As UK service providers struggle to push contracts out beyond the five year mark, usually settling for between one and three years, catering giant Compass (which uses the Eurest brand in the UK) announced a groundbreaking 30 year deal with IBM for in the US.

Compass Group was awarded the contract for all IBM sites in North America in 1995. At the time, it was the largest contract in the USA industry's history, with operations at more than 34 sites. The new contract takes the total number of sites to 64 serving more than 100,000 IBM employees in dining rooms, customer briefing centers, sundry shops, executive dining facilities and through vending.

Gary Green, Chief Executive, Compass Group, North America said: "This is the largest contract renewal that Compass Group has ever signed and is worth more than $2 billion over 30 years."

As part of the renewal, Compass Group will renovate a number of facilities and install Compass Group brands such as Profiles in Good Taste and Market Central. National brands, such as Pizza Hut, Burger King and Sbarro, will also be available at some sites.

Richard Byatt