A Better Tomorrow 2023 Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility Report
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Table of Contents Our Impact on Individuals .............8
Table of Contents..............................................2 Overview..............................................................3 Leadership Message to Our Readers...........4 Better Tomorrow 2025 Roadmap.................5 How We Work with Stakeholders .............6-7
Our Impact on Communities ......20
Our Impact on the Environment...32
Commitment: Quality of Life for Employees........................................9-11
Commitment: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I).............................21-24
Commitment: Responsible Culture..........................33-36
Commitment: Healthy Choices............................12-15
Commitment: Sustainable Development...........25-28
Commitment: Carbon Reduction.............................37-41
Commitment: Fight Hunger..................................16-19
Commitment: Social Change.................................29-31
Commitment: Sustainable Resource Usage..........42-45
About This Report
Data Assurance
Additional Information
“A Better Tomorrow: 2023 Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report" covers Sodexo USA during the fiscal year 2023 (September 2022 to August 2023). Our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are reported from June 2022 to May 2023 and cover our On-Site Services and Entegra, excluding Employee Benefits & Rewards and Home Services (except where noted).
To ensure transparency, the indicators in this report have been audited by an independent third party. Sodexo USA On-Site Services underwent a third-party audit as part of the verification for the fiscal year 2023 regarding the Non-Financial Reporting Directive of Sodexo Group, conducted by KPMG. The figures that were reviewed in the audit with limited assurance are labeled with "LA," and the indicators verified with a reasonable level of assurance (highest level possible) are labeled with "RA" in this document.
U.S.: On our website, we invite you to view more details on our USA Sustainability and CSR approach, read our experts’ blogs and explore examples of how we live our CSR commitments every day. Canada: Explore sustainability and impact in Sodexo Canada’s Better Tomorrow & Indigenous Reconciliation Report. Global: To learn more about Sodexo Group’s Corporate Responsibility activities in 2023, including the TCFD and SASB indices, we invite you to view our Universal Registration Document.
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Overview For some it’s just a canteen meal, just a few leftovers, just a day job. For us it’s a healthy child, a battle to reduce food waste, the start of a career… What others see as trivial, we see as essential. Because we know that it is precisely by focusing on the concrete, on the tangible, on the everyday, that we make a real difference not only to a person’s day, but in the long run, to the lives of all and the planet.
From Day 1, Our Focus Has Been The Everyday We are conscious of the enormous difference everyday actions make when you multiply them by the millions of people we care about, all over the world, day in and day out. Through the years, we’ve embraced the responsibilities that come with our scale and strive to make everything we do today as positive and impactful as we can for tomorrow. Making the delicious nutritious. Giving opportunities to those who have never been given a chance. Caring about communities and about the individuals within. Acting for the planet. Making the most of today for tomorrow. Rooted in our humanist values and committed to going further at Sodexo, our purpose is to create a better everyday for everyone to build a better life for all.
Who We Are We are a majority family-owned company headquartered in France. We have operated Sodexo USA since 1971, with North American headquarters in Maryland. Sodexo USA has 125,000 employees across 50 states. We are a leading provider of integrated food, facilities management and other services for millions of customers in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government, energy and other environments. Wherever we work, our dedication to building a better tomorrow for people and organizations comes from our mission: to improve the quality of life of our employees and those we serve, and to contribute to the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which we operate. See more in our Purpose video.
Our Impact On The Environment
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Leadership Message to Our Readers
Sarosh Mistry President & CEO, Sodexo North America
There is much more behind the great experience delivered by our teams every day. Our actions reflect protecting human health, preserving nature, uplifting communities and supporting innovation. We aim to become the global leader in delivering sustainable food and valued experiences at every moment in life, as we work, heal, learn and play. And we understand this requires profound operational transformation involving all our stakeholders: suppliers, clients, consumers and employees. Our commitments represent the next big steps in building a resilient environment and company, and we’re progressing steadily toward our goals.
Our sustainability journey is lined with partnerships. Partnerships with our clients, suppliers, non-profit associates and our communities. Sodexo’s US Sustainability and CSR Report looks back on some of the key partnerships from the past year and how they’ve helped us on our journey through guidance and innovation. This year, we grew our partnerships with leading climate impact organizations. We became a signatory of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Health Sector Climate Pledge. We also joined Project Drawdown’s Drawdown Lab and Business for Social Responsibility’s Centering Health Equity Within Climate Action coalition. All three institutions emphasize the need to take action now to fight climate change with just and equitable solutions. Centering collaboration in our environmental approach includes our own employees. We empower our employees by offering opportunities to engage and act with purpose. We hosted Innov’Challenge, an all-employee contest for sustainability solutions (see page 36). Our first cohort of employees launched into becoming certified Sodexo sustainability leaders through our Better Tomorrow Certification Program (see page 33). We invested in developing internal trainers for the globally-recognized “Climate Fresk” climate action course (see page 34). We continued to invest in operator resources with our refreshed Food Recovery & Donation Guide that we also shared with the public (see page 17). Thank you to all our employees and partners for moving us forward together.
Jessica Synkoski Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility for Sodexo in North America
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Better Tomorrow 2025 Our global CSR strategy is Better Tomorrow 2025, led by Sodexo Group. We have nine commitments that leverage our interconnected roles as an Employer, a Service Provider and a Corporate Citizen to achieve positive impact on individuals, communities and the environment. The Better Tomorrow 2025 strategy informs the Sodexo USA approach to CSR and sustainability.
Our 9 Commitments & Objectives Our Impact on
Individuals
Our Role as a Service Provider
Our Impact on
Communities
Our Impact on
The Environment
Improve the Quality of Life of our employees, safely
Ensure a diverse workforce and inclusive culture that reflects and enriches communities we serve
Foster a culture of environmental responsibility within our workforce and workspaces
80% Employee Engagement Rate
100% of our segments have gender-balanced management teams
100% of on-site management & senior leaders are trained on sustainable practices
Provide and encourage our consumers to access healthy lifestyle choices
Promote local development, fair, inclusive and sustainable business practices
Source responsibly and provide management services that reduce carbon emissions
100% of our consumers are offered healthy lifestyle options every day
25% of spend on small businesses
34% reduction of carbon emissions
Act sustainably for a hunger-free world
Drive diversity and inclusion as a catalyst for societal change
Champion sustainable resource usage
3.6 million annual Stop Hunger beneficiaries
Empower women in communities
50% reduction in our food waste at sites representing 85% of our raw material cost
Our Role as an Employer
Forward Together When it comes to creating a better, more sustainable and inclusive future, we believe in the power of the journey. We believe in a great experience provided by our teams’ actions every day, and a better tomorrow made possible with our industry-leading commitments. We are united on this journey to help you make real impact to empower well-being, to maximize resources and minimize your carbon footprint, and to elevate quality of life for all as we move forward together.
Our Impact On The Environment
Our Impact On Communities
Our Role as a Corporate Citizen
Key:
n Global commitment
n U.S. objective
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A Better Tomorrow Takes Everyone: How We Work With Stakeholders We engage stakeholders to inform and influence our actions, extend our impact and hold ourselves accountable. Here’s how we do it.
We Align to Global Frameworks The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect our planet and ensure that by 2030, all people enjoy peace and prosperity. This framework informs how we fulfill our Better Tomorrow 2025 commitments. With less than half of the time remaining, we must accelerate the role we play to make the world more equitable, fair and sustainable. We also index to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) in our global reporting. Our commitments are interdependent. We recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.
We Collaborate on Our Focus Our materiality matrix shows the way. Through interviews and surveys with employees, clients, suppliers and community organizations, we identified and ranked nearly 30 issues according to our impact on them and their impact on our business. In 2021, we conducted our third materiality assessment and analyzed stakeholder insights for the North American region. We learned that North America demands more emphasis on social matters, such as empowerment and inclusion of underrepresented communities. We’ve used these results to tailor our approach to sustainability and CSR in North America, specifically highlighting the social impacts of our efforts across each of our nine commitments. These learnings reinforce our Better Tomorrow 2025 roadmap and that we’re on the right track.
Our Impact On Communities
Our Impact On The Environment
North American Materiality Matrix
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Key Achievements SEAL Business Sustainability Awards — Sodexo received a SEAL Sustainable Innovation Award for our Better Tomorrow Certification Program that supports an environmentally responsible workplace culture. The award recognizes innovations representing gamechanging ideas that bring us to a more sustainable future.
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Protein Sustainability Scorecard — Sodexo has been awarded an “A+” by the HSUS on its Protein Sustainability Scorecard for our commitment to embracing plant-based proteins.
We Engage Employees: Governance We know that sustainable outcomes are the responsibility of the entire business with governance and processes spread through functions. To support good governance of our sustainability practices and procedures, we engage our employees at all levels of the company. As executive sponsors, our North American president and three segment CEOs advise on and advocate for our four priorities: carbon reduction, waste reduction, plant-based eating and social impact. Our Better Tomorrow Leadership Committee comprises members from directors to presidents across business segments and key functions. It meets regularly to advise on the sustainability and CSR strategy for the North American region. In addition, our Better Tomorrow Community of Practice is open to all employees. This voluntary engagement group comes together to share best practices, participate in trainings and solve challenges for implementing our Better Tomorrow roadmap. Employee participation is essential for both putting our sustainability and CSR plans into action and providing valuable feedback on our performance.
Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI) — For the 18th consecutive year, we have been ranked among the top-rated companies of the Restaurants & Leisure Facilities on the S&P Global Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.
EcoVadis — The EcoVadis assessment covers Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement dimensions. In 2022, Sodexo has been placed in the top 2% of companies.
CDP — Sodexo Group received a “B” score from the CDP. Our score is above the Europe average and the sector average of B-, and the same as the global average score. This recognition demonstrates key progress on our carbon strategy.
FTSE4Good Index — Sodexo Group is a constituent of the FTSE4GOOD Index, a series measuring the demonstration strong Environmental, Social and Governance practices.
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A Better Tomorrow for Individuals Our Impact on Individuals
Commitment: Quality of Life for Employees
Commitment: Fight Hunger
Commitment: Healthy Choices
Our Role as an Employer
Our Role as a Service Provider
Our Role as a Corporate Citizen
We are committed to safely improving our employees' quality of life. Taking a holistic approach to support our employees' overall well-being is essential and enables us to meet our objective of an 80% employee engagement rate.
Our commitment to provide and encourage our consumers to access healthy lifestyle choices drives us to meet our objective to offer healthy options to 100% of our consumers every day.
We are committed to act sustainably for a hunger-free world with a strategic objective to impact 3.6 million annual Stop Hunger beneficiaries.
Pages 9-11
Pages 12-15
Pages 16-19
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Quality of Life for Employees How We Measure
Overview We are committed to improving the quality of life for employees. It’s our duty to provide a sound, positive and safe working environment for our employees. We must ensure the health and safety of workers through adequate protection. At its best, a sound working environment includes: A zero-harm culture Pleasant and adaptive physical environment Protection from harassment New ways of working, such as flexible time and promoting work-life balance
2025 target
Recreated
Our target is an 80% employee engagement rate.
100%
80%
60%
77% 70% 76%
Employee engagement rate as a % of survey respondents. 51% of U.S. population participated in FY23.
