Speaker Q&A: Nicola Morris, Sodexo
Whether our tribe is #vegan, #fitspo or #coffeelover, increasingly what we eat is becoming tied up in our culture, personal brand and our social media feed. In her Keynote at lunch!, Nicola Morris, MD – Corporate Services at Sodexo, will explore the food trends behind the tribes and explain how they’re using consumer insight to drive innovation and challenge competition from the catering industry, the high street and new disruptors (1.45pm, Friday 20 September).
Nicola will also be taking part in lunch!’s first ever ‘Contract Catering Panel’ (starting at 3.15pm the same afternoon), with Gareth Hiron from Elior; David Stanley from Aramark and Jim Wealands from CH&CO Group.
Which food-to-go operators/retailers do you particularly admire and why?
I have a few favourites. Sushi Gourmet where you have a quality product available in regional environments. We hear a lot about what is going on in central London but the idea that I can be in a rural area and pop to a supermarket and buy sushi made onsite is fantastic. People all over the UK want food-to-go and it shouldn’t be limited to sandwiches and pies.
I also admire what Ben Ford has done with his Wingman Chicken street food. It’s a very simple concept and the product he delivers is just perfect for the market he operates in. The social media is also fun and engaging. It’s a business fuelled by a personal passion and that kind of back story really engages me.
What do you feel is the key for operators to successfully compete against their competitors?
A few critical success factors:
- You need absolute laser focus on your customer and what they need and want. How are you going to engage with them?
- Great people on the team that buy into the vision and are trained to deliver your operation (and know how to smile genuinely)
- You as the business owner need a good grip on the numbers. A great idea with no financial fundamentals is destined for the heap.
What do you see as the key food-to-go trends to watch?
I think the wider environmental and sustainable concerns of customer are going to drive purchases towards brands that can demonstrate a real commitment towards a value-based offer. It might be in product and supply chain (where is it sourced, who grew it/produced it, what impact was there on the environment, did they get paid fairly) or linked to wider sustainability and ethical concerns (what packaging, what energy source, were the people that served me fairly paid and treated?).
What does the next 12 months have in store for your business?
We will continue our growth in food. Food is very much our heritage and our DNA, but as we’ve been growing in IFM and wider services we haven’t marketed the food side of our business as much. Expect to hear more from us moving forward. We are creating great food experiences in our current portfolio and new prospects are excited by the blend of the security of a stable large, family-owned company with the flexible approach that looks at their particular employee mix and tailors the food offer to them.
Can you give us an example of what your business is doing to be even more sustainable?
We are guided by our Better Tomorrow Plan, which sets out nine commitments and objectives to steer our growth sustainably, as an employer, a service provider and a corporate citizen. Within our food business we have a few key focuses: reducing food waste, providing more sustainable diets and more plant-based diets and building a more diverse, ethical and sustainable supply chain. We are also very focused on packaging. Some of our targets are as follows:
- By 2020, 70% of waste will be recycled or reused, rising to 90% by 2025
- By 2020, 60% of all sites will reduce food waste rising to 100% by 2025
- We have pledged to increase our SME spend to £200m by 2025
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
Seeing people surprised by what we can deliver in Sodexo. That might be a new client who sees we really do have a fresh and innovative offer or a customer who sees that every Modern Recipe site has daily vegan options or that their dairy intolerance is reflected in the food-to-go offer. I also love to see the people grow in confidence and pride in what we deliver.
And the most challenging?
Keeping everyone who supports me in my role totally focussed on the end consumer. It is sometimes easy to get distracted by other things, which aren’t physically getting the right food or drink into a customer’s hand.
Why is innovation so vital to the food-to-go sector?
As customer needs are changing so rapidly (people are so much more connected to a wider knowledge source) their expectations and changes of habit need to be referenced.
What innovative products are you hoping to find at lunch! show this year?
More innovative vegetarian and vegan snack and beverage lines in sustainable packaging.
Can you tell us a bit about your much-anticipated session at lunch! 2019?
I am going to looking at Food tribes – essentially, how what we eat is becoming tied up in our culture, personal brand and our social media feed. With tough competition from traditional competitors, the high street and also new disruptors, staying close to consumers and developing insight-led offers are critical to remain relevant. I will talk about how we at Sodexo are trying to do just that.
How important is lunch! show to the food-to-go sector?
It’s a vital barometer of where the food-to-go market is in the UK, I recommend it to UK-based colleagues and to those in less mature markets in Europe to see what is coming.
See Nicola at lunch! 2019
Sodexo – Food Tribes; when it comes to food we’re all getting tribal: 1.45pm on Friday 20 September in Keynote Theatre 3
The Contract Catering Panel: 3.15pm on Friday 20 September in Keynote Theatre 1
The session also features:
- Gareth Hiron, Senior Buyer, Elior
- David Stanley, Executive Chef BP International, Aramark
- Jim Wealands, Group Food Development Director, CH&CO Group
