Aramark

Davidson Brothers and beginnings of ARA

Aramark was founded as Davidson Brothers in 1936 by Davre and Henry Davidson. Davidson Brothers began by providing vending services to plant employees in the aviation industry in Southern California.

In 1959, Davre Davidson partnered with William Fishman to establish ARA (Automatic Retailers of America), which became publicly traded a year later in 1960.

In 1968, ARA provided services at the Mexico City Olympic Games, the first of 16 Games they have serviced, including Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008.

In 1969, ARA amended its name and became known as ARA Services, intended to reflect its growing range of businesses.

In 1983, Joseph Neubauer was elected CEO of ARA Services, and a year later, Neubauer led a group of executives to fend off a hostile takeover bid by coordinating a management buyout.

Rename to Aramark and 2006 Neubauer takeover

ARA Services changed its name again to its present name, Aramark, in 1994.

In 2001, Aramark returned to the New York Stock Exchange as a public company under the RMK ticker.

In 2006, a group of investors led by Neubauer (and including CCMP Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Warburg Pincus ) proposed the acquisition of all outstanding shares of the Aramark Corporation, which was approved by shareholders. The merger was completed in 2007.

Acquisitions, innovations and present leadership

Since the 2000s after its renaming, Aramark has increased its frequency of acquisitions, mostly in the US and Ireland. Its first was in 2000, Aramark purchased the concessions arm of the Ogden Corporation for $225 million in cash and $11 million in assumed debt, expanding its business to locations that included several major sports league venues, such as Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the Arrowhead Pond and Edison International Field in Anaheim. Aramark followed this with a 2004 acquisition of a 90% stake in Campbell Catering, an Irish firm. Two years later, Aramark acquired Seamless (today a subsidiary of Grubhub ), though it sold its stake in 2012. The company then acquired Van Houtte USA from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (today part of Keurig Dr Pepper ) in 2011. In 2015, Aramark expanded its footprint in the Irish retail and premium hospitality sector by acquiring Avoca, an Irish lifestyle brand and food hall operator, for a reported €60 million.

Aramark additionally gained traction in the press for its innovations starting in 2009. In July of that year, Aramark and the Colorado Rockies opened what is believed to be the first gluten-free concession stand in major league baseball. By 2010, Aramark made gluten-free foods available at all 12 of its major league baseball accounts. Aramark partnered with The Humane Society in August 2017 as part of their initiative to increase plant-based food offerings for consumers. The training partnership includes a series of plant-based culinary trainings over a six-month period.

In May 2012, Aramark announced that its board of directors had elected Eric J. Foss as CEO and that Neubauer would remain the company's Chairman. In December 2014, Joseph Neubauer announced his retirement and Foss was elected as the company's next chairman. Foss remained as CEO until his retirement in August 2019; he was succeeded by John Zillmer in October that same year.

In 2023, Aramark spun off its uniform services division into an independent publicly traded company, Vestis.