FM's Top 50 Foodservice Management Companies—2009

Sep 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Mike Buzalka

Our annual definitive listing of the industry's major contract players, what this past year has held for them, and how they're coping with the business environment.

Healthcare Services Group, Inc., Parkhurst Dining Services, Taher, Inc., Trusthouse Services Group

18 Healthcare Services Group, Inc.

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, PA
www.hcsgcorp.com

SALES VOL.	2008: $115
	2007: $110
CONTRACTS	2008: 275
	2007: n/a
SEGMENTS SERVED(e): Senior Dining (90%), Other (10%)

The volume listed is foodservice only. Healthcare Services Group derives the bulk of its $602.7 million in annual revenues from providing housekeeping, laundry, linen and facility maintenance services. It operates in 2,100 nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, retirement centers and hospitals in 47 states and Canada.

Clients include the GGNSC Holdings LLC (Golden Horizons) nursing home chain, which accounts for about 15% of total company revenues, and 17% of foodservice revenues.

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19 Parkhurst Dining Services

PITTSBURGH
www.parkhurstdining.com

SALES VOL.	2008: $105
	2007: $95
CONTRACTS	2008: 45
	2007: 42
SEGMENTS SERVED: College/University (63%), B&I (32%), Museums/Perf. Arts Ctrs. (5%)

Parkhurst is one of two onsite foodservice divisions (along with #31 Cura Hospitality) of the Eat'n Park Hospitality Group's Onsite Brands Division. The unit continues to make sustainability, local sourcing and healthy dining key components of its business plan. Among recent initiatives in these areas have been the addition of fresh, never-frozen burgers to Parkhurst's Sequoia Grill concept, an expansion of its Whole Body Cuisine line of meals, especially with more selections that adhere to the Mediterranian Diet ideal of using healthy oils and adding more grains, legumes and fresh produce.

A recent high-profile initiative to illustrate the company's commitment to local sourcing is the use of fresh herb and produce gardens at sites like St. Francis University and the Pittsburgh Steelers headquarters. Behind the scenes, it leverages its local sourcing contacts through its FarmSource program, sending unit managers weekly market reports to inform them of what the best current values are from local farms.

To enhance menus, Parkhurst recently expanded its Hemisflavors international cuisine program to include Lebanon and Sicily, while the On the Go take-out program for college students was broadened to include more basic healthy items at economic prices to accommodate customer budgets.

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20 Taher, Inc.

MINNETONKA, MN
www.taher.com

SALES VOL.	2009: $105
	2008: $82
CONTRACTS	2009: 243
	2008: 225
SEGMENTS SERVED: K-12 (54%), B&I (15%), Restaurants (14%), College/University (10%), Senior Dining (7%)

Taher operates primarily in the Upper Midwest. Last summer, it expanded its commercial foodservice operations with a deal for the 11-unit Timber Lodge Steakhouse restaurant chain. Timber Lodge joined the company's five single location restaurants and helped grow the proportion of total company revenues from the commercial side of the business from 2% to 14%. Nevertheless, most of Taher's revenues continue to come from managing “noncommercial” dining operations in businesses and institutions.

In its onsite operations, Taher continues to emphasize chef-driven meal programs, healthy food, local sourcing and staff training.

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21 Trusthouse Services Group

CHARLOTTE, NC
www.trusthouseservices.com

SALES VOL.	2009: $104
	2008: n/a
CONTRACTS	2009: 205
	2008: n/a
SEGMENTS SERVED: Senior Dining (37%), College/University (33%), K-12 (24%), Other (6%)

This is the first year in the Top 50 for Trusthouse, which was formed in the spring of 2008 through the acquisitions of three formerly independent foodservice management companies, two of them in the 2008 Top 50 (#26 Aladdin Food Management Services, Inc., and #37 Fitz Vogt & Associates, Ltd. The third company was Aladdin's Ameriserve subsidiary).

Trusthouse is headed by Michael Bailey, the former CEO of Compass Group plc, the British parent company of #1 Top 50 contractor Compass Group North America.

Trusthouse has launched a number of initiatives in the past year, including a unique 100% vegetarian/organic dining program piloted at Maharishi University in Fairfield, IA (see the January 2009 FM), which is now also in half a dozen other campus operations as part of the daily board plan menu.

It has expanded its involvement in the facility management area in the long term care segment and added its first acute care client, a 114-bed hospital in Illinois.

Trusthouse also added veteran talent to its senior management team, including Dan Kubanet as VP-sales, a former VP-sales at Compass who also spent the past eight years selling national accounts for Sodexo. Also added recently are business development directors Dan Edwards (formerly of Quiznos, Dunkin Brands and The Wood Company) and Todd Lindsay (formerly with Guckenheimer and Sodexo).

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