40%
20%
Employee access to financial well-being 0
Why This Matters Healthy, safe work environment policies and practices are key to engagement, innovation, employee retention and customer service.
Overall U.S. Employee Engagement RateRA
FY 2020 2021 2023
This survey was not conducted in FY22.
Engagement, rooted in well-being, is fundamental to business outcomes. We know that we can only deliver a meaningful Sodexo experience to our clients and customers when our employees are engaged. We measure employee engagement through Voice, our global biennial engagement survey that focuses on nine themes: 1. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 2. Corporate Social Responsibility 3. Growth 4. Impact 5. Connection 6. Meaning 7. Autonomy 8. Ethics 9. Happiness
Sodexo directly manages full-time employees, part-time employees and subcontractors within the U.S. Our employees work in a wide variety of environments (industrial, kitchens, logistics, service, etc.), which means a wide variety of health and safety conditions.
This survey helps us better understand how our employees are feeling, what keeps them motivated and what improvements could make Sodexo a better place to work.
An employee’s health, safety and well-being cannot be isolated to the job site. We also understand and care about the ongoing trend in mental health concerns and need for financial well-being.
For the first time in FY23, all U.S. senior managers and above had a safety measure as part of their bonus incentive plan to further embed accountability in our culture of safety.
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New Employee Value Proposition Articulates Our Aspirations Belong. Act. Thrive. When Sodexo chose these words as our new employee value proposition (EVP), we wanted to reflect our employees’ spirit and voice. “A strong EVP is important to any organization,” says Jamia Belton, Director of Talent Experience for Sodexo North America. “This is our promise. This is our culture. This is how we show up. It’s our foundation and what we offer as an employer.” To find our voice, company leaders started with a global employee survey. About 7,000 team members participated in the research and recommendations to develop an authentic EVP that resonates with talent globally. Strengths and weaknesses were identified, and an aspirational, responsive EVP was crafted in 2022. Our EVP reflects our commitment to diversity, says Tony Tenicela, Vice President and Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Sodexo U.S.
“Our people are at the heart of everything we do every day. Our DEI strategy and initiatives are fully aligned with the employee value proposition, supporting the ability to belong to a team, act with purpose, and encouraging employees to thrive in their own way.” Now, we’re focused on integrating, amplifying and putting the EVP into action. In the area of “Belong,” our annual Voice Engagement Survey takes the pulse of our workforce, soliciting feedback.
Our nine employee business resource groups (EBRGs) are also key in building community. “Our employee business resource groups create safe spaces for our teams to belong,” Tenicela says. “And our Racial Equity at Work certifications provide accountability to measure the efficacy of our DE&I journey, allowing for additional visibility, which will help us not only attract, but retain qualified employees committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.” We know opportunities to “Act” meaningfully both attract and retain employees. At Sodexo, our Stop Hunger Foundation provides opportunities for volunteering and charitable work, while our Better Tomorrow initiatives engage employees in corporate social responsibility. Employees can bring the EVP to life by participating in challenges like WasteLESS Week, GOALympics and focus groups for Sodexo’s Better Tomorrow Community of Practice, our group for sharing best sustainability practices. Meanwhile, the “Thrive” pillar ensures training, mentoring and professional development programs provide equitable opportunities to rise. A new “Life at Sodexo” training – highlighting the EVP – is now a new-hire requirement and site managers have access to EVP webinars and back-of-house materials. The Better Tomorrow Certification Program, launched this year, trains employees in sustainable practices and builds CSR expertise. Belton also says many Sodexo managers and employees were already living “Belong, Act, Thrive.” The words just formalized the commitment. “Their everyday actions are truly making a big impact.”
Our Impact On The Environment
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Creating a More Equitable Workplace for Our Frontline
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Our Impact On The Environment
Sodexo is committed to quality of life and a healthy work-life balance for all. That’s why we recently revamped our frontline workforce vacation policy, moving to a plan that allows newly hired employees to begin earning vacation immediately. “This shift really does show Sodexo’s commitment to a healthy work-life balance from Day One,” explains Amanda Westerheid, Director of Talent Project Management for North America. “This is a great improvement.” Westerheid says there’s an ongoing effort to improve and align benefits company-wide to create safer, healthier and more equitable workplaces. “We want to make sure all eligible employees have access to the benefits they need regardless of their role.” For example, employees enrolled in our Aetna health plan are enjoying health support programs. Carrum Health provides access to Centers of Excellence providers at little to no cost for certain procedures, such as knee, heart, spine, cancer support, weight loss and more. Hinge Health offers free personalized virtual physical therapy. Sodexo also launched Vita – a common benefits standard for all employees – this year. It provides all eligible employees with minimum benefits, including Care leaves for primary, secondary and family caregivers (up to 12 weeks’ pay, depending on leave type); life insurance benefits equivalent to one year of salary; and a 24/7 employee assistance line offering counseling and support. In the U.S., company paid life insurance and employee assistance benefits are already available. The new Care leave benefits will begin phased rollouts in January 2024.
Lost-time Incident Rate (LTIR)RA K EY PERF O R MANCE I ND I CATORS
0.58 LTIR in FY21
0.58 LTIR in FY22
Number of lost time injuries divided by the total number of hours worked from 9/2022 to 8/2023.
0.46 LTIR in FY23
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Our Role as an Service Provider
Healthy Choices How We Measure
Overview We are committed to encouraging our consumers to access healthy lifestyle choices, including balanced and nutritious eating. Specifically, that means eating more fruits and vegetables, legumes and whole grains, as well as less salt, sugar and unhealthy fats. Increasingly, a healthy lifestyle also includes whole-food plant-based options. Healthy choices can be made easier when they are accessible, affordable and high quality. We address these three important barriers within our client services.
Why This Matters We have a responsibility to offer healthy products and help consumers choose healthy eating options. To ensure customer satisfaction, we must anticipate and respond to evolving customer expectations, including access to healthy lifestyle choices. We serve millions of consumers each day in the U.S. and more than 25% of U.S. consumers are limiting their meat consumption, according to the 2023 Plant-Forward Opportunity Report. Conditions of how and where people live, learn, eat and play can drive up to 50% of health outcomes in the U.S.2 These conditions are known as social determinants of health. Addressing these determinants advance health equity. 2: Hood CM, Gennuso KP, Swain GR, et al. County Health Rankings: Relationships Between Determinant Factors and Health Outcomes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. February 2016; 50(2):129135. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2015.08.024
2025 target
Recreated
Percent of U.S. sites offering healthy lifestyle choices.RA
100% of our consumers are offered healthy lifestyle options every day.
94%
95%
89%
2021
2022
2023
This is calculated usingoptions 12 questions offeringincluding and promoting healthy This is calculated using 12 questions around offering and promoting healthy to around our guests access tooptions dairy alternatives, to Mindful our guests approach including access to dairy alternatives, seafood on a regular basis seafood on a regular basis and whole grain options. Sodexo’s embodies these healthy principles andand is the way we grain options. Sodexo’s Mindful Approach embodies thesehas healthy principles and from most often promote these ideals to our consumers. In FY23, whole our Better Tomorrow this indicator calculation been updated the reflect way we most promote these ideals to our consumers.coverage. percentage of sites to percentage of revenue at sites in orderis to the often reality of volumes and consumer
There can be various measures for healthy lifestyle choices. People have different nutritional needs and motivators to make a behavior change. In addition to the main metric shown here, we also review evolving health trends and consumer insights. For example, we measure the percentage of Mindful options, plant-based and vegan options we offer. See more about how we motivate consumer choices in the Carbon Reduction section on our webpage. We also track the number of registered dietitians we employ. Their expertise helps clients develop healthy lifestyle selections.
We aim for Plant-Based Planned Menus by 2025. This year, 25%* of our planned menus are plant-based. * as of Fall 2023 in the U.S.
Sodexo employs
registered dietitians in the U.S. We are the largest private employer of Registered Dietitians in the U.S.
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Freakshakes & Boba:
Innovating Toward a Plant-forward Future Whether students choose plant-based offerings to shrink their carbon footprint, support animal welfare or for health or allergen reasons, they expect something delicious. “The plant-based version has to be as good as the animal offer,” DiFrancesco says. “It has to be equitable.” “Equitable” comes up often with Chef DiFrancesco and Rob Morasco, VP Universities Innovation. They strive to create plant-based offerings as good – or even better – than those made with animal proteins. Like the incredible plant-based “Freakshakes” served in a pop-up format this year. The “insanely indulgent” coconut-based shakes came in enticing flavors, like Dreamsicle, S’mores and Strawberry Shortcake, with boba pearl, marshmallow, rock candy and Twizzler toppings. Some were even gluten-free. “Making the Freakshakes 100% plant-based was a priority because I wanted to appeal to the masses, not just vegetarians and vegans,” DiFrancesco says. “I wanted students to say, ‘this is fun and funky, and I want to take a picture and post it on Instagram.’”
Fifty percent plant-based by 2025. That’s the commitment we’ve made to the campuses we serve, where a new generation is hungry for sustainable, healthy, plant-forward cuisine. To reach our goal, we know those plant-based offerings must also be exciting and creative, with mouth-watering, global flavors. “It can’t just be just broccoli and brown rice sitting in a pan,” says Chef Jennifer DiFrancesco, Manager, Solutions Development for Campus. “It has to be craveable.”
It worked. Students loved the shakes. And our chefs found the ingredient kits with recipe cards and marketing materials easy to offer up. When surveyed via QR code, 97% of students called the Freakshakes their “favorite indulgence.” They chose “Sensational Sushi” and “Boba Blast” as their next pop-ups. “You know you’ve got it when you see students whip out their phones,” Morasco says. Freakshakes proved the perfect equitable plant-based treat. “They didn’t have to sacrifice anything.”
Sushi was almost as popular and featured a plant-based roll. The boba experience will be vegetarian. Every semester, we’ll offer a new pop-up and schools can also extend or repeat any offer. Next up are Crazy Cosmic Cookies with customizable icings and toppings, Wild & Wacky Walking Tacos, featuring Takis and fixings in a bag and Wonderous (liege) Waffles, dipped in chocolate and candies. Whether it’s a Candy Crush Freakshake or Nashville Chicken Sandwich made with “Incogmeato,” fun is on the menu.
“We’re not just doing plant-based because it’s the right thing to do environmentally...we’re having fun,” Morasco says. “Sometimes we overanalyze why students want more plant-based foods. Sometimes they just think it’s cool to try something new and exciting.” DiFrancesco says feeding students is inspiring. In addition to winning students over to plant-based eating, our leadership in this space helped earn us a coveted A+ rating from the Humane Society of the United States. “I always love to say Gen Z is plugged into a world of flavors,” she says. “They’re seeking these culinary journeys.”
