Gastronomy & Food Service

Catering Giant Sodexo Reports Meatless Meals Now Make Up 10% of UK Sales

  • Sodexo reports meatless meals are sharply rising in popularity in the UK, with sales almost doubling in one year.

Food services giant Sodexo, which has over 400,000 employees and a presence in 80 countries, has announced significant month-on-month increases in sales of vegetarian and vegan meals in the UK.

The company said that in the 12 months to November 2021, sales of meatless meals made up an average of 10% of all food sales at its corporate client sites. As a proportion of all meals sold, vegetarian and vegan meal sales almost doubled over this period from 7% to 13%.

Entirely vegan meals also rose in popularity, making up 41% of meat-free meals sold in November 2021 compared to just 24% in the same month in 2020.

Future50Foods
© Sodexo

Fighting climate change with plant-based food

Last October, Sodexo announced plans to make a third of its meals plant-based by 2025 to reduce its carbon footprint. The company has been increasing its meatless offerings worldwide for a few years, adding options such as JUST Egg and the Impossible Burger.

In 2019, Sodexo partnered with Unilever-owned Knorr to produce a report outlining 50 healthy foods with a low environmental impact. These foods included lentils, kale, and wild rice. Shortly afterwards, Sodexo began serving 40 plant-based meals made with these ingredients worldwide.

“As part of our Net Zero commitment, we understand that plant-based meals have a lower carbon impact. We have set ourselves the goal of increasing the number of plant-based meals and recipes we supply to 33% by 2025,” said Claire Atkins-Morris, Director of Corporate Responsibility at Sodexo.

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