Food services giant Sodexo says it will spend $1M in Maine this year

Courtesy / Sodexo Doug Winslow, executive chef at the University of Maine at Farmington, and Wendy Benney, a district executive chef, are among 760 Sodexo employees in Maine.

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By Renee Cordes

French food services and facilities management company Sodexo, which employs 760 people in Maine, on Monday unveiled plans to invest at least $1 million in the state's food economy during 2021.

The company said it will do so in the form of local food purchases via more than 130 existing partnerships with farms, food producers and fisheries.

Sodexo, a Fortune 500 company with a $21 million payroll in Maine, serves 13,000 meals daily at 14 colleges and hospitals statewide, including Central Maine Medical Center, the University of Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College.

Sodexo noted that Maine has 7,600 farms, more than any other New England state, 40% of which are owned by Mainers under age 34.

While Sodexo spending amounts for previous years were not immediately available, a spokesperson told Mainebiz that the company is returning to pre-pandemic spending levels in Maine. That comes after the company's budget shrank in 2020, when campus dining facilities were closed as college students went remote.

News of a spending increase in 2021 follows a U.S. Department of Agriculture announcement in late March of a new $6 billion pandemic assistance relief program for food-based businesses and farmers nationwide. That initiative aims to reach a broader set of products than previous COVID-19 aid programs.

“Farmers and food producers have been hit hard by this pandemic, and it’s encouraging to see Sodexo committing to them," said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, in a statement. "Creating institutional markets for local food is critically needed to grow Maine’s agricultural sector.”

Dan Roy, Sodexo district manager, said, “Sourcing locally and providing culturally reflective menus are vitally important to us, to the environment and to our customers. We are proud to use our resources to directly benefit Maine’s food businesses."

In 2015, Sodexo launched an organization called the Maine Course to boost annual spending on local food, coordinate local food sourcing and help businesses get their products into the regional supply chain.

Partners include the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, through which it sources 100% responsibly harvested fresh white fish from the Gulf of Maine for all Sodexo locations in the state.

“In order to really make a difference in Maine’s food economy and to meaningfully increase sustainable fishing and farming practices, we need institutional markets,” said Kyle Foley, senior program manager of GMRI's Sustainable Seafood Program.

Sodexo also works with Skowhegan-based Maine Grains, which saw its business with a major distributor triple as a result of its partnership with the company, according to founder and CEO Amber Lambke.

"Now through the Maine Grain Alliance," she said, "my relationship is opening new doors for other grain producers."