Top 100 Germany: Better Than Feared

Germany's foodservice sector began 2009 with a miserable first quarter. But then things picked up again and, despite being in the middle of a financial and business crisis, the Top 100 succeeded in beating the previous year's turnover by 1.1%. The vast majority of companies took a sensible approach to the difficult situation and concentrated their efforts on internal reinforcement, i.e., system optimisation, staff training and futureoriented strategy planning. In other words, on achieving a degree of fitness that would enable them to make a flying start when the economy began picking up again.

Last year, the Top 100 were distinguished by the following results: 21 companies achieved double-digit turnover increases while 31 suffered revenue declines. Many struggled to keep the drop to a minimum in same-store terms. At the same time, two major French players - Elior and Le Duff - set their sights on the German market. Indeed, the latter is the subject of growing interest on the part of powerful corporate groups in the travel market.