Strong start for Sodexo UK & Ireland, as purposeful business pays off
April 19, 2024
Following the announcement of Sodexo’s first half Fiscal 2024 results, Sean Haley, CEO UK & Ireland, reflects on the region’s success over the last six months.
In the first half of our financial year, Sodexo’s growth – and more specifically, our growth with purpose – has been very positive. Every contract retained or won has been – in part at least – in recognition of the quantified and tangible positive social impact we deliver as a company, in partnership with our clients and suppliers.
We are optimising the workplace and employee experience at a time of significant change. Our extended global contract with AstraZeneca is a truly great example of a working partnership through a highly collaborative Vested® agreement*, offering consumers access to global food brands, carbon labelling on menus and a digitised grab and go food offer.
We are also now delivering foodservices to the ground-breaking higher education institution, University Academy 92 (UA92), which chose to partner with Sodexo as a purpose-led provider that could support UA92’s founding principles of accessibility, social mobility and inclusivity.
Our colleagues in Ireland have successfully retained a number of contracts in the education sector, and this, alongside the growth of our corporate services business, reinforces our position as a world leader in sustainable food and valued experiences.
Our partnerships with many public sector organisations have also continued. We have been awarded a new 10-year contract with Royal Stoke Hospital, where last year we were the first to install an innovative automated 24/7 deli solution, providing hospital staff and visitors with access to nutritious and tasty hot food and drink on demand.
We are ambitious and optimistic for the future. We look forward to further accelerating our growth as a partner chosen not just for our service excellence and continued innovation, but importantly as a responsible, purpose-led provider that is taking bold and tangible actions to improve the lives of colleagues, clients and consumers in the communities where we work and serve.
Our results speak for themselves: earlier this year we announced in the 12 months up to 31 May 2023 we have reduced our carbon emissions by 37%. This has put us ahead of schedule in our journey to net zero 2040. More recently, we announced our intention to add carbon labelling to menus at 300 of our client sites where we provide food services, part of our work towards ensuring 70% of main dishes on our menus are low carbon by 2030 – a key lever in our SBTi-validated net zero targets.
Being clear on how we make a positive social impact is the driving force behind everything we do – from creating job opportunities for ex-offenders and cutting food waste. At our recent annual Stop Hunger Foundation dinner we raised a record-breaking £286,000 which will go directly towards supporting disadvantaged communities and addressing the root causes of food insecurity.
We continue to challenge ourselves to do more – whether that be on one of our 2,000 sites or in our communities across the region. We recognise that our success is down to our colleagues who deliver service excellence for our clients across the UK and Ireland, whether in the public or private sector, as part of an operational or functional team.
Every day, our colleagues make a difference and we thank them for that, every year we can feel proud of the impact we are having.
Sean Haley
CEO Sodexo UK & Ireland
* The Vested® business model is based on award-winning research conducted by the University of Tennessee College of Business Administration. In this case, both parties commit to a high level of transparency and collaboration, starting with crafting the agreement together. Incentives are built to drive mutual business success, driven by a ‘What’s in it for we’ mindset. The agreement aims to increase innovation, reduce long term cost, increase efficiency in FM, improve employee engagement and encourage alignment on sustainability and productivity goals.