Sodexho Named Winner of International Innovation in Diversity Award

GAITHERSBURG, Md, September 7, 2006-Sodexho USA (NYSE: SDX), the nation's leading provider of food and facilities management services, announced it has been named a winner of Profiles in Diversity Journal's International Innovation in Diversity Awards. Sodexho received the award for its Annual Diversity & Inclusion Report that highlights the company's comprehensive strategy, which includes a focus on building diversity awareness and competencies, diversity councils and network groups, mentoring, succession planning and work/life effectiveness.

“Few organizations communicate their diversity progress and data as transparently as Sodexho,” said Rohini Anand, Ph.D., chief diversity officer for Sodexho, Inc. “Our annual diversity and inclusion report provides a comprehensive and succinct vehicle that communicates Sodexho's commitment to diversity to our employees, clients, and customers.”

Sodexho's Annual Diversity and Inclusion report includes Equal Employment and Affirmative Action data as well as information about supplier diversity. The report also includes highlights of Sodexho's Employee Network Groups and celebrates employees' accomplishments in the area of diversity and inclusion.

“What was most impressive about Sodexho's 2005 Annual Diversity Report was that the accomplishments of each department, council and network were so easy to recognize,” said Damian Johnson, director of marketing for Profiles in Diversity Journal. “It seems as though an employee can literally identify and measure his or her own personal contributions toward diversity and inclusion, and that has to make them feel good. I believe Sodexho's diversity program is at a level all diversity programs should be striving for - when a single employee can see the impact they're having and the difference they're making.” Sodexho's 2005 Annual Diversity and Inclusion Report can be viewed at www.sodexhousa.com/diversity.

Sodexho, Inc. (www.sodexhoUSA.com) is the leading provider of integrated food and facilities management in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with $6.3 billion in annual revenue and 125,000+ employees. Sodexho offers innovative outsourcing solutions in food service, housekeeping, groundskeeping, plant operations and maintenance, asset management, and laundry services to more than 6,000 corporations, health care, long term care and retirement centers, schools, college campuses, government and remote sites throughout North America. Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., Sodexho proudly serves as the official food service provider for the U.S. Marine Corps.