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Sodexo @ SolentSHOWCASING SODEXO AT SOUTHAMPTON SOLENT UNIVERSITY

Sodexo @ Solent

Southampton Solent University has partnered with Sodexo

since 2010 (Offering food services and facilities management services for numerous different clients worldwide, Sodexo has worked within the education industry for the past 45 years.) Across the Solent campus Sodexohave a range of different brands that provide the students with high-quality food and drinks.

The Dock - the main restaurant on the East Park Terrace campus, which is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am-3.30pm.

The five different outlets that form the Dock are:

Aspretto - offering a range of pastries, sandwiches and hot and cold drinks, including Fairtrade tea and coffee. Aspretto Coffee can be found in the Dock andoutlets placed in the Millaisand Christopher Cockerell buildings, as well as across thepark in the Artisan café in the SJM building.

Bowl – serving students a selection of traditional meals from beef lasagne to roast chickento risotto and much more.

Brunch – an all-day breakfast bar.

Natural –the healthy eating option providing jacket potatoes, salads and two daily soups.

Streat - stocking a selection of freshly-made pizzas, fries and daily specials.

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Sodexo @ FAIrtrade

SoCIAL MEDIA @ SOLENT

Page 2 - Global Chef Hubert Visschedjik visits SolentPage 5 - Sodexo @ Solent CreativesPage 6 - Sodexo Coffee - The Student Opinion

Page 8 - Fairtrade Fortnight @ Sodexo

Page 10 - Social Media @ Solent

Staff Profile PagePage 11 - Sodexo Staff Profile

Working in partnership with

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Sodexo’s Global Chef Programme has been bringing flavours from around the world to university campuses

for seven years, allowing students to meet chefs and sample food from Malaysia, Peru, Columbia and Finland, among other places. This year Sodexo brought the tastes of Brazil to customers, and Fairtrade Fortnight at Southampton Solent saw one of the best collaborations yet.

International chef Hubert Visschedjik journeyed to Southampton to launch his menu on 6th March when a huge variety of Brazilian inspired meals were served up to hungry students and staff in The Dock restaurant. Soup was served from the Natural bar and the salad option from Streat whilst the Sodexo team at The Bowl dished up the main meals that were on offer.

Global Chef & SodexoHubert visschedjik with the tastes

of brazil

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The Dutch-born chef has been to both the Sydney and London Olympics with Sodexo and has had culinary experiences in Michelin star restaurants before moving to Brazil and exploring the traditional ingredients available there. “Brazil is so big that you can never experiment with all the dishes, fruits and spices,” explains Visschedjik in his biographical leaflet.

Visschedjik’s menu included traditional Brazilian recipes with some exotic variations of everyday food. A particular highlight was the Pizza de Brigadeiro con Morango; a sweet pizza made with strawberries, chocolate and caramel. Also available was a dish named Baião de Dois, a mixture of rice, Quorn, feta cheese and Brazilian black-eyed beans.

The menu was a real hit with the students. Bryony Lathbury, 19, said: “The food tasted amazing and it was cool to have something so different in the Dock restaurant.” Fantastic feedback came directly from the customers and praise poured in on social media sites to making the day a huge success.

Brazil is so big that you can never experiment

with all the dishes, fruits and spices.

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Salon Culinaire

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For the third year in a row, Sodexo took Solent Creatives students to the Salon Culinaire event. The annual event,

which took place at one of Sodexo’s most prestigious contracts, Ascot Racecourse, saw both professional and amateur chefs from within the company take part in live and static competitions to showcase their skills, and attend a range of demonstrations and masterclasses by some of the top names in the industry.

As Salon Culinaire is one of the UK’s largest food service and hospitality shows, it also offers great opportunities to budding film directors and journalists. Solent Creatives, the creative agency at Southampton Solent University, took a team of students ranging from Film to Writing Fashion and Culture to the event to create their third magazine about the event and a behind-the-scenes short film of their day. Both were nothing short of the high professional standard that Solent instills into the students.

The event and the production of the magazine itself were an incredible success and were enjoyed by all who took part. “It was a really good experience for me because I got to organise a group of people, get involved with new techniques and it was great to work with a group of students who were on different courses as well,” explained Izzy Nash, a student on the Writing Fashion and Culture course.

Stephanie Mann, from Corporate Communications at Sodexo UK also described how impressed she was with the magazine:

“The layout of the publication is very clean and classy and over all it is just so creative! The interviews in particular are brilliant. The students have really captured the day and how it’s all about having fun and developing the chefs that take part.

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Since becoming Southampton Solent’s catering partner in August 2010.Sodexo has helped improve the

quality of the food and drink services, to the delight of the University’s students. Other than those located within the Student Union, Sodexo is responsible for all catering services on the campus and in Warsashincluding three main restaurant/cafés as well as several coffee shops.

Being such a popular drink among most students, good quality coffee shops are essential at any university, and that is what Sodexo provides. The Artisan café, in the Sir James Matthews building, is open to not only students and staff but also to the public, making it the ideal place to stop between lectures. Jamie Sangwin, an economics student, said that he usually purchases a caramel latte, his favourite coffee, before every one of his lectures.

