Sodexo Doubles Down on Plant-Forward Menus at 400 US Hospitals

French catering giant Sodexo is expanding its partnership with Greener by Default to roll out plant-forward menus at 400 hospitals in the US.

To help Americans stay healthier, spend less money, and be kinder to the planet, Sodexo is expanding its plant-heavy menus across all US hospitals it caters to.

To do so, it’s diversifying its partnership with Greener by Default, a behavioural choice agency that advocates for menus that prioritise plant-based food over animal options.

The expansion builds on the success of their campaign with NYC Health + Hospitals, which rolled out its ‘plant-based by default’ scheme at all 11 public hospitals in the city to great success. That initiative has served over two million patients since its 2022 launch, with a 90% satisfaction rate.

Sodexo’s menus position vegan meals as the default option for one meal per day at 131 hospitals already, but this will now be extended to an additional 200 hospitals this year, and bring the total to 400 by 2026.

“Our collaboration with Greener by Default is driven by our shared goal to advance and promote plant-based dining in hospitals across the US through effective choices,” said Molly Matthews, CEO of Sodexo’s healthcare and seniors divisions.

“We anticipate continued success of the plant-based menu expansion and its positive impact on our clients and their patients.”

Sodexo looks to replicate NYC success

The New York City scheme saw plant-based meals become the preexisting option for patients. The first meal offered is the chef’s recommendation, and is always plant-based. If this isn’t accepted, they’re presented with an alternative vegan option. If that is rejected too, many other dishes are available.

Patients are presented with nutritional information to encourage healthy eating both during and after their stay, hospital TVs and screensavers include an appealing image of vegan food with text highlighting its health benefits, and tray carts pushed through halls are wrapped in imagery that promotes plant-based meals. When being discharged, patients also receive a vegan recipe book collected from hospital staff submissions.

All this has led to a 36% reduction in food emissions. And the savings don’t just come from carbon – the vegan dishes are 59 cents cheaper than meat-based dishes on average.

The success of this programme has spurred Sodexo’s expansion. Early data from another hospital already offering plant-based meals by default shows that patients have been eating 36% more vegan entrées, while their selection of meat-based mains has declined by 20%.

These numbers may be preliminary, but they suggest that even if 10% of the 290,000 meals Sodexo serves to patients daily shift from animals to plants, the caterer could transition more than 10 million meals a year.

The company argues its vegan meal programme preserves freedom of choice and provides an array of protein options for diners, with dishes including Cajun pastalaya, southwest potato breakfast bowl, and balsamic stuffed portobello mushrooms. It cites research showing that plant-based eating can “significantly lower” the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers.

“As a leader in healthy-outcomes-based menus and protocols through our Clinicia patient nutrition programs, we recognised the need for a partner like Greener by Default to support our efforts in educating teams, promoting our plant-based meal options, and extracting meaningful data for improved outcomes,” Matthews noted.

Plant-based meals scheme part of climate strategy

“The continued success of patient menus that position plant-based options as the default demonstrates how small, cost-effective shifts can have an outsized impact, while still preserving freedom of choice for diners and ensuring their access to nutritious, sustainable foods that don’t compromise on taste,” said Greener by Default co-founder and CEO Katie Cantrell.

The non-profit has teamed up with 18 hospitals and healthcare systems (both in the US and overseas) in the last year alone, developing plant-forward menus to help improve health and climate outcomes, decrease costs, and prioritise diner satisfaction.

Greener by Default is also facilitating NYC Mayor Eric Adams’s Plant-Powered Carbon Challenge earlier this year, helping partners like Columbia University, The Rockefeller Foundation, catering giant Aramark, and the US Open track emissions and share best practices on designing plant-forward menus.

Sodexo, meanwhile, has rolled out a similar initiative at 400 US universities via a partnership with behavioural science non-profit Food for Climate League and dietary change think tank the Better Food Foundation, using the latter’s DefaultVeg approach.

The caterer’s Good Eating Company had previously partnered with Greener by Default on a successful corporate pilot with LinkedIn, halving the carbon emissions of the social media company’s San Francisco office. The 12-week pilot saved 14,400 of CO2e by making two-thirds of the menu vegan, including opting for oat milk as the default coffee bar choice and flavour descriptors over words like ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’ on menu cards.

All this plays into its climate targets. The company plans to lower emissions by 34% by this year (from a 2017 baseline) and make 70% of all its meals low-carbon by the end of the decade, as part of a wider goal to reach net zero by 2040.