by Brianna Crandall — April 24, 2017 — Global facility services provider ISS recently agreed to acquire leading U.S. foodservice company Guckenheimer, based in California. Through this acquisition, ISS will significantly enhance its integrated facility services offering to key account customers in the strategically important North American market. Guckenheimer is also expected to enhance ISS’ competitiveness in winning new business from multinational customers with material activities in North America.
Guckenheimer is known as a leading innovator within foodservice, so it will materially strengthen the global catering excellence of ISS. Guckenheimer’s list of blue-chip, key account customers also offers potential for growth via increased geographic and service breadth.
Guckenheimer ensures an on-site restaurant is “Food to go to work for;” its foodservice helps corporations offer a great place to work and win the war for talent.
Guckenheimer’s primary focus is the on-site preparation of appealing and freshly prepared food for employees, typically located at the headquarters buildings of key accounts. Guckenheimer supports their customers’ purpose by ensuring that the restaurant experience at these locations is “Food to go to work for” — an experience that supports corporations in offering a great place to work and in winning the war for talent.
ISS Group CEO Jeff Gravenhorst said the company has had a long-stated ambition of acquiring a North American catering business, and Guckenheimer is the right asset, serving the same industry segments and sharing culture and values.
Dan Ryan, Regional CEO, ISS Americas, stated:
This acquisition will immediately create a strong food services platform with the right size, strategic intersections, capabilities and innovative concepts to effectively complement our integrated facility services position in North America. We grew double digits in 2016 and we have a clear ambition to continue our strong growth in ISS North America. The acquisition will bring important scale to our business, increasing our annual revenue by more than 50%. With this acquisition we also take a huge step forward in strengthening our value proposition.
Randall Boyd, CEO, Guckenheimer, added:
The Ritchie family created a fantastic company. The combination with ISS today allows the Guckenheimer legacy to continue and have a broader reach than ever before. The clients, employees and shareholders are all winners in this transaction. Our focus on people fits perfectly with the ISS culture. We can now provide global solutions and expanded offerings. We have a very exciting opportunity ahead of us.
Guckenheimer was founded in 1963 by Stewart and Jeanie Ritchie, two Stanford students looking for a new way to finance their student loans while improving lunch options at the local cafeteria. Since then, Guckenheimer has grown within the corporate dining world to become a leading foodservice company with 3,200 employees in 33 states.
In 2016, ISS had 14,103 employees in North America (USA & Canada) generating revenue equivalent to six percent of the global revenue of ISS.
The acquisition is subject to certain conditions precedent including anti-trust clearance and is expected to close in the second quarter (Q2) of 2017.
