SSP is an operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations. The company, headquartered in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...

History

The business was established as a division of Scandinavian airline

SAS Group SAS AB, trading as SAS Group, is a Swedish airline holding company headquartered in Solna Municipality, Sweden. It is the owner of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines, SAS Link, and SAS Connect. As of 2024, SAS Group is owned by a group of s ...

under the name of SAS Catering in 1961. Its Select Service Partner (SSP) division was acquired by

Compass Group Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in Europe, ahead of Sodexo, employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in location ...

in May 1993 for £72 million. Compass then merged SSP with several other companies it owned, including Travellers Fare,

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

's former catering division which had been privatised under a management buy-out in 1988 before being bought by Compass in 1992. In 2006 the business was bought by

EQT AB EQT AB is a Swedish global investment organization founded in 1994. Its funds invest in private equity (EQT Private Capital Europe & North America), infrastructure (EQT Infrastructure), real estate (EQT Real Estate), growth equity, and ventur ...

for £1.822 billion. The company was the subject of an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in 2014. In 2023, SSP announced its entry to the Italian and Icelandic market. The company also announced its expansion in North America with the acquisition of the concessions business of Midfield Concession Enterprises Inc. (“MCE”) and, later in 2023, the acquisition of the Calgary-based business ECG Ventures Limited. In 2024, SSP entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Airport Retail Enterprises Pty Ltd (“ARE”) in Australia.

Operations

SSP has a portfolio of brands, including its own and those it franchises. Brands range from well-known grab ‘n’ go sandwich shops and cafés to casual dining restaurants and bespoke high-end concepts. SSP operates international brands, national brands and local heroes, which are prominent brands in specific markets, as well as brands and concepts it has created. Some examples are: *Le Grand Comptoir * Upper Crust * Caffè Ritazza *

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

YO! Sushi YO! Sushi (sometimes shortened to just YO!) is a chain of Kiosk, kiosks and conveyor belt sushi restaurants, principally in the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Australia. History YO! Sushi was fo ...

* Le Train Bleu *UrbanCrave *Millies Cookies *Nippon Ramen *

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

*Tortilla

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Catering and food service companies of the United Kingdom Food and drink companies established in 1961 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Swedish companies established in 1961 British companies established in 1961 Companies in the FTSE 250 Index