Foodservice Cateys 2021: Rising Star Award: Joanna Watt, Sodexo

Joanna Watt is the Sodexo communications manager for the Diageo contract, which covers 59 sites across the UK and Ireland. She visits the sites as much as possible to engage with teams on the ground.

In just under two years, she has devised new structured communications, assembled guides and presentations, as well as filming videos to benefit the business, helping teams achieve consistency of service across sites.

As the pandemic hit, Watt’s experience in crisis communications became invaluable as teams were hit with multiple instructions and updates from all levels within Sodexo and Diageo. Utilising a SharePoint intranet communications page, she took advantage of the digest function to push out what started out as daily (and evolved to bi-weekly, weekly and then ad hoc) Covid/Rise Safe email digests.

As Diageo staff prepared to return to their offices, Watt developed storyboards for walkthrough videos, filming and editing six of the videos herself in Scotland. The videos encapsulate the user office journey during the pandemic, from walking into the building, through temperature scanning at reception, following one-way routes and observing social distancing and mask use guidance. By filming and editing all the Scotland videos herself, she generated a saving of more than £30,000 across the account and ensured that office users were informed and reassured about the return.

She also signed up to volunteer as a mentor for the Career Ready charity. This involves mentoring a student aged 16-18 for two years and guiding them through a four-week paid internship with Sodexo. Virtually, she supervised three Sodexo interns who were creating an account newsletter and putting together a virtual recognition event for teams across the account. This work contributes to the wider foodservice industry by promoting career opportunities within the hospitality sector and helping young people to develop the skills that are necessary for the workforce.

Watt is also an advocate for disability and LGBT+ issues, and acts as a befriender for the Aberlour children’s charity in her own time.

What the judges said

“I was very impressed with the significant positive impact that Jo made when moving on to an existing Sodexo contract, driving consistency across all sites and finding cost savings and efficiencies, while dealing with the impact of Covid at the same time.”

Daniel Dickson

“Jo showed great initiative in the roles that she has been given during the pandemic. It has been exceptionally difficult in the past few months and she appears to have done a lot to cement relationships with her clients, and to save both the client and the contractor time and expense.”

Vic Laws

“Jo is certainly a rising star. She constantly thinks outside the box and comes up with great ideas to really help the business, both in terms of making impact and saving money. One to watch.”

Julia Sibley

The shortlist

• Sarah Bartolo, Eurest Support Services
• Joanna Watt, Sodexo

Past winners

• 2019 Alex Borley, BaxterStorey