New Sodexo MD stars on Tony Blackburn radio show

The new managing director of independent education for Sodexo, the world’s largest services company, has been interviewed at length on radio by DJ legend Tony Blackburn.

Jeremy Alderton, from Newbury, appeared on BBC Radio Berkshire on Tuesday morning (11 February) and talked about his new role, his career to date and delivering nutritious food in schools.

Promoted from Sodexo Education sales director on 1 February, Jeremy is now responsible for Sodexo’s contracts at 72 independent schools across the UK, including two of the country’s most well known, both based in Berkshire, Eton College and Wellington College.

The interview is available on BBC iPlayer until Tuesday (18 February). Jeremy is featured from 1.15.20, from 1.41.30 and from 1.48.12.

Jeremy Alderton, Sodexo managing director for independent schools, said on the show: “What I want to achieve is to grow the business further solely based on our ability to serve brilliant food. “We’re working with one of our sister companies in Paris, Lenôtre, who are the world champions as far as a culinary team is concerned and we’re taking our senior chefs over to Paris to be trained by the world’s best.”

Sodexo announced in 2013 its partnership with the world famous Ecole Lenôtre. Every year, 40 of Sodexo’s senior chefs from its independents education business travel to Paris to undertake an intensive three-day course, with each year focusing on a different skill.

Nine of Sodexo’s chefs attended the inaugural course which was held in October 2013. Under the tutorage of Lenôtre’s chef baker, Dominique Levier, a professor in bakery and viennoiserie, chefs were taught the science behind bread from the different flours and how they perform depending how they are treated through to the wide range of speciality breads which can be produced and finally about the presentation of the bread from the different patterns and shapes which can be created.