We are committed to enhancing the capabilties and capacity of our small, medium enterprises (SME) and voluntary, charity and social enterprise (VCSE) network and suppliers. Through our charity, Stop Hunger Foundation, we support a wide charity network including apprenticeship levy gifting to help create equity for all across our communities
Supporting our SME and VCSE suppliers
We are passionate about supporting and developing our supply chain and to work with SMEs, micro SMEs and social enterprises, supporting them to grow their business. This group currently represents over half of our core supply chain and accounts for 44% of our total spend.
Supporting partners through apprenticeship levy gifting
We believe apprenticeships can help organisations to develop and retain their staff, attract new talent and address skills gaps. That's why we have committed to transferring 25% of our own annual apprenticeship levy to SMEs.
71% of our supply chain is sourced in Britain
Sodexo’s sustainable procurement policy focuses on sustainability, seasonality and provenance. We continually review our logistics arrangements in order to reduce delivery miles.
We are a significant purchaser with more than 4,300 suppliers, so it is essential to develop trusting, mutually beneficial, long-term relationships to guarantee the quality and safety of products across our supply chain.
We respond to client and customer expectations through our values by promoting purchasing policies that increase the use of environmentally sound and ethically sourced products. We encourage our suppliers to share our ethical principles and procurement commitments. As such, we expect them to comply with our supply chain code of conduct, which covers human rights, business ethics and environmental management practices.
Our approach to sustainable supplies includes sourcing products that meet industry marques and partnering with suppliers from the regions where we operate. We believe that, wherever possible, we should purchase fairly traded and ethically sourced products. This ensures better trading conditions for producers and helps us build lasting relationships with global suppliers that have sustainable business.
We source sustainable fish and seafood from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries and farmed fish from well managed and sustainable sources.
We are committed to sourcing Red Tractor assured products, sustainable fish and products that are in season wherever possible. We were the first catering company to ensure that its fresh meat, sourced from British farms, is Red Tractor accredited.
Living by our commitments
We put in place policies and codes to frame our practices and expected behaviours around key issues such as respect for human rights, animal welfare and sourcing policies.