#Transform
With the trust of its clients, Sodexo contributes to consumers’ health and well-being with delicious and sustainable meals.
Committed to reducing its carbon emissions, New York City’s public hospital system (NYC Health + Hospitals) relied on Sodexo's expertise to implement a plant-based meal plan in 2019 for the patients and staff at its 11 facilities.
Building on the success of “Meatless Mondays”, the NYC H+H team, supported by Sodexo, expanded the initiative in 2022 by offering plant-based menus by default every day of the week.
To meet this challenge, Sodexo’s team, including chefs and dietitians, undertook an in-depth culinary creation process to develop varied, tasty, low-carbon recipes tailored to the extremely diverse expectations of the New York population.
In March 2024, Sodexo and its client have celebrated more than 1.2 million plant-based meals in 2 years, with a patient satisfaction rate of over 90% and a massive reduction in the client’s carbon emissions of 36% over one year. This initiative is increasingly attracting the attention of policymakers.
“NYC Health + Hospitals is taking a significant step forward in acknowledging the role of plant-based food in patient care. Access to culturally diverse, nutritious food in our hospitals helps introduce healthy diets and habits that patients can maintain once discharged. With the assistance of the Sodexo Food and Nutrition team, the city is educating patients about the benefits of plant-powered diets and strategies to implement them in their daily lives empowering New Yorkers to make healthier food choices“
#Encourage
On U.S. campuses, Sodexo is democratizing plant-based options.
Firmly convinced of the environmental and physical benefits of high-quality food, younger generations, and especially Gen Z, are demanding new food offerings on college campuses. In Fiscal 2024, Sodexo’s teams introduced new initiatives to meet this growing demand and contribute to the goal of reducing the Group’s carbon emissions.
Sodexo has partnered with researchers from Boston College and the Food for Climate League, with support from the Better Food Foundation, to conduct a study on the implementation of the “DefaultVeg” program at three pilot college dining halls. As a result, the rate at which consumers chose the default plant-based options rose by 58.3% without impacting their satisfaction level.
In light of this, the Group announced the large-scale rollout of its DefaultVeg program on nearly 400 campuses that are home to 1 million students and pledged to have 50% plant-based menus at its universities in the United States by 2025.
”DefaultVeg is proving that plant-based eating is both popular and powerful with Gen Z. And this new rigorous study demonstrates that most students happily choose plant-based meals over other options when we make the choice easy and delicious. Sodexo’s expansion of this strategy is going to have a real impact on the health of students and the planet.”
