Item 1A.    Risk Factors

Risks related to our business

Unfavorable economic conditions have, and in the future could, adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

A national or international economic downturn has, and in the future could, reduce demand for our services in each of our reportable segments, which may result in the loss of business or increased pressure to contract for business on less favorable terms than our generally preferred terms. Economic hardship among our client base can also impact our business. For example, during the recent period of economic distress, certain of our businesses have been negatively affected by reduced employment levels at our clients’ locations and declining levels of business and consumer spending. In addition, insolvency experienced by clients, especially larger clients, has, and in the future could, make it difficult for us to collect amounts we are owed and could result in the voiding of existing contracts. Similarly, financial distress or insolvency, if experienced by our key vendors and service providers such as insurance carriers, could significantly increase our costs.

The portion of our food and support services business that provides services in public facilities such as convention centers and tourist and recreational attractions is particularly sensitive to an economic downturn, as expenditures to take vacations or hold or attend conventions are funded to a partial or total extent by discretionary income. A decrease in such discretionary income on the part of potential attendees at our clients’ facilities has, and in the future could, result in a reduction in our sales. Further, because our exposure to the ultimate consumer of what we provide is limited by our dependence on our clients to attract those consumers to their facilities and events, our ability to respond to such a reduction in attendance, and therefore our sales, is limited. There are many factors that could reduce the numbers of events in a facility or attendance at an event, including labor disruptions involving sports leagues, poor performance by the teams playing in a facility, number of playoff games, inclement weather and adverse economic conditions which would adversely affect sales and profits.

Natural disasters, global calamities, sports strikes and other adverse incidents could adversely affect our sales and operating results.

Natural disasters, including hurricanes and earthquakes, or global calamities, such as an Ebola outbreak or a flu pandemic, have, and in the future could, affect our sales and operating results. In the past, we experienced lost and closed client locations, business disruptions and delays, the loss of inventory and other assets, and the effect of the temporary conversion of a number of our client locations to provide food and shelter to those left homeless by storms. In addition, any terrorist attacks, particularly against venues that we serve, and the national and global military, diplomatic and financial response to such attacks or other threats, also may adversely affect our sales and operating results. Sports strikes, particularly those that are for an extended time period, can reduce our sales and have an adverse impact on our results of operations. For example, in 2012, the collective bargaining agreement for the players in the National Hockey League expired. As a result, the 2012/2013 season was significantly shortened and our sales and profits were negatively impacted. Any decrease in the number of games played would mean a loss of sales and reduced profits at the venues we service.

Our failure to retain our current clients, renew our existing client contracts and obtain new client contracts could adversely affect our business.

Our success depends on our ability to retain our current clients, renew our existing client contracts and obtain new business. Our ability to do so generally depends on a variety of factors, including the quality, price and responsiveness of our services, as well as our ability to market these services effectively and differentiate ourselves from our competitors. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain new business, renew existing client contracts at the same or higher levels of pricing or that our current clients will not turn to competitors, cease operations, elect to self-operate or terminate contracts with us. The failure to renew a significant number of our existing contracts would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations and the failure to obtain new business could have an adverse impact on our growth.

We may be adversely affected if clients reduce their outsourcing or use of preferred vendors.

Our business and growth strategies depend in large part on the continuation of a current trend toward outsourcing services. Clients will outsource if they perceive that outsourcing may provide quality services at a lower overall cost and permit them to focus on their core business activities. We cannot be certain that this trend will continue or not be reversed or that clients that have outsourced functions will not decide to perform these functions themselves.

In addition, labor unions representing employees of some of our current and prospective clients have occasionally opposed the outsourcing trend to the extent that they believed that current union jobs for their memberships might be lost. In these cases, unions typically seek to prevent public sector entities from outsourcing and if that fails, ensure that jobs that are outsourced continue to be unionized, which can reduce our pricing and operational flexibility with respect to such businesses.

We have also identified a trend among some of our clients toward the retention of a limited number of preferred vendors to provide all or a large part of their required services. We cannot be certain that this trend will continue or not be reversed or, if it does continue, that we will be selected and retained as a preferred vendor to provide these services. Unfavorable developments

with respect to either outsourcing or the use of preferred vendors could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Competition in our industries could adversely affect our results of operations.

