Universal Registration Document Fiscal 2025

Food loss & waste

STRATEGY, TARGETS AND POLICIES [E5-1, E5-2, E5-3]

Sodexo’s activities involve millions of tons of food every year. As such, we are on the front line of the environmental, moral, and economic challenges of food waste. Positioned at the end of the global food value chain, our Company holds a unique role — downstream from production and upstream from consumption. Our actions therefore focus on three main areas :

(1) Upstream (food loss):

While production, transport and processing of food items are not under Sodexo’s control, Sodexo can still contribute to influence the market structures responsible for food loss. This involves including food loss criteria into our purchasing processes and favoring upcycling initiatives. While food loss engagement is a new area within the food service industry, Sodexo already implemented a series of actions:

• in the UK, we partner with Waste Knot and Ferryfast to distribute boxes of ‘rescued fruit and vegetables’ to our catering teams across the country;
• in France, we partner with Atypique, a french wholesaler that rescues fruits and vegetables deemed “imperfect” or surplus, to supply its collective catering operations across France;
• in Singapore, we collaborate with Confetti Snacks, a women-led upcycling business that turns “ugly” or surplus vegetables and mushrooms into nutrient-dense, flavorful chips, to integrate more sustainable snack options into its food service offerings.

(2) Operations (food waste):

WasteWatch is Sodexo's global program to prevent food waste on site. By 2025, Sodexo committed to deploy WasteWatch across 85% of its food sites (based on raw material cost coverage) and to reduce food waste by 50% on site where WasteWatch has been fully implemented. The achievement of these commitments requires a set of initiatives, projects, and dialogues with stakeholders. Our approach follows the waste hierarchy principles with a great focus on prevention, followed by donations and finally disposition when the previous options have not been possible.

• Prevention:
  • By using tracking devices, our on-site teams collect precise food waste data to pinpoint the root causes of waste and implement effective solutions. As of the end of Fiscal 2025, WasteWatch has been successfully deployed in 85.4% of our operations (7,089 sites, 40 countries) and our sites reached 47.6% food waste reduction.
  • Employee training and engagement:
    • Waste In Mind is our chef-led initiative that aims at reducing food waste in Sodexo’s kitchen operations worldwide. The program promotes a zero-waste mindset by providing a range of resources to inspire our chefs and culinary teams. It includes kitchen tips, training, and tools. Focus is placed on everyday actions in our kitchens to cut down on food waste through menu planning, production and analysis.
    • To further engage employees and recognize their contributions, we’ve introduced the annual GOALympics, a 3-week spirited contest that rewards innovation in waste reduction. This provides an interactive way for employees to showcase their skills and contribute to our sustainability goals. Organized since 2022 in the USA, GOALympics is now deployed globally.
  • Consumer engagement:
    • In partnership with WWF, Sodexo USA has launched a series of pilot programs aiming to foster consumer engagement in waste reduction. The insights gained from these initiatives will be shared leveraged in other Sodexo countries to drive broader impact.
    • Our annual October WasteLESS Week campaign serves as a platform to raise awareness among clients, consumers, and employees. Since 2012, Sodexo teams worldwide have collaborated with clients to develop tailored waste reduction programs, inspiring positive behavioral changes for consumers (ex: signages displaying the link between food waste and carbon emissions, interventions in schools about the environmental consequences of food waste…).
• Food Recovery
  • We have developed operational guidelines to facilitate safe and easy food surplus donation processes. Food surplus is donated to NGOs, part of the Stop Hunger Network, which is our philanthropic cause.
  • Additionally, with client collaboration, we partner with local actors like Phenix and Too Good to Go in France and Yume in Australia to offer customers the opportunity to buy unsold left-over food at a reduced price and in compliance with food safety rules.