Sodexo Re-awarded China’s Top 10 Brands of Group Meal

Sodexo was awarded as China’s Top 10 Brands of Group Meal once again at the 10th China Catering Industry Development Conference. And it was the eighth time for Sodexo included as one of the Top 100 Catering Enterprises in China.

“Thank you for the recognition of China Cuisine Association and from all sectors of society”, said Bruno VAQUETTE, Country President, Sodexo China, “These two awards again demonstrated our market-proved efforts and professionalism over the past 20 years, and innovative and integrated initiatives truly benefiting the quality of life of consumers, clients and local communities.”

Service innovation influencing consumers’ Quality of Life

In March 2016, Sodexo’s worldwide platform for innovation eNOVhub was launched, collecting creative ideas from employees in 80 countries, which include on-site car wash service, flower booking and delivery service designed by the Chinese on-site teams to help consumers balance work and life. In the field of health care, in the past 12 months, Sodexo opened coffee bars (i.e. Sodexo Aspretto and Le Café solutions) in 4 hospitals severed by Sodexo, providing various hot and cold drinks, simple meals, and retail products. All this helped the hospitals create a “third space” totally different from the clinics and wards. In this space medical staff can not only get convenient food service but also enjoy moments of relaxation during their busy day.   

Safety, a never overemphasized topic

“As the service industry in essence is for people, the efforts to ensure food and personal safety can never be too much.” Bruno believes that, although it is important to establish dedicated teams to create healthy and safe environment, develop standard systems and procedure of supervision, training and feedback, it is strategically important to strengthen employees’ safety awareness and make “safety” part of corporate culture.  

This year, Sodexo launched the “Have a Safe Day” program across all its offices and operation sites. All employees’ safety awareness has been improved through a series of tools, such as 3 Checks for Safety and Safety Observation, which have successfully helped on reducing safety risks for clients and individuals. With respect to food safety, during the past year, many staff canteens operated by Sodexo were recognized by authoritative organizations such as local Food and Drug Administration as the “Food Safety Model in Catering Services”. As in many cases, the safety awareness of front-line employees can also bring value to clients at the least expected time. In May of this year, at a Shanghai-based well-known pharmaceutical enterprise, Ms. Ye,  Sodexo cleaning captain, was doing the daily cleaning when she smelled a strange burning smell. She immediately informed the client. After checking thoroughly, they found that the burn-in of the electrical circuit of a switch panel caused the burning smell and they immediately made repair and change. For this the clients specially sent a thanks letter to highly praise what Ms. Ye had done. “What your employee did conform to our corporate values, erased safety risks for us, and transmitted positive energy.”

Supporting communities with our strengths

In December 2015, Sodexo partnered with China Youth Development Foundation and donated the first Sodexo Hope Kitchen in Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei Province, enabling nearly 200 students to get access to “nutritious lunch”. “The Hope Kitchen program is closely connected with our main business. We hope to make long-term cooperation with China Youth Development Foundation and other enterprises that support this program with our specialized experience and expertise in kitchen management and menu design, contributing our due share to improving the quality of life for rural students,” said Bruno. Sodexo has built a volunteer team composed of 20 experts, including dietitians, menu experts, healthy, safe and environment managers, veteran chefs, and catering operation managers. This team is developing nutrition-balanced menu and training programs on nutrition, cooking, food hygiene and kitchen equipment safety for rural students according to the food materials and eating habits in the provinces where Hope Kitchens have been set up.