New AF dining program offers greater variety, availability

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Gina Vaccaro McKeen
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Little Rock is one of six bases that may soon see changes to its dining venues and food and beverage options bringing greater quality and variety, Air Force services officials said recently.

The pilot program of the Air Force Services Agency's Food Transformation Initiative is gearing up to bring a new way of dining on Air Force bases around the U.S. With FTI, the Air Force is changing the way it delivers food in order to meet the needs of today's Airmen.

For the past 60 years, the Air Force has been feeding Airmen based on a much larger, more stationary force. With the transition to a smaller, expeditionary force, Air Force leaders are looking to make dining programs more flexible, available and efficient for Airmen who are part of the Essential Station Messing program. There are approximately 249 active-duty and 2,000 Air National Guard/Reserve meal card holders assigned to Little Rock.

"FTI is all about taking care of the men and women of Little Rock AFB and I believe this program will improve the meal options for all of our [meal card] holders and C-130 TDY students," said Chief Master Sgt. Jimmy Daniels, 19th Force Support Squadron superintendent. "The current food service program with restrictions on authorized customers and the 14-day rotational menu is long overdue for changes. This program will allow our Airmen to eat at other base dining operations using the [meal card] program to pay for their meals, meaning meal card holders will be able to eat at Hangar 1080, the Bowling Center Strike Zone Café, the dining facility and extended flight kitchen operation and the future golf course food outlet. It will give our Airmen more choices and options."

FTI will reinvigorate Air Force dining by hiring a contractor to transition to hybrid facilities on bases that will be open to all members of the base community, much like common business and university campuses, services officials said. The initiative will open military food service establishments to all members of the base community, including civilian employees, family members, contractors and retirees. Diners will see an overall increase in the variety and availability of healthy menu options on base. The program will improve the dining experience at every 19th FSS food facility.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for Team Little Rock. We will open the Hercules DFAC to the base populace, enhance our menus, and increase the training available for our military staff all while providing the Best Combat Airlift service in the United States Air Force," said Senior Master Sgt. Robert Boettner, 19th FSS, Food Service Section Chief.

The first phase of the program is about improving menu options, they said, and the total transformation will take time. Airmen who are part of the Essential Station Messing program will continue to use the program for their daily meals. Currently, Airmen who are part of the ESM program are only authorized to eat at the base dining facility. Eventually, services officials hope these Airmen will be able to eat at all FSS dining venues on base under the ESM program.

There are approximately 249 active duty and 2,000 Air National Guard and Reserve ESM meal card holders on Little Rock AFB. The Hercules Dining Facility and flight kitchen averages 25,750 meals served each month.

Since FTI is designed to be customer-driven, it will allow food operation staffs to focus specifically on Airmen's needs while also meeting the Air Force mission. With FTI, Air Force chefs will also be given opportunities to train outside of the dining facility to increase their cooking skills.

"The Air Force has heard from the Airmen, and this program will allow us to better meet our customers' desires, while still training military chefs for deployment taskings," said Sergeant Boettner. "I'm excited to be a part of this new program. My hope is that FTI not only improves Little Rock's dining programs and services, but all dining platforms across our great Air Force in future years."