Top 100 Foodservice Operators in Europe
The latest report on the Top 100 Foodservice Operators in Europe from Horizons shows that once again McDonald’s heads the list of growth leaders in absolute terms with an additional €832 million sales in 2006. This underlines the continuing power of the McDonald’s brand across Europe, despite growing consumer concern over healthy eating.
Four other companies saw sales increases of over €200 million in 2006 – Sodexo, Yum! Brands, Subway and Elior.
The Top 100 foodservice operators in Europe had combined sales of €74 billion in 2006, representing 21% of total European foodservice sales.
The dominance of companies from just three countries – the US, the UK and France – is highlighted by the fact that companies based in these countries account for 77% of Top 100 sales.
€ Million
McDonald’s 12,719
Compass 7,072
Sodexo 5,518
Elior 3,002
Mitchells & Butlers 2,524
Yum! Brands 2,500
Burger King 1,980
Accor 1,593
LSG Sky Chefs 1,367
Aramark 1,288
Note: These results are for each company’s year ending in 2006
The performance of this year’s Top 100 builds on developments seen in previous years with perhaps the most significant factor being the sheer range of offers, companies and countries that are involved in the list. This is quite different from the US where 42 Quick Service operators still rule the roost, accounting for 61% of the American Top 100. In contrast, fast food operators account for only 32% of the European Top 100, with full service restaurants, together with pubs, having an 18% share of food and beverage sales.
This year’s Top 100 demonstrates that the leading operators continue to dominate the market – over the years they have outperformed the market as a whole and consequently have increased their share.
Second, the European group foodservice operator model is based on two core sectors – Quick service and Contract contracting – this is unlike the USA where Quick service is dominant. But other sectors also feature notably hotels and restaurants. Thus, one of the strengths of European foodservice is its diversity.
We are also seeing the emergence of players from smaller countries such as the Nordic countries and, more recently, leading operators from Russia and Poland. This expansion of the base of countries underlines the growth of foodservice across Europe.
We fully expect these trends to continue because they have been strong in the past and because they are supported by the demographic, financial and operational changes we see across Europe.