Ridgewells Catering, the nearly century-old catering company that has called Bethesda home for decades, is pitching an 8,000-square-foot expansion of its headquarters that would add improved storage and updated employee amenities. The proposal marks the latest chapter in a long-running effort by the company to modernize its facilities on Dorsey Lane.
The expansion plan was reported by Washington Business Journal, which covers the Bethesda caterer's bid to grow its footprint beyond its existing space. Ridgewells was founded in 1928 and has been based in Bethesda since the 1970s, according to a 2019 report from Bethesda Magazine. By its own account, the company says it has been headquartered at its Dorsey Lane location for more than 45 years, occupying 42,824 square feet of land and 27,824 square feet of commercial space, per a post on Ridgewells' website.
A Years-Long Push to Modernize
Ridgewells has been working toward facility upgrades for nearly a decade. The company says it recognized the need for significant upgrades in 2017 and began searching for a new facility that year, according to the same Ridgewells account. Two years later, the Bethesda Magazine report noted Ridgewells had decided to stay put after searching for a new headquarters for two years, opting instead to renovate its existing Dorsey Lane building, which was more than 27,000 square feet at the time, the outlet's reporting on the decision noted.
That 2019 renovation came with public backing: Ridgewells received a $100,000 grant from the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp. to help fund the work, Bethesda Magazine reported. But the timeline didn't hold. Plans to break ground in 2020 were put on hold when the pandemic hit, ultimately delaying the project by more than two years, Ridgewells says.
First Phase Completed in 2022
The company finally celebrated a milestone in December 2022, announcing the grand opening of its renovated Bethesda headquarters with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to Bethesda Magazine's coverage at the time. That first phase covered renovations to Ridgewells' offices, laundry and linen room. Ridgewells executive Susan Lacz described the office upgrades as including a new roof, a new HVAC system, and more energy-efficient electrical and utility systems, the outlet reported.
At the time, Ridgewells indicated more work was still ahead. A second phase, still in planning as of December 2022, was expected to include renovations to the facility's kitchen in a separate building across the street from the offices, with completion hoped for by summer 2024, per the same Bethesda Magazine report.
County Planning Board Weighs In
Separately from the headquarters renovation timeline, the Montgomery County Planning Board approved a preliminary plan tied to Ridgewells Catering in September 2025. The board's resolution allows for up to 18,805 square feet of artisan manufacturing and production uses on a single 17,766-square-foot lot, according to planning board documents. The approved plan also calls for 29 parking spaces — 11 on site along the property's Dorsey Lane frontage, and 18 more in an adjacent off-site lot, the Montgomery County Planning Board's filing shows.
Together, the decade of renovation efforts and the more recent planning board approval illustrate just how much groundwork Ridgewells has laid at its Bethesda site even before the latest 8,000-square-foot expansion pitch. For a catering company approaching its 100th year in business, the push to add storage and modern amenities for workers continues a long pattern of incremental upgrades to the Dorsey Lane campus.
