Selecta Group is a European unattended

self-service Self-service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when making purchases. Aside from Automated Teller Machines, which are not limited to banks, and customer-operated supermarket check-out, labor-saving of which has been described as self- ...

retailer founded in 1957 in

Murten Murten (German language, German) or Morat (French language, French, ; frp, Morât ) is a bilingual Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a city in the See (district of Fribourg), See district of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fr ...

, Switzerland.It is owned by the American investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. The company provides coffee and convenience foods in the workplace and public spaces. It is headquartered in

Cham, Switzerland Cham is a municipality in the canton of Zug in Switzerland. Location Cham is located on the northern shore of Lake Zug, northwest of the cantonal capital of Zug. Surrounding Cham, Steinhausen is to the east, Hünenberg is to the west, Lake Z ...

. In 2019, the company had approximately 10,000 employees and generated approximately in revenue.

History

In 1950, Joseph Jeger, a Swiss employee working in Basel, went on a business trip to 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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and saw his first vending machines in factories there. He thought it would be a great idea to put similar vending machines in the factory of the company he worked for. Spending all his savings, he ordered five machines from the US producer and was allowed to install them in the factory. Joseph Jeger's employer is still a client of Selecta. Factory workers used Jeger's machines day in and day out. The American machines were produced with American fittings, making them expensive to maintain. To overcome this, Jeger rented a garage in his hometown of Murten, hired his first employee and produced the first vending machine made in Switzerland. This vending machine was the first to carry the name Selecta in 1957.

Milestones

* 1957 - Selecta founded in Switzerland. * 1985 - Selecta joins the Valora Group. * 1997 - Selecta floats on the

Swiss Stock Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zurich, is Switzerland's principal stock exchange (the other being Berne eXchange). SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other securities such as Swiss government bonds and derivatives such as ...

at CHF 515 million. * 2001 -

Compass Group Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...

acquires Selecta for CHF 1.35 billion. * 2007 - Selecta is purchased by Allianz Capital Partners for CHF 1.80 billion. * 2012 - Selecta partners with

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

to launch Starbucks Office Coffee. * 2015 - Selecta is purchased by

KKR KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strateg ...

for CHF 3.7bn. * 2017 - Selecta acquires Pelican Rouge, a company with operations in eight European countries. Selecta also acquires Pelican Rouge's roasting facility in the Netherlands. * 2018 - Selecta acquires Argenta and Express Vending in the UK.

References

External links

Official website
{{Portal bar, Companies, Switzerland, Food, Coffee Service companies of Switzerland Vending machine manufacturers Vending Manufacturing companies established in 1957 Swiss brands 2015 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2001 mergers and acquisitions Swiss companies established in 1957 Swiss companies disestablished in 2007