Compass Group

Compass Group, the world's largest contract food services company with revenues of approximately £24.6 billion (FY2021), faced a post-COVID recovery challenge. The pandemic had disrupted workplace catering demand as offices emptied, temporarily shrinking the addressable market. However, management identified a structural tailwind: roughly half of the global food services market remained self-operated by companies managing their own cafeterias and canteens in-house. These self-operated sites represented a massive first-time outsourcing opportunity, as the pandemic had exposed the operational complexity and fixed-cost burden of running in-house food services during volatile occupancy periods. Compass's underlying operating margin stood at approximately 6.2% in FY2022 as the company rebuilt from COVID-era losses.

From FY2022 through FY2025, Compass Group executed a systematic first-time outsourcing capture strategy targeting companies that had never previously outsourced their food services. Key actions included:

• Dedicated first-time outsourcing sales teams: Built specialized sales capabilities focused on converting self-operated sites, emphasizing the total cost of ownership comparison between in-house management and outsourced solutions. First-time outsourcing accounted for approximately 45% of all new business wins.
• Flexible service models: Developed lighter-touch service formats (micro-markets, grab-and-go, digital ordering) tailored to hybrid work patterns, reducing the perceived risk for first-time outsourcers who feared committing to full-service catering during uncertain occupancy.
• Net new business acceleration: Achieved net new business growth of 4.2% in FY2024, accelerating in H2, and hit 4.5% in FY2025 — within the company's 4-5% annual target range for the fourth consecutive year.
• Operational scale leverage: Used its North American density (the U.S. organically grew 10.5% in FY2024) to offer pricing and service levels that smaller regional competitors and self-operated sites could not match.

• Revenue growth: Revenue grew from approximately £26.4 billion (FY2022, reported in GBP) to $46.1 billion (FY2025, reported in USD; Compass Group transitioned to USD reporting from FY2025), representing sustained high-single-digit organic growth each year.