Social matters

Our people

People strategy

At gategroup, our true strength lies in the people who bring their expertise to life day after day. Our progress – whether related to technology, business expansion, or ESG achievements – is made possible by the dedication and skill of our over 46,000 employees. In return, we focus on ensuring that they come to a workplace where they feel valued, supported, and empowered in their careers.

Under the leadership of our Chief People Officer, our People function collaborates across the organization on our People strategy, ensuring we continue to invest in our employees while driving long-term business success.

The gategroup People strategy is rooted in a Win as One philosophy, designed to foster collaborative spirit, employee engagement, and people development, including offering career opportunities at all levels. Our People strategy is a vital pillar within gategroup’s new overall strategy, IGNITE 2030. We are convinced that this is essential for future success – as it is our teams that shape our performance and drive our business forward.

It is all about leveraging the proven expertise and value-oriented attitude of our employees to simplify processes, strengthen capabilities for decision-making, and inspire the next generation to join gategroup. We want to foster strong leadership and a spirit of commitment, promote agility within the organization, strengthen operational excellence integration, and embrace digitalization at all levels.

To shape our organization as future-ready, we aim to ensure that we:

The milestones we are targeting with our People strategy “Roadmap 2030” are fully aligned with and include our ESG vision – balancing people, planet and product – as an integral part.

By continuously evolving our People strategy, we are investing in the future – both for our employees and for gategroup as a whole.

Talent management, learning, and development

In 2025, we advanced our People strategy with significant progress in Talent and Performance Management, Learning, and Leadership Development, reinforcing our belief that empowering our workforce is essential to long-term value creation and sustainable business performance. We strengthened the systems, leadership capabilities, and development culture that underpin our People ambition. As part of our commitment to responsible business and social value creation, we continued to invest in learning, leadership, and transparent talent processes that empower our global workforce to thrive in a dynamic industry.

In that same spirit, our Talent and People Development Strategy continues to work toward an employee-centric, open, and transparent feedback and learning culture that enables continuous growth, leadership excellence, and long-term employability for our workforce. These principles ensure that we have the right people, skills, and leadership in place to deliver sustainable business impact while aspiring to further enhance employee experience.

Developing leadership for the future of gategroup

In line with our strategy to grow the business by developing our people in a responsible and sustainable way, we further embedded our Leadership Framework across our global People processes. The Framework defines the principles and behaviors expected of leaders at all levels, supporting inclusive growth, accountability, and ethical leadership practices that align with our ESG ambitions.

In 2025, the Leadership Framework was applied as a reference model for the Value and Development objective we made mandatory in the annual Performance Management process. This ensures that values-driven leadership expectations are transparent and consistently applied during goal setting, feedback, and development discussions at all levels, from individual contributor to senior leadership.

During the reporting year, we also launched or expanded multiple leadership development and communication programs. These serve as a reflection of our commitment to equitable access to development and build a diverse, ethical leadership culture that supports our business transformation. Details are provided in the section below.

Creating a sustainable learning culture

Investing in learning and development remains key, as we are convinced that a well-trained and engaged workforce is the foundation of our success. We therefore continue to build a modern, inclusive learning ecosystem offering accessible development to all employees, ranging from leadership training and mentorship opportunities to specialized technical skill-building.

These initiatives contribute to our ESG commitments by:

In 2025, gategroup focused on establishing the foundation for the 2026 launch of gateacademy, our global capability and learning hub designed to support the delivery of IGNITE 2030 strategy and long-term business growth.

gateacademy integrates a multitude of critical development elements into one cohesive ecosystem (i.e., leadership, operational, culinary, hospitality, commercial, digital, innovation, and professional excellence), ensuring consistent standards and accessible learning opportunities across all regions.

Through strengthened governance, enhanced collaboration, and reduced duplication, gateacademy optimizes learning investments while enabling operational excellence, deeper customer partnerships, and a high-performance, future-ready organization.

Several global initiatives in 2025 laid the foundation for gateacademy.

