Gategroup

Gategroup is a Swiss company providing services to the travel industry, including catering, onboard retail, food service provisioning, and food logistics. Gategroup operates more than 200 facilities in over 60 countries. Its head office is in Glattbrugg, Switzerland, near Zurich Airport. Gategroup has its roots in Swissair catering, from which now-subsidiary Gate Gourmet emerged in 1992. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, Gategroup has grown into a multibillion-dollar operation. Acquisitions include Aero-Chef, SAS Service Partner, VARIG Kitchens, British Airways Kitchens and Iber-Swiss. In 1999, Gategroup purchased the Sydney and Darwin kitchens of Cathay Pacific. At this stage it operated 75 flight kitchens in 25 countries. Prior to the September 11 attacks and the subsequent bankruptcy of Swissair, the company was valued at approximately CHF 6 billion. The rise of oil prices and collapse in consumer travel damaged airlines and many of Gate Gourmet's main customers went bankrupt or barely avoided bankruptcy.