The Workforce AI Index · Industrials
Aramark (ARMK)
Food services with counts by segment. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-10-03, filed 2025-11-25. Ranked 27 of the 28 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing states employees by segment and by salaried and hourly status, so the food service and corporate patterns rest on stated counts and only the facilities share is by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 13% now, 16% at the end of 2027, 17% at the end of 2028, 17% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 17% desk work, 17% people work and 65% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 82% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 12% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
278,390 employees as of 2025-10-03 (stated). Approximately 144,240 employees in Food and Support Services United States and 460 corporate staff, against 133,690 in FSS International.
The filing: “As of October 3, 2025, we had a total of approximately 278,390 employees, including approximately 144,240 employees in FSS United States, 133,690 employees in FSS International and 460 employees in Aramark corporate staff.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Special Food Services | 85% | By (a) and (c): the filing states 277,930 employees in Food and Support Services at home and abroad, serving education, healthcare, business, sports and leisure, and corrections clients, which is contract food service, the special food services pattern; the facilities part is separated below by description. |
| Services to Buildings and Dwellings | 15% | By (c): the facilities services the filing describes within Food and Support Services, cleaning and maintenance for clients' buildings, have no stated count, so a share is read into the building services pattern by description. |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 0% | By (a): the filing states 460 employees in Aramark corporate staff, a corporate count that rule 6 reads into the management-of-companies pattern. |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 278,390 employees: 27,560 management or salaried and 250,830 frontline or hourly; about 39,000 in the U.S. and Canada under collective bargaining agreements; employment peaks in the fourth fiscal quarter with the seasons.
What the filing says about AI
8 sentences in the filing name AI. AI appears in the risk factors, as a technology that may make cyberattacks harder to detect and as risks in integrating AI into its own processes; the human capital section does not mention it.
- “Some of the factors that we believe could affect or continue to affect our results include without limitation: unfavorable economic conditions; natural disasters, global calamities, climate change, pandemics, energy shortages, sports strikes and other adverse incidents; geopolitical events including, ongoing tensions in the Middle East, global supply chain disruptions, inflation, volatility and...”
- “In addition, the rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies may also heighten our risks by making cyber-attacks more difficult to detect, contain and mitigate.”
- “The rapid development and integration of AI technologies into our processes presents several risks to our business.”
- “The use of AI technologies within our business processes must be managed effectively and ethically to avoid outputs that are false, biased, or inconsistent with our values and strategies.”
- “Legal challenges may arise, including, or as a result of, cybersecurity incidents, non-compliance with data protection regulations and lack of transparency relating to the use of AI.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-10-03 | 278,390 | 2025-11-25 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-27 | 266,680 | 2024-11-19 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-29 | 262,550 | 2023-11-21 | 10-K |
| 2022-09-30 | 273,875 | 2022-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2021-10-01 | 248,300 | 2021-11-23 | 10-K |
| 2020-10-02 | 247,900 | 2020-11-24 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-27 | 183,300 | 2019-11-26 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-28 | 180,000 | 2018-11-21 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-29 | 260,500 | 2017-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2016-09-30 | 168,000 | 2016-11-23 | 10-K |
| 2015-10-02 | 265,500 | 2015-12-01 | 10-K |
| 2014-10-03 | 269,500 | 2014-12-03 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The split between food service and facilities work inside the stated Food and Support Services counts is by description (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001584509-25-000219, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Aramark's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 13% now and 17% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Aramark's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Aramark employ?
- 278,390 as of October 3, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending October 3, 2025 states. About 52% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Aramark's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Special Food Services; by those patterns the work is about 17% desk work, 17% people work and 65% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Aramark's annual report say about AI?
- 8 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.