Complimenting the Global efforts, the regional People teams implemented numerous local training and development initiatives in 2025 as well. Key highlights included:

Strengthening transparent and engaging talent and performance culture

In alignment with our People strategy, we continued to strengthen the Performance Management cycle to ensure transparency, regular dialogue, and opportunities for growth. Enhancements made in 2025 included:

Our ongoing commitment

The improvements in leadership development, talent management, performance culture, learning infrastructure, and communication embody our social responsibility to empower individuals, nurture talent inclusively, and contribute positively to the communities and industries we serve.

As our strategy continues to evolve, we remain committed to providing meaningful development, fostering leadership excellence, and ensuring global consistency in our People practices–because when our people grow, our positive impact grows with them.

Health and well-being at work

At gategroup, we are committed to promoting a supportive and healthy work environment that prioritizes employee well-being. We strive to create conditions that enable a healthy work-life balance and provide access to resources and support for both physical and mental health.

Our approach focuses on prevention, early intervention, and on-site support.

As part of that commitment, many of our locations across our global network have measures in place to support employee health and well-being. These include on-site occupational health services, first-aid training, health monitoring stations, encouraging active breaks (stretching, exercise, and deep breathing), and periodic eyesight check-ups, among other services.

During 2025, we ran the inaugural round of the global campaign “I Like My Site,” launched in late 2024 and aimed at enhancing workplace well-being. With over 70% of our workforce being frontline employees, prioritizing their needs by fostering a supportive workplace is essential. Designed as an ongoing initiative, the campaign focuses on key areas that directly shape and impact employees’ day-to-day experiences. Management teams from our largest units were asked to engage with employees, gather ideas and recommendations, and then implement meaningful improvements. The program generated strong resonance from the local teams. Based on employee feedback, 15 units worldwide submitted feedback about their actions to enhance staff canteen offerings and improve the quality of break spaces. Two units - Denver (US) and Sao Paolo (Brazil) - were the winners of the 2025 campaign thanks to their creativity, the level of employee engagement, and tangible impact.

During the reporting year, our units across the LatAm region built upon their existing well-being initiatives, with examples including:

In France, the local team continued an annual breast cancer awareness campaign in October, focusing on early detection tips. Organized as prevention forums, the meetings were led by healthcare professionals and provided an opportunity to discuss different types of female cancers, highlight the importance of early screening, and teach self-examination techniques for breast cancer prevention.

Throughout 2025, Asia Pacific Middle East locations implemented a comprehensive portfolio of wellbeing programs to promote physical, mental, and emotional health, strengthen team connection, and cultivate a safe, supportive workplace culture. These initiatives contributed to higher engagement, reduced absenteeism, and stronger organizational resilience. Some of the examples included psychosocial training for managers in Oceania and Doha, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) in Oceania, and flexible working arrangements, wellbeing days, and rest facilities expanded across Oceania, Singapore and Korea.

Our team in Korea continued proactive health promotion through quarterly Health Magazines, Safety Week Campaigns, Anti-Smoking initiatives, and Safety Bulletin Boards.

These efforts are some examples of actions that reflect our ongoing commitment to ensuring a healthy and supportive work environment across all gategroup locations.

Employee representation

We respect and support our employees’ right to join a union or professional association. We encourage constructive dialogue and collaborate with employees and their representatives in accordance with all regional, national, and local regulations or statutory frameworks. Our approach prioritizes partnerships with our recognized unions, employer federations, and workers’ councils, and we value their contributions to gategroup’s business and to our broader People agenda.

In Europe, for example, gategroup maintains a cooperative relationship with national representatives and organizes annual region-wide discussions through Forum Europe. This platform fosters dialogue between employee associations and gategroup, allowing us to present group-wide and regional priorities, alongside programs relevant to our people.

In 2025, around 80% of gategroup’s global workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Equitable compensation and total rewards

We are committed to providing fair and competitive compensation through a globally consistent framework that reflects our principles of equity, inclusion, and increasing transparency. Our Total Rewards team reviewed and aligned compensation practices with industry benchmarks, local economic conditions, and applicable regulatory requirements, including collective agreements where relevant. As part of our People strategy, equitable pay is a core priority. All compensation decisions are based on role responsibilities, skills, and performance, irrespective of personal characteristics such as gender, nationality, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, or identity.