There is significant competition in the food and support services business from local, regional, national and international companies, of varying sizes, many of which have substantial financial resources. Our ability to successfully compete depends on our ability to provide quality services at a reasonable price and to provide value to our clients and consumers. Certain of our competitors have been and may in the future be willing to underbid us or accept a lower profit margin or expend more capital in order to obtain or retain business. Also, certain regional and local service providers may be better established than we are within a specific geographic region. In addition, existing or potential clients may elect to self-operate their food and support services, eliminating the opportunity for us to serve them or compete for the account. While we have a significant international presence, certain of our competitors have more extensive portfolios of services and a broader geographic footprint than we do. Therefore, we may be placed at a competitive disadvantage for clients who require multiservice or multinational bids.

We have a number of major national competitors in the uniform rental industry with significant financial resources. In addition, there are regional and local uniform suppliers whom we believe have strong client loyalty. While most clients focus primarily on quality of service, uniform rental also is a price-sensitive service and if existing or future competitors seek to gain clients or accounts by reducing prices, we may be required to lower prices, which would reduce our sales and profits. The uniform rental business requires investment capital for growth. Failure to maintain capital investment in this business would put us at a competitive disadvantage. In addition, due to competition in our uniform rental business, it has become increasingly important for us to source garments and other products overseas, particularly from Asia. To the extent we are not able to effectively source such products from Asia and gain the related cost savings, we may be at a further disadvantage in relation to some of our competitors.

Increased operating costs and obstacles to cost recovery due to the pricing and cancellation terms of our food and support services contracts may constrain our ability to make a profit.

Our profitability can be adversely affected to the extent we are faced with cost increases for food, wages, other labor related expenses (including workers’ compensation, state unemployment insurance and federal or state mandated health benefits and other healthcare costs), insurance, fuel, utilities, piece goods, clothing and equipment, especially to the extent we are unable to recover such increased costs through increases in the prices for our products and services, due to one or more of general economic conditions, competitive conditions or contractual provisions in our client contracts. For example, when federal, state, foreign or local minimum wage rates increase, we may have to increase the wages of both minimum wage employees and employees whose wages are above the minimum wage. We may also face increased operating costs if federal, state or local laws and regulations regarding the classification of employees and/or their eligibility for overtime changes. Oil and natural gas prices have fluctuated significantly in the last several years. Substantial increases in the cost of fuel and utilities have historically resulted in substantial cost increases in our uniform rental business, and to a lesser extent in our food and support services segments. From time to time we have experienced increases in our food costs. While we believe a portion of these increases were attributable to fuel prices, we believe the increases also resulted from rising global food demand and the increased production of biofuels such as ethanol. In addition, food prices can fluctuate as a result of temporary changes in supply, including as a result of incidences of severe weather such as droughts, heavy rains and late freezes. We have two main types of contract in our food and facilities business: profit and loss contracts in which we bear all of the expenses of the contract but gain the benefit of the sales, and client interest contracts in which our clients share some or all of the expenses and gain some or all of the sales. Approximately 73% of our food and support services sales in fiscal 2015 are from profit and loss contracts under which we have limited ability to pass on cost increases to our clients. Therefore, in many cases, we will have to absorb any cost increases, which may adversely impact our operating results.

The amount of risk that we bear and our profit potential vary depending on the type of contract under which we provide food and support services. We may be unable to fully recover costs on contracts that limit our ability to increase prices. In addition, we provide many of our services under contracts of indefinite term, which are subject to termination on short notice by either party without cause. Some of our profit and loss and client interest contracts contain minimum guaranteed remittances to our client regardless of our sales or profit at the facility. If sales do not exceed costs under a contract that contains minimum guaranteed commissions, we will bear any losses which are incurred, as well as the guaranteed commission. Generally, our contracts also limit our ability to raise prices on the food, beverages and merchandise we sell within a particular facility without the client’s consent. In addition, some of our contracts exclude certain events or products from the scope of the contract, or give the client the right to modify the terms under which we may operate at certain events. The payment of guaranteed commissions or other guaranteed amounts to a client under a profit and loss contract that is not profitable, the refusal by individual clients to permit the sale of some products at their venues, the imposition by clients of limits on prices which are not economically feasible for us, or decisions by clients to curtail their use of the services we provide could adversely affect our sales and results of operations. For example, during the recent economic downturn, certain of our business & industry clients curtailed their employees’ use of catering, which had a negative effect on our sales and profits.

