Delaware North Companies
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Hospitality management |
| Founded | 1915 |
| Founder | Louis Jacobs |
| Headquarters | Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
|
| Services |
|
| Revenue |
 US$ 2.6 billion (2013) |
|
Number of employees
|
55,000 (2013) |
| Website | http://delawarenorth.com |
Delaware North is a global food service and hospitality company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. The company also operates in the lodging, sporting, airport, gaming and entertainment industries. The company employs over 55,000 people worldwide and has over $2.6 billion in annual revenues.
Delaware North began as Jacobs Brothers, founded in Buffalo, New York, in 1915 by brothers Marvin, Charles and Louis Jacobs. The current operating name for the holding company was first used in 1980. The company remains family-owned and operated by Jeremy Jacobs, who also owns the Boston Bruins. The arena in which the Bruins play, the TD Garden, is owned by Delaware North. Jacobs is also a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Board.
Jacobs Brothers initially operated theater concessions. When the establishments closed down in the hot summer months, the three men turned their attention to ballparks, the first being Offermann Stadium, and the creation of the sports concession industry. Sportservice was created in 1926 following contracts with minor-league ballparks in Buffalo and Syracuse, New York. Sportservice is Delaware North's largest operating company. In 1930, the company entered into its first major-league deal by signing an agreement with the Detroit Tigers to handle food service at Navin Field. The Jacobs brothers expanded their business in 1939 by acquiring a racetrack, marking the beginning of Delaware North Companies Gaming & Entertainment. In 1941, the company entered the airport arena with a contract to provide food service in Washington National Airport. Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services operates in more than 30 major airports worldwide.
Upon the death of his father, founder Louis M. Jacobs in 1968, Jeremy M. Jacobs began leading the company, then called Emprise, at the age of 28. The years that followed were characterized by unprecedented growth and diversification. In 1972, after negative press over alleged connections to organized crime in Sports Illustrated and the Arizona Republic, the Emprise company is convicted of federal racketeering charges over the purchase of the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas with members of the Mob. Jeremy dissolved Emprise and reorganized his family's holdings under a new company, Delaware North (named after the intersection of Delaware Avenue and North Street in Buffalo where the company was headquartered at the time), with a public emphasis on operating a clean, separate organization with no connection to Emprise. Delaware North acquired the Boston Garden in 1975 while Jeremy Jacobs purchased the Boston Bruins, one of the original six franchises of the National Hockey League. In 1987, the company acquired Sky Chefs, a move that bolstered its airport business. The company obtained the contract to provide visitor services in Yosemite National Park in 1993. under the terms of the largest concessions contract in the U.S. National Park Service. The award sows the seeds of a new line of business: Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts.
...
Wikipedia