This article, originally published at 8:00 a.m. March 28, 2024, was updated at 11:47 a.m. March 28, 2024, to correct the district Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) represents.
Paris-based Sodexo opened its new North American headquarters in North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose district on Wednesday, reestablishing its commitment to Montgomery County and serving as a hub for more than 275 jobs.
“We have called Montgomery County our home since 1998 and we are very, very delighted that we were able to go ahead and reinvest in Montgomery County. And we see a long future here,” Sarosh Mistry, president and chief executive officer of Sodexo North America, said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the 915 Meeting St. headquarters.
Sodexo provides facilities management and food services to schools, universities, hospitals, senior living communities as well as sustainable food services. The company has a presence in 45 countries and, according to Mistry, serves about 50 million consumers daily in North America.
Sodexo’s North American headquarters was located in Gaithersburg for 26 years. According to a county press release, the county and the state worked together to keep Sodexo’s investment in the county for the next 10 years.
According to the release, the county and state agreed to a nearly $760,000 conditional loan incentive for the headquarters project. In addition, the county provided Sodexo with $70,000 from its Economic Development Fund and the state provided $687,927 from the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund.
Local leaders including County Executive Marc Elrich (D), County Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) and Council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) attended the ceremony.
Elrich told MoCo360 that retaining Sodexo in the county is “a big deal for us.”
Sodexo’s continuing presence retains jobs as well as longstanding relationships that the company has built with local nonprofit organizations such as Silver Spring-based Manna Food Center, he said.
According to a Sodexo press release, Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation has granted more than $20 million to Washington, D.C.-area nonprofits including the Food Recovery Network, D.C. Central Kitchen and Manna Food Center.
Stewart and Friedson also noted Sodexo’s relationships with county-based organizations during the ceremony.
“It is rare to have a group like Sodexo that is so committed not only to its own workforce … but is also committed to our community, to grow with us here in Montgomery County, to make sure that we are addressing some of our most urgent issues such as hunger here in Montgomery County and to work with the communities most impacted by the challenges we face,” Stewart said.
Friedson echoed that sentiment, saying Sodexo doesn’t just bring value to the county but also “values.”
Elrich noted that before construction of 915 Meeting St. and other developments in the Pike District, the area was home to a shopping center with spacious parking lots. “It’s been transformed and brings a lot more use to this space,” he said.
The new headquarters, which occupies two floors, features flexible workspaces, state-of-the-art conference rooms, wellness and focus rooms, access to an onsite gym and free parking for employees. It will also have a culinary center designed to bring together chefs across North America to collaborate on innovations, according to the company.
Sodexo will share the new building with Choice Hotels, which opened its new headquarters in Pike & Rose in December. The 16-story office building is the most recent to open in the Pike District.
“People are still building buildings and tenancy is still filling buildings, so we think that there is continued interest and you’re going to continue to be able to see buildings and companies coming in,” Elrich said. “I feel pretty good about where we are going with this.”