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Sodexho Alliance helps bring food to the Delta
Company
supplies MDCC and others
by
Jeff Piselli
DBJ Contributing Writer
The
cafeteria services at the Mississippi Delta Community College
at Moorhead represents far more than the traditional hair-netted,
mystery-meat slinging cafeteria ladies of days gone by.
It’s actually part of a French-owned, multinational
company named Sodexho Alliance. Founded in 1966 the company
now operates food service operations in 72 countries. That
doesn’t mean, however, that students at Moorhead can
expect chateaubriand and crème broulet as cafeteria
staples. Sodexho takes pride in respecting the culinary
traditions of the countries in which it operates, according
to Sodexho Alliance Chairman Pierre Bellon. “We have
had to adapt to different national and regional cultures
to succeed,” he says. “This is because until
1995, we expanded mainly through organic growth, starting
from scratch in our host countries. We defend local traditions
and culinary diversity, while refusing to offer standardized
products and services.” The company handles the cafeteria
needs of a number of Mississippi colleges, including William
Carey College and Mississippi University for Women. It is
the largest contract food provider in North America with
corporate, health and educational divisions.
Joel Rucker has spent years in the food service industry
and was working for the Morrison’s cafeteria chain
when it was bought by Sodexho. He is now the general manager
of Sodexho Campus Services at Mississippi Delta Community
College. “We provide all the food services for the
college, including our cafeteria services.” He says.
“We have a retail operation, we do all the catering
for the client and we also do catering for outside functions.”
According to Rucker, the philosophy of Sodexho is to adapt
its products and services to the needs and wants of the
college’s approximately 3,500 students and staff.
“Every year the service evolves as we try to provide
a menu that’s more in line with what people are eating
these days,” he says. Instead of the infamous, and
ubiquitous mystery meat of years past, students now have
the option of choosing healthy, interesting food, that pleases
the eye as well as the palate. Several popular new items,
including a chicken wrap have recently been added to the
menu. “We try to provide service first. We’re
trying to get away from the way it was done in the old days,
where you went down the line and didn’t have any choices,”
says Rucker. “These days, you can’t do that.
You have to listen to the students and offer them as many
choices as you can, because they have a lot of other options.”
MDCC students currently have two service lines to choose
from, one with more traditional main courses, and the other
offering a variety of specialty items, such as deli sandwiches,
a salad bar. Eventually the plan is to convert the cafeteria
into a food-court type of atmosphere. “It will have
more stations where you can get your pizza or burger cooked
in front of you,” says Rucker. “We’re
still in negotiations here, but we hope to be able to do
something soon.”
Sodexho’s expertise in pleasing discriminating palates
isn’t limited to institutional settings. It is also
available for private catering, according to Rucker. DBJ