To reinforce our commitment to pay equity and greater transparency, in 2025, we finalized the structure of the Global Job Architecture framework, with its implementation beginning in 2026. The initiative will introduce standardized job grading and further refine our job leveling structure. This enables consistent evaluation of job value and pay levels across regions, and supports equitable and competitive compensation practices globally. In addition, the majority of our workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements or employer negotiations, which embed our global compensation principles while ensuring compliance with local regulations.

To further strengthen pay equity, we are enhancing our compensation analytics capabilities. This helps to identify and address potential pay gaps and promote fair and consistent pay outcomes across gender and other relevant workforce dimensions. Together, these measures support our commitment to attracting, engaging, and retaining talent through fair, transparent, and competitive rewards.

External assessments as benchmark for our HR practices

To benchmark our People-related engagement and employer attractiveness, identify areas for improvement, and recognize the achievements of our local teams, in 2025, gategroup selected Top Employer Institute to conduct an external assessment. The Top Employers framework is an internationally recognized standard, with reviews of a company’s HR practices done on a country-by-country level, evaluating the depth and consistency of implementation. The assessment covers a set of key domains that include Ethics & Integrity, Leadership, Organization & Change, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Performance, and Wellbeing, to name just a few.

In late 2025, during the pilot phase of the project, a selection of countries in three of our Regions completed the assessment. Two countries, Japan and Belgium, passed the certification. As a follow-up step, the project team is reviewing the findings from this initial exercise and plans to broaden the rollout to other parts of our global network.

Another external benchmarking conducted in 2025 was an assessment by The Sustainable Restaurant Association (The SRA), evaluating the practices in place at our Germany-based airline lounges business. Food Made Good is a comprehensive set of criteria developed by The SRA to measure sustainability within the foodservice sector. Our lounges took the opportunity to benchmark their practices across the three pillars of the Food Made Good Framework: Sourcing, Society, and Environment. The highest marks received by the team were in the “Treat Staff Fairly” category within the Society pillar, in which they scored 87%, highlighting that the company ensures good working conditions, promotes staff wellbeing, and creates inclusive workplaces. The report we received at the end of the Food Made Good process also provided valuable direction for what we can do to improve our sustainability work further, supporting us on a journey of continuous improvement.

Human rights

At gategroup, we are dedicated to upholding human rights across our operations and partnerships. We strive to ensure that our work and the opportunities we create respect the dignity and welfare of all individuals. Human rights are universal and must be upheld by everyone, regardless of identity or background. As a global company, we recognize the potential risks of human rights violations within our supply chain and are committed to protecting these rights while holding our partners to the same high standards.

Policy commitment

gategroup is dedicated to integrating human and labor rights principles into all aspects of our operations and supply chain. This commitment is formalized in our global Labor and Human Rights Policy, Supplier Code of Conduct, and gategroup Integrity Line Policy, which set the foundation for preventing human rights violations, such as forced labor, child labor, unsafe working conditions, and discrimination. All employees complete onboarding through gategroup systems, which include risk-based assessments to identify and address potential human rights risks.

These policies align with internationally recognized standards, including the:

Ethical recruitment practices

gategroup strictly prohibits child labor. We verify the age of all candidates during the hiring process and adhere to a defined framework to ensure compliance with legal age requirements, particularly for apprenticeships. Our local HR teams oversee the implementation of these standards.

Addressing adverse impacts

If material adverse human rights impacts are identified within our operations or our suppliers, gategroup will take action to address them in alignment with the UN Guiding Principles. Material violations are thoroughly investigated, and corrective measures are implemented to remediate the situation. In cases where breaches cannot be resolved, we may terminate the partnership.

Human rights due diligence (HRDD)

As part of the Double Materiality Assessment conducted in 2024, human rights within the value chain were reconfirmed to be a key topic on our agenda. In 2025, we further enhanced our HRDD efforts to assess, prevent, and mitigate human rights risks across our value chain, building on the foundation established in 2024.