I can’t go a day without at least one latte; they wake me up and get me through the day as well as

being very nice! “I think Sodexo’s involvement is brilliant,

usually if I buy a coffee from anywhere other than Starbucks or Costa I’m less than impressed but that’s not the case in Artisan.” Lottie Roberts, a first year fashion photography student, was also pleased with the quality that the University cafés have to offer, claming her coffee of choice to be a cappuccino.

Catering services at colleges and universities can be cheap and disgusting and that was certainly the case at my old college, but it’s

different at this University and I guess that’s down to Sodexo.

Solent University and Sodexo aim to provide sustainable and ethical food for students and staff which is most

impressive for third year business student Phil Lawrence.

I feel better knowing the food and drinks I’m buying aren’t just good on my behalf but also in a number

of different ways.

“Things like Fairtrade and over packaging should be considered and it’s encouraging to know they are at this Uni, thanks to Sodexo really.” Sports coaching students Will, Ed and Sam said they visit the café before all of their early starts (they classed midday as early) and each have an espresso to give them the buzz they need to coach.

“It’s become a bit of a tradition” said Ed. The Sodexo partnership has clearly had a successful impact on the University catering services and also the business itself. The project has created a countless number of positive attitudes towards Sodexo.

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The Student Opinion Aspretto Coffee

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Monday 24th FebruarySolent goes bananas

Sodexo worked alongside Southampton Solent University to celebrate Fairtrade’s 20th anniversary in the UK during ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’. On Monday 24th February, the week kicked off with Go Bananas, which promoted the stick with Foncho campaign.

Sodexo gave students samples of Fairtrade banana smoothies from its pop-up stall in the Dock with the aim to raise awareness of the positive impact that Fairtrade has on banana farmers and their families.

FairTrade & SodexoThe Fairtrade Fortnight

The Sodexo pop-up stall returned on Tuesday, where students were offered tasters and the chance to buy Fairtrade certified chocolate.

On Wednesday the Fortnight headed down to the Warsash Maritime Academy where the Fairtrade freebies continued to spread the word of Fairtrade bananas, chocolate and coffee, alongside information on Fairtrade. Warsash student, Allan Quinney, said:

Tuesday & Wednesday

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The cadets who attended the Fairtrade event at Warsash found it very knowledgeable and love the free Fairtrade giveaways.

Chocolate at Solent

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Thursday 27thThursday 27th February marked the

day when all rice served by Sodexo at Solent became Fairtrade. The pop-up stall reappeared in The Dock and Sodexo handed out tasters of hot and cold rice salads dishes and also offered the same dishes as main courses for the students to purchase for lunch.

‘Fair Friday’ launched on the 28th February, which saw the spread of Fairtrade offers into the C-store, the main Solent campus retail outlet. With the purchase of any Fairtrade products, including hot and cold drinks, chocolate, sugar and more, students received a free newspaper. Enrique, a Fairtrade coffee farmer from Costa Rica a came down to the The Dock restaurant from 11am-2pm to explain how Fairtrade impacts the people in his region whilst Sodexo handed out free tasters of its Aspretto Fairtrade filter coffee and sold the Aspretto coffee packs for students and staff to take home.

Friday 28th

The second week of Fairtrade included the return of the Global Chef initiative. Hubert Visschedjik brought the traditional tastes of Brazillian cuisine to The Dock to widen students’ knowledge of Fairtrade across the world. The recurrence of ‘Fair Friday’ brought Fairtrade to an end, although Sodexo carry on the fight for Fairtrade by selling prodcuts on campus.

The popular Aspretto coffee brand served in the Dock, Millais, Christopher Cockerell buildings and also in the Artisan Cafélocated in the SJM building, will continue tostock ethical Fairtrade products and sellFairtrade certified tea and coffee to staff and students at Solent.

The 2nd week

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SOCIAL MEDIA & SODEXOTWITTER/SNAPCHAT/VINE/INSTAGRAM

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Sodexo utilizes Snapchat!

Starting after the Easter break, Sodexo will return to Snapchat. Customers will simply have to snap an image of their food - whether it’s your lunch, snacks or drinks – to Sodexo and they will return with a snapchat voucher.

Every student and member of staff can redeem these vouchers and they can be used anywhere across campus. They will offer everything from 10% off food to free upgrades and extras, and even free meals! Add eatsolent on snapchat now to start saving!

Here at Sodexo we don't just use Twitter & Snapchat. We have branched out into Vine and Instagram as well.

Vine is a great way for us to show our customers more of what goes on behind the scenes. We can show how our daily specials on Streat are prepared or how we make a vegetable frittata from scratch. All in just 6 seconds. This is a media platform we will be using a lot more in the future and this will naturally lead us to launching our own You Tube channel in the Summer. We will not only be posting videos from the likes of Red Tractor and MSC but also videos from the Dock- including a tour!