Our inability to achieve cost savings through our cost reduction efforts could impact our results of operations.

The achievement of the goals we set in our plans and our future financial performance is dependent, in part, on our efforts to reduce our cost structure through various cost reduction initiatives. Successful execution of our cost reduction initiatives is not assured and there are several obstacles to success, including our ability to enable the information technology and business process required for these efforts, as well as the timing of the transition to our business services center. In addition, there can be no assurance that our efforts, if properly executed, will result in our desired outcome of improved financial performance.

Our expansion strategy involves risks.

We may seek to acquire companies or interests in companies or enter into joint ventures that complement our business, and our inability to complete acquisitions, integrate acquired companies successfully or enter into joint ventures may render us less competitive. At any given time, we may be evaluating one or more acquisitions or engaging in acquisition negotiations. We cannot be sure that we will be able to continue to identify acquisition candidates or joint venture partners on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we make acquisitions, we also cannot be sure that any benefits anticipated from the acquisitions will actually be realized. Likewise, we cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain necessary financing for acquisitions. Such financing could be restricted by the terms of our debt agreements or it could be more expensive than our current debt. The amount of such debt financing for acquisitions could be significant and the terms of such debt instruments could be more restrictive than our current covenants. In addition, our ability to control the planning and operations of our joint ventures and other less than majority-owned affiliates may be subject to numerous restrictions imposed by the joint venture agreements and majority stockholders. Our joint venture partners may also have interests which differ from ours.

The process of integrating acquired operations into our existing operations may result in operating, contract and supply chain difficulties, such as the failure to retain clients or management personnel and problems coordinating technology and supply chain arrangements. Also, in connection with any acquisition, we could fail to discover liabilities of the acquired company for which we may be responsible as a successor owner or operator in spite of any investigation we make prior to the acquisition. In addition, labor laws in certain countries may require us to retain more employees than would otherwise be optimal from entities we acquire. Such difficulties may divert significant financial, operational and managerial resources from our existing operations, and make it more difficult to achieve our operating and strategic objectives. The diversion of management attention, particularly in a difficult operating environment, may affect our sales. Similarly, our business depends on effective information technology systems and implementation delays or poor execution of the integration of different information technology systems could disrupt our operations and increase costs. Possible future acquisitions could result in the incurrence of additional debt and related interest expense or contingent liabilities and amortization expenses related to intangible assets, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, operating results and/or cash flow. In addition, goodwill resulting from business combinations represents a significant portion of our assets. If the goodwill were deemed to be impaired, we would need to take a charge to earnings to write down the goodwill to its fair value.

A failure to maintain food safety throughout our supply chain and food-borne illness concerns may result in reputational harm and claims of illness or injury that could adversely affect us.

Food safety is a top priority for us and we dedicate substantial resources to ensuring that our consumers enjoy safe, quality food products. Claims of illness or injury relating to food quality or food handling are common in the food service industry, and a number of these claims may exist at any given time. Because food safety issues could be experienced at the source or by food suppliers or distributors, food safety could, in part, be out of our control. Regardless of the source or cause, any report of food-borne illness or other food safety issues such as food tampering or contamination at one of our locations could adversely impact our reputation, hindering our ability to renew contracts on favorable terms or to obtain new business, and have a negative impact on our sales. Even instances of food-borne illness, food tampering or contamination at a location served by one of our competitors could result in negative publicity regarding the food service industry generally and could negatively impact our sales. Future food safety issues may also from time to time disrupt our business. In addition, product recalls or health concerns associated with food contamination may also increase our raw materials costs.

Laws and governmental regulations relating to food and beverages may subject us to significant liability.

