Sodexo Launches Fooditude in Dublin

Leading workplace services provider Sodexo Ireland is poised to ‘stir up’ corporate food services with the launch of Fooditude and the opening of a new cloud kitchen in Dublin.  

In December 2020 Sodexo acquired a majority shareholding in Fooditude, one of London’s leading names in ‘delivered-in’ workplace catering.  Fooditude has been operating since 2005, with household name clients that include Netflix and Pinterest. 

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​The arrival of Fooditude is an important step as Sodexo grows new digital-enabled and consumer-focused food services to support its mission to keep its clients’ employees happy, healthy, and well-fed. 

As organisations move towards hybrid working models, they are looking for more flexible and cost-effective support services. Fooditude, with its track record in fresh, fun, on-trend menu options, allows organisations to offer food as a benefit to entice employees back to workplaces, supporting the role of the office as space for collaboration and connection, and building employee productivity, health, and wellbeing. 

Food is ordered in advance via the Sodexo Twelve Pay app that provides a seamless ‘order-to-delivery’ experience. Fooditude’s offsite production capability allows organisations to review their real estate and re-model existing kitchen space for valuable business activities.  

The launch of Fooditude in Dublin is an exciting step in the evolution of Sodexo’s Vital Spaces proposition, which brings together the company’s diverse expertise to provide employers with a new approach to help them transform their workplaces through a connected, people-centric approach.

Commenting on the news, David Fox, managing director, Sodexo Ireland, said 
“At Sodexo, we recognise the importance of innovation and anticipating the needs of our clients and their employees, all with continued focus on improving the quality of life of all those we serve. 

“Fooditude is part of the transformation of our food services. Launching this new model for food services allows us to support our clients, as the role of the workplace is changing and evolving. For us – it’s all about making it easy and putting food at the heart of the employee experience and offering the digital-first experience that consumers expect.”

Fooditude continues to be run by husband-and-wife team Dean and Samantha Kennett, who have strong personal connections to Ireland.  A craft team will operate out of its new Dublin cloud kitchen at Clarehall in Santry. 

The Fooditude team will be preparing sustainably sourced, seasonal on-trend office catering delivered daily by its ‘dotty’ vans to clients in the Dublin area.  Typical lunchbox menus can include sticky pomegranate chicken, toasted sesame root veg and smoked quinoa; green tea roast salmon with soba noodle kale salad; grilled smoky steak with black bean, cumin, and coriander red rice salad; sesame tamarind tofu with rice noodles and an aubergine caponata. All sourcing is done from Origin Green verified suppliers. 

Fooditude co-owner and former chef Dean Kennett was virtually meeting prospective clients and showcasing the company offerings at the Dublin Tech Summit on 17th June.  Dean said, Our London clients have been asking us to come to Dublin for a while and now we’re here! We have over 15 years of experience in bringing food and fun to the workplace. Our motto is ‘feed yourself happy’ because there’s nothing like a tasty meal to put a smile on everyone’s face – and we’re looking forward to putting a few smiles on faces in Dublin!”

During the pandemic, Dean and the Fooditude team delivered 40,000 meals to vulnerable residents in Southwark in London. As a result, the BBC programme, Masterchef UK, invited Dean Kennett to be a guest diner and judge on its recent broadcast celebrating Covid-19 Food Heroes.

In Ireland, Sodexo provides integrated workplace services to clients in business and industry, tech, education, financial, pharma and healthcare. Those services include workspace transformation to improve employee experience, food services, facilities and estate management. 

For more information on Fooditude and Vital Spaces, https://ie.sodexo.com/vital-spaces.html