In line with the UN Guiding Principles, we performed a saliency evaluation to identify and address the most significant human rights issues. During this exercise, 100% of our operational sites were assessed for human rights impact or risks.

We performed this by conducting the following steps:

Outlook

We will continue targeted training programs to strengthen awareness and expertise across our teams. We will also conduct on-site audits of selected suppliers to ensure compliance and reinforce our monitoring process.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I)

At gategroup, inclusion is embedded in how we work. We bring together people of different ages, nationalities, ethnicities, cultures, religions, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities to drive culture, creativity, and innovation. In 2025, we continued to strengthen our commitment to a culture where every employee feels empowered to be themselves at work. We embed inclusion into core processes: leadership expectations, people practices, and decision-making. We see this approach as essential to our strategic and cultural objectives.

To ensure that we address the topic in the most focused and systematic way, our global priorities over the past years were dedicated on increasing the opportunities for women at gategroup. Our local teams complement these efforts with initiatives based on the needs of their communities, covering an even broader scope of diversity considerations. As part of our global ESG Framework, we track our progress on DE&I via a target to increase gender balance across all organizational levels, bringing women’s representation to over one third in senior and in lower & middle management. By the year-end 2025, thanks to the implemented measures, we observed a slight increase in gender representation, with women in senior management reaching 24.0%, up from 22.1% in 2024, and lower and middle management rising to 31.7% from 31.5% in 2024.

Global initiatives

Throughout 2025, gategroup continued or launched several new programs to advance DE&I, all of them to be expanded and continued into 2026:

Driving action through collaboration

Established in 2024, the Global DE&I Council - comprising leaders from all regions - meets on a monthly basis to assess regional needs, share best practices, validate and develop globally relevant action plans, and collaborate with HR to embed DE&I across operations. This is complemented by quarterly status reviews and discussions with the regional HR teams on progress, developments, and areas for improvement.

At year-end 2025, the Global DE&I Council defined and agreed on the 2026 roadmap.

Regional and local actions

While gategroup’s global DE&I strategy forms the foundation, regional and local teams implement tailored initiatives. Highlights from 2025 were:

Occupational health & safety

Employee safety and accident prevention are essential to gategroup’s operational standards and our ESG Framework. We consider it the shared responsibility of every coworker to actively foster a collective culture of safety and engage in practices that constantly improve our OHS performance and minimize preventable injuries.

To support these goals, we pursue a comprehensive global Health and Safety program that is regularly updated to provide clear guidance on required processes at each unit and assign team, unit, and regional OHS responsibilities.

In 2025, the global Quality, Health, Safety, Security & Environment (QHSSE) team continued the process we initiated in 2024 to standardize tracking and reporting of personal accidents across gategroup. The team published the Global Safety Management system, thus establishing a unified framework, as well as defined and communicated the Lost Time Accident (LTA) concept (which refers to any work-related accident that results in an employee being absent from work for at least one full day (shift) as a consequence of the injuries) to ensure consistent understanding and reporting. Compliance with reporting has been monitored at monthly Global Safety Council sessions and meetings with Regional QHSSE leaders. By year-end, we reached the goal of establishing a solid baseline to track our progress.

We continue to assess the root causes of incidents and develop a roadmap for improvement, including enhanced procedures, training, and internal auditing tools. Our goal is to align OHS practices at all major gategroup locations with the ISO 45001 standard by 2028. A global roadmap for ISO requirement compliance is going for approval in H1 2026. At 2025 year-end, our Madrid and Barcelona catering units, as well as the deSter manufacturing unit in Hoogstraten, achieved ISO 45001 certifications for OHS management.

Regional OHS highlights during the year included:

Responsible supply chain management

Logistics, procurement, and supply chain management are core strengths of gategroup. We serve more than 680 million airline passengers each year in 68 countries and territories. In 2025, our global supply chain network encompassed more than 12,000 providers of products and services – predominantly food and beverage manufacturers, global consumer goods brands, and food service wholesalers operating in local delivery areas.  Given the scale and complexity of our network, we apply a risk-based approach to supplier onboarding, monitoring, and ESG due diligence.

