Sodexho Receives Three Top Food Industry Awards For Innovation In Key Business Lines
Gaithersburg, MD - Sodexho, Inc., the nation's leading provider of integrated food and facilities management services, announced recently it has received three top industry awards. Penton Media's Food Management magazine selected three Sodexho programs as Best Concept Award winners for 2007. The winning concepts were received for a creative new "mini dessert" concept; an awareness initiative for school children; and an innovative customer service program.
The annual Best Concepts program recognizes exceptional achievement and innovation in key areas of noncommercial foodservice, as judged by the Food Management editorial staff. Sodexho and its clients were honored as follows:
First - in response to customer trends that demand healthier portions, Sodexho's Corporate Services division created "Sweet Shots," mini desserts served in shot glasses that can be a component of healthy dining, emphasizing value and giving customers a way to be indulgent and sensible eaters at the same time. Sweet Shots was honored in the "Best Menu" category.
Second - establishing the value and standards expected of a customer service program can be a challenge in the foodservice environment. Sodexho's Campus Dining division created a program called "Circle of Customer Excellence," a formalized training process that can be used at the account level, helping to instill customer service as a core value for front-line employees. The program won in the "Best Management Company Program/Concept" category.
Finally - Sodexho's School Services division developed an innovative program for the Pawtucket and Newport School Districts, called "Feeding Rhode Island's Future." The program was designed to increase applications for free and reduced price meals for qualified applicants. The program used local radio personalities and prizes to encourage applications in a way that minimized the stigma sometimes associated with filing them. The event earned the "Best Special Event" award. Efforts are now underway to expand the program across the state.
Food Management's editors based their award decisions on a variety of factors, ranging from the impact of a given program, its effectiveness in achieving targeted results, the impact it may have on others in the field and, most importantly, the level of innovation it represents given standard practices in a given noncommercial segment of the foodservice industry.
The award winners were featured in a special editorial section of the July issue of Food Management and will be presented tonight at the magazine's annual IDEAS Conference in Las Vegas.
Food Management, published by Penton Media, Inc., is the leading business publication for foodservice directors, managers, contract management executives and others in the non-commercial or "onsite" sector of the foodservice industry. Its readers oversee foodservice operations in colleges and universities, business dining, healthcare, K-12 schools, museums, sports and entertainment venues and similar segments.
SOURCE: Sodexho, Inc.