CASE STUDY
When the pandemic hit, Sodexo, developed an innovative new initiative to keep its clients’ customer-base well-nourished. Rather than simply ensure an uninterrupted service though, it took the opportunity to adapt its operations for the long-term. And Food Connection was born.
Enhancing the employee experience and ensure sustainable practices, at its core, is technology-enabled convenience.
At Alderley Park’s Bruntwood SciTech Campus – a world-leading life science and innovation campus that’s home to over 200 businesses – the kitchen needed an agile way to safely cater for the vaccine volunteers and several business tenants.
Integrating seamlessly, our multi-temperature Pre Order Pods were the perfect solution to providing complete flexibility to customers and the on-site catering team.
The Challenge
Faced with feeding many people on different levels in a multi-tenanted building, as well as a steady stream of vaccine volunteers, the chefs required a way to get sustenance to its customers safely, and at any time it was needed. Regardless of the kitchen’s hours of operation, or the restaurant’s occasional closure due to lockdown restrictions.
Our Seamless Solution
Working closely with Sodexo’s leadership team and the chefs on site, we recommended our multi-temperature pods. In terms of functionality, the ordering and delivery process couldn’t be simpler for both the customer and catering team:
- A customer orders on the app and selects the time they’d like to collect
- The kitchen instantly receives the order with a full list of allergen information
- When the kitchen delivers the order, an order confirmation is sent to the customer, and they simply collect from an allocated pod via a QR code/access button on their smart phone, any time it suits them.
Our 24/7 support team also provided software integration with the existing kitchen dashboard, HSE compliance, and full, ongoing product training – on and off site.
Roll Out
Our multi temperature lockers were installed in the Alderley Park Conference Centre, delivering freshly made meals to:
- Out-of-hours workers
- Covid vaccine volunteers
- Employees while the restaurant was closed (during lockdown)
- Multi tenants and other companies on-site
”We’ve found tons of operational benefits: contactless, queue & cash handling reduction. The team tell me it’s just so simple to use.”
John MooresRegional Operations Manager
The Results
Since the install, the pods have provided a pandemic-proof solution for offering fresh, nutritious meals to the on-site workforce, day and night.
As the world is gradually reopening, the longer-term benefits continue to be plentiful. The kitchen can provide:
- Safe, contactless food service for everyone on site
- Food at a time suited to individual employees’ flexible work pattens
- Hot and cold meals, even when the restaurant is closed
- Nutritional meals with clear calorie and allergen information
- Reduced wastage and refined supplier deliveries, as everything is pre-ordered
- An eradicated need for queuing
- Reduced cash handling with contactless payments taken through the app.
