Sodexo gives off 139 million euros in net profit, according to the results presented Wednesday, October 27. While the brand had lost 315 million euros last year, the worst crisis in its history. With the confinements, collective restaurants, in companies, canteens in schools had closed or idled. This year, with the improvement of sanitary conditions, the activity is gradually resumed. Sodexo, which is headed by Sophie Bellon, the founder’s daughter, has regained 87% of its pre-crisis activity.
Teleworking still penalizes the group. Not all employees have returned to the site, and when they are in the office, habits have changed. Some prefer to have their meal delivered or even brought. In fact, the business catering part remains in decline, with a drop of around 20% compared to normal. And it’s even worse for restaurants in museums, cultural places and stadiums managed by Sodexo. They have gradually reopened but with the health pass, the group has not regained half of the activity in this segment. On the other hand, for services intended for seniors, in retirement homes, or even in health establishments or hospitals, there, Sodexo continued to work well.
Sodexo has cut in the workforce: it has separated from more than 50,000 people, including 2,000 in France. The brand still has more than 400,000 employees, spread over more than sixty countries. It is particularly present in the United States where it intends to develop further.
To quickly regain margins, the French flagship also wants to rethink the collective catering model, in particular by increasing partnerships with meal delivery platforms. Sodexo has already partnered with Uber Eats or Deliveroo. Finally, the brand will diversify a little more: in gift vouchers and restaurant vouchers or by being even more present in what is called the concierge, i.e. dry cleaning, cleaning, laundry services. anybody.