Elior Group


Elior Group S.A. is a large French multinational commercial catering and foodservice company. It has many contracts with the UK's Ministry of Defence, such as HMNB Portsmouth.

History

The company was founded in 1991 as Bercy Management by Francis Markus and Robert Zolade, who had worked for Jacques Borel International, a large French catering company. In 1992 it bought a minority stake in the UK catering company High Table, which had the catering contract for the London Stock Exchange, buying the company outright in 1996. In 1994 it bought an 85% stake in the French large catering company Générale de Restauration, which by 1996 was Europe's third largest contract caterer.
In 1998 Bercy Management became Groupe Elior, with two main divisions - Avenance and Eliance. By 1998 High Table was the UK's sixth-largest contract caterer. In April 1999 Elior bought Brian Smith, a contract caterer in Leicester, which had the contract for the UK's Court Service. In July 1999 the company was approached to create 17 motorway service areas in the UK under the Extra name.
In March 2000 it floated on the Euronext Paris. In December 2000 Eliance UK opened its first concessions motorway service site in the UK on the A14 north of Cambridge, under the Extra brand. A site on the A1 at Peterborough opened in January 2001, and one on the A1 at Baldock opened in February 2001.
By 2010 Groupe Elior was the world's fourth-largest contract caterer.
The company was known as Elior Participations SCA. In 2014-15 it generated €5.67bn of income; 50% of its income comes from France. It has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2004. Since 2004 Elior UK has had an annual awards ceremony for it staff.

Structure

It is headquartered in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, in the south-east of the city centre. The Chief Executive since April 2015 is Philippe Salle. It employs around 108,000 people, serving around 4 million people every working day. Its headquarters are situated near the Bercy and Gare de Bercy, and next door to the Cinémathèque Française.
Its corporate motto is Time savored. It operates in France, the United States, the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.

UK presence

Elior UK is headquartered in Macclesfield, having been formed from Avenance UK in 2005. It has run the catering in many well-known UK sites such as the Science Museum, London, the Natural History Museum, London and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Warwickshire. Chief Executive of Elior UK is Catherine Roe. By 2010 Elior UK was serving over 250,000 meals a day at over 1,000 venues. The Eliance brand was at the end of 2011. The company runs the catering for some UK universities.
In the UK, Elior UK is the fifth largest contract caterer.

Divisions

It supplies the in-house catering to commercial and government-owned establishments around the world. It also owns many motorway service stations in France.
It owns seven restaurants at the Louvre, and the Jules Verne on the Eiffel Tower. In France it is the second-largest provider of school meals, where state subsidies are double those of the UK. In the UK, Elior runs the catering for many well-known private schools.