The Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management (SHFM) has honored Gary Crompton, President and CEO of Aramark Workplace Experience Group, with its Jay B. Silverstein Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the highest recognitions in the industry.
“When you get a Lifetime Achievement Award, you can’t help but reflect on all of it: the decisions, the mistakes, the successes. I stumbled into this industry. I knew almost nothing about ARA Services (now Aramark). 35 years later, that one move ended up shaping everything.”
Gary came to the company from a high-end culinary career, joining in 1991 as a Food Service Director. Some of the client relationships he has led since are more than 25 years old. A move from operations into sales in 1997 taught him how to build a growth organization. He went on to lead Aramark Healthcare before returning to Business and Industry, now Workplace Experience Group.
Along the way he founded LifeWorks Restaurant Group and Aramark Salute Hospitality, and led the joint venture with Chef Daniel Boulud that created Cuisine Boulud New York. He has also served SHFM for more than two decades, including as a board member and treasurer.
His Guiding Principles
Treat every client and customer as a guest. Gary approaches every relationship as though he were a guest in someone else’s home. To him, hospitality is making someone’s day a little easier, whether through food or something as small as offering water or picking up a napkin. He takes the time to know the people behind every role, an understanding that deepened as he led teams through the pandemic and welcomed them back.
Empower, align and resource. Gary is driven to be the best and to lead the market, and his impact reaches the business through the leaders closest to him and outward through each of their teams.
“You have to empower key people to take risks and make decisions, align them on a clear strategic direction, and resource them effectively so you can focus on broader business impact.”
Develop and export talent. Aramark gave Gary room to learn and grow early in his career, and he gives his teams the same. He sees that as the true measure of a leader. “Having worked with Gary for many years, I’ve seen firsthand that his impact extends well beyond the businesses he has led. His focus on people, clients, and developing the next generation of leaders has been a hallmark of his leadership and has left a lasting impact across Aramark,” said Marc Bruno, Chief Executive Officer, US.
“Performance is kind of a given. You’ve got to deliver the expectations of the organization. If you do that over a sustained period of time and develop and export talent, then I think that’s truly a sign of a leader.”
It is why leaders across Aramark describe Gary as a talent exporter. Looking back on working with him, they talk about how he prepared them for bigger roles. Many now run businesses at Aramark, and some have gone on to become presidents elsewhere.
“Gary has given me the opportunity, guidance, and confidence to grow. He continues to encourage me to think creatively, explore new solutions, and try something new, while always making sure I know I have his support,” said Greta Patel, President of LifeWorks Restaurant Group.
Keep every commitment. Gary stays close to as many clients as he can, with regular face time across the company’s top 50, and is involved from the start of new partnerships so every promise made carries his name.
“It’s about making those commitments and keeping those commitments. If you do that over a really long period of time in a fairly small industry, you develop a level of credibility. My reputation is on every one of those commitments.”
Family First
“It really is family. It always has been,” Gary says. His wife has been his biggest supporter and best friend, and his son and daughter have always known how much they mean to him. When his son asked him to be best man, it changed how he saw himself. Before then, he would have named his awards as his greatest accomplishment. After it, his identity was no longer about what he did.
In his acceptance speech, Gary summed up his career in one line.
“It’s not just about food, it’s about people and creating the moments in the day to make them feel welcomed.”
From all of Workplace Experience Group and Aramark, we congratulate Gary on this well-deserved recognition and thank him for a career that has shaped the industry and so many of the people in it.
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