Instagram is where we get to showcase the fantastic food that is served from the Dock everyday. We

have a great team in the kitchen, led by our Executive Chef Mel, and so much of the food they produce looks fantastic!

Search Big Mouth Solent on either Vine or Instagram and you'll find us.

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Both cards can be used on the same day and the app allows you to easily select the card you wish to use. The stamps are collected by scanning the QR code given by the Customer Service Assistant after the transaction – so have the app ready once you get to the till. After you have collected all 8 stamps, you will receive your freebie and scan a QR code that clears your card so you can continue earning more stamps!

The app also keeps students and staff up-to-date on the latest promotions and offers at Sodexo and connect the user to Sodexo’s social media sites. If you’re feeling generous, you can even send your friends gift stamps if they haven’t got enough to claim their free meal or drink yet. If they don’t already have the app, they will receive an email telling them how to get their free stamp.

Downloading the app is simple, just search for ‘Sodexo Reward Tree’ in the Apple App store or the Google Play store and enter a few details so you can be informed of any offers running at Solent University. Don’t miss out on a chance to save money and start collecting those stamps!

The Sodexo Reward TreeOn the 24th February, Sodexo launched the

free Reward Tree mobile app for iPhone and Android to make collecting rewards even easier. The app offers two different loyalty cards for Solent students to collect stamps and claim rewards:

• Free Hot Drink Card: Buy 8 drinks and get the 9th for free. You can claim a stamp every time you buy any hot drink.

• Free Lunch Card: Buy meals and get your 9th free. To receive a stamp, you have to spend £4 or more on a meal or sandwich and drink in a single transaction.

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Sodexo Staff ProfileHeather Kemp - Marketing Assistant at Sodexo

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Marketing Assistant @ Sodexo

Q&AQ&AMarketing Assistant @ Sodexo

Former student, Heather Kemp, is now a full-time employee of Sodexo. The Solent graduate studied journalism and made contact with Sodexo social media and marketing manager, Marc Jaytin, off her own back to see if she could get an internship with the company. Her efforts paid off as she was given the opportunity to work with Sodexo on a part-time basis. Through her hard work and eagerness to learn from the more experienced staff, she has now been employed by the company full-time. Here Heather talks more about what her job involves and what it is like to work for Sodexo.

When you started the job, what did you expect from it?

I first started working as an intern in the social media and marketing department. My plan was originally to get some experience in marketing and to build up my portfolio so I could then go on to do a Masters in marketing. However, I was really lucky as I was offered a job part-time and from there it became full-time as the workload for the department increased.

It all happened over six months, so very quickly. I was expecting to be an intern for a year, but they believed I had potential and that I was eager to learn. Even when they took me on full-time, they acknowledged that I was still learning and other staff continue to help me with anything I am not that confident with, which I really appreciate.

How long did it take you to progress from an intern to a full-time employee?

Newsletter Contributors The Sodexo Solent newsletter has been produced in partnership with Solent Press.Contributors for the newsletter have been:Luke Osborne/Megan Danskine/Marie Attfield/Gracie FosterDesign and layout:Ana Astadzhova

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What would you say are the three best things about working for Sodexo here at Solent?Sodexo give you a chance – they don’t turn you down if you don’t have enough experience. They are willing to put in the time, as long as you are too!

They help you to progress to the next level and there are plenty of opportunities to progress within the company. I could go to London or anywhere in the country working for Sodexo.They are interested in current trends. They take the time to understand how we like to communicate and what social media works best for the customer. They don’t just reply with generic responses; they create roles for people like me to be able to interact with the customers.

So why social media?

So why invest so much time and effort into social media?

With Social Media Manager MarC JaytIn

With Social Media Manager MarC JaytIn

What would you say to students interested in working for the company?Sodexo looks to invest in people so there will always be opportunities for students to show the company their worth! The great thing about Sodexo is you can easily build up a relationship with them through all the different social media channels we have, that way they know you before you even enquire or apply for a job. It definitely helped me to get the job!

In August 2011 Solent University was selected as the pilot site for social media within education. We had a very soft launch with both Facebook and Twitter being the pages of choice to start with.

Almost three years later and our Twitter page has gone from strength to strength and along the way we have added Vine, Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest- each with varying degress of success, and over the summer we will be looking to launch our own YouTube channel.

September 2013 saw us launch our blog which currently has 40 blog posts with well over 3000 page views. Our blog is a great place to find out everything that is happening on site from promotions to accreditations.

For me the reason is simple. Social media has become the front line in customer communication. We used to receive anywhere up to 20-30 comments cards a month across all of our restaurants and coffee shops but lately we are lucky to receive 2-3. Everything now happens online. Twitter, especially, is a fantastic channel to have open communication with customers as it is all happening in real time. A customer asks a question- we answer it.

A customer has a complaint- we deal with it. I believe our customers respond to that and we are very transparent with our responses. You have to be. Once you're online you have nowhere to hide and this in turn helps us deliver a service across the campus that we can be proud of.

Q&AQ&A

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