Employee training within procurement & supply chain

In 2025, employee training focused on procurement compliance, covering our Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) and Code of Conduct. The objective of these sessions was to ensure a consistent understanding and a strong, global commitment to human rights across the supply chain.

In addition, we introduced the new Procurement Policy and the Authority Matrix, and more than 130 Procurement & Supply Chain local and regional buyers attended the training sessions globally.

The Procurement Policy defines the end-to-end procurement framework for gategroup, setting out how procurement is governed, executed, measured, and continuously improved, while embedding risk management, compliance, and ESG principles throughout the supply chain.

Collaboration with our supplier base

The majority of gategroup’s procurement spend is concentrated in Europe, followed by North America and other regions.

Long-term partnerships with core suppliers form the backbone of our operating model. Local sourcing of materials used for our production in 2025 increased to 90%, slightly above 2023 and 2024 levels. Over 40% of our total supplier base in 2025 was with vendors we have been working with for five or more years.

ESG transparency and supplier engagement

Our procurement team regularly visits and assesses prospective suppliers to review their management capabilities, identify potential risks, and determine opportunities for improvement before entering a new relationship. Where we identify gaps, suppliers must implement corrective and preventive actions prior to any active business relationship. Suppliers that do not meet our requirements are not accepted as gategroup partners.

In 2025, we continued to review our supplier base for financial, legal, reputational, and operational risks, alongside environmental, and human and labor rights, and governance issues – strengthening gategroup’s existing supply chain risk management process. In 2024, we set a target to gain transparency on the sustainability performance of our Tier 1 suppliers. We identified almost 3,000 of our Tier 1 suppliers representing 82% of gategroup’s 2025 purchasing volume as “ESG Focus” suppliers and prioritized this segment to boost our ESG efforts.

We also used external supply chain screening software to assess each of our ESG Focus suppliers on a range of sustainability metrics. Based on the results, we identified the 4% of the suppliers with the lowest performance and most potential for improvement and required them to initiate remediation.

The gategroup SCoC is available on our website and is incorporated into all new supplier agreements. We expect our suppliers to comply with these standards and principles in all dealings related to gategroup. By the end of the 2025 reporting year, 44% of suppliers that we designated as ESG Focus suppliers, had signed our SCoC.

We follow up with suppliers through engagement and an ESG self-assessment based on the SASB Sustainable Industry Classification System®. If a supplier’s rating does not improve, we can decide to conduct on-site ESG audits to work more closely with them and support them on enhancing their sustainability management practices.

In 2025, we conducted 13 such on-site ESG audits for direct catering material suppliers as well as suppliers of tableware solutions. These audits draw on ISO 20400 guidelines and customer requirements, with particular attention to working conditions and environmental performance. To date, our reviews have identified no cases of forced or child labor. These pilot results provide the baseline for the rollout of further ESG onsite supplier audits in 2026.

We remain committed to increasing transparency across our supply chain network and improving the sustainability of the products we source. To further build our certified supply chain, we signed up with EcoVadis for the supplier screening and rating, effective 2026.

EcoVadis provides a standardized approach to screen and rate suppliers on ESG performance, supporting companies’ supply-chain risk management, regulatory compliance, and responsible sourcing decisions. It also enables scalable supplier monitoring while strengthening transparency and stakeholder trust.

Supplier diversity reporting

We select suppliers using a broad set of objective criteria, including quality, reliability, price, and ESG practices, all of which are evaluated through our supplier screening practices. Supplier diversity is a sub-criterion within these practices and is considered during the selection process where relevant.

Responsible sourcing in action: selected examples from our regions

In our North America operations:

In the US, our procurement team integrates ESG standards across multiple direct material categories.

