S Services for companies are the driving force behind the development of Sodexo Italia, a branch of the French multinational catering company. The new course focuses on management and care services for corporate environments, facility management services and hotel services with two dedicated companies. «Turnover will thus go from 417 million in 2022 to 430 million in the budget for this year and 500 million in 2025/2026 – says Stefano Biaggi, CEO of Sodexo Italia – with a mix that will go from the current 70% of revenues linked to catering and 30% from services, equal to approximately 120 million euros, to arrive in the long term at 50% generated by services». Currently in Italy the company has a workforce of 10,400, all direct.
The new offer will be presented today and has two pillars. The first is Vital Spaces and it is the group’s new proposal which will offer value-added services, especially to the private market. «Vital Spaces will intervene in the area of the work environment and on how to improve the quality of life of the staff by offering the best solutions in addition to catering – explains Enrico Bartoli, Director of the Sodexo Italia business segment -. We will work in the areas of ergonomics, lighting technology and the environment to put the client company’s staff in the best operating conditions and once the proposal has been implemented, we will continue to work over time for the management of services». Vital Spaces’ offer has been tested in France, the United Kingdom and in the markets of Northern Europe and is now arriving in Italy where «we focus on manufacturing and tertiary companies» underlines Bartoli.
It also accelerates on Entegra, a company that operates as a strategic procurement partner such as a purchasing center for hotels and restaurants that relies on the contractual strength and volumes of Sodexo. It is also able to provide consultancy services in the organization of services, in the presentation of the catering offer for hotels and in staff training. Entegra has been operational in Italy for four years and according to plan, growth of more than 50% on an annual basis is expected for the next three years. The customer portfolio went from 30 in 2020 to 190 in 2022 and should reach a thousand in 2025. Entegra’s transactions went from 3 million in the first year to 26 last year which will become 40 in 2023 and exceed 100 million in 2025 The new course provides for an increase in employment linked to the evolution of roles and skills. Opportunities are foreseen for cooks, site managers for facility management processes as well as front line and reception positions. TOengineers and energy management experts will also increase. In Sodexo’s new course, catering maintains a key position but first Covid and then inflation put pressure on margins. This is why Biaggi is asking Parliament «to make the price review compulsory, twice a year, and that it be based on Istat indices elaborated on our sector, regardless of the percentage of cost variation. This adjustment must not in any way affect the final consumer and families. A sort of indexation of the service to fluctuations in supplies «which in the last year has seen average increases for derrbetween 18 and 22%» concludes the CEO.