CSR
Our commitment to corporate citizenship
As a Sodexo business, Prestige shares a deep-rooted commitment to corporate citizenship which is increasingly important to us, our clients and our customers. The issues that affect our clients, customers, employees, suppliers, the environment and other stakeholders also have an impact on our business. As a responsible corporate citizen, we aim to consider these issues as part of our everyday business practice. To Prestige, corporate citizenship is about doing the right thing. It is our contribution to sustainable development which seeks to integrate economic, social and environmental factors to ensure a better quality of life for present and future generations.
Environmental performance is high on our agenda. For example, to address sustainability issues at The Open Championship in 2009, we worked closely with the R&A to source regional and seasonably available ingredients such as Morecambe Bay shrimps, and minimise food delivery miles. As part of our ongoing commitment to support the local communities in which we operate, 300 of the 1,200 staff we employed at the championship came from the local area.
At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2009 Sodexo Prestige began to use Bioware for all tumblers of cold drinks, Pimm’s and salad boxes. Bioware is a biodegradable material with components derived from renewable raw materials like sugar cane fibre and corn starch. This plastic-like material is biodegradable in only 65 days. The team served 18,000 sandwiches, 20,500 cakes and pastries, 716 beer battered haddock and chips as well as 46,500 glasses of Pimm’s, 5,400 glasses of champagne and 32,789 cups of tea at 2009 Chelsea Flower Show alone, that’s a huge reduction in plastic waste.
Sodexo Prestige has been using Fairtrade products for five years. As an advocate of the impact Fairtrade products have on developing world farmers, Sodexo Prestige are pleased to reveal that the Chelsea Flower Show served up 64,000 Fairtrade teas and coffees.
We are also committed to community activities. In the UK, the Sodexo Foundation is the registered charity behind the STOP Hunger campaign which is active in over 20 Sodexo countries. The STOP Hunger campaign aims to alleviate hunger through food provision, nutrition education, and basic life skills training such as cooking. The Sodexo Foundation a strategic three year partnership with FareShare, the national charity that provides quality food–surplus ‘fit for purpose’ product – from the food industry to community organisations across the UK to support disadvantaged or vulnerable people. Smaller donations are also made to a number of other charities and further details can be found at www.sodexofoundation.org.uk. Prestige has two ‘charity champions’ who are responsible for raising funds towards an annual target and, during the 2008–2009 financial year, we raised over £14,000 towards STOP Hunger activities.