Sodexo Live! Reveals a Selection of Over 500 Recipes for the Athletes’ Village and Takes up Paris 2024's Sustainability Challenge
On July 12th, Sodexo Live! will open what will be the world's largest restaurant for two months! Located within the Olympic and Paralympic Village, it will be the focal hub. Its 3,500 seats will accommodate 15,000 athletes from around the world, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, from breakfast to dinner.
To allow athletes to maintain their dietary and flavor habits while providing them with a menu tailored to high-level sports, Sodexo Live! has chosen to work on a menu based on four culinary themes: France, Asia, Africa-Caribbean, and World Cuisine.
Thanks to the creativity of the Sodexo Live! teams, led by Executive Chef Charles Guilloy, 500 recipes will be offered to athletes throughout their stay at the Village: grilled fish, meats, and steam-cooked vegetables, as well as the 120 daily specials, will provide athletes with a wide selection. They will have access to no less than 40 different main dishes available each day, including one-third entirely plant-based.
All of these recipes address multiple objectives:
Examples of dishes on the main restaurant menu:
France:
Vegetarian Bourguignon
Cod purée
Asia:
Minced pork with Thai basil basmati rice
Roasted cauliflower and potatoes with turmeric
Africa/Caribbean:
Sautéed bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and chili (Shakshouka)
Sautéed shrimp with chermoula
World Cuisine:
Lamb with mint-infused reduced sauce
Vegetable moussaka
To ensure clarity of the offerings for the athletes, each section of the restaurant will feature a consistent structure, with content partially tailored to each culinary theme: a salad bar offering over 30 ingredients to mix and match, a grill station with assorted garnishes, a hot buffet featuring daily specials and pasta dishes, a soup station, a cheese display, a dairy station, a dessert bar, as well as a bakery stand offering 7 types of bread, a fruit display, and a condiment table.
Located strategically between the village entrance and the restaurant, the Grab and Go XXL has been designed as a Food court centered around a large 500m² outdoor terrace. This space aims to be welcoming, offering various types of seating, including high tables, chairs, and low seats, as well as tables, a pétanque court, and some entertainment.
Two types of entertainment will be offered. Firstly, a tasting session animated by the Sodexo Live! executive chefs Charles Guilloy and Stéphane Chicheri, along with three partner chefs: Akrame Benallal, Amandine Chaignot, and Alexandre Mazzia. Each day of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, athletes will have the opportunity to discover a different signature recipe in a tasting format and as a limited edition (600 servings per day). The five chefs will be on-site to present their work and interact with the athletes.
Additionally, there will be a bakery workshop area where the production of baguettes used for making sandwiches will be ensured, amounting to between 600 and 800 baguettes per day. In order to introduce athletes to this artisanal know-how, registered on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, athletes will be offered the opportunity to make their own baguette with the assistance of Sodexo Live! bakers. The bakery will also offer the cocoa bread roll, Sodexo Live!'s signature bread for the Paris 2024 Games.
Sodexo Live! has taken up the challenge set by Paris 2024: to offer for the first time a 100% vegetarian offering to the public at the iconic Concorde site, located in the heart of the capital. The Concorde will, therefore, be a demonstration site that will accelerate the transformation of public catering habits towards a more sustainable model during sporting events. Paris 2024 wished to make this site a true demonstrator of its ambitions in terms of sustainable and gourmet dining in order to present an offering truly aligned with its Food Vision. Paris 2024 is committed to halving the carbon footprint of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 compared to the national average by doubling the proportion of plant-based offerings. In the Concorde urban park, Paris 2024 will go one step further, following the footsteps of a few pioneering events and sports clubs: 100% of the offerings available to the general public will be plant-based. 15 different recipes, some of them new to the Games, will be available on site. The Concorde will, therefore, be a demonstration site that will accelerate the transformation of public catering habits towards a more sustainable model during sporting events.
Sodexo Live! will also provide catering services at 14 competition venues during the Olympic Games and 8 venues during the Paralympic Games Paris 2024. The public offering, which will be 60% vegetarian, will consist of a wide variety of sweet and savory. The hot dog, a best seller of sporting events, will therefore be revisited in its vegetarian version as a veggie hot dog with crispy onions, pickled red cabbage, and honey-mustard dressing.
At each competition venue, athletes will have a dedicated area where catering will be provided, tailored to their needs based on the discipline and format of the events held at the venue. Dining areas will welcome volunteers, contractors, Paris 2024 staff, and media, who can sit down for a hot meal or grab a takeaway option.
About Sodexo Live!
Sodexo Live! manages prestigious, cultural, and sporting venues and major events all over the world. With 40,000 employees and 500 sites all over the world, we offer our clients a range of bespoke catering, sales, and event management services, helping to transform the consumer experience into unforgettable memories. As strategic and responsible partners, we commit to unlocking our customers’ full potential while favoring local networks. Sodexo Live! contributes to the success of prestigious events such as Royal Ascot, the French Open, the Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games, and showcases exceptional venues such as the Eiffel Tower Restaurants, the Hard Rock Stadium, Bateaux Parisiens, Yachts de Paris, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Prado museum in Madrid and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.