Special day dedicated to innovation designed to step up the transformation of contract catering

Over the past few months, Elior has been able to step up the process of redefining its offers, particularly in its B&I restaurants, and to rethink the models for preparing and providing meals so as to adapt to the new uses and expectations of its guests.
A day of discussion dedicated to innovation
Elior’s first global day dedicated to innovation enabled more than 1,500 employees to connect virtually to listen, discover, discuss and share their views on new ideas and concepts. This was an opportunity for the Group to bring together its Spanish, Italian, French, English and American employees, and to create a truly collective think-tank to reflect on the lunch-break of the future.
Program of events:
- The strategic vision of innovation guided by the CEO and country directors. Thanks to the agility and creativity of its teams, the Group has been able to emerge from the crisis more competitive than before, by offering renewed and responsible catering solutions.
- An inspiring speech given by David Rowan, founder of the UK edition of WIRED magazine, and author of the best-seller book, Non-Bullshit Innovation. In his speech, David shared his insight into the future trends in the catering industry, and explained how to instill a culture of continuous innovation in organizations.
- A series of discussions on innovative projects around the world in the form of round tables by market (business, health, education, services) then by country (Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, United States, France).
The objective of this meeting was to enable employees to copy the innovations by drawing inspiration from their colleagues. One of the key messages concerned the need to circulate information and new ideas within the teams. To meet this challenge, a collaborative platform has been set up at Group level enabling all employees to explore initiatives from all countries, and share their own experience.

Innovations designed to reinvent contract catering
The sanitary crisis has played a major role in accelerating innovations, and teams from all countries were able to participate in the event both as actors and witnesses. Over the past few months, Elior has proven its capacity to adapt its offers, organization, sourcing, production and delivery methods, and to digitize its services. Elior teams everywhere have demonstrated their ability to be agile and offer their customers new, responsible catering solutions and services:
- In companies, by adapting to new ways of working with the Nestor offer in France, and the smart bottle in Italy.
- In education, by investing in nutrition with the deployment of Nutri Score in France, as well as new applications for families in France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Spain.
- In healthcare, thanks to the personalization of our offers, aimed at the elderly in particular, with Nutri age in Italy, Idequatio in France, and Home care services in Spain.
- Elior Services has also demonstrated its resilience during the crisis and is capitalizing on its leadership position in France, for example thanks to its bio-cleaning carts, and Clinea, which produces ecological detergents using water, salt and electricity.
With the end of the crisis now in sight and the lock-down being raised, innovation will continue to play a decisive role so that we can respond to our guests three key concerns, namely:
- Is my meal healthy and tasty, and is it good for me?
- Will lunch time also be a moment of pleasure and conviviality, which is important for all of us?
- What impact will my eating habits have, will they be good for the planet, good for everyone?
By the end of the day, Elior’s teams in all countries had been made aware that the Group is now better positioned than ever to meet these three challenges.
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