The History of Aramark

In 1936, Davre Davidson purchased a series of peanut vending machines and placed them around Los Angeles. Two years later, Bill Fishman bought 300 vending machines in the Chicago area. By 1945, Davidson and his brother were running Davidson Brothers, one of the largest vending machine companies in California. In 1959, Davidson Brothers, which had been renamed to Davidson Automatic Merchandising by that time, merged with Fishman’s Automatic Sales Company to create Automatic Retailers of America, or ARA. Two years later, ARA acquired a Philadelphia-based food service company called Slater System, Inc. and entered the food service industry. Slater System Inc.’s main client was the University of Pennsylvania and ARA took over this contract. In 1968, ARA, then known as ARA Services, was awarded the food service contract for the Olympic Games in Mexico City; the company served meals to over 10,000 athletes, fans, and officials. ARA entered the work uniform rental industry in 1977 and created a new division known as ARATEX. ARA Services changed its name to Aramark in 1994. A new logo and corresponding red “starperson” icon were unveiled to go with this change. Aramark divested from its Uniform Services division in 2023, refocusing on hospitality. Today, the company is best known for providing concession services at sports arenas and school lunches through its Aramark Student Nutrition program, which serves over 370 school districts across America.