Social Business Strategy:
How ARAMARK built an infrastructure for social business
“When you bring any partner into your organization, you look for them to understand how your
company works internally and externally, and for them to have knowledge that isn’t currently
represented. Altimeter really helped guide us at all levels of our organization and provided the insight
and influence that we needed to see pursue new opportunities.”
− Danna Vetter, VP Consumer Strategy at ARAMARK
Challenge
ARAMARK is a private, $13 billion global company that provides managed services (food, facilities,
uniforms, etc.) for businesses across multiple industries and geographies. Several years ago,
ARAMARK recognized that its customers were increasingly connecting on social platforms.
Danna Vetter, ARAMARK’s VP Consumer Strategy, explained the business challenge: “Without taking
part in the conversations across digital and social media, we would be exposing ourselves to not
meeting those needs and demands of consumers. We knew we had to start the journey and do it the
right way.”
Traditionally a business-to-business company, ARAMARK recognized that social media presented a
business opportunity to improve relationships and food experiences with customers. In 2009, ARAMARK
had a social presence on Twitter at the brand level — but it hadn’t yet built a strategic foundation with a
long-term vision aligned with company objectives. For a large and complex business like ARAMARK’s —
with several lines of businesses organized by industry segments — getting ahead of social media required
“thoughtful” enterprise-wide alignment.
Approach
In 2011, ARAMARK engaged Altimeter Group’s advisory and consulting services. Altimeter’s Social
Business Strategy offering provided a research-driven approach to help ARAMARK “map out the future.”
This included Stakeholder Interviews with key executives and employees within the company, and external
research on the social landscape at that time, in the form of a Competitive Audit and Opportunity Analysis.
Stakeholder interviews are an important part of any Altimeter engagement, helping to uncover
important areas of opportunity, as well as challenges. For ARAMARK, this process “brought to light
concerns and issues that were common across our enterprise,” according to Vetter.
The Competitive Audit helped ARAMARK see how competitors were using social media, what was
working and what wasn’t, and to what extent results could be applied to ARAMARK’s program.
Outside of competitors, the Opportunity Analysis provided ARAMARK with a view of how bestof-breed companies solved similar business and market challenges, and the outcomes achieved
as a result. These research products contributed to a strategy framework that helped ARAMARK
differentiate its program while achieving business goals.
Armed with findings and insights from stakeholder interviews and external research, Altimeter
recommended a social media infrastructure that would help ARAMARK scale its social business
program at the enterprise level, and across every line of business and customer installation. To
expedite change, Altimeter recommended two pilot programs across very different business lines. This
For more information, contact sales@altimetergroup.com.
work required the development of everything these teams would need to execute at the enterprise
level, all the way to the front lines of its products and services. Finally, Altimeter helped ARAMARK
establish a steering committee, consisting of key roles and functions (HR, marketing, legal, business
lines, etc.), to address the needs of employees and ensure pilot success.
Altimeter’s Social Business Strategy work with ARAMARK included:
Governance:
•P
olicies
• Rules of engagement
• Playbook
• Brand style guide
• Employee requirements/benefits
• Roles and responsibilities
• Triage and communication workflow
• Education/training
Strategy:
• Listening framework
• Strategy framework replicable by each business and function
• Metrics framework
Results
According to Danna, “Altimeter helped identify how we could create social goals that help drive and
deliver our business goals. Without doing that, our efforts would not have carried weight across our
organization or with our executives.”
As a result of its partnership with Altimeter, ARAMARK has achieved the following:
•S
uccessful execution of pilot programs that led to enterprise-wide implementation
• Executive alignment of social business strategy
• Alignment of social business strategy with business goals and objectives across each line of
business
• A hub-and-spoke model for governance and responsibility
• Improved satisfaction among clients and their customers
Learn More
To learn how Altimeter can help with your social business strategy, visit the Social Business Strategy
page on our website, or contact us at sales@altimetergroup.com