LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) Live Nation has signed a five-year agreement with SMG's Savor food service division and Aramark to manage food and beverage concessions at 34 of Live Nation's North American amphitheaters which.
The deal is expected to be worth more than $100 million to the firms involved and Live Nation's Jason Garner has stated that he believes the deal will provide a 20% bump to Live Nation's bottom line. Both SMG and Live Nation have been broadening their relationship in recent months, with Live Nation in the works to take over ticketing services at a number of venues managed by SMG when their contract with Ticketmaster expires.
SMG's SMG-Savor provides food & beverage and catering services to 38 arenas, 25 convention centers and 9 special event facilities across the United States and in Europe while ARAMARK does everything from food and beverage to uniform services to a wide range of facilities including sports complexes.
"This new agreement represents another major step in our strategic plan to capitalize on our industry leadership position to increase our profitability," said Jason Garner, Chief Executive Officer of Global Music for Live Nation. "By uniting two of the world's most respected and successful food and beverage operators, we currently expect to generate an approximately 20% increase in annual adjusted operating income for our North American concessions business, with no execution risk to Live Nation. We believe that this deal further strengthens our growth profile, despite the current economic slowdown." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
