Autogrill is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

-based, multinational

Multinational corporation

A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...

 catering

Foodservice

Food Service or catering industry defines those businesses, institutions, and companies responsible for any meal prepared outside the home...

 and retail

Retail

Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...

 company, the world's largest in the travel dining sector, which is controlled with a 59% stake by the Edizione Holding investment vehicle of the Benetton family

Benetton family

Four members of the Italian Benetton family founded the Benetton Group S.p.A. fashion company in 1965. The three brothers and one sister were all born in Treviso, Veneto, Italy. Their father owned a bicycle shop...

. Autogrill runs operations in 40 different countries, primarily in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, with over 250 licensed and proprietary brands. Over 90% of the company's business derives from outlets in airport terminal

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 aircraft....

s and motorway service areas

Rest area

A rest area, travel plaza, rest stop, or service area is a public facility, located next to a large thoroughfare such as a highway, expressway, or freeway at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting on to secondary roads...

.

History

Autogrill was founded in 1977 when SME, a division of Italian state-owned conglomerate

Conglomerate (company)

A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...

 Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale

Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale

The Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale was an Italian public company set up by the fascist government in 1933 to combat the effects of the global depression on the Italian economy...

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

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

-Novara

Novara

Novara is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With c. 105,000 inhabitants, it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is an important crossroads for commercial traffic along the routes from Milan to Turin...

 motorway

Autostrade of Italy

The Autostrada is the Italian national system of motorways. The total length of the system is about 6,400 km. In North and Central Italy this is mainly as tollways, with the biggest portion in concession to the Atlantia group which operates some 3,408 km...

 in 1947, replacing it with a bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

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

Mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...

, Autogrill was privatised

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

 by the Italian Government

Politics of Italy

The politics of Italy is conducted through a parliamentary, democratic republic with a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised collectively by the Council of Ministers, which is led by the President of the Council of Ministers, referred to as "Presidente del Consiglio" in Italian...

 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.

Edizione floated the company on the Milan Stock Exchange

Borsa Italiana

The Borsa Italiana S.p.A., based in Milan, is Italy's main stock exchange. It was privatised in 1997 and is a part of the London Stock Exchange Group plc since 2007. In 2005, the companies listed on the Borsa were worth US$890 billion...

 in 1997, sparking a series of acquisitions in overseas markets: by the end of 1998, Autogrill had secured full control of French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 operator Sogerba (previously owned by Granada Group

Granada Ltd.

Granada plc is a former British conglomerate which was best known as the former parent of the Manchester-based Granada Television....

); AC Restaurants and Hotels of Benelux

Benelux

The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...

 as well as 14 branches of the Wienerwald

Wienerwald (restaurant)

Wienerwald is a chain of fast-food restaurants with stores in Germany, Turkey, and Romania. In Austria, a separate company by the same name operates casual dining restaurants with a similar menu....

 chain in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. In July 1999 the group made its first entry into both the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and airport concession

Concession (contract)

A concession is a business operated under a contract or license associated with a degree of exclusivity in business within a certain geographical area. For example, sports arenas or public parks may have concession stands. Many department stores contain numerous concessions operated by other...

 markets by acquiring Host Marriott Services

Host Marriott Services

HMSHost Corporation is an airport food-service company, a subsidiary of the Italian company Autogrill S.p.A..-History:The company's origins are in the Van Noy Railway News and Hotel Company founded in 1897 by the Van Noy Brothers of Kansas City, Missouri....

, which was then renamed HMSHost. Other major acquisitions by the group included the Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

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

High-speed rail

High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...

 train station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

 operator Receco in 2002, Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

-based airport duty-free

Duty-free shop

Duty-free shops are retail outlets that 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...

 retailer Aldeasa in 2005 (50-50 with Altadis

Altadis

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

) and Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

's Carestel (completed in 2007). Autogrill acquired the remaining 50% in Aldeasa for complete control in 2008.