Celebrating Sodexo’s Culinary Heroes
We’ve heard it time and time again, but it’s true that 2020 was a year like no other. Despite the challenges our employees faced, they were resilient, compassionate and determined to continue to support their communities and colleagues.
In line with National Chef Appreciation Week, we’re celebrating our Sodexo chefs’ culinary excellence and their unwavering commitment to make each day a better day for those we serve. Here are some incredible examples of that from our Annual Global Culinary Report.
When the San Diego Convention Center began housing unsheltered people during the pandemic, Centerplate’s team transformed its operation to prepare thousands of meals for those in need.
San Diego’s Operation Shelter to Home, a partnership between the city of San Diego and local agencies, moved more than 1,000 houseless people into the convention center and provided guests with beds, showers, laundry, COVID-19 testing and other services, including three meals a day.
Each day, the Centerplate culinary team, led by Executive Chef Daryl O’Donnell and Senior Executive Sous Chef Sufi Karaien, created simple breakfasts, sandwich- or salad-based lunches and hot dinners for each guest residing in the convention center. By August, Centerplate had prepared more than 500,000 meals!
“Putting a smile on a child’s face when it comes to food is amazing,” said Executive Chef Karl Mase from Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, GA.
He’s making dreams come true one meal at a time for pediatric patients like Leilani, who was recovering from a spinal fusion. After expressing to her caregivers that she had always wanted to meet a chef, Chef Karl prepared a special dish and delivered it to Leilani personally.
“Making food for a patient and then hearing that they want to be a chef is the equivalent of feeling like a superhero,” he said.
Every day, our food and nutrition teams across the nation work hard to prepare healthy food for patients, colleagues and visitors - and these special interactions are poignant reminders of the importance of personalizing the services we offer.
Hannah Robertson is the Executive Chef for Sodexo’s restaurants at a 16-hospital healthcare system in Toledo, Ohio, where she is well-known for her community outreach programs. Kids in the Kitchen teaches children about food, where it comes from and how to cook with it. Hannah plants, tends and harvests vegetable gardens with her students, then makes fresh, kid-friendly dishes from the ingredients. Hannah recently adapted Kids in the Kitchen for the oncology unit, where young patients break up the wait during chemotherapy by making fun food.
COVID-19 meant that healthcare employees became the front line in the fight against the pandemic. While Hannah’s hospital restaurants remained open, she recognized that her guests were working long hours under extreme stress.
She turned unused sections of the cafés into stores at each hospital, ensuring that employees did not need to shop at outside stores for basic groceries, household supplies, produce, takeaway dishes or reheatable meals. Hannah used her empathy, culinary knowledge and talent to take care of her guests.
Sodexo’s collaboration with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) began in 2015 to help increase plant-based entrées on our menus and reduce carbon emissions by 34%. HSUS has since delivered 57 plant-based culinary experiences and full unit takeovers, primarily in the Universities market. The HSUS team experts traveled the country leading onsite events with Sodexo culinary leadership and food service staff.
COVID-19 limitations forced the re-imagining of these training workshops and shed light on the need to democratize the nature of the training itself. Regional Executive Chef Wesley Turnage and Regional Campus Dietitian Kelsey Rosenbaum believed the training needed to continue, even if it couldn’t take place in person.
“We are seeing a call for more vegan and vegetarian options,” Kelsey noted. “Every university is asking for it and it’s not going away.” Chef Wes and Kelsey cover Texas, Louisiana and many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He and Kelsey pulled together a group of Executive Chefs to pilot a new two-week virtual training format.
HSUS re-imagined the workshop to provide a similar level of immersion where participants pair up to collectively execute 20 Sodexo recipes, share pictures of their dishes and recap their experience during a culinary roundtable teach-back. The pilot program launched in July 2020 with the participation of Chef Beverly Kellman of Prairie View A&M University, Chef Dennis Dunn of Dillard University, Chef Anthony Hustand of Tulane University and Chef Matthew Box of Loyola University.
According to Chef Jennifer DiFrancesco of HSUS, “The response was overwhelmingly positive! The excitement, engagement and enthusiasm of the live events was still there, even though everyone couldn’t taste each other’s dishes. The end result did not show a decrease in innovation and comradery.
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Want to read more inspiring stories from our Sodexo chefs around the globe? Check out the full Annual Global Culinary Report now!