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FORT HOOD, Texas — Black Jack Dining Facility has closed for renovations as the facility is transformed to meet the Army’s initiative toward campus-style dining.
Once the transformation is complete, Black Jack will be the first dining facility at Fort Hood to offer the contractor-operated campus-style dining concept, as well as one of the first in the Army.
Fort Hood is one of five Army posts selected for the pilot program that will offer college-campus style dining venues with extended hours and different food options.
The initiative was announced earlier this year, following the Army Nonappropriated Fund Contracting Office at Installation Management Command, which awarded Compass Group USA a concession contract to create campus-style dining facilities.
“Fort Hood is among the first installations to move forward with campus-style dining,” said Sgt. Maj. Kresassidy McKinney, III Armored Corps chief culinary sergeant major. “We’re very excited about posturing that relationship and moving forward on how the Army and Compass Group USA employ for them.”
The last meal served at Black Jack was dinner Oct. 17 and preparations for the transformation began shortly after.
“Soon after, we started doing our part of it, which is closing out the facility, all the accounts that are required to be closed, and also doing a deep cleaning of the facility and equipment,” said Chontrelle Sturdivant, installation food program manager, Supply and Services Division, 407th Army Field Support Brigade.
They also moved some of the items, including furniture, to other facilities on the installation that are still in operation.
“We’re repurposing it to utilize in other facilities,” Sturdivant said.
Plans have been made for items removed from Black Jack, including a few chairs and tables allocated to the Noncommissioned Officer’s Academy kiosk to create a small dining area, she added.
The removal of furniture and equipment and deep cleaning process took a little over three weeks to complete.
“Right now, we’re just working on stewarding a great relationship between Compass Group and the Army Food Service Program,” McKinney said.
The focus is on setting the contractor up for success, she noted.
“We definitely want to make sure we gave them a good facility, because we want a great quality menu behind it, and I think it is important that we provide a facility that can posture that moving forward,” McKinney said. “We are in communication with Compass Group through IMCOM to make sure that we’re providing what is needed in terms of infrastructure and the utilities required for Compass Group to get ready for the campus-style dining venue.”
The transformation will include demolishing parts of the interior and exterior to better accommodate the Soldiers, family members and civilians.
“We’re doing some modernizing efforts with multiple seating — you have your bar-height seating, lower seating, as well as a lounge area,” McKinney said.
The renovated facility will also offer kitchen action stations, where chefs can prepare and serve made-to-order selections; a private dining area that can be reserved for gatherings; a smoothie bar; and automated point-of-sale kiosk stations to allow quicker checkout.
“We’re definitely making sure we’re not just modernizing the facility but also transforming it into a place where people want to come and are welcome and can consume a quality meal,” McKinney said.
Black Jack’s size was a factor in its selection as the building for the pilot program.
“It’s the largest as far as the design capacity of the other facilities on the installation,” Sturdivant said. “This one has a design capacity of 1,300 versus our other facilities are 800.”
The larger capacity allows for a faster turnover of diners and the ability to serve a larger population.
And the variety of offerings will increase.
“We’re continuing to expand on our food ecosystem, on the installation and across the Army,” Sturdivant said. “As we keep saying, transformation and modernization is changing the way we feed our Soldiers and families, making it more welcoming to Soldiers and family members, and not just the green suiters, which right now is our target audience.”
Black Jack DFAC was closed during a time of decreased demand to limit the impact on Soldiers, Sturdivant said, adding the closure was timed to align with 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division’s rotation to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
Additionally, the HUB is still available within the same footprint and other nearby dining facilities remain open.
The transformation is a positive with more dining options and extended hours outside of traditional facility times, Sturdivant said.
“I think it’s good for Soldiers because it expands meal choices and provides flexibility,” she said.
“Food is morale; food equals morale,” McKinney said. “I think it is very important for any Soldier, especially your essential station messing, that the dining facility is the place that they’re supposed to consume their meals, so we want to make sure that it’s motivating, it’s an environment that encompasses togetherness in a place they want to be, not a place they have to be.”
The tentative reopening for Black Jack Dining Facility is February 2026.
| Date Taken: | 12.03.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.04.2025 15:18 |
| Story ID: | 552940 |
| Location: | TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 5 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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