Food Management’s 2022 Top 50 Contract Management Companies in education, healthcare, business and sports/entertainment venues

Food Management’s 2022 Top 50 Contract Management Companies tabulates the 50 largest firms by 2021 revenue operating dining, catering and other food-related services for clients in fields ranging from schools, colleges, hospitals and senior living facilities to business and industry, sports and entertainment, corrections and parks/recreation. Each company is ranked by top-line North American revenues for fiscal or calendar year 2021, in millions of dollars. All figures are self-reported, unless noted with an (e), which connotes an FM estimate. Estimated numbers are derived from research and analysis, including published reports, previously submitted company data when available and how the markets in which they operate have fared generally in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 Top 50 reflects an industry slowly recovering from the shock of the COVID pandemic that bludgeoned 2020 results, when most firms posted revenue declines. The results for 2021 are much more optimistic, with a record 10 firms posting revenue increases of at least 20% over 2020. Furthermore, reports from individual companies about recent initiatives show a broad trend toward reorienting operations to meet the needs of an onsite dining environment that continues to be affected not only by lingering regulatory restrictions and changes in customer behavior and preferences, but by staffing and supply chain challenges.

Generally, financial performance over the past year among Top 50 firms has also been affected by the markets in which each company operates. Those in initially hard-hit segments like airports, sports and parks concessions and conference/convention facilities have experienced turnarounds as travelers, fans and visitors begin to return, while B&I operators continue to deal with on-again/off-again return-to-office policies many client businesses have been struggling with as COVID variants made their way through the population.

Meanwhile, the availability of vaccines beginning early in 2021 helped ease some of the strain on markets like senior living facilities, where almost universal vaccination has allowed a gradual return to communal dining outlets in many locations, and in healthcare facilities, which began loosening visitor restrictions, thus helping to boost retail food sales. Last fall, a general return to in-person classes helped companies operating in the higher education and K-12 markets begin to recover somewhat.