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Plant-Based Defaults Encourage Healthy Choices Demand for plant-based food has increased as consumers seek an effective way to prioritize their health. Consuming less meat can decrease the risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and some forms of cancer, according to the American Heart Association. In addition, climate change impacts have become urgent and inescapable, leading people to explore plant-based diets as a way to substantially reduce their personal carbon footprint. Although 35% of Americans are actively trying to reduce meat consumption, some struggle to make change, according to a Gallup poll. So, Sodexo is making plant-based eating easier and more convenient. At many partner sites, we’re empowering people to eat more plant-based foods by making these dishes the default menu selection. Plant-Based Meals for Patients One meaningful example comes from NYC Health + Hospitals. In 2019, NYC H+H began offering plant-based meals every Monday, part of a pledge initiated by the Brooklyn Borough president. Although patients could request a meat-based dish instead, the plant-based meals proved extremely popular — 97% of patients selected the meatless meal. In March 2022, NYC H+H expanded by offering plant-based meals as the chef’s daily lunch recommendation. In late 2022, plant-based meals also became the primary option for all dinners, enabling patients to receive their necessary nutrition through plant-based ingredients. NYC H+H now serves a wide array of unique, nutritious and culturally diverse plant-based dishes as the default menu selection for daily lunches and dinners. In the coming year, NYC H+H aims to serve about 850,000 plant-based meals. The program has resulted in a reported 36% reduction of food-based emissions for NYC H+H through February 2023.
College Students Embrace Plant-Based Sodexo recently partnered with Food for Climate League, Better Food Foundation and Boston College researchers to examine the impact of offering plant-based dishes as the default choice on college campuses. Researchers used one station in the all-you-care-to-eat dining hall as a test site. A plant-based dish was the main option, but a meat-based version of the same dish, hidden from view, was available upon request. The results were staggering. At two participating campuses where the daily plant-based default was offered consistently, the number of students who ate a plant-based meal shot up from 30% to nearly 82% on days the plant-based option was the default. Furthermore, students were happy with the change when it was presented in this way. Surveys revealed students were significantly more likely to express satisfaction with plant-based meals when those meals were the default. One Part of the Solution Plant-based menus are a major lever in Sodexo’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Ensuring 50% of our campus dining planned menus will be plant-based by 2025 is a critical step. “Reducing animal-based food purchases is a key part of our carbon reduction strategy,” says Brett Ladd, Sodexo CEO Campus and Government. “Having the plant entrée as the default demonstrated that people are open to trying and enjoying plant-based options.”
Our Impact On The Environment
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Therapeutic Gardening for Seniors
Our Impact On Individuals
Our Impact On Communities
A rejuvenating gathering place. A pleasurable hobby. An aromatherapeutic inspiration to eat fresh, healthy foods. At Simpson senior living communities in Pennsylvania, residents are enjoying indoor gardening through a partnership with mobile garden creator Eldergrow, a program supporting our commitment to provide consumers access to healthy lifestyle choices. Three locations have gardens – Simpson House in Philadelphia, Simpson Meadows in Downington and Jenner’s Pond in West Grove. Studies show therapeutic horticulture provides sensory stimulation, reduces depression, improves balance and lowers dementia risk factors. Each property has a mobile two-sided garden, designed for working at wheelchair height. Eldergrow’s horticultural educators lead bimonthly sessions featuring herbs, activities, gardening tips and wine pairing suggestions. Staff follow-up with cooking demos, mocktail/cocktail events and activities available through Eldergrow’s educational portal. “Staff take full advantage of the portal and residents have a great time with the program,” says Maureen Dixon, Simpson House Community Life Director. At Jenner’s Pond, the garden draws some quieter residents out. “This has allowed us to reach residents who love to garden,” says Crystal Margerison, General Manager of Dining Services. At Simpson Meadows, residents tend flowers and herbs, including basil, oregano, thyme, parsley and mint, used for mint juleps and flavored water, General Manager Norman Engel says. They gather around the garden to chat and share recipes. “It’s forming a community.” For Eldergrow CEO and Founder Orla Concannon, the Simpson-Sodexo partnership is an innovative way to bring nature indoors, supporting resident wellbeing.
"Because if you have a healthy garden, you know you have a healthy Community!"
Our Impact On The Environment
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Our Role as a Corporate Citizen
Fight Hunger Overview
Why This Matters
Sodexo is committed to fighting hunger and malnutrition. Inadequate access to healthy food is a significant challenge Recreated for millions of Americans. For too many, healthy food is not affordable or available.
Our employees see hunger up close in the places we operate, especially among K-12 and university students. We work to ensure people have access to healthy food today by reducing food waste (see Sustainable Resource Usage section), increasing food donations and supporting backpacks, food pantries and summer feeding programs. We are also committed to ending hunger permanently by supporting a variety of programs like workforce development and community gardening.
As a leader in the food service and facilities management industries, we are part of everyday life in thousands of communities across the U.S. We can use our skills, expertise, leadership and resources to address the problem of persistent hunger in America. Twenty-five years ago, we supported the creation of the Stop Hunger mission, which just three years later became an official not-for-profit foundation. Stop Hunger focused on the fight against hunger and food insecurity with the belief that empowering women and younger generations is at the heart of a better future. We know relieving hunger today alone is not enough. We also must prevent hunger tomorrow, which is why we invest in — and measure our impact through — driving a movement of people to respond, empower and unite communities. The Foundation’s collective power stems from its volunteers, NGO partners and the unique ecosystem of Sodexo as the founding partner.
2025 target
3.6 million Stop Hunger beneficiaries annually
600 M
Meeting people’s urgent needs in the U.S.
500 M
4.9M
400 M
300 M
200 M
2.5M
2.8M
100 M
0
Number of direct + indirect Stop Hunger beneficiaries.RA Reporting year: 9/2022 to 8/2023
FY 2021 2022 2023
How We Measure The Stop Hunger Foundation uses a global metric tracking system. Direct beneficiaries include 2.4 million. Indirect beneficiaries include over 400,000. In FY23, Stop Hunger Foundation donated $2.1M to 239 organizations across the US.
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Our Impact On Individuals
Our Impact On Communities
Community Partnerships + Technology = More Food Donations, Less Waste Food waste is inevitable in any kitchen, but there are better places to send it than a landfill, which contributes negatively to climate change. Alexandre Oliver, Director of Operations for Sodexo’s Good Eating Company at Broadcom in Colorado, is spearheading innovative ways to divert kitchen waste by partnering with local food banks through Feeding America. Oliver and his team use WasteWatch powered by Leanpath (Sodexo’s food waste tracking program) and our new Food Recovery and Donation Guide, created by our sustainability team and the Stop Hunger Foundation. The tools enable them to track their waste and donate extra food to people in need. “In partnership with our client, and in line with our values as Good Eating Company, our operations team has created substantial sustainability and carbon reduction targets, aligned with the values we use to operate our cafe. Using Leanpath, we can review waste data in real time,” Oliver says. “Leanpath allowed us to identify a significant amount of waste going to the landfill. We want to substantially reduce our carbon emissions, so we're doing everything we can to shift our waste disposal from landfill to nourishing people and animals.” Oliver and his team now collect and freeze their excess food Monday through Friday. On Fridays, the donation is weighed and delivered to food banks. While Sodexo outlines clear targets for waste reduction, Oliver and his team are undertaking deeper analysis to track both the reduction goal and where the food goes. Their process entails measuring how much food went to landfill and compost, and how much could be donated. To complete those donations, Broadcom’s three Colorado locations — Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Broomfield — partner with local food banks.
Broadcom units have used Leanpath to measure, report and reduce kitchen food waste since December 2018. Cumulatively, Broadcom’s company-wide efforts have resulted in a roughly 64% reduction in food waste, the equivalent of saving $152k. Broadcom has also prevented more than 62 tons of food waste through effective management, resulting in more than 394 metric tons of CO2 and almost 44,500 gallons of gas conserved, comparable to planting 6,523 trees. “In many ways, it’s easy to waste in kitchen operations. At The Good Eating Company, we see the status quo as a challenge, and we aim to be good stewards of the planet,” Oliver says. “My role is to not lose sight of the goal and to remain focused on the vision and values of our organization. We needed an operational mindset change and I’m thankful for the tools to move the needle forward one more inch in the right direction.” Operational leaders like Oliver play an important role in adapting to model policies in states like Colorado, where there’s significant momentum and need for local involvement in waste diversion. Their best practices can also provide a roadmap for other sites and the larger industry. “It's definitely a mindset we'll keep, moving forward across the country, whenever possible.”
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Turning Commitment into Action: Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation Recovering and donating food are critical actions in the fight against hunger and food waste. Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation is where our company’s commitments in this space intersect and come to life. This year, Stop Hunger partnered with Sodexo’s sustainability team to create a Food Recovery and Donation Guide for our sites and the broader foodservice community. It was designed to help operators repurpose unused food by creating successful food recovery programs. Stop Hunger also joins in community action work with partners to boost our mission and employee engagement, providing team members with more opportunities to “Act” – one of our Employee Value Proposition pillars. During the 2023 Servathon, Stop Hunger worked with Move For Hunger and 22 Sodexo campus sites to organize a Move Out Food Drive, in which students collected non-perishable food items at the end of the semester. A total of 400 volunteers collected 14,220 pounds of food to serve 11,850 meals to hungry people. At Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, one student’s passion kicked off a campus-wide campaign benefiting the Ann Frances Outreach Foundation, a local food bank and mobile pantry. Donation bins placed in each resident hall attracted 534 pounds of food. “The Move Out for Hunger food drive at Eastern University was a huge success through the collaboration of the residence hall leaders and our Sodexo dining staff – and, of course, the generosity of the campus community,” says Lin Roberts, Young District Dietitian and Stop Hunger Champion. Other campuses and Sodexo Live! sites participated in Stop Hunger’s Big Soup event, a partnership with Nestle, which mobilized 150 volunteers to cook 1,430 gallons of soup, feeding 14,350 hungry people nationwide.
At West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, Sodexo employees helped cook 150 gallons of chicken noodle soup for the Salvation Army and other organizations. “To see our team come out for such a great cause, doing their part to stop hunger in our communities, was a great experience,” says Tiffany Peden, Sodexo Regional Communications Manager. The WVU team also volunteers at community gardens, in local soup kitchens and with student food backpack programs. Stop Hunger also mobilized Sodexo employees to “glean” food with the Food Recovery Network & Farmlink Project during volunteer “power hours.” In gleaning, volunteers identify fresh excess food from producers and businesses to feed those in need. During the power hour, volunteers research farms online and locate surplus food to redirect. During one session, 13 Sodexo Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) employees helped recover more than 130,000 pounds of surplus food, equaling about 108,333 meals and preventing 57 metric tons of CO2 in food waste. Team members said they enjoyed collaborating to locate sustainable local food to help combat hunger because they could see the direct impact of their actions.
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Beyond Food Aid: Ending Hunger Through Lasting Change
Our Impact On Individuals
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Everyone agrees feeding hungry people today is essential. But the persistent need suggests relieving food insecurity requires more. Lasting solutions will require a multi-dimensional approach: social protections for safe, nutritious food; food system transformation; food access improvements; and investment in people’s ability to improve their livelihoods. We need to look “beyond food aid” to solutions that ensure people are never hungry again. The Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation works with organizations that transform lives through such programs. Two partners, DC Central Kitchen and Together We Bake, offer workforce training and personal development through hands-on culinary experience. During the program, participants gain transferable skills that prepare them for sustainable employment, building self-sufficiency. Nutrition education and gardening are also beyond-food aid solutions, helping people access healthy food and learn to shop and prepare nutritious, affordable meals. One program, Denver Urban Gardens in Colorado provides access, skills and resources to help people grow healthy food. The grassroots organization, founded in the 1970s, operates 190 community gardens, including more than 60 school-based gardens and 14 food forests. It also offers youth programming, workshops, events, volunteer workdays and free/reduced-cost seeds and seedlings. “Beyond food aid solutions can create community for food insecure people,” says Roxanne Moore, Executive Director of Stop Hunger in North America. “People can feel hopeless and alone. Coming together creates a sense of belonging and safety, and a shared faith that their needs and goals can be met. These programs can change people’s lives.”
