How Sodexo’s updated Mindful program is embracing a new era of wellness

The concept of health and wellness has seen many changes in the past couple of years, so when it was time for Sodexo to update its wellness-focused Mindful program, the team knew it had to go make sure it was involving all aspects of health and nutrition that are top of mind for today’s consumer.

The program’s update, which took over a year to complete, involved the work of several different stakeholders throughout the company including dietitians, chefs, fitness professionals and more. 

“We [got] everyone together to make sure that we were aligned with the most up to date science nutritionally and be up to date with the best practices in all of these different areas that actually touch health and wellness,” says Registered Dietician and Senior Manager for Culinary Systems at Sodexo Micheline Cormier. 

The new and improved Mindful not only offers guests a variety of new recipes intended to reflect the most recent dietary guidelines for Americans, but it also provides Sodexo teams and their customers with a more holistic approach to health. 

From idea to full-fledged recipe

The updated Mindful program introduced a variety of new dishes to Sodexo menus, including buffalo chicken quesadillas, fall harvest falafel wraps, pulled beef and spicy pepper relish paninis and pumpkin pancakes. Each dish passed a rigorous development process to make it to diners’ plates. 

The multi-step process begins with market insights that reveal current food trends and ingredients and flavors that are popular with diners. Once the team analyzes the insights, they go to a consumer panel with names and descriptions of potential recipes to get their take. 

From there, the team creates dishes based on the consumer feedback. Each dish follows a variety of nutrition requirements including having limited added sugars and calories, enough protein and fiber, and more. The Sodexo team also considers how complicated the recipes are and aims to ensure they are as simple as possible so that they may be easily replicated across different locations. 

Finally, a “formal cutting” takes place where the dishes are further scrutinized by the brand director and other stakeholders in the company. 

“We bring in the dishes one at a time and we talk about the dish and how it performs,” says Cormier. “We talk about why we think this would be a great addition to this program, and how we meet helps meet our program goals, and then we determine which dishes make the cut.” 

Those that do survive the chopping block are then released on menus across the country. Each dish is accompanied by a symbol on the menu to let diners know it’s part of the Mindful program. 

“It’s very easy for any of our customers to feel confident when they see that symbol,” says Cormier.

A holistic approach to health 

Alongside the bevy of new menu items, the updated program also features a new partnership with National Council for Mental Wellbeing (NCMW). Through the partnership, Sodexo teams receive mental health first aid trainings that are intended to help them better support their clients and diners. 

In addition, the NCMW is teaming up with Sodexo on its monthly Mindful newsletter and social media content to provide diners with information on different mental wellbeing topics and other news. 

The partnership is intended to provide guests with a more holistic approach to health and wellness. 

“The understanding of what it means to be "healthy" has evolved significantly in recent years,” says Kristi Theisen, senior director of impact for Sodexo North America. “It’s a personal journey focused on nourishing foods, positive mental well-being, and moments of joy.” 

While the program is still relatively new, Cormier says she’s already heard good things about it out in the field and is excited to receive more feedback on it over the next few months of the rollout. 

“I know that a lot of operators have been reaching out to me to get more information and are really enjoying the deployment of it,” she says.