.valleyservicesi.com

Sales Vol.

2006: $170

2005: $180

Contracts

2006: 300

2005: 300

Major Segments Served: Senior Nutrition/Home Delivery (43%), Hospitals (24%), B&I (16%)

Valley has put more emphasis on health and wellness for students as part of its K-12 program. It also introduced a software/POS system that allows parents to view their children's menu choices online. Valley continues to emphasize its signature Choice Matters healthy dining concept and has launched a program to eliminate trans fats from all its operations.

On the personnel front, a new training program enrolls FSDs in week-long culinary experiences outside their own operations. Meanwhile, a new comprehensive, competency-based management training program was developed. The Traditions food processing division created and implemented a line of military shelf-stable travel meals that will be marketed to all service branches.

15

CulinArt, Inc.
PLAINVIEW, NY
www.culinartinc.com

Sales Vol.

2007: $124

2006: $105

Contracts

2007: 101

2006: 98

Major Segments Served: B&I (55%), College/University (23%), K-12 (10%)

Following the March 2006 deal for P&A Food Systems, CulinArt has been busy building its business on the West Coast. It signed deals with clients like the Los Angeles Times as well as SAIC and Intuit in San Diego.

CulinArt also continues to press its culinary expertise and commitment to sustainability. Recent initiatives include Farm2Table4Fifty (featuring locally produced ingredients), Sustainable Marketplace (an upscale salad bar concept) and Totally Juiced (a signature juice concept).

The Leisure division rolled out several new concepts at the Top of the Hill food court at its Mann Center operation in Philadelphia. They include the Cookout barbecue station Friterie (hand-cut fries with various upscale toppings) and Wrapsody (freshly grilled fillings inside lavash bread wrappers). A partnership with the George School in Newtown, PA, reopened a local 17th century farm to supply the school's kitchen with fresh ingredients this fall.

16

Ovations Food Services
TAMPA, FL
www.ovationsfoodservices.com

Sales Vol.

2006: $112

2005: $86

Contracts

2006: 70

2005: 42

Major Segments Served: Arenas/Stadiums (68%)

Ovations is part of the ComcastSpectacor entertainment conglomerate. The parent company also owns several major and minor-league sports teams and arenas, a 24-hour sports programming network and a facility management firm. Ovations operates in convention and exposition centers, fairgrounds, parks, amphitheaters and almost 40 sports stadiums and arenas. These include Alltel Stadium, home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

Recently, Ovations has focused on developing proprietary brands. It already boasts over a dozen. Themes range from Southwestern and Barbecue to Mediterranean and California Cuisine. It is also implementing its Everything's Fresh fresh foods concessions concept company-wide. Other initiatives include making a new market thrust into casino foodservice and expanding its full-service design capacity.

17

Healthcare Services Group, Inc.
HUNTINGDON VALLEY, PA
www.hcsgcorp.com

Sales Vol.

2006: $99.5

2005: $91

Contracts

2006: 250(e)

2005: n/a

Major Segments Served(e): Eldercare (90%)

The volume listed is foodservice only. Healthcare Services Group derives the bulk of its $511.6 million in annual revenues from providing housekeeping, laundry, linen and facility maintenance services. It operates in 1,950 nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, retirement centers and hospitals in 47 states and Canada.

Clients include the Golden Horizons (formerly Beverly Enterprises) nursing home chain, which accounts for about 18% of total company revenues, and 26% of foodservice revenues. Last fall, HSG acquired Summit Services Group, Inc. Like HSG, Summit was a provider of professional housekeeping, laundry and food services to long-term care facilities.

18

Lackmann Culinary Services
WOODBURY, NY
www.lackmann.com

Sales Vol.

2007: $95

2006: $90.5

Contracts

2007: 82

2006: 77

Major Segments Served: College/University (48%), B&I (41%)

The New York City region remains the core market for Lackmann. However, the company has seen significant growth in its Florida operations in the past year (it has operated there since the mid-90s).

Other recent initiatives include the implementation of a full sustainability program across the company. Lackmann has also introduced a local produce program, new packaging for the company's grab-and-go offerings and a new chocolate concept and it is testing a small store concept in Florida. It has also added a director of recruitment. Managing dining and catering operations constitute about 99 percent of Lackmann's business.

19

Nutrition, Inc. dba the Nutrition Group
WEST NEWTON, PA
www.thenutritiongroup.biz

Sales Vol.

2006: $85

2005: $70

Contracts

2006: 324

2005: 300

Major Segments Served: K-12 (80%), Eldercare (14%)

Nutrition, Inc., has been busy accommodating federal and state mandated wellness policies in its K-12 units. Initiatives in this area include a combination of more nutritious offerings, especially in a la carte programs, and nutrition education.

In February, Nutrition, Inc., acquired Pittsburgh Companies North/PCN Food Service. PCN was a small foodservice management company based in Butler, PA. It specialized in K-12 and senior dining.

20

Parkhurst Dining Services
PITTSBURGH
www.parkhurstdining.com

Sales Vol.

2006: $85

2005: $78

Contracts

2006: 39

2005: 38

Major Segments Served: College/University (65%), B&I (30%)

Parkhurst has made sustainability, local sourcing and healthy dining key components of its business plan in the last few years. Menus have been changed to better reflect Mediterranean Diet concepts like using healthy oils, more grains and legumes and fresh fruits and vegetables.

An increasing amount is sourced through the company's FarmSource local purchase initiative. Currently, about a fifth of food purchases are made with a group of over 100 local farms and grower co-ops. Parkhurst also helps facilitate CSA (community supported agriculture) relationships between farmers and individuals at its client sites.

New programs include Hemisflavors, a rotating ethnic food concept with weekly menus from four different regions. Also new is Whole Body Cuisine a line of nutritionally balanced dishes.

Food Management's 2007 Top50 management companies continued:

View listing 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50

About the Author

Mike Buzalka

Executive Features Editor, Food Management

Mike Buzalka is executive features editor for Food Management and contributing editor to Restaurant Hospitality, Supermarket News and Nation’s Restaurant News. On Food Management, Mike has lead responsibility for compiling the annual Top 50 Contract Management Companies as well as the K-12, College, Hospital and Senior Dining Power Players listings. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English Literature from John Carroll University. Before joining Food Management in 1998, he served as for eight years as assistant editor and then editor of Foodservice Distributor magazine. Mike’s personal interests range from local sports such as the Cleveland Indians and Browns to classic and modern literature, history and politics.

Mike Buzalka’s areas of expertise include operations, innovation and technology topics in onsite foodservice industry markets like K-12 Schools, Higher Education, Healthcare and Business & Industry.

Mike Buzalka’s experience:

Executive Features Editor, Food Management magazine (2010-present)

Contributing Editor, Restaurant Hospitality, Supermarket News and Nation’s Restaurant News (2016-present)

Associate Editor, Food Management magazine (1998-2010)

Editor, Foodservice Distributor magazine (1997-1998)

Assistant Editor, Foodservice Distributor magazine (1989-1997)

 

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