The laws and regulations relating to each of our food and support services segments are numerous and complex. A variety of laws and regulations at various governmental levels relating to the handling, preparation and serving of food (including, in some cases, requirements relating to the temperature of food), and the cleanliness of food production facilities and the hygiene of food-handling personnel are enforced primarily at the local public health department level. There can be no assurance that we are in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations at all times or that we will be able to comply with any future laws and regulations. Furthermore, legislation and regulatory attention to food safety is very high. Additional or amended laws or regulations in this area may significantly increase the cost of compliance or expose us to liabilities.

We serve alcoholic beverages at many facilities, and must comply with applicable licensing laws, as well as state and local service laws, commonly called dram shop statutes. Dram shop statutes generally prohibit serving alcoholic beverages to certain persons, such as an individual who is visibly intoxicated or a minor. If we violate dram shop laws, we may be liable to the

patron and/or third parties for the acts of the patron. Although we sponsor regular training programs designed to minimize the likelihood of such a situation and to take advantage of certain safe harbors and affirmative defenses established for the benefit of alcoholic beverages service providers, we cannot guarantee that visibly intoxicated or minor patrons will not be served or that liability for their acts will not be imposed on us. There can be no assurance that additional laws or regulations in this area would not limit our activities in the future or significantly increase the cost of regulatory compliance. We must also obtain and comply with the terms of licenses in order to sell alcoholic beverages in the states in which we serve alcoholic beverages. Some of our contracts require us to pay liquidated damages during any period in which the liquor license for the facility is suspended as a result of our actions, and most contracts are subject to termination if the liquor license for the facility is lost as a result of our actions.

If we fail to comply with requirements imposed by applicable law or other governmental regulations, we could become subject to lawsuits, investigations and other liabilities and restrictions on our operations that could significantly and adversely affect our business.

We are subject to governmental regulation at the federal, state, international, national, provincial and local levels in many areas of our business, such as employment laws, wage and hour laws, discrimination laws, immigration laws, human health and safety laws, import and export controls and customs laws, environmental laws, false claims or whistleblower statutes, minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprise statutes, tax codes, antitrust and competition laws, consumer protection statutes, procurement regulations, intellectual property laws, food safety, labeling and sanitation laws, governmentally funded entitlement programs and cost and accounting principles, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, other anti-corruption laws, lobbying laws, motor carrier safety laws, data privacy and security laws and alcohol licensing and service laws.

From time to time, governmental agencies have conducted reviews and audits of certain of our practices as part of routine investigations of providers of services under government contracts, or otherwise. Like others in our business, we also receive requests for information from government agencies in connection with these reviews and audits. While we attempt to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that we are in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations or interpretations of these laws and regulations at all times or that we will be able to comply with any future laws, regulations or interpretations of these laws and regulations.

If we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, including those referred to above, we may be subject to investigations, criminal sanctions or civil remedies, including fines, penalties, damages, reimbursement, injunctions, seizures, disgorgements or debarments from government contracts or the loss of liquor licenses. The cost of compliance or the consequences of non-compliance, including debarments, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, government agencies may make changes in the regulatory frameworks within which we operate that may require either the corporation as a whole or individual businesses to incur substantial increases in costs in order to comply with such laws and regulations.  

Changes in, new interpretations of or changes in the enforcement of the governmental regulatory framework may affect our contracts and contract terms and may reduce our sales or profits.

A portion of our sales, estimated to be approximately 13.0% in fiscal 2015 , is derived from business with U.S. federal, state and local governments and agencies. Changes or new interpretations in, or changes in the enforcement of, the statutory or regulatory framework applicable to services provided under government contracts or bidding procedures, including an adverse change in government spending policies or appropriations, budget priorities or revenue levels, particularly by our food and support services businesses, could result in fewer new contracts or contract renewals, modifications to the methods we apply to price government contracts, or in contract terms of shorter duration than we have historically experienced. Any of these changes could result in lower sales or profits than we have historically achieved, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Environmental regulations may subject us to significant liability and limit our ability to grow.

We are subject to various environmental protection laws and regulations, including the U.S. Federal Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and similar federal, state and local statutes and regulations governing the use, management, and disposal of chemicals and hazardous materials. In particular, industrial laundries in our uniform rental business use certain detergents and cleaning chemicals to launder garments and other merchandise. The residues from such detergents and chemicals and residues from soiled garments and other merchandise laundered at our facilities may result in potential discharges to air and to water (through sanitary sewer systems and publicly owned treatment works) and may be contained in waste generated by our wastewater treatment systems.

