Sodexo announce Modern Recipe collaboration with Great British Menu star Kate Austen

Sodexo announce Modern Recipe collaboration with Great British Menu star Kate Austen

17^th June 2024

Sodexo has announced a new collaboration with acclaimed chef Kate Austen and its contemporary workplace dining offer, Modern Recipe.

Earlier this year Kate, recognised as one of the industry’s rising stars, appeared on the BBC’s Great British Menu and became the first female chef in the show’s 19-year history to win the main course dish. Her experience includes Restaurant AOC in Copenhagen where she was the world’s youngest female head chef of a two Michelin star restaurant. Kate has also worked as a sous chef at the three Michelin star Restaurant Frantzen in Sweden and as a senior development chef for Gordon Ramsay.

The new partnership will see Kate work closely with Sodexo's culinary team to co-develop exciting new dishes, conduct seminars and demonstrations; sharing her style, skills, and techniques on how to create delicious and healthy dishes.

In her role Kate will engage and inspire Sodexo’s customers on how contemporary food and dining environments can fuel the body, increase productivity and be sustainably minded. This is the core of Modern Recipe, Sodexo’s contemporary food brand that elevates workplace dining.

Food brings people together, and Sodexo’s Modern Recipe brings together the ingredients that feed our best selves. Built around today’s professionals, Modern Recipe brings the high-street feel into work, transforming under-used corporate restaurants into buzzing, multi-purpose social spaces where colleagues can meet, work and relax over food and drink throughout the day. It uses food that’s in tune with our bodies and in consideration of our planet, with menus evolving as the seasons change.

Kate Austen said: “I am incredibly excited to collaborate with Sodexo as its ambassador for Modern Recipe in the UK. Modern Recipe embodies a contemporary, healthy, and sustainable approach to workplace dining, and I am eager to work alongside Sodexo's talented chefs and showcase this exciting and compelling brand.”

Modern Recipe is a key driver in helping companies deliver a positive workplace experience for their employees. Findings from Sodexo’s Sustainable Food Barometer* show that 50% of those polled said they wanted to eat more sustainably at a work restaurant; 58% said they have, or could, stop eating animal proteins in favour of plant proteins, whereas 73% believe that adopting a more sustainable way of eating is urgent.

Modern Recipe is currently at more than 30 selected Sodexo client sites in the UK, within industries including financial services, pharmaceuticals and technology. Outlets range in format from large restaurants, cafés and coffee shops to kitchenettes, micro-markets and smart fridges.

Inna Lim, Director of Marketing & Strategy in Sodexo UK&I Corporate Services, added: “Kate is the perfect fit for Modern Recipe’s overall mission to bring employees healthy and delicious food that provides a moment of human connection. We are passionate about making every moment and every occasion an opportunity for hospitality and with Kate’s talent we look forward to her helping us elevate our goal even further. Her culinary vision and dedication to her art perfectly aligns with our business ethos and brand values and represents a significant step forward in redefining the standards of workplace dining.”

From July 2024, Modern Recipe customers will have the chance to enjoy dishes endorsed by Kate, these include:

• Tamari and Ginger Cauliflower Bao Buns: Tamari and ginger flavoured cauliflower bao buns, Asian slaw and charred corn ribs

• Steak and Grains Bowl: Grilled steak, charred courgette ribbons, blackened corn, sun blushed tomato and basil dressed amaranth, which is a sustainable alternative to white rice, wheat and maize

• Korean Style Soy, Sesame and Veg Braised Pollock, Rice and Kimchi Cabbage: Soy braised MSC pollock, jalapeno, onion, garlic, ginger and crushed chili broth, sticky jasmine rice, kimchi cabbage and spring onions
  
  

With a shared commitment to sustainability and supporting health and wellbeing through food, this new collaboration with Kate Austen will provide Sodexo’s clients and customers with an unparalleled workplace dining experience.

ENDS

Find out more about Modern Recipe: https://uk.sodexo.com/food-services--catering/business-industry/modern-recipe-contemporary-food.html

Contacts:

For more information, images or interview:

Chapter Communications

Laura Duncan

Tel: 07900 402 990

Email: laura@chaptercommunciations.co.uk

About Kate Austen

Instagram Handle: @kate_f_austen

*Sodexo’s Sustainable Food Barometer January 2024: https://uk.sodexo.com/homAe/media/news-room/newsList-area/uk-press-releases/sustainable-food-barometer.html

About Sodexo

UK and Ireland

In the UK and Ireland Sodexo employs around 30,000 people, and partners with clients in many sectors across business and industry; schools and universities; sports and leisure; energy and resources; government and agencies; healthcare; justice and defence.

Sodexo’s connected; people-centric approach brings together a diverse range of expertise. The breadth of services it offers ranges from food and hospitality; cleaning; reception; concierge (Circles); security; property management and technical services through to data driven workplace strategy and design (Wx) and employee engagement and recognition services (Pluxee).

Vital Spaces is Sodexo’s value proposition that puts people at the heart of everything we do, bringing together services and solutions and focusing on the productivity and wellbeing of people wherever they are.

Worldwide

Founded in Marseille in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, Sodexo is the global leader in sustainable food and valued experiences at every moment in life: learn, work, heal and play. The Group stands out for its independence, its founding family shareholding and its responsible business model.

Thanks to its two activities of Food and Facilities Management Services, Sodexo meets all the challenges of everyday life with a dual goal: to improve the quality of life of our employees and those we serve, and contribute to the economic, social and environmental progress in the communities where we operate. For Sodexo, growth and social commitment go hand in hand.

Our purpose is to create a better everyday for everyone to build a better life for all.

Sodexo is included in the CAC Next 20, Bloomberg France 40, CAC 40 ESG, CAC SBT 1.5, FTSE 4 Good and DJSI indices.

Sodexo key figures

— 22.6 billion euros Fiscal 2023 consolidated revenues

— 430,000 employees (as at August 31, 2023)

— #1 France-based private employer worldwide

— 45 countries (as at August 31, 2023)

— 80 million consumers served daily

— 11.4 billion euros in market capitalisation (as at April 18, 2024)