From frontline to future-focused: Phil Dale’s journey with Sodexo

Phil Dale doesn’t start his working day behind a desk.

In a typical week, he might be hosting a global operational review with colleagues across Europe and Asia, walking sites with General Services Managers, or working with a client on how AI, sustainability and food strategy can improve daily workplace experience. As UK Operations Manager for Sodexo on the Johnson Matthey account, Phil oversees nine sites and a large-scale  contract spanning catering, cleaning and technical services, shaping how thousands of employees experience their workplace every day.

It’s a role built on trust, influence and breadth of thinking – and it’s a long way from where he started. 

Phil joined Sodexo in 2013 as a casual evening cleaner on an FMCG contract while he was at college. FM wasn’t a career plan – in fact, Sodexo wasn’t even on his radar. What changed his perspective was seeing people around him who had started in similar frontline roles and progressed. His first line manager trusted him early on, exposing Phil to compliance, recruitment and team management.

That early trust was reinforced by leaders like Henry Gribbin, reflecting a wider Sodexo approach that prioritises development and invests in people at every stage. Health and safety qualifications, business improvement courses and management experiences came quickly. For Phil, it flipped the job from something short-term into something with momentum. “Sodexo believed in my development,” he recalls. “And I was genuinely enjoying it.”

Rather than staying neatly within one service line, Phil was curious about everything around him. As a cleaning supervisor, he wanted to understand catering. As a site lead, he wanted to understand finance, security and client relationships. That willingness to step outside his remit didn’t go unnoticed.

One stand-out moment was his application for a General Services Manager vacancy – a role he knew he wouldn’t get because on paper, he wasn’t ready. In reality, the application signalled ambition. Instead of dismissing it, Henry Gribbin sat down with Phil and helped to put a development plan in place. The message was clear: you may not be there yet, but we’ll help you get there.

That support led Phil to one of Sodexo’s biggest automobile contracts, where Nick Morton played a key role in his progression, continuing a pattern of leaders creating space for people to stretch and grow. As site lead at a newly opened racing car facility, Phil was given full responsibility across services and performance. It was his first stint at running a complex operation end to end, and it cemented his belief that strong practice could be lifted and shifted across sites. Under his leadership, the contract grew significantly, and so did his confidence.

Five years later, he’s become part of one of Sodexo’s strategic clients – a world leader in sustainable technology solutions.

What made a difference during that period was coaching rather than courses – another example of how Sodexo develops people through real-world responsibility. Erica Reeves, then Account Manager on the contract, became one of Phil’s biggest influences. Instead of focusing on qualifications, she challenged him to think structurally: how to build teams that could run without him, how to free up time to take on multi-site responsibility, and how to think like an account leader rather than a site manager. “That changed how I thought about progression,” Phil says. “It wasn’t about adding lines to my CV. It was about impact.”

That thinking underpins his role today, particularly in how services are designed around people rather than processes. As UK Operations Manager, Phil balances operational detail with long-term strategy. He leads global reviews, contributes to multi-year planning, and works with Sodexo colleagues across regions to bring best practice into Johnson Matthey’s workplaces, from smarter use of data to more sustainable food and FM solutions. He is also deeply hands-on, spending time on sites, talking to teams, tasting food and understanding how small changes affect daily experience.

People remain central to how he works, and to how Sodexo operates more broadly across its contracts. Phil is known for spotting potential in unexpected places and investing time in development. Several of his current managers started in frontline roles. His approach is simple: listen first, understand what someone wants to achieve, and then use the Sodexo network to connect them with the right opportunities. “I might not have all the answers,” he says, “but I’ll know someone who does.”

What keeps Phil motivated isn’t the scale of the contract or the job title, but the effect those decisions have on people’s day-to-day working lives... It’s momentum. Making services better than they were yesterday. Helping someone take a step they didn’t think was possible. Being close to the action rather than removed from it. “That’s why I struggle working from home,” he admits. “I get my energy from being around people and the service.”