Newrest has always had the capacity to anticipate demand and opportunities for expansion.

Olivier SADRAN President NEWREST

Newrest: global catering solutions for complex energy frontiers

July 30, 2025

Olivier Sadran, president of Newrest, talks to The Energy Year about the company’s strategy for building sustainable global operations and the intricacies of working in the hydrocarbons and mining sectors. Active in 52 countries, Newrest is one of the world’s leading out-of-home food service and catering companies.

Working in the extractive industries presents specific challenges: environmental, human and logistical. How has Newrest become a key player in these sectors, meeting their particular needs?
Newrest’s involvement in the extractive industries began in 2008. In those years, the company aimed to create synergies between its various businesses and expand geographically. Whether in aviation, rail, or catering, there are many common denominators among the standards, such as food safety and the ability to ensure wellbeing for people working in difficult, or at minimum non-traditional, environments.
There are also differences, notably in the logistical and commercial approaches. For example, the keywords, contract types and client expectations are different. But ultimately, Newrest’s job is to meet the full scope of its clients’ needs, ensure flawless food safety and support them in their activities. In mining, this means contributing to local content, integrating and developing local populations, providing employment opportunities, and addressing CSR aspects such as food waste, waste management and sustainable procurement.
After entering the extractive industries, the Group’s first major mining contract was with the San Cristóbal mine in Bolivia, in the Uyuni Desert, which remains a highly valued client that appreciates Newrest. As for the oil sector, our involvement began slowly in southern Tunisia, then expanded quickly in Angola at TotalEnergies’ request, operating at the Chicala Guest House in Luanda and on Block 17, which is a landmark project in the Angolan offshore sector.
From there, Newrest developed gradually, always seeking synergies among its services. Today, the Group operates in 53 countries, and, when possible, offers the full range of its services. As a result, clients benefit from broader expertise, a greater diversity of solutions and the purchasing power of a diversified global organisation.
At Newrest, employees are not categorised as aviation, mining, or oil experts. Rather, teams move between sectors during their careers, bringing best practices from one domain to another.

Since 2008, Newrest has expanded from mining to the energy sector. What kinds of logistical agility, methods or specific skills are required to provide seamless services from onshore mining camps to offshore oil and gas assets?
In both cases, logistics is the key issue. The approaches are similar, but mining operations tend to require important storage capacity. The sites cover a larger area, and mines are often in regions where strikes or local blockades occur, so we plan accordingly. Offshore logistics is much more precise: ships must be caught at the right time and smaller quantities are involved. It is a different approach, but it requires the same level of accuracy.
One of Newrest’s strengths is its proprietary ERP system, which has been developed and refined over the past 30 years. It is now very powerful in terms of data management. It can handle Delta Airlines’ Atlanta supply chain – the world’s largest, serving 600 flights daily – just as it can manage a silver mine in Peru or TotalEnergies’ platforms offshore Gabon.
Data has been a major focus for the Group over the past decade. It helps to refine logistics both internally and for clients. It also enables full traceability: not just paper-based but fully digital, from the food’s origin to its final consumption point.
The Group’s ERP platform streamlines hospitality services and product deliveries. These are areas that have seen huge progress, thanks in part to pressure from clients. For example, Newrest’s digital systems were improved with French rail operator SNCF, and major strides were made in data with Delta Airlines and in safety with TotalEnergies. The Group continuously seeks to respond to client expectations and share those improvements throughout its line of business to become more globally efficient.

What role is AI playing in this digitisation effort?
While “artificial intelligence” has become a trendy catch-all term, it is more helpful to speak in terms of data and recurring information that allows one to perform better in the future.
Consider a mine with 6,000 workers: that represents 18,000 meals per day. Newrest collects consumption data by period and product type, as well as attendance records and experience from past shutdowns. That historical data allows the Group to improve procurement and reduce waste. Its expertise includes, for instance, what type of service works best in winter at high altitude and what should and should not be produced.
For clients in the airline industry, Newrest has facilities automatically producing meals, with robots handling the work with minimal interaction. Consumption data sheds light on what passengers will eat on a given flight. This enables more refined provisioning, reduced fuel consumption during takeoff due to lighter loads and improved operational efficiency.
All of this information is kept up to date, despite the challenges of evolving data, and it is used maximally to deliver a service closer to what clients want.

