60th SVS prepares to compete for 2008 Air Force Hennessy Award

  • Published
  • By Nick DeCicco
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Hockey players have the Stanley Cup. Football players have the Super Bowl. Travis' Food Services facilities team members have the "Hennessy Bowl."

Though not an athletic event, the Hennessy Bowl is a concept behind which servicemembers, civilians and contractors rally as part of the Air Force-wide competition to claim the Hennessy Award, the service's best dining facility.

After recently winning the competition at the Air Mobility Command Services level for the sixth time since 2001, the Travis dining facilities now compete against the winners of other major commands for the top prize.

The theme is a means by which to motivate the dining facilities staff, which previously snagged the Air Force's top dining honor in 2006. The theme plays off of football terms and images - including jerseys for the staff - to emphasize the team concept.

Capt. Scott Howell, combat support flight chief, said it has encouraged team unity.
"I think we have a lot more enthusiasm this year," Captain Howell said. "I really think there's a lot more camaraderie, a lot more teamwork."

From his perspective, the football concept - rather than last year's theme, based on "Mission: Impossible II" to encourage a repeat victory - makes it easier to play off of the team idea.

"I found a speech given by Bo Schembechler, the old Michigan Wolverines coach, about 'the team, the team, the team,'" he said. "I took anything that mentioned Big 10 Conference Championship or Michigan, took the words out and inserted things like Hennessy, Travis, that sort of thing. We played it for them at one of the meetings to emphasize this is a team award."

Master Sgt. Garrick Hill, Sierra Inn Dining Facility manager, said this is the tenth time he's competed for the Hennessy Award at the Air Force level. Sergeant Hill said he believes strongly in the ability of Travis' chances to win.

"[Our customers] get the best meal in the Air Force out of 277 facilities," Sergeant Hill said. "We already won. We just need them to come through and validate it when they evaluate."

The "them" to which he refers is a quartet of evaluators, scheduled to visit Travis next week for the evaluation. Travis will be graded on a checklist split into five categories covering kitchen operations, serving and dining operations, training personnel and readiness, sanitation, repair and maintenance and management.

If that sounds like a lot, consider the fact Travis serves 500,000 meals per year between its two dining areas, the Sierra Inn Dining Facility and Golden Bear Flight Kitchen. This makes Travis the largest food-service operation in AMC by volume.

Despite the two operations, Travis competes in the single-facility category due to the operation's size.

Captain Howell said he believes the emphasis on the team concept is crucial to any team's success.

"You can put out the best food in the world," he said. "That alone is not going to win it for you. You have to have that whole team concept going on, which is something that we do have here."

The evaluation is Tuesday and Wednesday. The winner will be announced in late March.