Autogrill: expands into the Dutch railway channel

Milan / IT. (aspa) Through its HMSHost International division, Italy’s Autogrill S.P.A. has entered into an agreement consisting of two separate contracts with Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), the main railway operator in the Netherlands, to run 20 points of sale in many country’s railway stations.

The first contract provides for the operation of 17 Burger King points of sale already in service in the main junctions on the national rail network, which are expected to generate overall revenues of around 290 million EUR over the ten-year lease.

The second contract, on the other hand, provides for the operation of three La Place restaurants already in service in Dutch railway stations and which are expected to produce total sales of around 15 million EUR over the five-year lease.

«This agreement is part of Autogrill’s international expansion strategy and shows the Group’s ability to rapidly exploit new opportunities arising in all the travel channels», said HMSHost International CEO Walter Seib. «We are very proud to be further strengthening our partnership with Nederlandse Spoorwegen, which enables us to offer travellers through Dutch railway stations a high quality stop-over experience, also in terms of the food & beverage offering».

Thanks to this agreement the Group is strengthening its operations in the Dutch railway channel, where in December 2014 it signed an agreement, always with Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), to run three locations in Utrecht Centraal station. By the end of 2015, Autogrill will be opening «Bistrot Utrecht Centraal», the country’s first Bistrot, the innovative food service formula developed in collaboration with the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) in Pollenzo. Bistrot was successfully launched in Milan’s Stazione Centrale in 2013 and subsequently exported to other prestige locations operated by the Group, in cities like Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Helsinki and Montreal.

In addition to its business in the railway channel, in The Netherlands the Group operates at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, where it runs over 70 locations (80 percent of total food and beverage space), and in 18 service areas on the country’s main motorways (Image: Autogrill S.P.A.).