Why are Newrest’s global competitors stepping away from mining and oil and gas?
The world catering leader Compass, for example, has left Africa, nearly exited the Middle East and recently left South America, all to our benefit. The company is pulling out for various reasons, and should explain why itself, but it is likely overall due to the complex nature of the businesses. Catering contracts for the mining sector often resemble construction contracts, with numerous guarantees and obligations such as performance bonds, which make little sense in a line of work where the service ends once the clients have eaten.
In the Middle East, global catering companies may have left due to the requirements around labour. For example, Qatar has seen working conditions improve dramatically over the past 15 years. Today’s worker accommodations, especially for Asian labourers, are much better than they were in the past. The progress made in that region is real and positive.
Africa is somewhat different. In the catering sector, there are growing expectations in terms of local content from a shareholding point of view.
These are now written into law, and, depending on the percentage required, it can be a challenge. If these services become reserved solely for local companies – which may lack experience, safety standards, or know-how – it can create market tensions. That may be part of why some players are exiting these markets.
In South America, it may be linked to currency fluctuations or operational difficulties. What is certain is that Newrest has never been so involved in mining and oil as it is today. In terms of overall revenue, the Group is generating over EUR 1 billion in South America and around EUR 3.5 billion globally this year, and Africa and the Middle East remain growth areas, with important construction projects in Saudi Arabia, for example.
The Group is fully committed to service quality, waste management, recycling and local community integration, and aims to lead in all of these areas.

Does offering facility management help strengthen your presence in these markets, especially where extractive industries typically have a high demand for such services?
This is indeed the case, as such environments are challenging due to factors such as the climate, and they require high standards of maintenance. Importantly, the scope of facility management is not limited to cleaning or landscaping. It includes technical services such as maintaining hospitality infrastructure, air conditioning systems, elevators and many other components.
Last year, Newrest acquired GEPSA, a subsidiary of ENGIE specialised in maintenance services, including energy systems, heavy equipment and other hard facility management solutions. This will help the Group improve performance for mining and oil clients.

Could Newrest one day own and operate offshore accommodation platforms and similar facilities?
Newrest will expand its scope only as far as its current skills and interests allow. And the Group will go where clients are fair, pay on time and respect the contractual rules. This is always the case with major players, but can be less so with others. The Group itself is quite strict about delivering, giving 1,000% to clients and deploying very strong startup task forces. But a contract is a mutual commitment that must be honoured, so Newrest will only commit to the scope its expertise supports.

Is the cyclical and shifting nature of these industries a particular challenge for the Group?
The cyclical nature can present a challenge, but short-term instability tends to lead to greater stability in the long run. Markets take hits of 5-10 points, and then they recover. A crucial first step is finding clients who can handle these seasonal fluctuations. Secondly, the way Newrest’s revenue is distributed works in its favour. When the price of oil is USD 60 per barrel, the Group’s airline clients are cash-rich and want to upgrade services. Meanwhile, oil companies want to reduce the scope, so a balancing act is required.
Gold mines, for example, were challenging over the last 15 years, but now services are being upgraded again. These price fluctuations impact the scope of services requested. The people working in these environments often work seven days a week, on rotation. Their lives are challenging, regardless of their skill level. Therefore, meals, hospitality and the quality of their sleeping quarters become crucial, and that is where Newrest comes in, bringing high standards. If a foodborne illness occurs at a site with 18,000 workers, the cost can be very high.
Indeed, service renewal and continuous improvement are important. Whether it involves a 50-person rig in the desert or an 6,000-person mine, the stakes vary, but what matters to Newrest is improving the quality of life for workers. Healthier and happier workers are more productive.
Weight gain during rotations in the mining and oil sectors can be a serious issue. In response to this, the Group has done a lot of work on nutrition plans and education – not to restrict but to improve health. It has contributed by introducing digital tools and visual signage to guide meal choices, among other initiatives. This also ties into ESG because if an employee eats 3,000 calories at lunch and is drowsy at 3 p.m., that presents a real safety hazard. In addition, since little physical activity takes place outside of work, the Group has developed gyms and fitness spaces at many locations.

With local content being a recurring theme in mining and hydrocarbons, how does Newrest optimise supply chains in such diverse and often hard-to-access areas?
The key to balancing a global procurement policy while encouraging local sourcing is first and foremost a political and strategic decision. Newrest does not have a central procurement office or a dedicated purchasing department at headquarters – unlike other areas where the Group is highly matrixed.
In purchasing, at the operational head office in Toulouse, the Group has only one person despite its EUR 3.5 billion in annual revenue. Rather than doing purchases, she serves as a technical support for supplier tenders. So, purchasing responsibility lies with the local teams and is entirely decentralised. That creates more dynamism in local markets. Newrest imports only when necessary or when clients request it. The Group does a lot of work to source locally. In South America and New Caledonia, for example, it has built supply ecosystems around the mines by helping local communities enhance agricultural production. In Guyana, together with SBM and ExxonMobil, we have significantly increased the local capacity for growing vegetables.
Newrest guarantees prices and volumes, so a Peruvian mining client receives products of a higher quality than ones shipped from Lima, which travel for eight days in a truck. This also allows improved integration into the local geographic and social landscape. In places such as Africa and South America, there are strong communities and an emphasis on local benefits. A company that fails to indirectly employ members of the community will see its reputation suffer.
Newrest is very invested in those kinds of models, and it applies the same approach to local hiring and talent development. For us, sustainable development goes beyond employment and local purchase. It is about skills development to the benefit of the community at large.

