Autogrill Designs Roadside Eating With Civility
Photo Credit: The Autogrill Villoresi Est in Italy. Wikimedia
Skift Take
For 70 years, Autogrill has been keeping its menu and its business model fresh. Not easy when you sit along the world's busiest highways. The Italy-based chain is one of the subjects in Skift’s recent sixth anniversary book, For the Long Haul, Lessons on Business Longevity, whose chapters we are excerpting for you here.
If you’ve been to an airport, or a train station, or a highway rest stop, and gotten a cup of coffee or a sandwich, salad, or fresh pasta, then it’s likely you know Autogrill. You may not be aware you know Autogrill, but you know Autogrill. You know it because Autogrill is everywhere. The Italian food and beverage conglomerate, which specializes in feeding travelers on the go, boasts nearly 1,000 locations across 31 countries on four continents. Last year, it served some 900 million travelers 67 million main courses, 83 million sandwiches, and 230 million cups of coffee, across a portfolio of 300-plus brands.
The surprise isn’t that you’ve been there. It’s how many times, and where. You’ve eaten with Autogrill if you’ve sipped a Puro Gusto coffee at the Athens airport, or if you’ve snacked on smoked reindeer at Pier Zero in Helsinki, or had barbecue at the Pork & Pickle in Kansas City International’s Terminal B. Maybe you stopped in at the Delaware Welcome Cent
