In late September, Sodexo Live! supported the delivery of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s greatest flower show.
Hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society, the annual event ran from Tuesday 21 September until Sunday 26 September. Traditionally held in late May, the 2021 show was rescheduled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sodexo Live! delivered the full hospitality programme at Jardin Blanc, the event's official hospitality, in collaboration with Michelin starred chef Raymond Blanc OBE.
The Secret Garden restaurant, which is curated by Raymond Blanc OBE, served up a delicious and sustainable menu designed to celebrate the bounty of the harvest festival when ingredients are at their richest and most flavoursome, which saw the team introduce more plant-based dishes than ever before such as salt-baked celeriac and a wasteful to tasteful tartlet which includes “rescued” beetroot confit, artichoke purée and artichoke crisps.
Alongside the Secret Garden restaurant, the daily operations also covered the Champagne & Seafood Restaurant, the Ranelagh Restaurant, and the Drawing Room at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Over the course of the famous six-day event, the Sodexo Live! team served more than 1,700 covers per day.
Guests attending the prestigious event had the choice of a wide array of hospitality packages, ranging from gourmet canapes and delectable tasting dishes to sumptuous four-course lunches and afternoon teas. An open bar was also on hand, serving champagne and botanical cocktails.
As part of Jardin Blanc and Sodexo’s commitment to sourcing fresh, sustainable produce and mitigating food waste, the major event's team partnered with Full Circle Farm. The farm, based in West Sussex and led by farmer and CEO Tom Morphew, will see leftover ingredients from this year’s event used to create compost and fertiliser for next year’s crop of fruit and vegetables.
For any produce which couldn't be used on other projects, Sodexo made sure it didn't go to waste. An event-wide initiative returned this year that saw any leftover food donated to City Harvest - a charity distributing surplus food to feed those most in need and supporting Sodexo’s regional Stop Hunger aims.
After the RHS Chelsea Flower Show concluded, Sodexo donated 1,728 kilograms of leftover food to City Harvest, which led to 4,112 meals being delivered to projects that feed people facing food poverty. This ultimately led to 6,566 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions being prevented by not needlessly sending good food to landfill sites.
Steve Hawkins, Divisional Managing Director, Leisure and Airline Lounges for Sodexo Live! said, “Jardin Blanc is one of the most magical places to visit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, so it was great to be back at the world’s greatest flower show.
'Raymond Blanc and the Sodexo Live! Team worked tirelessly to develop an extraordinary experience for guests that drove home the importance of preserving and protecting the environment that we love.”