Aramark history

In September 1959, Davidson and Fishman merged their operations into one, and the combined company became known as Automatic Retailers of America, or ARA for short.

In 1960 they took ARA public to infuse the enterprise with new capital and expand the business.

In 1961, Automatic Retailers of America (then doing approximately 65 million dollars in vending sales) merged with Slater Corporation (doing approximately 65 millon dollars in manual service sales) and the company was renamed ARA Services, Inc.

In 1963, ARA was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

By 1964, ARA operated 95,000 vending machines, offering freshly brewed coffee, hot soup, sandwiches, and other items.

The company complied, selling one-third of the required portion by 1965 and the remainder in the following year.

In 1968, ARA took its operations international when it was selected to serve over one million meals to thousands of athletes at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City.

In 1969, ARA officially became ARA Services, to reflect its growing range of businesses.

1972: ARA faces FTC charges due to its monopolistic control of the vending machine market.

In 1973, the court ordered ARA to cease purchasing 'certain types of wholesale operations in the paperback books and periodicals field' and to divest itself of a portion of its vending business.

In 1976, the company entered the work uniform rental and career apparel industry, as businesses sought uniforms and other textile products to distinguish their brands from competitors and to increase employee morale.

By 1979, ARA operated more than 6,000 food service establishments in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Germany.

In 1980, ARA Services acquired National Child Care Centers, Inc. and entered the childcare arena.

1981: A federal grand jury begins investigating the company's student transport division; sales begin to drop off.

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.

At the end of 1984, ARA became a privately held company.

Its image was greatly improved, especially in its food service and leisure service divisions, where 'customized service' allowed the company to expand throughout Europe and into Japan, and even serve Olympic athletes their native foods at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

In the most recent chapter of our company history, on October 10, 1994, ARA Services, Inc. officially became ARAMARK.

By 1997, ARAMARK recorded $6 billion in sales.

In 1998, ARAMARK secured a ten-year contract with Sprint Corp. to manage food service operations at its world headquarters.

In early 1999, the firm announced plans to acquire the Restaura dining operations of Viad Corp.

In March 2000, the firm acquired the food and concession services of the Ogden Corp., which would make it the largest sports and entertainment concessions provider in the United States.

According to the Outsourcing Institute, United States-based companies spent over $200 billion in outsourcing noncore operations and were predicted to spend over $300 billion in 2001.

In 2003, ARAMARK completed the sale of its childcare division to better focus on growth opportunities in its core food, facilities and uniform businesses.

In 2004, Aramark acquired a 90% stake in the Irish catering company Campbell Catering.

The merger was completed in 2007.

In July 2009, 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.

On August 29, 2011 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters sold Van Houtte USA (Filterfresh) to Aramark for $145 million.

In May 2012, Aramark announced that its board of directors had elected Eric J. Foss as CEO and that Joseph 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.

In 2015, Aramark acquired Irish retail and hospitality business, Avoca Handweavers.

Aramark partnered with The Humane Society in August 2017, part of their initiative to increase plant-based food offerings for consumers.