Autogrill is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

-based, multinational

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and r ...

company, which is controlled with a 50.1% stake by the Edizione Holding investment vehicle of the

Benetton family Four members of the Italian Benetton family () founded the Benetton Group S.p.A. fashion company in 1965. Autogrill runs operations in 30 countries, primarily in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and North America, with over 300 licensed and proprietary brands. Over 90% of the company's business derives from outlets in

airport terminal An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from an aircraft. Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer th ...

s and

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

service areas.

History

Autogrill was founded in 1947 when SME, a division of Italian state-owned conglomerate

Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale The Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI; English: "Institute for Industrial Reconstruction") was an Italian public holding company established in 1933 by the Fascist regime to rescue, restructure and finance banks and private companies ...

(IRI), purchased then merged Italian restaurant groups Motta, Pavesi and Alemagna. Pavesi had begun to operate a service area on the

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

in 1947, replacing it with a

bridge-restaurant A bridge restaurant or restaurant bridge is a restaurant, usually indoors, built like a bridge over a road, mostly over freeways or motorways. It usually provides access from both sides of the road without the need of crossing the road by tunnel ...

accessible by travellers in both directions fifteen years later. Having grown both domestically and through foreign

acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

, Autogrill was

privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

by the

Italian Government The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constitu ...

in 1995 as IRI shed its food and beverage businesses. Edizione Holding, the financial holding company of the Benetton family, acquired a controlling stake through the process. Lainate - area di servizio Villoresi est

Lainate - area di servizio Villoresi est

Osio Sopra - autostrada A4 - area servizio Brembo

Edizione floated the company on the

Milan Stock Exchange Borsa Italiana, based in Milan, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervising disclosures for listed companies.italy24.il ...

in 1997, sparking a series of acquisitions in overseas markets: by the end of 1998, Autogrill had secured full control of French operator Sogerba (previously owned by Granada Group);

AC Restaurants AC Restaurants en Hotels is a horeca chain that was founded in 1963 in the Netherlands. Today there are 40 chains of the company including 12 hotels (in the Netherlands mainly part of Tulip Inn). History In 1963 AC Restaurants was started as a ...

and Hotels of

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a Political union, politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in ...

as well as 14 branches of the Wienerwald chain in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Travel Retail and Duty Free business

In July 1999 the group made its first entry into both the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and airport concession markets by acquiring ''Host Marriott Services'', which was then renamed

HMSHost HMSHost is an American highway and airport food-service company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italian company Autogrill S.p.A. , Steve Johnson is the CEO of HMSHost. History The company's origins are in the Van Noy Railway News and Hotel ...

. Other major acquisitions by the group included the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

firm Passaggio (completed in 2001), 70% of high-speed

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing ...

operator Receco in 2002,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

-based airport

duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

retailer ''Aldeasa'' in 2005 (50-50 with

Altadis Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and manufacturer of cigarettes, tobacco and cigars. It was formed via a 1999 merger between Tabacalera, the former Spanish tobacco monopoly and , the former French tobacco monopoly. Through it ...

) and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

's Carestel (completed in 2007). Autogrill acquired the remaining 50% in ''Aldeasa'' for complete control in 2008. It also purchased ''Alpha Group'' and ''World Duty Free Europe'' in 2008 and merged them with ''Aldeasa'' in 2011 to create World Duty Free Group, a super-retailer at Airports. In 2010, it had €785 million in sales in the United Kingdom and €494 million in sales in Spain.

Demerger to WDF

On 6 June 2013, Autogrill approved the project of proportional partial demerger whereby Autogrill S.p.A. transferred the Travel Retail and Duty Free business to its wholly owned subsidiary World Duty Free S.p.A. (parent company of World Duty Free Group), the beneficiary, by assigning to the latter the entire shareholding in the Group's Travel Retail and Duty Free business., ur
https://www.autogrill.com/en/about-us/our-history
/ref> On 1 October 2013, World Duty Free has listed on the Borsa Italia in Milan, marking the culmination of the demerger process from parent group Autogrill.

References

External links

* {{FTSE MIB companies Companies based in Lombardy Food and drink companies of Italy Food and drink companies established in 1947 Restaurants established in 1947 Italian companies established in 1947 Benetton Group

History

Travel Retail and Duty Free business

Demerger to WDF

See also

References

External links