Restaurant Associates partners with Mazzone on contract unit

Restaurant Associates (RA) is investing an undisclosed sum into the institutional dining and catering units of Mazzone Management Group, a Clifton Park, N.Y.-based company that also operates commercial restaurants. Mazzone placed at No. 36 on FM’s 2017 Top 50 Contract Management companies listing with total revenues of $53 million, while RA is a unit of Compass Group USA, which topped the 2017 Top 50 with revenues of $15.9 billion.

Under the arrangement, Mazzone’s Prime Business Dining unit, which operates the company’s onsite dining operations, plus its catering division, will be spun off as a separate entity in partnership with RA. According to data supplied by Mazzone for the Top 50 profile, 40 percent of its revenues in 2016 were derived from catering and 35 percent from managing dining operations. The rest were from restaurant operations.

Three-fourths of Prime’s onsite dining business mix consists of corporate dining operations, with the rest split among senior living, convention/conference centers and higher education.

Mazzone Management Group will retain its seven commercial restaurant operations while the partnership unit, to be called Mazzone Hospitality LLC, will pursue contracts in segments such as B&I, higher education, healthcare and convention and entertainment facilities.

Among Prime’s current clients are the GlobalFoundries complex in Malta, N.Y., which was recognized as FM’s Innovator of the Year in the Corporate Dining category in 2015. It also operates at Hudson Community College, the Empire State Plaza in Albany, the Albany Capital Center convention facility and a number of senior living facilities.