Most seafood is wild-caught in Alaska and certified according to standards such as MSC or RFM, promoting responsible fisheries and full traceability. Fresh vegetables are sourced locally and regionally when seasonality allows and include raw material from organic, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and regenerative farming practices. Dairy suppliers demonstrate leadership in renewable energy use, pasture-based farming, and regenerative land management. Our wholesale partners actively reduce environmental impacts through fleet efficiency, facility optimization, and climate-focused initiatives.

Red meat is sourced from US family farms, cooperatives, and diverse suppliers, with animals raised without antibiotics or hormones. Poultry sourcing is transitioning toward enhanced welfare standards, including no-antibiotic-ever (NAE) and free-range practices. All eggs are cage-free and sourced from UEP-certified and Certified Humane farms. Gate Gourmet US also supports small, regional, and family-owned suppliers, strengthening local economies and resilient food systems.

In our operations in France:

Our airline catering brand servair and our Paris-based train catering brand gatesolutions Helvetia have started integrating ESG criteria into their calls for tender, sourcing locally, prioritizing certified products, and developing their vegetarian and vegan offerings. Their approach aims to support the local economy, increase traceability, and reduce their carbon footprint.

As one of the concrete initiatives to integrate ethical and environmental considerations into the sourcing across all purchased categories, our locations in France have been procuring fair-trade and organic coffee. For several years, they have been working with a French coffee roaster renowned for its ethical and environmental commitment. Each year, this represents around 11 tonnes of fair-trade coffee distributed across French and international airports. This choice reflects our desire to align the experience we offer our passengers with our corporate values, particularly in terms of sustainable development and social responsibility.

Conscious Kitchen

At gategroup, we firmly believe that sustainability as a core business principle is the way forward, with benefits for our customers, society, and the environment. Within our culinary and customer experience teams, this commitment drives menu development and innovation aligned with our ESG Framework and our customers’ needs.

In the culinary context sustainability represents an essential topic with relevance to health, environmental impact, and operational efficiency. We see it as a chance to delight passengers with fresh, inventive, healthy, and environmentally friendly food solutions.

Health and wellness are becoming increasingly relevant to travelers and their decision-making, particularly among the next generation. We are ready to meet that demand. As part of our responsibility, we aim to systematically offer and promote healthier food choices and embed nutritional considerations into our menu development.

A defined objective within our ESG Framework is to develop a healthy and nutritional food strategy based on an evidence-grounded, and functional food approach. To facilitate this process, gategroup established the Conscious Kitchen working group in 2025, which representatives from Global and Regional Culinary teams, Global ESG, and Procurement. The group kicked off its discussions in Q3 2025 and meets on a monthly basis to:

While the core focus is on food and nutrition, the scope of the working group also includes initiatives aimed at improving the sustainability of the overall culinary operation. It covers human health as well as environmental perspectives (e.g., active promotion of lower-impact cooking methods such as oven-based preparation instead of frying).

All along the value chain, from ingredient sourcing to cooking methods and culinary creation, we consider delivering a more sustainable, honest, and nutritious meal to our customers’ guests onboard, be it in-flight or rail catering operations.

Our ambition is for every meal to align with the recognized principles of a balanced diet.

We focus on structural shifts in food consumption patterns that truly matter. We are responding to the move toward more sustainable protein sources. This supports environmental objectives as well as nutritional quality.

Within the vegetarian and plant-forward range, we are observing growing preferences for whole, minimally processed ingredients, as interest in highly engineered meat substitutes levels off. Customers increasingly opt for natural, fiber-rich, and vegetable-centric dishes, while balanced portions and even a renewed taste for traditional animal proteins continue to influence choices.

We develop menu concepts and new ideas in close collaboration with our regional chefs, to meet local flavor identities and the growing demand for globally inspired combinations.

Expectations regarding sustainability and transparency continue to rise across our industry. Passengers want greater transparency on responsible sourcing, waste reduction, and environmentally responsible packaging, which are among the core sustainability priorities across the inflight catering industry.

Other elements gategroup is actively integrating into the menu creation and customer offerings are:

Food safety

Food safety is essential to gategroup. To ensure best practices, the company has established its own Food Safety Standard, which adheres to local legislation and aligns with IFSA World Food Safety Guidelines. The gategroup Food Safety Program is based on the ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management System (FSMS) and structured around four key pillars:

This framework supports a continuous improvement cycle across all company levels, ensuring control over every stage of the production flow – from receiving raw materials to delivering final products to customers.

