How technology is shaping a brand new dining era

In today’s era of customization, a personalized meal experience has become the gold standard for our consumers. Not only are they expecting choice and flexibility in terms of what, when and where they eat, they also want the benefits of technology to enjoy a smoother and more seamless overall dining experience.

A food service provider must be able to respond to this new landscape and, with this in mind, at Sodexo we are using innovative technologies to provide the greatest range of choice and flexibility, alongside convenience and comfort. We received an industry award this past year from the Interactive Customer Experience Association for the 'Best Restaurant Interactive Customer Experience', and we made the list on Management.com’s 'Top 10 Technology Stories of 2022' multiple times. As a matter of fact, on various sites and areas of our business, we are deploying all the technologies in this list in order to better meet our consumers where they are and improve their overall dining experience.

Some of our key innovations in food services in the US include:

Delicious meals available 24/7 and delivered to your doorstep

Sophisticated food robots can now take on the production, transportation, or delivery of our meals. This technology tends to make the food experience more convenient, by making it available 24/7 and ensuring greater proximity to the consumer. Today we are using robots to bring healthy and nutritious options to all, especially to those who want to eat outside of traditional mealtimes.

For example, on various hospital and university sites across the US, we are providing 24/7 service of hot and cold drinks, pizza, burgers, and ramen through automated kiosks that are able to personalize orders that are ready to serve! We also have robots that are able to deliver food to our consumers on university campuses, helping them save time and giving them the freedom to eat their meals where suits them best.

Dining apps for digital ordering

Our consumers across the board today are looking for ways to save time and make things easier. Absolutely no one wants to wait in a long line for their meal, and this is where digital ordering is bringing the whole dining experience up a notch. During 2020, dinning apps were used by 111 million people in the US alone, for ordering from every kind of restaurant, confirming the trend that consumers really do want to order anytime and anywhere.

Consumers around the world have been able to order food through their phones for a while, but we’ve recently launched a new app called Everyday which is already available at over 475 locations across the US. The benefits of company catering are combined on a single app that provides access to the day’s menu, as well as multiple ordering options, saving time and making your everyday easier. With full menu and nutritional information, digital ordering for collection or delivery (maybe even by one of our food delivery robots), digital wallet enabling scan and pay in person to skip the queue and loyalty rewards, Everyday has everything our consumers want! And the app is available in every type of location, from universities to workplaces and hospitals.

Prioritizing convenience for our consumers

Whether robots and apps are involved or not, our consumers want to be able to grab a quick snack or drink while going about their day, any time of the day. The development of fridges that are connected and completely autonomous unmanned retail micro-markets means that our consumers can be offered a greater variety of fresh and healthy options literally at their convenience!  Whether it’s a simply a designated pick-up location for customers to seamlessly collect their orders, or self check-out with plenty of tasty choices, these options leverage technology to bring more flexibility, choice and ease.

Keeping our eyes on the next innovation

These are just a few examples of how innovative technology is supporting our quest to offer our consumers the best food anytime, anywhere. Whether it’s a cute delivery robot on our US campuses, a smart fridge or an app, these solutions are giving our consumers the freedom of when, where and how to enjoy their meal. We can only expect more exciting things to come as we roll out these services more widely and introduce new concepts as they become available.