Sodexo seeks market foothold with a unique smartcard

Sodexo Group, a Paris-based food services and facilities management company, wants to secure its foothold in China with a special kind of consumer card.

Different from the consumer cards that are similar to coupons used extensively in supermarkets, shops and convenient stores, the Sodexo Pass in China is mainly focused on providing meal services.

"That is exactly our positioning when we entered China. We will provide service and convenience to our customers' employees, giving them meal service with high quality, whether or not they have canteens," said Daniel Capek, general manger of Shanghai Sodexo Pass Service.

"In other words, we are the only meal service provider," Capek said. "The current meal cards in Shanghai are more like pre-paid cards or just an alternative to cash."

Sodexo's meal pass program provides meal card services to 500 companies, helping them arrange their employees' meal allowances.

According to Sodexo's statistics, more than 80,000 beneficiaries in Shanghai are using meal service cards at nearly 4,000 restaurant outlets installed with the Sodexo Meal Pass.

However, that number is relatively low by comparison with about 2 million Sodexo meal pass holders in India.

Sodexo obtained a business license in May 1999 to issue service cards. Sodexo Pass China provides employee benefits services in the form of smartcards.

Until recently, Sodexo's other smartcards such as the festival gift pass and staff birthday pass cards were among the more popular gift choices in Shanghai.

In the next five to 15 years, Sodexo is planning to expand its Chinese cardholder numbers to 5 million to 10 million, said Pierre Henry, chief operating officer with the Sodexo Group and CEO of Sodexo Service Vouchers and Cards.

Apart from its meal pass, Sodexo also has offered up to 190 kinds of service cards in other countries that provide a range of benefits such as food, gasoline and transportation.

At the end of 2008, Sodexo Pass China received a new license to enter the non-meal sector.

Like other multinational corporations, Sodexo is localizing itself by learning to understand local market demands. The recent Mid-Autumn Festival is one example. Sodexo introduced a series of moon cake gift passes that were well received by the market.

"The difficulty is that China has very strict regulations for such services, and in order to expand our business, we have to obtain related operational licenses, which are very complicated," Henry said.

Founded in 1965, Sodexo employs more than 400,000 people working at Sodexo offices in 80 countries.

(China Daily 12/05/2009 page12)