Our industrial laundries are subject to certain volume and chemical air and water pollution discharge limits, monitoring, permitting and recordkeeping requirements.

We own or operate aboveground and underground storage tank systems at some locations to store petroleum products for use in our or our clients’ operations. Certain of these storage tank systems also are subject to performance standards, periodic monitoring, and recordkeeping requirements. We also may use and manage chemicals and hazardous materials in our operations from time to time. In the course of our business, we may be subject to penalties and fines for non-compliance with environmental protection laws and regulations and we may settle, or contribute to the settlement of, actions or claims relating to the management of underground storage tanks and the handling and disposal of chemicals or hazardous materials. We may, in the future, be required to expend material amounts to rectify the consequences of any such events.

In addition, changes to environmental laws may subject us to additional costs or cause us to change aspects of our business. Under U.S. federal and state environmental protection laws, as an owner or operator of real estate we may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of certain hazardous materials located on or in or migrating from our owned or leased property or our client’s properties, as well as related costs of investigation and property damage, without regard to our fault, knowledge, or responsibility for the presence of such hazardous materials. There can be no assurance that locations that we own, lease or otherwise operate, either for ourselves or for our clients, or that we may acquire in the future, have been operated in compliance with environmental laws and regulations or that future uses or conditions will not result in the imposition of liability upon us under such laws or expose us to third-party actions such as tort suits. In addition, such regulations may limit our ability to identify suitable sites for new or expanded facilities. In connection with our present or past operations and the present or past operations of our predecessors or companies that we have acquired, hazardous substances may migrate from properties on which we operate or which were operated by our predecessors or companies we acquired to other properties. We may be subject to significant liabilities to the extent that human health is adversely affected or the value of such properties is diminished by such migration.

Our international business faces risks different from those we face in the United States that could have an effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

A significant portion of our sales is derived from international business. During fiscal 2015 , approximately 20% of our sales were generated outside of North America. We currently have a presence in 19 countries outside of the United States and Canada with approximately 89,000 personnel. Our international operations are subject to risks that are different from those we face in the United States, including the requirement to comply with changing, conflicting and unclear national and local regulatory requirements; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.K. Bribery Act and other anti-corruption law compliance matters; potential difficulties in staffing and labor disputes; differing local labor laws; managing and obtaining support and distribution for local operations; credit risk or financial condition of local clients; potential imposition of restrictions on investments; potentially adverse tax consequences, including imposition or increase of withholding, VAT and other taxes on remittances and other payments by subsidiaries; foreign exchange controls; and local political and social conditions. In addition, the operating results of our non-U.S. subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars and those results are affected by movements in foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar.

We intend to continue to develop our business in emerging countries over the long term. Emerging international operations present several additional risks, including greater fluctuation in currencies relative to the U.S. dollar; economic and governmental instability; civil disturbances; volatility in gross domestic production; and nationalization and expropriation of private assets.

There can be no assurance that the foregoing factors will not have a material adverse effect on our international operations or on our consolidated financial condition and results of operations.

Continued or further unionization of our workforce may increase our costs and work stoppages could damage our business.

Approximately 39,600 employees in our North America operations are represented by unions and covered by collective bargaining agreements. The continued or further unionization of a significantly greater portion of our workforce could increase our overall costs at the affected locations and adversely affect our flexibility to run our business in the most efficient manner to remain competitive or acquire new business. In addition, any significant increase in the number of work stoppages at our various operations could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We may incur significant liability as a result of our participation in multiemployer defined benefit pension plans.

We operate at several locations under collective bargaining agreements. Under some of these agreements, we are obligated to contribute to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. As a contributing employer to such plans, should we trigger either a “complete” or a “partial withdrawal,” we would be subject to withdrawal liability (or partial withdrawal liability) for our proportionate share of any unfunded vested benefits. In addition, if a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan fails to satisfy the minimum funding standards, we could be liable to increase our contributions to meet minimum funding standards. Also, if a participating employer withdraws from the plan or experiences financial difficulty, including bankruptcy, our obligation could increase. The financial status of certain of the plans to which we contribute has deteriorated in the recent past and continues to deteriorate. In addition, any increased funding obligations for underfunded multiemployer defined benefit pension plans could have an adverse financial impact on us.

