5 things: Aramark partners with e-sports firm on major DC venue amenities

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Aramark is partnering with Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) on a venture called “District E Powered by Ticketmaster,” a nearly 14,000-sq.-ft. live-event theater that will offer a 365-day-a-year series of immersive experiences in esports, music, event programming, and community events along with pre- and post-event activations for fans attending Capitals and Wizards games or events at nearby Capital One Arena at Gallery Place in downtown Washington D.C. The deal calls for Aramark to operate a restaurant and bar experience that will support events hosted throughout the year.

“As Aramark’s first foray into the rapidly-growing esports space, this is an exciting opportunity to showcase our expertise in food and beverage innovation to esports fans while also creating jobs and further building Aramark’s presence in the Greater Washington Metropolitan region,” commented Alison Birdwell, president/CEO of Aramark Sports and Entertainment.

Read more: Monumental Sports & Entertainment Announces Plans for “District E Powered by Ticketmaster” a Flagship Venue for Esports & Entertainment on the East Coast

Related:5 tech things: Levy launches tech innovation unit

The School Nutrition Association's School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) is teaming up with the No Kid Hungry organization to help school nutrition programs manage persistent supply chain disruptions such as cancelled orders, shortages of foods and supplies, and labor challenges. The partners will convene focus groups of school nutrition professionals representing districts of varying sizes and geographic regions as well as K-12 industry representatives to identify innovations in addressing common supply chain challenges. The findings will then inform a new best-practice resource center promoting solutions to improve K-12 forecasting and procurement and ease the impact of disruptions on school meal programs. New resources created through the partnership will include a professional development webinar series to address topics such as menu substitutions, utilizing USDA Foods, procurement and forecasting, partnering with business officials and communicating with parents.

Read more: SNF Partners with No Kid Hungry on Supply Chain Disruptions

Related:5 things: Wall Street looks for return to offices as pandemic recedes

Elior Group, the French parent of FM Top 50 firm Elior North America announced that revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2021-2022posted an organic growth of 16.7%, including 22.5% internationally, in which the U.S. unit was characterized as experiencing "very strong growth”. The company noted that Q1 revenues were equivalent to 85% of revenues for the same period in 2018-2019 but also said it would be suspending financial guidance for the fiscal year due to the lack of visibility as to the impact of the strict health protocols implemented to stem the Omicron wave.

"Because of these disruptions, daily volumes are difficult to anticipate, which in turn impacts the quantities we produce and how we organize our teams," commented CEO Philippe Guillemot. "We proved our capacity to bounce back in both the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 and the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and are therefore confident we will achieve our ambitions for 2024. This said, in the short term, given the health context, we are suspending our financial guidance for the current fiscal year.”

Read more: Elior Group: First-Quarter 2021-2022 Revenue

The University of Florida is partnering with alumna Victoria Liu and her local-restaurant-focused food delivery company BYPPO to bring on-campus food delivery to the university for the first time in partnership with campus dining services provider Aramark. BYPPO, which employs students and uses energy-efficient scooters, public transportation, bikes and walking to deliver food from on-campus locations, has been in a beta testing phase for the past four months, slowly adding the campus’s 25 restaurants over three phases.

Read more: University of Florida Launches First Ever On-Campus Food Delivery Program With BYPPO

Compass Group UK & Ireland has banned the use of air freight for fresh fruit and vegetables as part of its plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2030. The move is part of a string of changes made by the firm’s procurement division, Foodbuy, that also includes a transition to only free-range eggs this year and a phase-out of all seafood given one of its two lowest grades by the Marine Conservation Society. “Fruit and vegetable produce is our second biggest buying category, so to have none of these items air freighted is significant,” said Anne Simonnet, Foodbuy’s head of sustainability and compliance. “We have worked hard to find suppliers that are closer to home - with no compromise on quality.”

Read more: Compass Group bans air-freighted fruit to cut emissions on road to net-zero

Bonus: Foodservice menu trending: 7 fresh, fun and casual seafood menu ideas

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]