Army Launches Revolutionary Dining Program

WASHINGTON - In a major step towards modernizing how it feeds its Soldiers, the U.S. Army is launching a new campus-style dining program, beginning with the grand opening of 42 Bistro at Fort Hood, Texas. The initiative aims to provide Soldiers with affordable, convenient and healthy food options in a modern, welcoming environment.

"This has been a three-year journey to get to this point," said Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, commanding general of U.S. Army Materiel Command. "We were not getting it right, and we heard the Soldier feedback. This is a generational overhaul."

The new campus-style dining venues are designed to mirror a modern university dining experience. Operated by Compass Group, 42 Bistro at Fort Hood will feature several unique food stations, a food truck and drop zones for delivery with expanded hours and food available between full meal services.

"What you're going to see when you go into that bistro is a modern campus-style dining atmosphere," Mohan explained.

Food offerings will include a wide variety of choices, including smoothies, acai bowls, Italian food, specialty burgers and salads, with a focus on healthy options. Compass Group plans to employ 3,000 different recipes, ensuring a diverse and appealing menu. The facility will also feature a professional chef and a registered dietitian who can make on-the-spot substitutions to ensure freshness and accommodate dietary needs.

"Compass Group knows how to do this," said Mohan.

The new dining concept is about more than just food. The venues will offer a comfortable and inviting atmosphere with Wi-Fi and will be able to support community events like cooking classes and professional development sessions.

A cornerstone of the new venue is a concept called "Freedom Dollars," a tracking mechanism developed by Compass Group. Freedom Dollars are not a new entitlement, form of currency or actual money. Rather, it is the term for the system that converts a meal-card holder's daily value for breakfast, lunch and dinner into a single, flexible spending balance. This allows a Soldier on Essential Station Messing - or a meal card - to manage how they use the value of their daily meals. For instance, a Soldier who only wants a coffee and a pastry for breakfast no longer forfeits the value of a full meal. That saved value can be used later in the day, allowing for a larger lunch or a more substantial dinner. Freedom Dollars equate to a $39 value each day, but they reset each day.

By federal statute and Department of War policy, all Soldiers receive a Basic Allowance for Subsistence, and Soldiers E-1 to E-6 living in barracks have a portion of that BAS deducted in return for three daily provided meals.

Soldiers on meal cards should not expect any change to their monthly paycheck.

Meal-card Soldiers will continue to scan their common access card for each meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner - at 42 Bistro, just as they do at existing dining facilities. However, unit S-1s must ensure meal-card Soldiers' CACs have the correct meal entitlement code 09.

For all other patrons - including Soldiers who receive their full BAS entitlement, as well as Army civilians and Families - the system is straightforward. They simply pay à la carte for what they order based on menu pricing, much like at any public restaurant.

"It is meeting the Soldiers where they are with additional food options to give that whole-of-enterprise approach," Mohan stated.

Army food transformation, evident in programs like Campus-Style Dining Venues, the Dining Excellence program, Victory Fresh and the Flexible Eating and Expanded Dining initiative, was not easily achieved. The Army fought to overcome significant hurdles to make these changes a reality.

With the first CSDV pilots rolling out at Fort Hood, followed by Fort Carson, Fort Bragg, Fort Drum and Fort Stewart, the Army is demonstrating a long-term dedication to this new direction.

This comprehensive effort underscores a renewed focus on Soldier care and readiness, acknowledging past shortcomings and charting a clear path forward. It is a tangible response to Soldier feedback and a promise to do better.

As Mohan concluded, "When it comes to food service, we have not covered ourselves with glory as an Army, and we are reversing that trend. We have worked incredibly hard to get this right for our Soldiers."

For more information, please use the Media Query Form for the Army Communications and Outreach Office.