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Our Impact On The Environment
Improve Quality of Life For Neighbors Our Impact on Communities
Commitment: Sustainable Development
Commitment: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)
Commitment: Social Change
Our Role as an Employer
Our Role as a Service Provider
Our Role as a Corporate Citizen
We are committed to ensure a diverse workforce and inclusive culture that reflects and enriches the communities we serve. Our objective is to have gender-balanced management teams in 100% of our segments.
We promote local development, fair, inclusive, and sustainable business practices. Our strategic objective is 25% of our spend be on small businesses.
We are committed to drive diversity and inclusion as a catalyst for societal change with the objective to empower women in the communities we serve across the country.
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) How We Measure
Overview We are committed to ensuring a diverse workforce and inclusive culture that reflects and enriches the communities we serve. Ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion fosters well-being at work, strengthens the feeling of belonging and contributes to attracting and retaining people with key skills and talents. We aim to avoid cultural bias and prevent discrimination based on attributes such as gender, cultural or ethnic background, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or (dis)ability. We aim for our employees at all levels to represent our diversity dimensions, while participating in an inclusive culture that enables them to thrive.
2025 target Recreated
100% of our segments have gender balance in their management populations.
49% 6 out of 7
business segments have gender balance with between 40%-60% women in management Reporting year: 9/2022 to 8/2023
Why This Matters A dynamic, innovative company requires people with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. We live and do business in a diverse world with needs that reflect that same diversity. At every level, the best performance will come from teams who understand and appreciate this. Sodexo is present in many communities across the U.S. Hiring within the local community is essential to who we are and what we do.
of all managers in the U.S. are womenRA
As a component of our commitment to gender equity, we have set a goal for gender balanced leadership teams. We define that as having a 40% to 60% female-to-male ratio. We consistently measure gender balance organizationally, as well as within business segments, to ensure gender-based leadership equity is present no matter where one works in Sodexo USA. Tracking this representation is only one aspect of how we address DE&I. In addition to gender balance, in the U.S. we also measure ethnicity in our workforce at all levels of the organization (see following pages). This helps us understand and take actions for equity in hiring and development of our workforce and helps us create a better employee experience.
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A Renewed Focus on Mentoring Our Spirit of Mentoring program has experienced a tech infusion with MentorCliq, a platform utilizing match technology to connect mentors with mentees. First launched to a small group of senior leaders and managers, this newly expanded, enterprisewide program enables democratized mentoring in which team members create their own partnerships through a user-friendly, self-guided process. Sodexo’s business segments and employee business resource groups (EBRGs) also offer specific mentoring opportunities. "Our new ALLYance Program provides a reciprocal nine-month offering as an added value for Sodexo's EBRG members,” Davidson says. “This exciting program expands beyond career development, as both mentees and mentors focus on well-being and resilience, which is much needed in these times.”
Sodexo’s mentoring programs are benefiting from new energy and investment, as we reinvigorate long-standing offerings and build innovative programs to nurture our team members and help them thrive. “Mentoring practices have been core to our career development offer for many years as a way to build confidence and enhance leadership at Sodexo," says Jodi Davidson, Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. "We're now evolving and amping up our efforts through a variety of new programs."
Our Healthcare segment demonstrates a focus on mentoring experiences. Healthcare has a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEI&B) Diversity council with five workstreams – one dedicated to developing mentorship opportunities for entry- and mid-level managers. Several successful six-month programs paired knowledgeable executive chefs with new culinary talent. Many of these relationships are still continuing informally. Another program, supported by talented regional Clinical Nutrition managers, offers mentoring circles for dietitians seeking clinical leadership positions. Future mentoring offerings will expand on existing models, focused on developing future leaders for healthcare and senior leadership roles.
Many other programs offer mentoring to Sodexo employees, including LIFT (Leveraging Internal Frontline Talent), which recently celebrated 200 pairs who completed a three-month experience. The Tech & Services team continues to expand its program, building on a track record of driving employee engagement through mentoring. Campus also has a new Marketing Team program. Additional niche programs are launched on an ongoing basis to meet team member needs across segments and functions. Davidson says these opportunities can make work a richer, more connected experience for both mentors and mentees. “It creates a friendship and a buddy system in the workplace,” she says. “And it helps combat loneliness, burnout and isolation.” Mentors get to build their “empathy muscles” and practice guiding in a less directive way. “Mentors are problem solvers and fixers,” Davidson says. “But when it comes to mentoring, it is about being present and holding that space, so mentees can find their own way. Mentors are often surprised and delighted to learn they can gain as much as they give."
"Building such a holistic mentoring culture requires intentionality and organizational commitment. For participants, mentorships can create meaningful relationships that last a lifetime."
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Check Yourself! Are You Being Inclusive? Do I show respect for others? Do I check my biases? Do I help others belong? Many of us have experienced that nagging feeling at work – that we could have handled a situation with more empathy and compassion. Now, Sodexo has launched an initiative to help employees check in with themselves around bias and inclusive behaviors, supporting Sodexo’s employee value proposition of Belong, Act, Thrive. 3 Checks for INclusion is designed to embed inclusion and belonging into our everyday. Growing out of our annual employee Voice Survey and listening sessions, it was created to help employees create a culture where everyone can feel valued, seen and heard. “Diversity, on its own, does not create inclusion,” explains DEI&B Director, Karen Dutton, who oversaw the initiative’s creation in Sodexo’s Healthcare segment. “It is one thing to have a seat at the table, another to be seen and have a voice, and yet another to have that voice heard.”
"this is about creating a culture of inclusion and belonging, taking you beyond performative actions, which stimulates dialog and helps raise awareness."
Inspired by Sodexo’s successful 3 Checks for Safety program, 3 Checks for INclusion encourages employees to examine their biases and behaviors. Managers can share the initiative in pre-shift huddles, with posters and badge cards reinforcing the questions. Training materials to help guide discussions and learning are also posted on the employee intranet in English, Spanish, French and Chinese (with plans to add five languages). Dutton says activity “inclusion cards” are also in the works, for use during meetings and huddles. Charity Chandler, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for North America, says the program provides employees with a framework for discussions with both co-workers and leaders. “3 Checks for INclusion is a very approachable, easy, and quick resource. It encourages people to take a moment to stop and think before they act,” Chandler says. “By nature, most humans want to demonstrate empathy, care and compassion. This is a way to bring people back into that space.” Dutton says she’s received positive feedback on the initiative. One manager used it to help employees who came from diverse backgrounds and held different beliefs get along better, she says. They sat down together, using 3 Checks, to talk through their differences. “Not to change people’s beliefs but, instead, how do we respect each other in the workplace and help each other belong?” she says. “We tend to like homogenous teams. We gravitate to people ‘just like us.’ So, we need to expand our thinking.” “The greatest innovation and success come out of the experiences and ideas from diverse teams.”
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Recreated
Advancing Gender Equity
KEY P E RFO RM A N C E IN DIC AT O RS
Demographics of Sodexo in the U.S.
Sodexo is committed to a diverse workforce, with an inclusive culture that ensures all employees can thrive. To achieve this commitment, the organization remains focused on achieving gender balanced management teams at all levels in 100% of our business segments. Achieving gender balance requires strong leadership at the top. We’re proud that Sodexo’s Global Chairwoman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer , Sophie Bellon, was recognized this year as one of ten CEOs honored with a 2023 CEO Excellence in Gender Equity and Diversity award by the Women Business Collaborative. The award recognizes those “paving the way for gender equity and driving diversity and environments of inclusion beyond data and into practice.” SoTogether, a gender advisory board comprised of C-level leaders and networks across the globe, plays a key role in our mission to advance gender equality. Sodexo’s global SheWorks program provides inspiring job shadowing and mentoring experiences for women in the community. Internally, the SheLeads global blended-learning and mentoring program has helped more than 500 women at Sodexo build leadership competencies, helping them take charge of their careers, develop their networks and gain visibility. In the U.S.A., the SoTogether employee business resource group continues to offer regularly scheduled professional development and networking activities, not only during Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day in March but throughout the year. Not strictly business, their social events — like trivia and virtual laughter yoga — make building community fun.
K EY A C H I E VE ME NT S
All Ethnic Minorities
Women % of total US employees
60%
% of managers and above
49%
% of directors and above
36%
% of total US employees
% of managers and above
% of directors and above
Asian and Pacific Islander
Black
% of total US employees
8%
% of total US employees
% of managers and above
5%
% of managers and above
15%
% of managers and above
% of directors and above
6%
% of directors and above
9%
% of directors and above
62%
35%
23%
Latinx 28%
% of total US employees
23%
12%
6%
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Sustainable Development Overview
Why This Matters
We are committed to promoting local development as well as fair, inclusive and sustainable business practices.
With our scope and scale, we have a responsibility to employ locally and provide business growth opportunities for small and diverse suppliers including disabled, ethnic minority, LGBTQ+, service disabled, veteran and women owned businesses.
We focus on where our operations can have an influence, such as hiring local people, buying from local and diverse suppliers, working with small businesses and investing in the quality of life in local communities. Our engagement with suppliers aims to contribute to their social and economic empowerment and drive societal change through economic benefits. Trustworthy, equitable, healthy and sustainable relationships with our suppliers help ensure fair business. Building responsible, traceable supply chains enables the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the eradication of forced labor, child labor, discrimination and respect of freedom of association and collective bargaining. We champion continuous improvement in care and respect for animals in our supply chains and we partner with our suppliers, farms and processing facilities to be thought leaders in this space. We follow the Five Freedoms principles: freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and disease, freedom to express normal behaviors and freedom from fear and distress.
Small businesses are key engines for growth and job creation. Sodexo is involved in sectors where competition is high and supply chains can be complex, especially when working with the volumes and service levels necessary for operations. It is important to optimize the capabilities of small and diverse businesses to ensure we are creating mutually beneficial supply partnerships. In addition to our direct support, we also hold our vendors accountable by having contract language to report 2nd Tier diverse
and small business spend. We do this to give equitable opportunities to diverse vendors in categories where we do not directly contract, and to align our vendors' support with Sodexo values. By helping suppliers when needed to establish a program, we aim to bring our vendors along the journey with us and expand their supply chains to be more inclusive. Animal welfare is a key component that underpins our responsible sourcing goals. We continue to strengthen our relationships with our suppliers and their supply chain partners and collaborate in multi-stakeholder groups where there are systemic challenges. In this way, we can continuously review and improve our goals and policies, as enhancing animal welfare is our collective responsibility. See our current disclosures on our Animal Welfare webpage.
How We Measure Our supplier diversity program tracks 12 metrics of our small businesses and diverse suppliers to give us an overall picture of the value we bring to communities, our company and our clients. Additionally, we require diverse businesses in all Supply Request for Proposals and have goals for increasing our spending and engagement with our diverse vendor community. We review progress quarterly by segment and function and by diversity category. This data tells us not only how many relationships we have, but how much economic benefit we are providing to our small and diverse suppliers. To measure client value, we track Client Request for Proposals with supplier diversity requirements, supplier diversity engagement with clients and the number of 2nd Tier diverse spend reports provided to clients. We adhere to the standards required by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that are based on company size or annual sales determined by business category (NAICS code). The definition of a diverse company is a business that is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more individuals from a diverse category.
2025 target
25% of purchases we make benefit small businesses.
Supporting Local and Inclusive Communities U.S. business value benefiting small businessLA (million USD, % of total spend). Does not include Entegra spend. During the pandemic, some small business struggled, and we lost some of our former partners. Additionally, some of our sites were not in operation and unable to source from local partners.
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Local, Sustainable Coffee = Community Connections Let’s grab coffee! Hot or cold, flavored or blended, coffee brings people together. Now, it’s connecting Sodexo with our client communities, as we strive to buy more coffee from small, local and diverse vendors. Across the country, Sodexo’s segments and brands are sourcing delicious, high-quality coffee from community roasters with compelling stories. Fueling Diplomats At Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Diplomat Dining has a new partnership with local micro-roaster Square One Coffee. “We really try to partner with locals as much as we can,” Operations Manager Erik Kessler says. “It’s a great way to be part of the community.” And Square One’s mission resonates with students. The company is connected to farmers, visiting and buying from growers in Nicaragua and Honduras. “We know these families,” says Taylor Mihaljevic, with Square One. “It's important to us to pay premium prices for coffee and build long-term relationships with our farmers. Coffee's journey from seed to cup is a beautiful process, and we are excited to share that with our customers." “One hundred percent of the proceeds from the Honduras coffee goes back to the farm,” Mihaljevic says. “Sales from another coffee, Columbia for a Cause, provides $1 from every 5-pound bag to local nonprofits.” The company also focuses on training new baristas, including staff at Franklin & Marshall’s The Diplomatic Café (formerly Blue Line) and Flavors at LS&P. Carisha Peters, The Diplomatic Café manager, says the coffee, which comes in enticing flavors like Candy Bar espresso, is a hit. “We have students that come in every day now because we have Square One.”
Celebrating Farmers & Flavor Sodexo’s Good Eating Company (GEC) also strives to buy local coffee in every client community, finding vendors who can meet sustainability, quality, volume, training and diversity goals, says Grant MacHamer, Senior Manager, Coffee Program. GEC works with nearly 70 local roasters, emphasizing regenerative growing practices and economic empowerment for farmers. The company also connects vendors with other Sodexo sites, such as Red Bay Coffee in Oakland, California, a minority-owned roaster also serving some SodexoMagic accounts. Progeny Coffee near Palo Alto, which supplies St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, is a shining example, MacHamer says. Owner Maria Palacio is a fifth-generation coffee farmer who now buys beans from her own family and other farms in Columbia. She and her husband, John Trabelsi, roast single origin coffee and pay above market prices to lift farmers out of poverty. “She understands the struggle her family went through,” MacHamer says. Progeny also started a separate company, Beyond Trade, to supply Columbian beans to competitors. “Every single coffee they serve has a big picture that says this is the farmer, family, workers you support,” MacHamer says. “Every coffee has a story to tell. It’s delicious, and our clients love it.” “To know you’re supporting a company that’s actually working to get farmers out of poverty… it’s a real celebration. These are the people who deserve the credit.”
Our Impact On The Environment
Growing Our Farm-to-Office Fanbase Chef Andy Leonard’s advocacy for local sourcing and sustainable agriculture extends far beyond his kitchen. All day, the Director of Culinary Services for Sodexo’s Good Eating Company serves up mouth-watering plant-forward meals to employees at an insurance client site in Washington state. Then, he helps them take locally grown produce home. It’s all possible through his longtime partnership with nearby Ecolibrium Farms, an organic farm committed to sustainable practices. Chef Leonard also provides employees with promo codes to save on regular deliveries of community-supported agriculture (CSA) boxes from Ecolibrium, filled with seasonal fruits and vegetables; they can even pick up their boxes at the office. During Earth Month in April, Leonard and Ecolibrium offered a grow bag workshop, sending employees home with plant starters in nutrient-rich soils. In addition, Leonard regularly offers plant-forward events for employees, including a build-your-own grain bowl bar and naan-based flatbread pizza station. A vegan takeover of the station included delicious options like tabbouleh, white bean hummus and fresh tomatoes. In one cooking workshop, Ecolibrium Farms owner Alex Meizlish joined Leonard for a demo with Pacific Ocean Chinook salmon and seasonal produce; after witnessing the expert meal prep, employees enjoyed a delicious, sustainable lunch. "We want to teach people how to use all the parts of a plant while cooking," Leonard says.
"we're hoping that gets people inspired and helps them see the value in farm-fresh produce."
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Sodexo’s Good Eating Company Expands Support for Regenerative Agriculture Serving the best in fresh, sustainable food while supporting small, regenerative farms is a major focus for Sodexo’s Good Eating Company (GEC). For several years, GEC has sourced from small, regenerative and minority-owned farms in Northern California. Now, we’re expanding to Mid-Atlantic and Southern farms, pursuing our commitment to dedicate 15 percent of our food budget to source from farms that use regenerative practices by 2025. Regenerative farming bolsters ecosystems by supporting biodiversity, improving soil health, water and air quality and sequestering carbon, all while growing more nutritious food. “Food and agriculture have significant impacts on the environment, climate and society,” says Renee McKeon, Vice President of Sustainability & CSR for Corporate Services. “Strengthening regional food systems and supporting local regenerative farms provide a real opportunity to help mitigate climate change and boost ecosystem health and resilience.” Working with Common Market, a non-profit regional wholesale food distributor, we’re helping connect our clients and their employees to good food grown by sustainable family farmers. In Georgia, we’re buying from Black-owned farms tending row crops using regenerative practices, including drip irrigation, integrated pest management, cover crops, composting and soil testing. The expansion of the program to other regions where GEC operates builds on our successful work in Northern California, launched in 2021 to serve San Francisco Bay area clients. The program initially supported six farms near Watsonville, California, organized into a distribution collaborative through the nonprofit Kitchen Table Advisors. The program has since expanded to 14 farms, and includes beef, pork and chicken producers.
This partnership, which includes collaborative crop planning, is highly successful, says Claire Turner, Senior Manager, Sustainability Support in Corporate Services. But heavy spring rains destroyed crops in Northern California, impacting harvests and purchasing. “All of our farmers had to replant their fields three or four times,” she says. “We discovered we needed more redundancies in our supply chain.” By bringing in more farms and working together, farms can grow similar products and cover each other’s orders. Chefs appreciate the availability and have increased orders for diverse produce, including heirloom tomatoes, peppers and baby squash. Some products can be slightly more expensive, but others cost the same, Turner says. Also, chefs can use specialty products in smaller amounts. “You can stay within budget and still feature these products.” GEC is now applying this experience to new partnerships. Aggregators, we’ve learned, are invaluable. These organizations bring small and mid-size farms into collaboration and fill the “missing middle,” helping solve production and distribution challenges. When farmers have reliable buyers, they can forecast and dedicate fields to produce with longer growing cycles. “There’s so much uncertainty in farming,” Turner says. "With advance planning and purchase commitments we're trying to put some of our own skin in the game and not have all that responsibility on the farmers. if we want to change the food system, we need to direct money and access to smaller producers.
"this is how we make it work."
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Working with Local Suppliers to Combat Inflation How can food service operators weather inflation? With a resilient local supply chain, advance planning and bulk food storage. From 2020 through 2022, food prices jumped dramatically, due to supply chain disruptions. Food service operators worked to control costs while consistently delivering high-quality meals. And in the Gulf of Mexico, our Energy & Resources team found a solution: local suppliers. By building local relationships, we ensured the 1.5 million meals we serve annually to our offshore client sites were fresh and delicious. Local producers with shorter supply chains can mitigate national disruptions. And our chefs can make creative substitutions with local ingredients. In the Gulf, we also partner with restaurants on food purchases, coordinating orders to make the most of protein deliveries. As a global food leader, we leverage our network and closely monitor prices to plan bulk purchases, buying when prices are best. Our 40,000-square-foot warehouse near New Orleans allows us to safely store bulk purchases. Committing to advance purchases also enables local producers to plan, providing greater economic stability. This approach requires creativity, partnership and flexibility, says Alain Morize, Senior Vice President for North American Energy & Resources Operations. The rewards are significant. In 2022, we saved clients 32% in food costs on average. And we supported smaller community businesses. “The client is happy because costs are managed and they still get good meals,” Morize says.
"our clients want to support the local economy. we're showing we have a positive impact."
Our Impact On Communities
Our Impact On The Environment
K E Y P E RFO RM A N C E IN DIC AT O RS
Number of Tier 1 Women-Owned Small Businesses
309 FY21
323 FY22
354 FY23
$155M spent
2,945
with Tier 1 women-owned small businesses in FY23
diverse and small suppliers supported in FY23.
Responsible Sourcing
Sustainable Fish & SeafoodRA Sustainable fish and seafood as a % of total fish and seafood
24% 88%
of our U.S. business value supported diverse and small suppliers in FY23.
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Our Role as a Corporate Citizen
Social Change How We Measure
Overview We are committed to driving diversity, equity and inclusion as a catalyst for societal change. As a good corporate citizen and a community member, we aim to address the root causes of today’s social inequities. Historical and systemic injustices have disproportional impacts on marginalized populations in the U.S., including women, people with disabilities, veteran, Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, refugee and LGBTQ+ communities. We take steps through advocacy, our business practices, supplier relationships and programs to ensure that equity and inclusion are important lenses through which we view business opportunities.
Recreated
2025 target
Empower women in communities
Recreated FY21
506 women FY21
506 women
FY23
FY22
1,941 women
1,227 women FY22
1,227 women
FY23
1,941 women
Stop Hunger numbers are reported during 9/2022-8/2023 and women owned businesses do not include Entegra data.
Stop Hunger numbers are reported during 9/2022-8/2023 and women owned businesses do not include Entegra data.
Editable Commitment to Societal Change Sodexo's
Why This Matters Closing the gender gap in labor force participation and management in OECD countries can raise global economic activity by about $7 trillion, according to Moody’s Analytics. We operate in and serve communities that face issues such as quality employment, poor living conditions and lack of educational access. Our intentional engagement can contribute to social and economic empowerment and drive societal change through benefits or support. As a leader in the food service and facilities management industries, we play a key role in empowering and employing local communities and driving diversity, equity, and inclusion as a catalyst for societal change. We believe that investing in and empowering marginalized communities benefits everyone.
Sodexo is proud of the work we have done to date as it relates to workforce diversity and recognizes we have much more work to do. The entire organization is working through tangible actions we can take to ensure cultural diversity and social inclusion. Moreover, Editable we are focusing on having hard conversations as they relate to racial equity and equality.
354 number
of women-owned and operated small businesses we supported
354 number
445
SheWorks beneficiaries
445
1,142
Women empowered through beyond food aid grants from Stop Hunger
1,142
of women-owned SheWorks Women empowered Stop Hunger numbers are reported during 9/2022-8/2023 and women owned businesses do not include Entegra data. and operated small beneficiaries through beyond businesses food aid grants from we supported Stop Hunger Stop Hunger numbers are reported during 9/2022-8/2023 and women owned businesses do not include Entegra data.
The number of empowered women is calculated by the culmination (since 2020) of the SheWorks program, Stop Hunger Beyond Food Aid partnership and annual women-owned small businesses in our supply chain. While we do not have a formalized U.S. target, empowering women in the communities that we serve is critical to Sodexo. This includes our Stop Hunger Foundation initiatives, which give us the big picture of our impact. In 2023, we partnered for two women-empowerment grants: Harlem Education Activities Fund and Together We Bake. In addition, we measure our investments in dollars spent with women-owned businesses. This measurement shows us where our business decisions are empowering women.
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EBRG Work in the Community Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs) are known for offering professional development and networking. They also serve as gathering places where employees can connect over common experiences. But Sodexo’s EBRG outreach goes further; our employees support their communities — volunteering and raising money and awareness for the people they care about. In the past year, our nine EBRGs inspired their 2,875 members to donate 2,612 pounds of food, volunteer 1,462 hours and give nearly $2,000 to charitable causes. They also organized 83 programs and welcomed frontline employees through a Seniors pilot program. “EBRGs are at the heart of inclusion at Sodexo,” says Laura Antal, Director of DEI Communities. “They demonstrate our Employee Value Proposition – Belong, Act, Thrive – through events, development opportunities and community connections. They help our employees grow and thrive.” All our EBRGs do incredible community work. Last year, Honoring Our Nation’s finest with Opportunity and Respect (HONOR) – our group for military veterans and families – was named a 2022 Top 25 ERG by Diversity Impact Awards. HONOR participated in Stand Down events, supporting veterans experiencing homelessness. The group collects letters for service people through A Million Thanks. And it sponsors Marine Corp scholarships, as well as National Restaurant Association Education Foundation programming, helping service members transition to foodservice careers. It also supports the Travis Manion Foundation’s work with 9/11 first responders, law enforcement and service members. HONOR also partnered with Sodexo’s Native American Aboriginal Council (NAAC) on the Onslow Veterans Pow Wow in North Carolina in November 2022; NAAC also collaborated with a client EBRG to highlight the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma’s history and culture.
Our Intergenerational Network Group (i-Gen) also created powerful intersectional experiences, working with others, including Sodexo Organization for Latinos (SOL). i-Gen also produces an international EBRG program, “Looking through the Lens,” and supported Sodexo’s Employee Disaster Relief Fund. Meanwhile, our African American Leadership Forum (AALF) worked with Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation to feed those in need. AALF also exhibited at Black college career events, participated in leadership councils and joined a BERG (Black Employee Resource Group) Consortium Juneteenth panel. Our Pan Asian Network Group (PANG) raised money for Maui fire victims and supported U.S. Congresswoman Grace Meng’s COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. PANG also organized Sodexo’s first Arab American Heritage Month. SoTogether, our group for women and allies, worked internally to secure a better family leave policy. It also offers stress management resources and supports the Susan G. Komen and Dress for Success initiatives. The Sodexo Organization for disAbilities Resources (SOAR) advocated for Sodexo to sign Disability:IN’s CEO Letter on Disability Inclusion and helped Sodexo once again achieve 100% on the Disability:IN Disability Equality Index. Finally, our LGBTQ+ and Ally group, People Respecting Individuality, Diversity and Equality (PRIDE), supported the Zebra Coalition for homeless youth in Florida and the Chicago AIDS Walk. The group also advocated for Florida employees during the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation and helped employees source support, medical care and stress/anxiety relief as communities experienced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
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A Welcome Path Through Mentorship For those forced to flee their home countries, integrating into new communities can seem overwhelming. Recognizing the challenges, Sodexo has teamed up with Tent Partnership for Refugees to create a mentorship program that welcomes refugees and offers employment opportunities. Three programs serve Afghan refugees, women refugees and Latinx/ Hispanic refugees. Our goal is to pair 50 employees in each group in the next three years, says Gloria Puentes, Director of DEI External Strategic Partnerships. Mentors meet with their mentees virtually once every month for six months; those who live in the same region meet at least once in person.
“our goal is providing support to refugees, so they will be successful in their journey at Sodexo” Puentes says. Another program, SheWorks, provides job shadow opportunities; it was launched in 2019 by SoTogether, Sodexo’s gender-focused employee business resource group. On March 8, timed with International Women’s Day, SheWorks hosted a webinar for 140 women, in which female Sodexo employees shared their career journeys. Four events in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Chicago followed, inviting 24 women to job shadow at four client sites, where they explored culinary food services and transversal roles. “The feedback was extremely positive,” Puentes says. “The women felt this gave them the opportunity to really learn and understand who Sodexo is and what we do. At the same time, our host mentors were excited about the opportunity to host people at their sites. The added benefit is that empowering women makes our communities stronger.”
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Sustainability at Scale Our Impact on the Environment
Commitment: Responsible Culture
Commitment: Carbon Reduction
Commitment: Sustainable Resource Usage
Our Role as an Employer
Our Role as a Service Provider
Our Role as a Corporate Citizen
We are committed to foster a culture of environmental responsibility within our workforce and workspaces. Our strategic objective is to train 100% of our site managers and senior leaders on sustainable practices.
Our commitment to source responsibly and provide management services that reduce carbon emissions drives us to meet our objective of a 34% reduction in carbon emissions.
We are committed to champion sustainable resource usage with a strategic objective to reduce 50% of our food waste at sites representing 85% of our raw material cost.
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Responsible Culture Overview We are committed to fostering a culture of environmental responsibility within our workforce and workspaces. Our new Employee Value Proposition — our commitment about what we concretely offer to our team members — intentionally uses environmental engagement programs as a demonstration of action. Every employee has a role to play in Sodexo’s pursuit of being environmentally responsible. From preventing waste to eliminating nonessential packaging and sourcing responsibly, we aim to integrate environmental and corporate responsibility across the culture of the company. We use various methods to reach our workforce with the appropriate resources and tools, including universal and customized trainings, an employee best-practices sharing group, a designated resource online hub and tying some bonuses to select Better Tomorrow goals.
Why This Matters Having a culture of sustainability reinforces our policies and guidance by empowering employees to embed responsible choices in the ways that they work. This supports employee-led innovations and sustainable decision-making. We understand the connections between a healthy planet and healthy people. We also recognize that those environmental issues can disproportionally impact marginalized communities. We aim to support equitable and sustainable solutions for all.
How We Measure We track the number of employees trained in sustainable practices annually. This tells us that employees have the skills, knowledge and motivation to make sustainable choices, effectively implement our sustainability practices and support our clients’ sustainability goals. We recognize that we have a challenge in achieving our original commitment and in capturing our training reach. Experience has shown that deeper engagement has advantages. We now focus on matching employees with the most relevant training depending on their role. Through 2025, we will aim to have all on-site managers and senior leaders trained in environmental sustainability including on climate disruption with Climate Fresk.
Another powerful way that we embed a culture of sustainability and ignite action is through SEA for a Better Tomorrow, Sodexo’s proprietary client site sustainability tool to benchmark performance, implement Recreated best practices, track progress and share results with our clients. This real-time, interactive performance tool empowers managers at every site to address client sustainability priorities and show progress over time. SEA has more than 60 best practices that enable managers to execute improvements with expertise.
2025 target
100% of our on-site management & senior leaders are trained in sustainable practices.
25
20
20
Our focus on creating a culture of sustainability has led to:
15
10
5
0
FY
8%
9%
2022
2023
15,233 current employees trained since FY2015
The Better Tomorrow Certification Program Sodexo North America’s Better Tomorrow Community of Practice (BTC) brings together about 260 volunteer “Subject Matter Enthusiasts” (SMEs), including on-site operators, district, general and marketing managers. Via virtual meetings and trainings, BTC strives to embed sustainability and CSR into onsite operations. This year, the NorAm Sustainability and CSR team launched the internal Better Tomorrow Certification Program, designed to take BTC members from enthusiasts to experts by quantifying their sustainability work. Members track and self- report activities, earning points for actions — such as contributing to sales proposals or collaborating with clients to improve services — to qualify as either Better Tomorrow Associates or Professionals. The Certification Program supports Sodexo’s strategy to provide comprehensive employee training and professional development, and support company sustainability and CSR goals. It received the 2023 Sustainable Innovation Award honoring Sustainability, Environmental Achievement and Leadership (SEAL).
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Climate Action in the Cards for Sodexo The highly visual cards, which detail the causes and effects of climate change, enable participants to have open and positive conversations about solutions and bond over shared responsibilities and goals. At Sodexo, several of our sustainability leaders are trained facilitators and have offered Climate Fresk workshops to our Better Tomorrow Leadership Committee. The facilitators plan to train other instructors to expand the reach across our business segments. Sodexo’s goal is to offer relevant climate training to all employees. Climate Fresk is well suited for organizational decision makers, as it examines where Sodexo contributes to and is impacted by climate change. This empowers leaders to examine everyday business decisions through the lens of financial and environmental risk and impact. The focus is on opportunities and solutions.
Many people want to tackle climate change, but the technical topic can feel overwhelming and complicated. Enter Climate Fresk, a collaborative educational experience designed by founder Cédric Ringenbach to teach fundamental climate change science and empower action. In the Climate Fresk — named for a “fresco” or collage of ideas — trained facilitators lead workshops using interactive cards to illustrate and explore climate change topics. This sciencebacked training boasts 45,000 facilitators and more than 1 million global participants.
“At every step of the training, we highlight Sodexo’s role, impacts and opportunities,” says Lara Seng, Senior Manager, Sustainability Field Support and a Climate Fresk facilitator. The cards illustrate the connections between climate change and outcomes, such as hunger and biodiversity loss. “The way they built the training, it’s really useful to see how everything is connected,” she says. “We ask, in your role at Sodexo, what can you do to mitigate or slow down climate change? How can you avoid risks and stand out as a leader in sustainability?” In the foodservice business, key topics emerge: agriculture, deforestation, sustainable buildings and transportation.
Leaders discuss how extreme climate change — such as drought — affects crop yields, creating scarcity and price increases. Seng says the experience can bring up strong emotions, as participants learn more about climate change and its consequences. “We take the time to share and process our feelings, but then move straight into action, which is an uplifting part of the exercise,” she says. Katherine Walker, Director of Sustainability and another Climate Fresk facilitator, says the workshops serve as an “opportunity to get our leaders who are responsible for our Climate Ambition clear on the facts and science in an engaging, thought-provoking and interactive way.” “If we are truly going to be the leader in sustainable food and valued experience, it must start with culture change. To truly embrace climate action, everyone needs to be trained appropriately.”
seng says the Climate Fresk workshops will help Sodexo leaders identify their part in combating climate change. "it helps people to see that everyone at Sodexo has a role to play in our climate Journey."
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Turning Trash into Fashion When it comes to engaging employees to think about reducing waste, Denise Hewitt, General Manager of ECU Health Beaufort in Washington, North Carolina, never runs out of ideas. During Sodexo’s 2022 GOALympics — our annual employee contest to reward innovation in waste reduction — her team swept up four gold medals, including coming up with recipes to challenge the staff to use ingredients creatively before they expired. They also won awards for creating personal herb gardens and playing a Price Is Right-style game, in which employees guessed the weight and cost of food items and suggested uses. Before Earth Month began in April, Hewitt’s team came up with ideas for a different activity each week — not a stretch for a very enthusiastic group that’s always willing to pitch in when it comes to sustainability. And of course, they had to top last year’s GOALympics victory. “We asked employees, what do you do with your trash? What do you throw away? Do you donate some things, or do you recycle?” Hewitt says. “We went through the whole gamut. Once we got their feedback, we based our activities on what we wanted to teach them or how we would provide resources for the future.” The discussion led them to discover trash fashion, a kind of subculture in which people create wearable things — from clothes to accessories — out of waste. Everyone had a great time coming up with creative items and the winning entry was truly impressive, Hewitt says. “My clinical nutrition manager took Life WTR bottles with those little fun emblems and made earrings, using melted bottle caps. The champions were the OR team — they stunned us with this gown they call Matilda, using only hospital supplies.”
The activity was so successful Hewitt says the team plans to do it again next year and expand, perhaps putting on a runway show. They want to incorporate all kinds of accessories and maybe shoes and handbags, anything that gets people’s creative juices flowing. The larger goal is to inspire others to think about sustainability — not just at work, but also at home, where they can teach their kids to be responsible stewards of the earth and not buy into a single-use lifestyle. It’s an ethos Hewitt herself lives by. She incorporates sustainability into her daily life, from powering her home with solar to raising chickens in her backyard and growing her own food.
“There are so many benefits to using what you already have,” she says. “The pandemic showed us a lot when the supply chain slowed down. We just don't know at any given day what tomorrow brings.”
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Innov'Challenge Brings New Ideas to Life When we needed innovation, we knew we could count on our 430,000 employees. So, we challenged them to create sustainable solutions to some of the world’s biggest issues. This Innov’Challenge encouraged a culture of sustainable thinking and empowered employees to act with purpose to identify practical solutions for sustainable eating, energy use, waste reduction and nutrition for food service workers. A judging panel of regional leaders and sustainability experts selected finalists to present their ideas to Sodexo’s executive leadership in Paris. Our North American employees submitted 166 ideas and two emerged as global winners. Those winners are developing their ideas into reality, supported by company research and development teams who will identify ways to implement and scale the concepts. Chef Jennifer DiFrancesco, Director of Culinary Innovation for Sodexo Campus, won for her Foodprint Foodhall concept — an immersive dining program focused on zero waste and featuring plant-based, nutritious, locally-sourced menu items with a low carbon footprint. Healthcare Patient Services Manager Stacy Daedelow won for her Food Rescue initiative; her idea ensures employees in need don’t go home hungry.
“the innov'challenge engages our entire workforce around the everyday sustainability they see”, explains Jessica Synkoski, Vice President of Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility for Sodexo North America. “I hope it inspires employees to recognize that CSR is part of everyone’s job, and they are empowered to act.”
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Carbon Reduction Overview We are committed to sourcing responsibly and providing management services that reduce carbon emissions. Achieving our industry-leading climate ambitions will require realigning business priorities, creating opportunities for just, transformational innovations. We measure our direct contributions to carbon emissions (often referred to as Scope 1 and 2 emissions), as well as carbon emissions from our supply chain, and the energy used and waste created at our clients' sites (often referred to as Scope 3 emissions). Carbon emissions are also known as greenhouse gases or GHGs. We have committed to science-based targets for our carbon emissions. Where and how we source the products, services and raw materials essential to our quality of services is part of our Global Responsible Sourcing Strategy. We know that production of those essential raw materials, when not done responsibly, can lead to deforestation, air pollution, soil erosion and contamination, and resource scarcity, which can damage natural habitats and biodiversity.
Why This Matters
How We Measure
Companies must make a collective effort to limit global warming to 1.5°C to prevent the worst effects of climate change. This is the boundary to keep our planet livable according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Climate change disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, so we seek solutions to improve the quality of life for these communities.
We follow the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to calculate our carbon emissions and assign them into 3 categories called Scope 1, 2 and 3. In the U.S., 95% of our emissions are a result of our work on client sites or the purchases, like food, we make on behalf of our clients — this is in Scope 3. It is critical that we partner with our clients and suppliers to make an impact.
Food systems and the built environment are key to Sodexo delivering our services and they are also significant contributors to global carbon emissions, according to the IPCC. We follow the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) guidance for carbon emission reduction and have validated targets to reduce our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 34% by 2025 from a 2017 baseline and for Net Zero by 2040. We continue to look for more and better ways to reduce environmental impacts, including renewable energy and energy efficiency.
34% reduction in carbon emissions.
2025 target
Recreated
Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emission reductionLA
54% reduction
54% reduction
Scope 3 carbon emission reduction FY23, compared to 2017LA
48% reduction
30%
We continually improve our carbon accounting. This year, we are including employee transportation in our calculation for the first time, meaning we are now able to measure every part of our carbon footprint. This includes our direct contributions to carbon emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions), as well as carbon emissions from our supply chain, client site activities and business travel (Scope 3). Although there are assumptions that must be included in the measurement of emissions at client sites, we will continue to use our client site sustainability measurement and reporting tool, SEA for a Better Tomorrow, and client partnerships to improve our reporting capability. See our carbon infographic on page 38.
reduction
FY23 FY21
FY22
FY23
Health Sector Climate Pledge Signatory: We signed the White House / Health and Human Services Health Sector Climate Pledge in recognition of the connection between human and planetary health. We pledge to reduce carbon emission by at least half by 2030, inventory our supply chain emissions, and share our climate resilience plan.
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Carbon Emissions Across Our Value Chain
Our Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scope 1 and 2
Our Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scope 3
48% absolute reduction between 2017 and 2023LA
30% absolute reduction between 2017 and 2023LA Employee Commuting
Fossil Fuel for Buildings: Scope 1
1.1 ktCO2e
7%
19.7%
817 ktCO2e
of total emissions
3.4%
Car Fleet: Scope 1
2,934 ktCO2e of total emissions
140 ktCO2e
18.8 ktCO2e
0.5%
Absolute Reduction since 2017
70.6%
>99%
Business Travel Emissions (plane, rail, personal car mileage)
93%
5.7%
Supply Chain
Waste Generated on Client Sites
<1%
15.2 ktCO2e
238 ktCO2e
Client Site Energy Consumption (downstream)
Energy Consumption (upstream)
5.1 ktCO2e Absolute Reduction since 2017
Fossil Fuels for Buildings: Scope 1
50%
Supply Chain
30%
Car Fleet: Scope 1
18%
Business Travel Emissions (plane, rail, personal car mileage)
21%
Electricity Scope 2
100%
Energy Consumption (upstream)
22%
Waste Generated on Client Sites
45%
Client Site Energy Consumption (downstream)
32%
Employee Commuting
22%
0.1%
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Managing Utilities Reduces Carbon Emissions & Costs At Sodexo sites across the country, our Facilities Management (FM) teams are monitoring utility bills, assessing costs and upgrading systems to reduce carbon emissions and save money. Asbury senior living communities is just one client that has benefited from our Energy Management Program. Sodexo was already providing food and FM services to the nonprofit when it posed a new sustainability challenge: reduce operating expenses, improve energy and water efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. Sodexo assigned an energy manager to reduce utility expenses and consumption of electricity, natural gas, oil, water and sewer at four Asbury sites, while improving resident safety and comfort. Over eight years, we worked to monitor, manage and reduce utility spending, collaborating with contractors on major construction and energy projects. We also tracked market conditions to procure favorable rates, upgraded water and energy equipment to new energy-efficient models, tracked spending to identify anomalies and inefficiencies and applied interventions. In addition, we actively engaged general managers in energy and water-saving strategies, educating and empowering site leaders on sustainable practices. Between 2019 and 2022, we brought Asbury energy costs in almost $1 million under budget. And between 2014 and 2022, we reduced water consumption by 25.6 million gallons, electricity consumption by 9.4 million kilowatt-hours and carbon emissions by 34%, while reducing natural gas use.
“sodexo's Energy Management program has been a tremendous value and support" says todd andrews, President Community Living Division, Asbury Communities.
Bill Kerr, Sodexo VP of Energy and Construction, says carefully monitoring bills also saved money. “During a review of utility billing, Sodexo identified $434k in erroneous natural gas billings. We negotiated with the supplier and secured a waiver of the full $434k, with benefit 100% to Asbury.” Another client, an Oregon school district, received an erroneous $1 million water bill charge, which Sodexo quickly got corrected, says Linda Tumlinson, Manager of Energy Analytics. “We have found about $7 million in mistakes for clients. And we save them so much in accounting time, guaranteeing no late fees, and resolving errors directly.” Our Utility Expense Management program has also helped clients avoid fines by staying in compliance with energy regulations. At Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, we helped the school track, analyze and report its energy consumption to the city and state, earning it recognition as a City of San Diego 2020 Energy Champion. For sites required to report to ENERGY STAR®, we provide consistent reporting and recommendations for compliance. Our quarterly reports and client portals provide analysis of consumption, spending, energy costs, benchmark reports, ENERGY STAR® scores and greenhouse gas emissions, along with rebates and recommendations. At Methodist Hospital in Northwest Indiana, Utility Expense Management saved the client thousands, combined with tax rebates and energy savings measures, such as new LED lights, installed by the SodexoMagic FM team. In the first contract year, we saved the hospital $415k in facilities costs alone. “We’re turning utility bills into actionable measures,” Tumlinson says.
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Reaching Our Climate Ambition Become the global leader in sustainable food and valued experiences. That’s our mission. We’ve created a science-based climate roadmap that will progressively reduce our carbon emissions — 34% by 2025, 55% by 2030 and 90% by 2040. Along the way, we achieved our 2025 target to support renewable electricity infrastructure by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates to cover electricity usage at 100% of our directly operated sites. Our Net Zero climate action plan, verified by the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) entails four levers of action in areas Sodexo can have the most impact: eating, energy, waste and products. We have identified sub targets, initiatives and a suite of customized technologies to engage, act and transparently track and report our progress. To increase accountability, our internal proprietary Carbon Trajectory Tool, co-created with Traace, enables our business segment leaders to create customized carbon action plans. The tool consolidates data and shows actionable steps that leaders use in their segment-specific plans. Overall, we strive for a journey that is science-based and just, centered in social equity and human health, that protects our employees, customers and clients from the worst effects of climate change while preserving nature and biodiversity.
Our Levers of Action 1. Eating: The food we prepare and serve is central to our guest experience, but it’s also a major driver of our carbon emissions. Our 33% plant-based 2025 target is the foundation of our approach. We’ve pledged to make 70% of our meals low carbon by 2030. We will continue to rely on our talented culinarians to innovate and create delicious and satisfying low carbon menu items. We are also partnering with experts to develop systems to calculate our menu footprints and assist culinarians in adjusting recipes to lower carbon. Along the way, we’ll share our progress with clients and guests. 2. Energy: About 20% of our emissions come from client site kitchens, so improving preparation methods and efficiency is key. We plan to train our leaders and site manager on carbon reduction and include energy awareness in our client offers, embedding our commitments with stakeholders. SEA for a Better Tomorrow, our client sustainability tool, includes a strong focus on energy reduction. Operators enter data and the tool suggests best practices, resulting in efficiencies.
3. Waste: We’ll maintain focus on our 50% food waste reduction target by 2025. Sodexo’s WasteWatch powered by Leanpath is our process that enables more precise purchasing and menu planning, helping cut waste that goes to landfill. This year, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, we’re expanding the program to target consumer plate waste. A packaging strategy, including reuse options, will also contribute to our progress. 4. Products: Sodexo will continue to work with suppliers across our value chain to reduce our supply chain’s carbon impact. We will highlight small, local and diverse suppliers to support a just transition to a low carbon supply chain. Our global deforestation and conversion-free supply chain commitments are a significant start in this journey.
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Two years ago, Sodexo became the first foodservice and facilities management company to join RE100, the global initiative connecting the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100 percent renewable electricity. This was an exciting opportunity to lead our industry while setting another target on our climate roadmap. This year, we met our global goal for renewable energy two years early. Through the sourcing of wind generated renewable energy certificates that cover our Scope 2 electricity use, we’re directly supporting renewable energy infrastructure while reducing our carbon footprint. “We’re proud to achieve our commitment early,” says Jessica Synkoski, Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, Sodexo North America.
“we Understand this is a critical step in our broader journey to directly source renewable electricity and make quantifiable progress on our Climate Ambition roadmap." The achievement was a collaboration between Sodexo’s Sustainability & CSR team, Energy Management Team, finance department and other internal stakeholders. The commitment covers our directly owned and operated sites and enables renewable energy, contributing to a cleaner and healthier environment. It also builds on our larger Net Zero climate strategy, which aims to reduce direct and supply chain carbon emissions in concert with energy reduction and efficiency efforts. “Investing in clean energy infrastructure while tackling our emissions is a win-win,” says Katherine Walker, Director of Sustainability. “Sodexo’s Energy Management team was a key collaborator in helping us understand our options and procure responsibly.”
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Sustainable Resource Usage Why This Matters
Overview
Every year, 30% to 40% of the food produced in the U.S. for human consumption gets lost or wasted, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Solutions across the food system can significantly improve food insecurity, carbon emissions and economic value. As part of that system, we can help minimize food loss and food waste. Other material waste also has heavy societal, environmental, and economic consequences. For example, single-use plastics, traditionally a staple of the food-services industry due to their ability to preserve food, contribute to landfill waste and human health costs that disproportionately impact marginalized communities.
We are committed to championing sustainable resource usage. This means managing, reducing and preventing waste through programs, initiatives, innovative systems and technologies, awareness and behavior measures and applying the principles of a circular economy. To us, food is only truly wasted if it ends up in the landfill. We strive to plan better to eliminate excess food, recover donatable food and re-purpose food scraps or unused food for animals.
How We Measure We track several components of food waste to be sure we reach the right outcomes. We aim to follow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new Wasted Food Scale to prioritize how to reduce the environmental impacts of wasted food. The scale recommends the prevention of food waste, then donating or upcycling, feeding animals or leaving crops unharvested, composing or anaerobic digestion and finally the least preferred method landfill or incineration. Our WasteWatch powered by Leanpath program starts at the top of that hierarchy with a goal to reduce food waste at its source using near real-time data to influence purchasing and efficiency of ingredient use.
To address the environmental and health issues related to packaging, we are developing a comprehensive food service packaging strategy. There is no simple solution to this complex issue. Collaboration across the value chain is required to tackle systemic challenges. Through a robust stakeholder engagement process centered on our business opportunities, we have developed a dynamic packaging selection guide to ensure operators can find the most circular solutions for their site with an emphasis on reduction and reuse. We are also examining solutions that will help us to better scale the adoption of reusable packaging.
WASTEWATCH POWERED BY LEANPATH (WWXLP) KPI
4.3 million
Recreated
20252025 Target target
5
from 293 sites with WasteWatch powered by Leanpath (WWxLP) equipment baselines
46%
50% reduction in our food waste * at : 85% of sites.
from 422 sites with WWxLP equipment baselines
53%
pounds of food waste avoided
13,677 metric tons of avoided emissions
FY21 *based on raw material cost
FY22
52% from 553 sites with WWxLP equipment baselines
FY23
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Too Much on Your Plate? New Program Targets Food Waste Plate Waste, Not on My Watch! That’s the new mantra for a Sodexo sustainability initiative focused on reducing post-consumer plate waste.
Customer belief surveys were also key for the pilot studies, which took place in our Healthcare, Corporate and Government Services markets.
For years, we’ve concentrated on using our proprietary WasteWatch powered by Leanpath system to weigh, track and reduce our pre-consumer (or kitchen) food waste. Now we’re also focusing on plate waste, which accounts for up to 75% of our food service waste and 4% of our carbon footprint.
We conducted pre- and post-initiative surveys and observed positive outcomes resulting from exposure to our messaging and interventions. Ten percent more respondents reported they were motivated to reduce food waste, 20% more said they were aware that throwing out food hurts the environment and 16% more reported knowing how to reduce food waste through their dining choices. The number of people who reported eating all the food they took that day also increased by 9%.
To create a new strategy for tackling plate waste, we knew we must educate and train our employees, make some operational changes and inform our customers and guests — because we can’t do this work without them. The ContemPLATE WASTE program was born, with the goal of reducing plate waste. First, we selected sites with Leanpath technology to participate in a series of pilots, says Jude Medeiros, Project Manager, Sustainable Operations. The pilots had three main objectives: 1. Test signage and marketing materials specifically designed to educate our clientele and inspire them to waste less food 2. Make subtle changes (interventions) at our on-site restaurants that support the reduction of plate waste 3. Inform our employees on the facts and impacts of plate waste, so they can confidently interact with customers to support the mission To ensure successful pilots, the office of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility provided a Pilot Implementation Guide that included step-by-step guidance on training employees and selecting interventions, as well as marketing and educational pieces and instructions for weighing waste and tracking key data points.
Saving the planet starts on
YOUR plate...
A second ContemPLATE WASTE pilot was planned this fall for several Campus locations. Medeiros says she has high hopes for the new pilots because students are so in tune with the dilemma of food waste. Eventually, ContemPLATE WASTE will expand to more Sodexo sites in North America and beyond. 'The overarching plate waste strategy and pilot methodology have been developed within Sodexo's on going partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) who provides expertise and guidance. Additionally, the results of the survey are shared with and contributes to the important work of The Pacific Coast Food Waste Collaborative (PCFWC), of which Sodexo is a proud member.'
"it's has been truly rewarding to witness this cultural and behavior change at our sites as we unite to reduce food waste overall!" Medeiros says.
reducing plate waste saves water, energy and food resources
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Reducing Waste with Sustainable Packaging Options “Addressing single-use packaging is important to our clients,” explains Lara Seng, Senior Manager of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility for Sodexo. “2023 data from our SEA for a Better Tomorrow tool showed that 52% of our clients considered reducing single use packaging a priority.” The shift toward more sustainable and less packaging overall is being driven by more than growing client and consumer interest — about half of U.S. states have statewide or municipal regulations around packaging, and that number is expected to grow. But choosing the most sustainable packaging is complex. While reusables are generally the most sustainable, if reused effectively, they are not always viable operationally. Given the variability in recovery infrastructure and the trade-offs associated with different materials, finding the most sustainable single-use material can be confusing. So, Sodexo is developing a multi-faceted approach with the goals of: • Reducing the amount of single-use packaging by increasing our use of reusables and eliminating unnecessary single-use packaging
Food service packaging is critical to ensuring the safety of our food, extending shelf life to minimize waste and meeting consumer expectations for convenience and portability.
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But the types and volumes of packaging we use can have far-reaching impacts on planetary and human health, especially if not managed well.
Utilizing the most circular packaging possible by aligning materials to available waste recovery streams, like composting and recycling
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Educating our operators on packaging issues through a reference guide created to provide tools and help them make the best choices regarding packaging materials for their sites
Our focus is on scaling reusable solutions. But to be more sustainable, these systems must meet consumer needs and not compromise convenience, ensuring packaging is returned and reused. Where reusables aren’t feasible, we will encourage operators to choose packaging that can easily be recycled or composted within their site’s existing municipal waste stream. Due to the variability in recovery systems nationally, it’s essential to educate operators and guide them toward packaging options that can be recovered locally. Sodexo is currently piloting ideas to support these goals. For example, we’re partnering with a variety of technology providers who enable reusable to-go food packaging. In addition, we’re working to integrate a sustainability metric to enhance our packaging guide and make it easier for operators to identify the most environmentally friendly options. The metric will be based on the Understanding Packaging Scorecard, a science-based comprehensive sustainable packaging decision tool developed by SUM’D (Single-Use Material Decelerator), a collaboration of NGOs, technical experts and food service companies, including Sodexo.
it's all part of our commitment to empower our people to work collectively toward achieving our sustainability goals.
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Our Impact On Individuals
Our Impact On Communities
Digitizing Food Safety Saves Waste How do we ensure the food we serve is stored safely? Through comprehensive food safety management that entails close monitoring and — now — cutting edge technology that saves waste. In the foodservice industry, we know food safety standards are everything. So, we’re demonstrating our commitment to continual improvement with a new digital program that reduces both paper and food waste – part of our Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program. A HACCP program is a comprehensive food safety management system that controls biological, chemical and physical hazards. From the initial stages of food procurement to final consumption, a HACCP program ensures every step is closely tracked and controlled to ensure consumer safety. For some Sodexo Corporate Services clients, conditions in coolers, freezers, refrigerators and warming cabinets will now be monitored by digital sensors, seamlessly replacing traditional paper logs. The digital sensors can monitor critical control points in real time, minimizing the risk of temperature fluctuations and subsequent food safety issues. Where sensors are not immediately implementable, we’ve digitized paper logs, streamlining and upgrading our processes. Without this technology, logs must be printed, resulting in a massive build-up of paperwork to manage. When fully implemented at all Corporate Services sites, the new digital sensors will save an estimated 479,000 pages, or 2.5 tons, of paper annually, says Sarah Porter, Vice President of Operations in Corporate Services. The goal is to move all sites to a full sensor program, Porter says. The technology’s real time alerts when temperatures move outside preset ranges have already helped several sites avoid disposing of thousands of dollars' worth of food that would have suffered from temperature changes.
One client in central Florida avoided disposing $45,000 in inventory in the first year of using the sensors. Another, who works with another service provider for some of its sites, lost $15,000 in inventory where sensors weren't used. This digital technology provides an advantage to our clients by reducing loss and cutting back on unnecessary printing, thereby reducing their environmental footprint. “With the sensor program moving to digital, we are not only saving an enormous amount of paper, but we also gain potential energy savings and food waste reduction,” Porter says. “Building on this success, we hope to find more opportunities to leverage technology to enhance safety and sustainability, and drive savings.”
Our Impact On The Environment
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