They include New York's Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium and the Brendan Byrne Arena in the New Jersey Meadowlands and the Houston Astrodome.
The Stevens business, based in Cranbury, N.J., is 107 years old. Its founder, Harry Mozley Stevens, designed and sold scorecards at Ohio baseball games and eventually worked his way to the big leagues, selling hot dogs at New York's famous Polo Grounds.
Stevens executives could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Tom Haertsch, an Aramark spokesman, said Stevens employed as many as 9,000 full- and part-time employees in "peak season."
Aramark employs more than 130,000 in the U.S. and abroad.
"We'll be leveraging the resources of both companies," Haertsch said. ''The transition will probably span several months, so it's much too early to speculate about specifics" of merging operations.
The Stevens deal was the second recent major acquisition by the privately held Aramark. Last month, it announced its purchase of TW Recreational Services, concessionaire for several state and national parks.
In a statement, Joseph Neubauer, Aramark's chairman and chief executive, took the long view for Stevens' sports concessions. Several of them have lost business in the continuing baseball and hockey strikes.
Neubauer said, "We are a long-term investor in Major League Baseball and other professional sports, and we are looking forward to establishing valuable partnerships with the new teams we will be serving . . . "
ARAMARK INC.
Headquarters: Center City
History: Founded in 1959. Entered arena concessions business in 1966. Becomes employee-owned in 1984 in a $1.2 billion buyout.
Employees: 133,000 worldwide.
Locations: 500,000 in 11 countries.
Sales: $5 billion.
Chairman: Joseph Neubauer
HARRY M. STEVENS INC.
Headquarters: Cranberry, N.J.
History: Founded in 1887 by Harry Mozley Stevens, a transplanted Englishman, who first sold concessions at a baseball game in Columbus, Ohio, the year before. Remained closely held by Stevens family.
Locations: Serves 20 locations in nine states, including the Meadowlands, Churchill Downs, Fenway Park and Shea Stadium.
Chairman: Joseph B. Stevens Jr.
