Top AMC DFAC always looks to finish on top

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Bryan Swink
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Air Mobility Command's 2013 Hennessey Award winning dining facility continues to prove why they are one of the best in the Air Force.

Much of the success is attributed to the adoption and implementation of the Food Transformation Initiative, which was put into place at the Sierra Inn Dining Facility in 2010. Since then, the staff continues to make strides in convenience, quality and customer service for the guests.

"We as a staff are continuously striving to bring the best dining experience possible to the people who walk through our doors," said Christina Anderson, PRIDE Industries food service manager at the Sierra Inn. "We never want to be complacent and are always looking to find better ways to meet our customer's needs."

Under the continued growth and revolution of the FTI, customers are provided with improved food quality and varied options of their food selection. Guests can choose their meals from specific serving stations such as salads, pizza, sandwiches, the traditional hot food lines and the new cooking light station.

"The cooking light station rotates on three-month cycles that provides restaurant style food people are accustomed to outside of the base," Anderson said. "We currently have a Zoka station, which is a large burrito or taco cuisine, similar to popular restaurants off base. Before that, we offered Mongolian barbeque which was a big hit with our customers."

The Sierra Inn team, consisting of Airmen, civil service workers, PRIDE Industry and ARAMARK employees, serves approximately 1,000 meals every day. That number bumps up to roughly 1,600 meals during a Reserve training weekend.

"Day in and day out, this is one of the hardest working teams I've ever had the pleasure of working with," said Master Sgt. Derek Westfall, 60th Force Support Squadron Sierra Inn facility manager. "Every team member, from all four entities, plays a vital role in our success. Everyone is willing to work together to ensure our mission gets done."

The Sierra Inn is only open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., but the team works 24/7/365 to ensure the Sierra Inn and the 24-hour mission at the Knucklebuster Café is functioning at full speed. The Knucklebuster Café provides quick, grab-and-go style food for Airmen who work night shifts and Airmen who work on the flightline and can't get to the Sierra Inn.

The dedicated professionals at the Sierra Inn want to continue to build on the stellar reputation across the Air Force, adding to their six AMC and Air Force level awards throughout the last eight years.

"Our job here is to 'finish on top', so everything we do from serving our customers to food preparation to training, we have that goal, to 'finish on top,' in mind," Westfall said.