Risks associated with the suppliers from whom our products are sourced could adversely affect our results of operations.

The raw materials we use in our business and the finished products we sell are sourced from a wide variety of domestic and international suppliers. We seek to require our suppliers to comply with applicable laws and otherwise be certified as meeting our supplier standards of conduct. Our ability to find qualified suppliers who meet our standards, and to access raw materials and finished products in a timely and efficient manner is a challenge, especially with respect to suppliers located and goods sourced outside the United States. In addition, insolvency experienced by suppliers could make it difficult for us to source the items we need to run our business. Political and economic stability in the countries in which foreign suppliers are located, the financial stability of suppliers, suppliers’ failure to meet our supplier standards, labor problems experienced by our suppliers, the availability of raw materials to suppliers, currency exchange rates, transport availability and cost, inflation and other factors relating to the suppliers and the countries in which they are located are beyond our control. In addition, United States foreign trade policies, tariffs and other impositions on imported goods, trade sanctions imposed on certain countries, the limitation on the importation of certain types of goods or of goods containing certain materials from other countries and other factors relating to foreign trade are beyond our control. In addition, if one of our suppliers were to violate the law, our reputation may be harmed simply due to our association with that supplier. These and other factors affecting our suppliers and our access to raw materials and finished products could adversely affect our results of operations.

In fiscal 2015 , one distributor distributed approximately 57% of our food and non-food products in the United States and Canada, and if our relationship or their business were to be disrupted, we could experience disruptions to our operations and cost structure.

Although we negotiate the pricing and other terms for the majority of our purchases of food and related products in the U.S. and Canada directly with national manufacturers, we purchase these products and other items through Sysco Corporation and other distributors. Sysco, the main U.S. and Canadian distributor of our food and non-food products, and other distributors are responsible for tracking our orders and delivering products to our specific locations. If our relationship with, or the business of, Sysco were to be disrupted, we would have to arrange alternative distributors and our operations and cost structure could be adversely affected in the short term. Similarly, a sudden termination of the relationship with a significant provider in other geographic areas could in the short term adversely affect our ability to provide services and disrupt our client relationships in such areas.

Our business may suffer if we are unable to hire and retain sufficient qualified personnel or if labor costs increase.

From time to time, we have had difficulty in hiring and retaining qualified management personnel, particularly at the entry management level. We will continue to have significant requirements to hire such personnel. In the past, at times when the United States or other geographic regions have periodically experienced reduced levels of unemployment, there has been a shortage of qualified workers at all levels. Given that our workforce requires large numbers of entry level and skilled workers and managers, low levels of unemployment when such conditions exist or mismatches between the labor markets and our skill requirements can compromise our ability in certain areas of our businesses to continue to provide quality service or compete for new business. We also regularly hire a large number of part-time and seasonal workers, particularly in our food and support services segments. Any difficulty we may encounter in hiring such workers could result in significant increases in labor costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Competition for labor has at times resulted in wage increases in the past and future competition could substantially increase our labor costs. Due to the labor intensive nature of our businesses and the fact that 73% of our food and support services segments’ sales are from profit and loss contracts under which we have limited ability to pass along cost increases, a shortage of labor or increases in wage levels in excess of normal levels could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Healthcare reform legislation could have an impact on our business.

During 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 were signed into law in the United States. Certain of the provisions that have increased our healthcare costs include the removal of annual plan limits, the mandate that health plans provide 100% coverage on expanded preventative care and new eligibility rules, which cover more variable hour employees than we have done in the past. While much of the cost of the recent healthcare legislation enacted will occur after 2015 due to provisions of the legislation being delayed and phased in over time, such as the excise tax on high cost coverage, changes to our healthcare cost structure could have an adverse impact on our business and operating costs.

Our business is contract intensive and may lead to client disputes.

