Shaping food services to fuel the future of manufacturing

The manufacturing environment is evolving fast, and so is its workforce. Sodexo’s US CEO of Corporate Services and Energy & Resources, Joe Ganci, explains how food services are adapting to shore up employee retention, wellbeing and talent attraction, and why planning ahead can unlock huge efficiencies. 

I’ve built my career on making spaces feel special. And what I learned in restaurants I’ve taken with me everywhere from corporate offices to offshore rigs: each guest deserves a great experience. The environments and price points may be really different, but the principle holds true. People return to places where they feel noticed, valued and supported.

Creating that experience in a manufacturing environment throws up all kinds of challenges. There’s long shifts without the long lunches. Breaks taken up by half-mile walks. No phone in your pocket to pre-order when time is tight, and probably no signal either. Yet when you track the consumer journey from start to finish, like we have, you can get creative and get it done. Hot food is highly valued by manufacturing workers and we have a variety of solutions to which help hot food is accessible to everyone, from central kitchens and delivery carts to pre-order terminals.

Breaks provide a chance to step back and recharge, but once you’ve removed your protective gear and made it to your locker to check your phone, it’s almost time to go back. To keep teams connected, and production running smoothly, employers need to make every second count.

Our approach is to bring food experiences closer to where they’re needed. That might be through a hub and spoke model, where a central production kitchen delivers to carts that serve all sides of the floor. Or by installing pre-order terminals so that hot food is always ready when they are. These kinds of innovations don’t just bust the queues, they also make these moments feel like a personalized perk. Far too often clients build for efficiencies with a centralized food solution but it’s a decentralized solution which best supports the people in the facility. When you bring the service to the people, not the other way around, this optimizes user accessibility, improves quality of life, drives better overall satisfaction and better commercial results.

Of course, for maximum impact, you need great taste too.

Joe Ganci is CEO of Corporate Services, Energy & Resources, Government and InReach for Sodexo in the U.S. and sits on the board of the Society of Hospitality and Foodservice Management.