Sodexo attended China Catering Industry Development Convention 2009

On June 18th 2009, the 2009 China Catering Industry Development Convention, organized by China Cuisine Association, was held in Jiuhua Resort & Convention Center in Beijing. The convention is the highest-rank annual meeting in China's catering industry. Thousands of attendees, including national leaders, leaders of relevant ministries, authoritative experts, outstanding enterprises in catering industry and other relevant industries, all gathered together on this occasion. Under the theme of "expanding domestic demand and maintain sustainable growth rate", the assembly is held to promote the development of domestic catering industry, actively tackle international economic crisis, and improve the global influence and competitiveness of China's catering enterprises.

Leaders from Department of Commerce, the State Statistics Bureau, State Food and Drug Administration and other related departments, as well as a number of leading economists all attended this convention. Under the status quo of the current catering industry, it is to lead the participants to grasp the pulse of the market, comprehend macro-economic policies in the economic turbulence, analyze the trend of China's economic development and the characteristics of the Chinese consumer market, and find out the key point to stimulate the domestic demand in the catering industry.

Over the same period, it is revealed in the "2009 Annual Report on the development of China's catering industry", jointly published by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Chinese Cuisine Association, that "China's catering market has stepped out of the age when only three market segments are available: fast food, hot pot and restaurants. Sodexo, specializing in B to B collective food services, has gone through rapid and continuous development in China, whose experience is of great reference to be learned by domestic companies."

On the afternoon of June 18th, in the parallel session themed "growth environment and model innovation of the catering industry", the discussion was revolving around catering mode selection, position, internationalization, etc. Ms. Grace HAN, Executive Director of Healthcare and Senior services of Sodexo Greater China, presented a theme speech on behalf of Sodexo.

Ms. Grace HAN made a 30-minute speech, and comprehensively introduced outsourcing, the benefits of outsourcing, outsourcing case studies, Sodexo Group, Sodexo Greater China, etc. which attracted most participants' attention. She further specified the five stimuli of food services outsourcing: client's requirement, quality improvement, talent absorption and retention, cost transparency and risk transfer; presented the qualifications a service supplier should be equipped with: integrated hygiene and safety system, professional management = cost reduction, understanding and meeting clients' expectation, food innovation/nutritional guidance, support from the internal engineering department and reasonable market price. Among all the shining points of her speech, what attracted the listeners most is the advantages of outsourcing and the competitive strengths of Sodexo in this field. A participant said to her during the free exchange period at the end of the meeting, "After listening to your presentation about Sodexo, I realized that we still have a long way to go on the road of professionalism and standardization."

This convention provided us with a good opportunity to publicize outsourcing and its standardization, and to promote Sodexo's corporate value, which had a great effect upon the catering industry.