Could this approach entail local business development through acquisitions?
Regarding upstream food production, Newrest is not looking to vertically integrate by acquiring local producers. It might consider acquiring local competitors to expand its footprint, but not to take over supply chains.

What mechanisms does Newrest deploy to ensure consistent training and development for all of its 61,000 employees? How can consistent development, policies and HSE standards be maintained across all levels?
Newrest is unique partly because it is owned by its management; a group of more than 600 people now hold about 98% of the capital. That fosters a sense of ownership, service quality, flexibility and client responsiveness that is not often seen in corporate structures. The Group has real entrepreneurs around the world who can move quickly to respond to client needs.
So, first, the Group’s structure fosters ownership. Second, it is a matrix organisation, very structured in commercial strategy, QHSSE and finance. A country CFO, for instance, reports first to the Group CFO, then to the local GM. Thus, matrix control is balanced with autonomous, entrepreneurial country leaders. The strategy is clear and consistent, but it is executed within a flexible, responsive entrepreneurial framework.
Newrest’s work is people-centred. Quality comes from listening, understanding, respecting the scope and engaging in dialogue, and all of this is embedded in the Group’s DNA. The autonomy and ownership of our local teams have fostered this, and it is part of how the group has grown.

Could you give us insights on the Group’s recent acquisitions in Latin America, such as its 2024 purchase of Compass’s regional operations?
Prior to these acquisitions, Newrest was already active in Colombia and Chile, mostly in the mining sector but also in providing concession catering services, as well as in Mexico, where it was involved in inflight services.
On average, the Group had annual sales of about EUR 40 million in each of those countries. Then we acquired operations with an average of EUR 200 million, which meant shifting into another dimension.
A unique facet of this expansion is seen in the way the acquired company took over the management of the acquirer. That is quite rare in terms of humility and corporate behaviour.
It was out of the question to replace the entire management of a EUR 40-million company that had strong DNA, such as Newrest Chile, and put them in charge of a EUR 300-million company that had its own strong particularities.
So, the acquired structures took the managerial lead over Newrest structures, with a blended model and many evolutions aligned with our DNA.
It was Newrest’s first acquisition of this size. Prior to that, it had only made modest acquisitions, often from global groups in smaller markets they wanted to exit and where they had specialised operations.

What does a frontier energy market such as Guyana represent for Newrest in terms of upskilling, logistical challenges and operating conditions?
Guyana is a showcase for Newrest, being highly representative of what the Group can do for clients. Newrest arrived in Guyana about eight years ago and, starting from scratch, established a catering sector for energy operations. Today, the Group has been present in Suriname for two years and is also entering Namibia, where, again, there is nothing substantial established.
Newrest has always had the capacity to anticipate demand and opportunities for expansion, both by following our clients and by making independent decisions. While occasionally that leads to failure, more often it leads to success due to the advantages of being a first mover. For example, after FPSO constructions begin in Asia, the Group aims to be involved in the towing process and the operations once they arrive on site.
In these frontier markets, infrastructure is a challenge at the start. One must manage logistics, find the right flow and secure facilities in the right locations. But the advantages that come with being first movers make it worth the challenge.

Operationally, what allows the Group to sustain such long-term engagements with clients ranging from a copper mine in Chile to an FPSO off the Angolan coast?
In all cases, the client’s defined scope must be respected. If the initial scope is exceeded, it becomes difficult to scale back expectations. It is paramount that one builds a real partnership with the client – with the country head, platform directors and mine directors – in order to truly understand what they need and expect.
Once that partnership is in place, the business becomes easier. When trust is built, and the client-supplier relationship remains contractually sound but also allows both sides to evolve and improve, then one can succeed in delivering a quality service.

Newrest has seen spectacular growth over the past decade. What does the Group’s financial and economic performance tell us about its strategy, business model and efficiency?
One of Newrest’s distinctive traits is that it carries no debt, which is quite rare. The Group closed 2024 with a negative leverage ratio of -0.81 and is expected to close at around -0.7 to -0.8 in 2025, even after its Latin American acquisitions.
That shows a strong ability to generate free cashflow, and it results from the entrepreneurial mindset. For entrepreneurs who have started from scratch, the biggest concern is always maintaining the ability to pay employees and suppliers. This is less commonly observed in corporate environments, where generating free cashflow isn’t always the priority.
That is also why the Group is very strict and deeply committed to respecting contractual obligations, especially for payment terms.
Newrest manages capex carefully, but still invests more than EUR 80 million-100 million per year. Clients find it reassuring to work with a company that is debt-free and capable of innovating and growing.

How does Newrest plan to maintain this growth trajectory in the coming years?
One challenge is the need for expansion in data and automation, which are already established in inflight services and to some extent in the mining and oil sectors. There is significant progress to be made in automating certain production elements in the mining sector. All these productivity gains should be reinvested in training and in people, especially cooks, who are the ones who can deliver a quality product and are often not given enough recognition.
Finally, Newrest is strongly focused on modernisation, as well as on selecting, training and growing its teams.