Our business is contract intensive and we are parties to many contracts with clients all over the world. Our client interest contracts provide that client billings, and for some contracts the sharing of profits and losses, are based on our determinations of costs of service. Contract terms under which we base these determinations and, for certain government contracts, regulations governing our cost determinations, may be subject to differing interpretations which could result in disputes with our clients from time to time. Clients generally have the right to audit our contracts, and we periodically review our compliance with contract terms and provisions. If clients were to dispute our contract determinations, the resolution of such disputes in a manner

adverse to our interests could negatively affect sales and operating results. While we do not believe any reviews, audits or other such matters should result in material adjustments, if a large number of our client arrangements were modified in response to any such matter, the effect could be materially adverse to our business or results of operations.

Our operations are seasonal and quarter to quarter comparisons may not be a good indicator of our performance.

In our first and second fiscal quarters, within the FSS North America segment, there historically has been a lower level of sales to sports and leisure clients, which is partly offset by increased activity in educational operations. In our third and fourth fiscal quarters, there historically has been a significant increase in sales to sports and leisure clients, which is partially offset by the effect of summer recess in educational operations. For these reasons, a quarter to quarter comparison is not a good indication of our performance or how we will perform in the future.

Our operations and reputation may be adversely affected by disruptions to or breaches of our information security systems or if our data is otherwise compromised.

We are increasingly utilizing information technology systems to enhance the efficiency of our business. We maintain confidential, proprietary and personal information about, or on behalf of, our potential, current and former clients, customers, employees and other third parties in these systems or engage third parties in connection with storage and processing of this information. Our systems and the systems of our vendors are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer or telecommunication failures, computer viruses and catastrophic events. These systems are also vulnerable to an increasing threat of rapidly evolving cyber-based attacks, including malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data and other electronic security breaches. The development and maintenance of these systems is costly and requires ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated. Despite our efforts and the efforts of our vendors, the possibility of risks described above, particularly cyber-based attacks, cannot be eliminated entirely, and each of these risks remain. In addition, we provide confidential, proprietary and personal information to third parties when it is necessary to pursue business objectives. While we obtain assurances that these third parties will protect this information, there is a risk the confidentiality of data held by third parties may be compromised. In addition, data and security breaches can also occur as the result of non-technical issues, including intentional or inadvertent breach by our employees or others with whom we have a relationship. Any damage to, or compromise or breach of our systems or the systems of our vendors could impair our ability to conduct our business, and result in a violation of applicable privacy and other laws, significant legal and financial exposure, including litigation and other potential liability, and a loss of confidence in our security measures, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and our reputation as a brand, business partner or an employer.

Failure to achieve and maintain effective internal controls could adversely affect our business and stock price.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that we would prevent or detect a misstatement of our financial statements or fraud. While we continue to evaluate our internal controls, we cannot be certain that these measures will ensure that we implement and maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future. Any failure to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting could limit our ability to report our financial results accurately and timely or to detect and prevent fraud. A significant financial reporting failure or material weakness in internal control over financial reporting could cause a loss of investor confidence and decline in the market price of our common stock.

Risks Related to Our Indebtedness

Our leverage could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industries, expose us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate debt and prevent us from meeting our obligations.

We are highly leveraged. As of October 2, 2015 , our outstanding indebtedness was $ 5,293.7 million . We also had additional availability of $643.5 million under our revolving credit facility at that date.

This degree of leverage could have important consequences, including:

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, subject to the restrictions contained in our senior secured credit facilities and the indenture governing our senior notes. If new indebtedness is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could increase.

If our financial performance were to deteriorate, we may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which is subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. While we believe that we currently have adequate cash flows to service our indebtedness, if our financial performance were to deteriorate significantly, we might be unable to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness.

If, due to such a deterioration in our financial performance, our cash flows and capital resources were to be insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. In addition, if we were required to raise additional capital in the current financial markets, the terms of such financing, if available, could result in higher costs and greater restrictions on our business. In addition, although a significant amount of our long-term borrowings do not mature until 2019 and later, if we were to need to refinance our existing indebtedness, the conditions in the financial markets at that time could make it difficult to refinance our existing indebtedness on acceptable terms or at all. If such alternative measures proved unsuccessful, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations. Our senior secured credit agreement and the indenture governing our senior notes restrict our ability to dispose of assets and use the proceeds from any disposition of assets and to refinance our indebtedness. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or to obtain the proceeds that we could realize from them and these proceeds may not be adequate to meet any debt service obligations then due.

