When even Aramark Corp. starts a conference call with analysts by referring to the twin snowstorms of this week, you know it’s been a bad winter in Philadelphia.

That’s because not much bumps Aramark executives off message about their food-service, hospitality and uniform rental businesses. While it’s very much affected by seasonal factors, heavy snowfall isn’t usually one of them.

And to be fair, Aramark chief financial officer L. Frederick Sutherland merely recited the actual and projected snow totals and moved on to his company’s own statistics.

Aramark is now in its fourth year as a private company. While you can’t buy shares in Aramark anymore, it still reports its quarterly financials because it has publicly issued debt securities.

In terms of worldwide workforce, Aramark is the biggest employer based in Philadelphia. As of Oct. 2, it had 255,000 employees, including seasonal workers, with the number of workers peaking July through September, which is its fourth fiscal quarter.

(In contrast, Comcast Corp., the other huge service company based here, has 100,000 employees throughout the United States.)

Aramark’s sales were $12.3 billion for its most recent fiscal year, down a bit from the $13.5 billion the previous year. If it were publicly held, the company would be the region’s fifth-largest based here. Not bad for a company that started back in the 1930s providing vending services to factory workers in the aviation industry.

On Tuesday, the company said sales for its first quarter ended Jan. 1 were flat, totaling $3.19 billion, compared with $3.17 billion for the same quarter last year. But then, flat is the new up in this trembling economic recovery.

Net income rose to $25.7 million at Aramark during its first quarter compared with $8.2 million for the same three months in 2008.

I’m sure numbers like that will offend the Harrisburg lawmakers who frequent the Capitol Cafe, which is operated by Aramark and has failed two state inspections for unsanitary conditions recently.

As for the analysts on the conference call, they were more interested in cost savings than mice droppings.