Survey of the Army's Actions to Modernize Its Food Service Program

Gao ID: LCD-77-403 January 24, 1977

The Army's attempts to modernize its food service program were surveyed, with emphasis on the central food preparation concept recommended for testing 12 years ago. The central food preparation concepts consists of two projects: a central food processing facility which centrally prepares food items for distribution to satellite dining facilities, and the establishment of a Director of Food Management in charge of all food-related activities.

Two aspects of the central food preparation concept--central tableware wash and automated head count--have been tested and have failed, because the equipment used was inadequate, incompatible, or had been tested commercially. The main test of the central food processing facility is still being made. The Director of Food Management test has proven successful at one point, but the Army has been reluctant to test it elsewhere. The Army has spent almost $200 million to upgrade and modernize existing dining halls and to construct new facilities. It appears that $24 million of this was for the purchase and installation of new equipment.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: No director on record Team: No team on record Phone: No phone on record


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