Autogrill

Founded in 1947, Autogrill is a catering company operating food service establishments in airports, stations and on motorways.

Initially the company was known as Pavesi which offered biscuits and gradually started operating as a local bar in the 1950s. In 1977, following a merger between Pavesi and 2 other motorway catering businesses: Motta and Alemagna, Autogrill was founded. The state-owned company was privatized in 1995. 

Autogrill ventured on the international market by opening food service establishments under the same banner in France and Spain in 1993. 

In 1995, the business was acquired by the Benetton family and in 1997, Autogrill was listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. During that year, Autogrill entered Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Germany. 

1999 was an important period for Autogrill which acquired HMSHost,entering the travel retail industry including airports, railway stations, museums and motorways. By 2000, the company started to expand its business in the travel retail sector in 2 areas: Duty Free and Restaurants. 

Autogrill continued to expand by acquiring several businesses over the years in the travel retail sector. In 2002, it took over SMSI Travel Centers which operate catering services in Ontario, Canada and Receco in Spain which operates in railway stations. In 2003, it acquired Anton Airfood, establishing its presence in North America. 

In 2005, the firm took over Steigenberger Gastronomie in Germany and in 2008 it acquired Aldeasa, a Spanish travel retail and duty-free company as well as World Duty Free, a travel retail company as well. 

In 2013, Autogrill separated its 2 activities. The retail travel sector is transferred to World Duty Free while Autogrill concentrates on the catering sector. 

The company has also partnered with Vapiano in order to operate Vapiano restaurants airports in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands 

At present Autogrill manages over 300 national and international banners. The company has opted for national banners in order to help customers discover local dishes and products in each country and also partnered with international banners so as to cater for those customers who want to find banners they are already familiar with. 

Autogrill owns some of the following banners including (but not limited to):

• 1897 Market

• Amo

• Beaudevin

• Bubbles Wine Bar

• The Burger Federation

• Cafe Chocolat

• Ciao Ristorante

• Territori D’Italia

Autogrill is the licensed operator for the following international franchises in airports, railways and motorways including (but not limited to):

• Burger King

• Starbucks Cafe

• Buffalo Grill

• California Pizza Kitchen

• Class’ Croute Restaurant

• La Place

Autogrill operates a large number of establishments in 147 airports in the world. 

In 2018, Autogrill registered a turnover of € 4.7 billion. 58% of the revenue is from airport catering and 34% from highway catering. 51% of the revenue is from North America while 37% from Europe. The remaining is from other countries across the world.

Autrogrill employs over 60000 people across the world. 

Autogrill has a Research and Development area that also includes a test kitchen where the company is constantly working on new products. 

Autogrill has also implemented a lot of measures to be sustainable. In the case of the protection of the environment, the firm chooses suppliers who not only have good ethics but also apply environmental-friendly practices. 

The firm has also collaborated with Coca-Cola in order to recover plastic bottles to be recycled. In India, Autogrill is now replacing plastic bags with eco-friendly alternatives and in Australia,the firm has introduced the “Bring Your Own Cup” concept, encouraging customers to carry their own cups or mugs instead of using disposable ones.