The business was established as a division of Scandinavian airline SAS Group under the name of SAS Catering in 1961. Its Select Service Partner (SSP) division was acquired by Compass Group in May 1993 for £72 million.[3] Compass then merged SSP with several other companies it owned, including Travellers Fare, British Rail’s former catering division which had been privatised under a management buy-out in 1988 before being bought by Compass in 1992. In 2006 the business was bought by EQT AB for £1.822 billion. The company was the subject of an initial public offering in 2014.
In 2023, SSP announced its entry to the Italian and Icelandic market. The company also announced its expansion in North America with the acquisition of the concessions business of Midfield Concession Enterprises Inc. (“MCE”) and, later in 2023, the acquisition of the Calgary-based business ECG Ventures Limited.[7]
In 2024, SSP entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Airport Retail Enterprises Pty Ltd (“ARE”) in Australia.
