International Meal Company is a Brazilian holding company that primarily operates in the food service sector. Essentially, the company runs restaurants, snack bars, and cafes on highways, shopping centers, and airports.
On highways, the company operates stores under the Frango Assado brand. In shopping centers, the company operates stores under the brands Viena, Viena Express, Grano, Viena Café, Viena K Express, V Café, and Viena Snacks.
Finally, at airports, the company operates through the brands Aeromels, Black Coffee, Brunella, and Bistrot Mosaico. Additionally, International Meal Company provides catering services for airlines.
Regarding its numbers, International Meal Company has around 460 restaurants, including both owned and franchised, across 16 different brands.
International Meal Company also has over 10,000 employees. The company operates not only in Brazil but also in the United States, Colombia, and Panama.
International Meal Company (IMC) was founded in 2006 by the investment fund Advent International, with the acquisition of Grupo La Mansión in Mexico.
In summary, Advent International is a global private equity firm founded in 1965. In the same year of its founding, the IMC group began providing food services at airports in the Dominican Republic.
Years later, in 2007, International Meal Company acquired RA Catering, its first acquisition in Brazil. RA Catering is one of the leaders in the food retail and in-flight catering sector.
In 2008, IMC made one of its largest acquisitions, the Viena chain and the Frango Assado chain. The Viena chain is one of the largest restaurant groups in Brazil.
The Frango Assado chain is one of the largest operators of service plazas on highways in the state of São Paulo.
In March 2011, International Meal Company went public with shares traded in the Novo Mercado segment, the highest level of corporate governance on the stock exchange.
IMC is listed in the Consumer Cyclical sector and in the Restaurant and Similar segment. In 2013, International Meal Company signed a contract with Darden Restaurants.
As a result, it began to exclusively operate the Olive Garden and Red Lobster brands. The following year, IMC started its operations in the United States by acquiring the assets of Margaritaville restaurants.
In 2015, International Meal Company completed its operations in Mexico, and in 2016, the company sold its operations in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
In 2017 and 2018, IMC launched four new Olive Garden restaurants in Brazil, in the shopping centers Morumbi, Center Norte, Dom Pedro, and Aricanduva, all located in the state of São Paulo.
In 2019, the incorporation of MultiQSR, the master franchisee of Pizza Hut and KFC in Brazil, took place.
In 2020, the pandemic severely impacted the company's activities. After all, its restaurants have a strong presence in shopping centers, and many shopping centers were closed during the pandemic.
