KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- The Clock Tower Café won runner-up in the garrison category of the 2019 Department of the Army Philip A. Connelly Best Garrison Dining Facility competition, after 18 months of preparation and evaluations.
Representatives from the Clock Tower Café were presented were presented with their award by senior military personnel and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) in Chicago, May 17.
Out of 218 dining facilities Army-wide, five dining facilities were remaining alongside the Clock Tower Café by the time the competition reached the Department of the Army level. Evaluators from Fort Lee, Va. visited each installation and judged the overall performance in nine food service criteria, which include food quality, overall cleanliness, and appearance of the dining facility.
The Philip A. Connelly award was established in 1968 to encourage outstanding professionalism of Army food service teams and recognize excellent performance. The award program recognizes food service excellence executed by culinary specialists across all Army food service platforms in garrison and field environments.
“One of our greatest assets here, are the people and the support we have,” said Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Morris, dining facility manager, 66th Transportation Company. “This (running a successful dining facility) is not just one person. This is a team effort.”
The Clock Tower Café dining facility is a team comprised of Soldiers and Civilians of 405th AFSB, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, 30th Medical Brigade, 66th Transportation Company and augmented by contractors bring different levels of experience and culinary influences to the table.
“Everyone is contributing to our success, said Morris. “ Some have a lot experience providing the expertise we need. Some are new to the field brining a fresh set of eyes, fresh ideas. This way we don’t become stagnant. We have a great command support system.”
The Clock Tower Café dining facility placed first or second place each year in the past four years in Army Philip A. Connelly Best Garrison Dining Facility competition, and plans to bring the award back home next year.
“We have a good program,” said, Victor Martinez, director Europe Garrison Food Program, 405th Army Field Support Brigade. “We placed each year ( 1st or 2nd place in Army Philip A. Connelly Best Garrison Dining Facility competition) in the past four years.” We received some good pointers from the evaluating team on how to further improve”.