Our debt agreements contain restrictions that limit our flexibility in operating our business.

Our senior secured credit agreement and the indenture governing our senior notes contain various covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions. These covenants limit our and our restricted subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things:

In addition, our senior secured revolving credit facility requires us to satisfy and maintain specified financial ratios and other financial condition tests. Our ability to meet those financial ratios and tests can be affected by events beyond our control, and in the event of a significant deterioration of our financial performance, there can be no assurance that we will satisfy those ratios and tests. A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under the senior secured credit agreement. Upon our failure to maintain compliance with these covenants that is not waived by the lenders under the revolving credit facility, the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under the senior secured credit facilities to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit under such facilities. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities could proceed against the collateral

granted to them to secure that indebtedness. We have pledged a significant portion of our assets as collateral under the senior secured credit agreement. If the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities accelerate the repayment of borrowings, there can be no assurance that we will have sufficient assets to repay those borrowings, as well as our unsecured indebtedness. If our senior secured indebtedness was accelerated by the lenders as a result of a default, our senior notes may become due and payable as well. Any such acceleration may also constitute an amortization event under our receivables facility, which could result in the amount outstanding under that facility becoming due and payable.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

Our share price may change significantly, and you may not be able to resell shares of our common stock at or above the price you paid or at all, and you could lose all or part of your investment as a result.

We completed our initial public offering on December 17, 2013. Since our initial public offering, the trading price of our common stock, as reported by the NYSE, has been and is likely to continue to be volatile and could fluctuate due to a number of factors such as those listed in “—Risks Related to Our Business” and the following, some of which are beyond our control:

Furthermore, the stock market has experienced extreme volatility that, in some cases, has been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.

In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

 

There can be no assurance that we will continue to pay dividends on our common stock, and our indebtedness could limit our ability to pay dividends on our common stock.

Payment of cash dividends on our common stock is subject to our compliance with applicable law and depends on, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, level of indebtedness, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, business prospects and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Our senior secured credit facilities and the indenture governing our senior notes contain, and the terms of any future indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur may contain, limitations on our ability to pay dividends. For more information, see Item 5. "Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities - Dividends.” Although we have paid cash dividends in the past, there can be no assurance that we will continue to pay any dividend in the future.

Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents could delay or prevent a change of control.

Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, defer or prevent a merger, acquisition, tender offer, takeover attempt or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares held by our stockholders.

These provisions provide for, among other things:

These anti-takeover provisions could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us, even if the third-party’s offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, with certain limited exceptions, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including any beneficial owner) to bring (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any director or officer of the Company owed to us or our stockholders, creditors or other constituents, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer of the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against the Company or any director or officer of the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have received notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find this choice of forum provision inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

If securities or industry research analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about our business or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock relies in part on the research and reports that securities and industry research analysts

publish about us, our industry, our competitors and our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. Our share

price and trading volumes could decline if one or more securities or industry analysts downgrade our common stock, issue

unfavorable commentary about us, our industry or our business, cease to cover our company or fail to regularly publish reports

about us, our industry or our business.

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments

Not Applicable.

Item 2.    Properties

Our principal executive offices are leased at Aramark Tower, 1101 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107. Our principal real estate is primarily comprised of Uniform facilities. As of October 2, 2015 , we operated 252 service facilities in our Uniform segment, consisting of industrial laundries, cleanroom laundries, warehouses, distribution centers, satellites, depots, and stand alone garages that are located in 41 states, Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico. Of these, approximately 50% are leased and approximately 50% are owned. In addition, we operate two cutting and sewing plants in Mexico. We own 10 buildings that we use in our FSS North America segment, including two office buildings, two hotels and several office/warehouse spaces, and we lease 95 premises, consisting of offices, office/warehouses and distribution centers. In addition, we own a distribution center, two offices and five other properties and lease 119 facilities throughout the world that we use in our FSS International segment. We also maintain other real estate and leasehold improvements, which we use in the Uniform and FSS segments. No individual parcel of real estate owned or leased is of material significance to our total assets.