A comprehensive global Food Safety Manual outlines processes and responsibilities related to Food safety within gategroup.

Our employees receive training to ensure they understand and can effectively perform food safety controls relevant to their roles. Training is mandatory: new employees go through onboarding training, and all employees complete an annual refresher training to reinforce knowledge.

To verify food safety compliance, internal audits are performed. Additionally, an external auditing firm performs a second-party internal audit annually using a certified ISO 22000 Lead Auditor to add transparency and sustainability to the applicable FSMS procedures, including HACCP.

Health authorities/inspectors regularly conduct additional mandatory and verification audits against food legislation and, where applicable, our customers and other certifying bodies provide supplementary verifications against customer requirements and certification standards, respectively.

As part of the ESG Framework update, we have set a target to align more closely with international food safety standards, such as ISO 22000:2018 or equivalent, and operate accordingly, aiming to have 50% of our main units certified by 2030 and 100% by 2035.

By the end of 2025, our units in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), Nairobi (Kenya), and the PAC CDG unit in Paris (France)–representing approximately 10% of the units in scope –successfully achieved certification. Four additional in-scope units are currently in progress and are expected to be certified by March 2026. Several other in-scope units will begin the certification process after mid-2026. In addition, three other locations (in Lagos, Nigeria, in St. Denis, Reunion, and in Dakar, Senegal) obtained ISO 22000:2018 certification during 2025, and two locations (in Alzey,  Germany, and Helsinki, Finland) achieved IFS certification.

Safety in packaging

Our approach

Ensuring safety is a key priority for gategroup. It is paramount when producing and handling consumer-facing, food-contact products. We minimize safety risks, such as physical hazards and the potential presence of harmful chemicals, by applying strict requirements and controls across the full product lifecycle.

Safety considerations are built in every step of the process: from careful design choices and material selection to manufacturing and distribution, we take a proactive approach to protect our consumers, personnel, and the public. This commitment includes compliance with all statutory requirements, encompassing accurate labeling, operational safety, and product traceability. The details can be found in the Consumer Health and Safety section of deSter’s Global Environmental Policy document. ¹

In the year under review, we further reduced our packaging complaints to 0.10 per 1,000 production hours (2024: 0.11), keeping our performance well below our threshold of 0.2 per 1,000 production hours.

Elimination of PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)

An important element of our consumer health and safety approach is the phase-out of intentionally added PFAS, which are currently used for grease and moisture resistance in molded fiber packaging. While all deSter-made packaging already complies with applicable food contact regulations, we are proactively phasing out PFAS to reduce potential environmental and health impacts and to prepare for evolving regulatory requirements. Our goal is to phase out all intentionally added PFAS by August 2026. At the end of 2025, 74% of our fiber-based products were PFAS-free, i.e. contained no intentionally added PFAS, compared to 71% at the end of 2024.

All wet-molded fiber products produced in-house are made without added PFAS. However, a considerable portion of these products is still sourced from external partners, and not all externally produced items are PFAS-free yet.

Community engagement

Impact is not just measured in numbers – it’s defined by the difference we make. At gategroup, our mission extends beyond serving fresh and nutritious menus and providing sustainable and high-quality food solutions; we strive to create a lasting positive impact in the communities where we operate.

Our global framework for charitable activities continues to drive our outreach, ensuring that our community initiatives are consistent and align with our overarching core theme: “Food and Local Communities.” This structure supports our locations and regional teams in driving meaningful, locally relevant programs.

They focus on needs identified with local stakeholders, have clear ownership at site, and have a measurable impact. We prioritize social, educational, and youth development programs, as well as environmental stewardship and the responsible use of resources.

Throughout 2025, our teams continued to give back in impactful ways. Highlights included:

Europe:

North America:

Southern Europe & Africa:

Latin America:

Asia Pacific Middle East: