I am Sodexo

Vincent Blok has been Chief Financial Officer at Sodexo since 1 January 2023. He sees great opportunities, with new sustainability legislation on the way, to demonstrate even better how this issue is truly in Sodexo’s DNA.

‘Sustainability is one of our strategic pillars. But that doesn’t immediately make it a foregone conclusion. It’s a process you have to work hard for. I also see this at home at our dinner table. That’s where the plan to eat meat substitutes more often regularly runs aground. For instance, my seven-year-old daughter faultlessly detects whether it’s a piece of “real” meat or an alternative. But we keep trying new recipes and I have to admit, the times she notices the difference are getting less frequent. It’s a matter of persistence. With small steps at home and at Sodexo on a large scale.

With the new European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) legislation in 2025, we will have to do an even better job at recording and reporting the steps we are taking and our actual impact on people and the environment. I believe CSRD offers many opportunities to make our sustainable DNA even more visible. This is where the finance department has an important role to play in terms of providing reports and data analyses. In addition, my job is to ensure acceleration of the sustainability agenda with good investment decisions. A rollout of WasteWatch at our sites naturally costs money. Then there’s the payback period. But what really counts is the impact of this scale on preventing food waste. There is a sustainability aspect to this, but certainly also a financial aspect. Hopefully, we will join forces in the coming year with more and more clients as well as suppliers with this kind of investment. We create more impact through collaboration.

I always explain to my daughter that there is more in the world to cherish for future generations than just the Blok family. The same applies to Sodexo. We will only be truly successful if we are also successful for the world of tomorrow.’