——Delivering Mission Through Cuisine, Honoring Heritage with Innovation
ShanghaiJune 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On June 11, Sodexo China’s “60th Anniversary Best Star Chef Dish Challenge” concluded successfully in Shanghai. Marking the 60th anniversary of the Sodexo Group in 2026, chef teams from Greater China competed on the same stage with craftsmanship and creativity, using original dishes that blend quality, innovation, and cultural expression to honor Sodexo’s profound heritage and innovative legacy in the food services sector over the past six decades.
Since its launch, the competition has featured diverse dish combinations, including Chinese and Western cooking techniques and dessert sets. After two months of rigorous selection processes—from solicitation and preliminary screening to public sales—eight outstanding chefs ultimately stood out, advancing to the national finals with their solid culinary skills and novel dish creativity.
Star chefs overcome challenges to reach the final stage
At the final event, a joint jury composed of clients conducted on-site tastings and comprehensive evaluations to determine three major awards:
Most Popular Dish Award: Focused on in-store sales performance, recognizing dishes most favored and sought after by diners; Best Ingenuity and Creativity Award: Evaluated based on culinary ingenuity, skill demonstration, and ingredient fusion, honoring a passionate culinary spirit; Best Theme Interpretation Award: Awarded to outstanding dishes that best capture needs with the highest alignment and convey the cultural identity of the 60th anniversary through food. Ultimately, the three awards were won by Chef Chen Jiajun from the Business & Industry segment, and Chefs Wang Zhikun and Shi Yang from the Education segment, respectively.
Three award-winning star chefs with Sodexo Greater China Chairman and Managing Director, Isabelle Hannedouche
The “60th Anniversary Best Star Chef Dish Challenge,” through the creative practices of Sodexo’s frontline chefs, starts from an in-depth understanding of consumers’ dish preferences and emotional needs in special scenarios, creating dishes with higher service attributes. Good food service is never merely a chef’s isolated display of skills; it involves repeatedly refining and gaining first-hand insights into taste preferences, ingredient choices, cultural identity, and creative balance, then applying and feeding these back into daily menu development, as well as responding to and proactively capturing client needs, thereby elevating the service experience through iteration and upgrade. Sodexo China uses cuisine as the most infectious medium, returning the essence of food service to clients and consumers themselves, continuously enhancing the quality trust and brand building of “Eat at Sodexo.”
Isabelle Hannedouche, Chairman and Managing Director of Sodexo Greater China, stated:
For sixty years, food services have been an important vehicle for Sodexo to improve the quality of life and a key link connecting clients and consumers. This Star Chef Challenge not only demonstrates the professional capabilities and innovative spirit of Sodexo China’s chef team but also shows us the infinite possibilities for continuous renewal in food services. Behind every original dish lies a profound understanding of consumer needs and an unwavering pursuit of quality experiences.
Going forward, we will continue to leverage the Group’s six decades of professional expertise and local innovation practices to drive the upgrade of food services, creating better daily experiences for clients and consumers.“
Global Vision Leading New Food Trends, Local Practices Expanding New Service Frontiers
As a key player in the global sustainable food services sector, Sodexo has always been consumer-needs-driven, continuously promoting innovation and upgrades in food services. In recent years, the Group has released the “International Sustainable Food Barometer” to continuously monitor changes in consumer expectations regarding food and dining experiences; encouraged chefs to explore sustainable culinary innovation practices through global projects like the “Cook for Change! Sustainable Cooking Competition”; and provided customized food services for athletes from around the world at major international events such as the 2024 Paris Olympics, continuously expanding the professional boundaries of food services.
Eight finalist star chefs with Sodexo Greater China Chairman and Managing Director, Isabelle Hannedouche
In local practices within China, Sodexo China boasts a professional culinary team of over a thousand people, providing solid support for continuous corporate innovation. In 2025, Sodexo China successfully ranked among the “Top 10 Chinese Group Meal Enterprises,” becoming the only foreign-funded enterprise on the list to enter the top ten. In terms of talent development, Sodexo actively promotes the career advancement of chefs, becoming the only enterprise in Shanghai currently with the independent assessment qualification for Level 3 Chinese Cuisine Chefs, achieving a significant breakthrough from talent recruitment to independent cultivation. Meanwhile, leveraging the “Palm-Sized Golden Ideas” digital platform, it has built a nationwide think tank for culinary innovation and dish resource sharing, continuously stimulating the innovative vitality of the chef team and enabling excellent dishes to be quickly replicated and implemented across different operation sites.
Six Decades of Culinary Heritage, Embarking on a New Development Journey
This year, Sodexo celebrates the significant milestone of the Group’s 60th anniversary, also marking its 31st year in the Chinese market. As one of the company’s most representative core businesses, food services have always carried Sodexo’s mission to improve quality of life and have witnessed the company’s continuous innovation and development over the past six decades.
Looking ahead, the company will continue to deeply integrate the Group’s six decades of global service experience with the unique characteristics of the Chinese market, persistently deepening innovation in food services, strengthening the industry talent development system, and promoting the integration of sustainable dining and digitalization into business operations, to create higher-quality and more competitive food service solutions for clients and consumers.