Kadena competes for prestigious food service award

Army Spc. Tracy Bennett, 1-1 Air Defense Artillery, serves dinner to Airman 1st Class Joshua Ahn, 18th Equipment Maintenance Squadron, at the Marshall Dining Facility Jan. 27. The 18th Force Support Squadron, which serves more than 500,000 customers at the dining facilities each year, will be graded by experts in the food and services industry as part of the Air Force Hennessy food service excellence award. (Air Force/Staff Sgt. Jason Lake)

Kadena competes for prestigious food service award

Published Jan. 27, 2010
By 18th Wing Public Affairs

KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- Experts in the food service industry will put Kadena's taste buds to the test as they grade the base for this year's John L. Hennessy Air Force food services excellence award Jan. 28-Feb. 2.

Four judges from the Air Force Services Agency and experts from the commercial industry will evaluate the 18th Force Support Squadron's services programs for best food service management, force readiness support, food quality, employee and customer relations, resource conservation, training, and safety awareness.

Master Sgt. Nelson Jellison, 18th Force Support Squadron food service operations chief, said his unit, which typically serves more than 504,000 customers per year, is ready to show the inspectors why they are among the few finalists.
"We are in it to win," he said.

Col. Mario Troncoso, 18th Force Support Squadron commander, explained his squadron's motto: "We are Shogun Warriors and we do have the world on our plates, but how we execute that is by bringing the heat in and out of the kitchen."

Kadena will compete against six other Air Force bases worldwide in the multi-unit operations category of the competition. The other bases include: Fairchild AFB, Wash.; Offutt AFB, Neb.; Keesler AFB, Miss.; Hurlburt Field, Fla.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; and Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

The Hennessy award is the oldest military food service award - established in 1957. It was named after John Hennessy, a restaurant and hotel executive who served on an advisory board to improve military food service.

Kadena won the Hennessy Award in 1969 and 1976.