Sodexo boosts the energy quotient of athletes as Khelo India University Games drew curtains

Published on May. 09, 2022

Global leader in Quality-of-Life services, with a prominent presence in the schools and universities segment through its dining, retail and campus management solutions, Sodexo, launched its comprehensive nutrition solution ‘Energize’ at the largest-ever university level sports competition ‘Khelo India’ held at Bangalore between 24th April – 3rd May 2022.

Sodexo was appointed by the hosts, Jain University as the food and catering partner for the sports mega-event witnessing the amalgamation of 5000 athletes, coaches, and technical officials from 208 universities across India and served ~300,000 meals spanning the event tenure. The event was organized by Government of Karnataka, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, along with the Association of Indian Universities, Indian Olympic Association and National Sports Federation.

It is a fact that sports nutrition plays an extremely important part in grooming athletes to deliver their best. And with its vast experience in looking after the nutrition requirements of students in schools and university campuses, drawing up special nutrition charts for sports enthusiasts, it was a natural progression for Sodexo to oversee the nutrition requirements of the athletes at the university games. Sodexo’s core responsibility for the event comprised of end-to-end services from the kitchen infrastructure and set up to health & hygiene maintenance, quality control, menu planning, food preparation and delivery via packed or assisted buffet services and retail counters. A series of engagement initiatives through the event days ensured a perfect blend of recreation & relaxation after a tiring day on field for the athletes.

Commenting on the collaboration and fruitful closure to the event, Dr. Chenraj Roychand, Founder of JAIN Group and Chancellor of JAIN University said, “We share a long partnership with Sodexo; the company provides commendable dining, retail and campus management solutions at our school & university campuses. They regularly brainstorm innovative solutions to ensure that sports enthusiasts in our campuses follow the correct nutrition program and their sports timetable runs in parallel with their academic schedule. The company was thus an obvious choice to be our Food and Catering Partner at the university games, which we were privileged to host. We are more than happy with their intense involvement in taking good care of the athletes throughout the event. Their exceptional turnaround time in getting the infrastructure ready for onsite kitchen and catering was indeed praiseworthy. The role of their senior leadership in overseeing the arrangements was impressive and it was a real pleasure working with them. In fact, it was just an extension of our understanding and working relationship within Jain university campuses”.

“It was a great privilege for us to be involved as the food and catering partner for the 2nd edition of the largest-ever university games of the country, Khelo India! Our culinary team of over 500 chefs, kitchen and service staff along with consultant sports nutritionist Divya Purushottam, delivered the menu charted out in collaboration with nutritionists from SAI. With a strong pedigree of fine food and catering, our teams could immediately translate the requirements of this mega-event into action. It was exciting for us to put together the onsite kitchen of over 26000 sq. ft. at 4 venues and over 50000 sq. ft. of dining facilities at another 6 venues in a record turnaround time, thanks to the immense support received from our valued clients of 20 years, Jain University; Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and SAI. We loved interacting with the athletes and other officials, and I happily admit that the interesting engagement activities brought us all together; we were all like a huge family by the end of the event”, said Nitin Trikha, Country Segment Director, Schools & Universities, Sodexo India.

Backed by the success of the event and Sodexo’s expertise in sports nutrition, the company formally launched Energize – a holistic program to equip athletes with proper nutrition and game-ready facilities at sports campuses. The program was initially piloted at Corvuss American Academy, Karjat and Jain Sports School, Bangalore before being successfully replicated at the recent university games. Energize program focuses on two aspects - Food and Nutrition that fuels athletes’ training in pre, during and post-season, including healthy meals for the road, on campus and refuelling snacks. These menus are designed by expert sports nutritionists roped in by Sodexo. The other part is the upkeep of the sporting facilities from cleaning and maintenance to supervising all grounds, turf, courts, pools and equipments year-round.