WEBVTT

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It's so funny that , but my , it's like

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I'm a singer today . I was just with

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boys , uh , um , um . Oh my God .

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Backstreet Boys . And I was singing ,

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my wife said , don't sing . Because I

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apparently . But anyway , yeah , and

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Gavin , Gavin DeGraw . Nice . All right ,

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um , let's start with Clean Daily

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Herald first , then we'll shift over to

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KXXV . Earl , you , you already

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interrogated chef , but you got , you

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got follow-ups , you can't . I asked my

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question already . All right , you can

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ask whatever you want . I'm , I'll

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answer it . Ready ? Go ahead , sure .

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Um , did you have any , uh , role in ,

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uh , curating the menu here at , uh ,

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42 Bistro ? So way back when 3 years

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ago when we started , it was an idea on

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a board just like you see outside . The

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menu was developed in stages just like ,

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um . At Columbia University , because

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that's where I took the senior

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leadership to look at that campus style

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dining . Why there is no refrigeration .

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And food comes in at 2 o'clock in the

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morning , it gets divvied up , cooked

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and served , and the next time 2

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o'clock comes in . So the menu had to

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be quick , evolvable and usable in more

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than one place . So if it's an

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ingredient of onion , it can be used 16

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different times . So that's how we

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developed the menus . OK .

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And when you're creating this menu ,

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what , if , if anything in particular

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made it kind of special and unique to

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service ? Well , we look at what the

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army used to do , right , which the

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army buys off a catalog of food . And

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then the DLA buys the food . What I

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wanted was to go direct to a source ,

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meaning like a restaurant would . So we

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wanted the freshest mushrooms , the

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freshest lettuce , the best burger meat ,

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you know , whereas normally 80/20 fats

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are meat , now we're 90/10 , right ? So

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we wanted the best mouthfeel , the best

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look , the freshest , most nutritious ,

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worked with army dietitians , um . And

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AMC and Alison , who was an amazing

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VP of culinary for for Compass , and

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literally created all these things with

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the tastings and all those kind of

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things that you do and realized what is

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going to be interesting to a soldier ,

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and here's the thing , a soldier comes

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in a dining facility normally breakfast ,

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lunch and dinner if there's nowhere

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else to go . We have to make it

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appetizing . Every time they come in ,

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nutritious and different , so you'll

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see no matter where , we're in Fort

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Hood , Texas , right , so there's local

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specialties gonna be here as opposed to

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somewhere else , so we can tie it to

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local communities and , and uh

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e-commerce and and commerce , right ?

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If you think there's , I think 35 ,

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don't quote me on this , 35,000

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soldiers , 63 to 68 total with

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civilians and whatnot on this base .

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They can eat anywhere they want . We

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want them to come in the door , bring

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their families , um , maybe have a

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beverage or two , if it's available . I

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won't say anything , but wink wink , um .

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That's what we wanted . I want you to

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come into a restaurant and feel .

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At ease , and I don't mean at ease . I

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mean like the weight of the world is

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off you . We know who the president is ,

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we know who the commanding general is .

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We know when you come in here , I want

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you to sit in a chair , eat the great

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food . And feel like I can talk in a

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human being . Why , why do we do that ?

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Because food is hope . It's the

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international language of hope . You

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know we have a huge issue with suicide

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in our , in our military , right ? This

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is gonna help that , it's not gonna

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stop it , but it's gonna help it . We

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go back to putting people in tables and

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sharing a meal . And talking about

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issues or or or saying , oh by the way ,

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how how's your mum doing , how's your

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dad doing ? And I think that's what

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what 42 Bistro is going to be , we're

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getting people back into the the the

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facilities that they never came to and

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they were going to hide behind a door .

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Right , get a couple of 2000 mg of

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sodium in a noodle , and then we never

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see them . So this is life changing for

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me , for this part of the journey of 14

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years and 3 years with with General

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Mohan and the team and the chief uh to

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get to this point and uh you've seen

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the results . You're gonna see , but

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look , we've just opened , we're gonna

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tweak things . We , we already talked

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last night about food and and and how

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it's prepared and we've gotta tweak

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things , and that will be a continual

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progress over the next couple of months

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to to fine tune it . We're not there

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yet , but we will be . And that's a

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commitment that I've given . As an

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unpaid consultant , as a , like , you

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know , expert in making eggs , you know ,

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I don't fly planes , I don't do brain

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surgery , I make eggs , I make people

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happy . That's what this is about .

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Or How long have you been doing it ? Oh ,

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So I came here in 1996 , started as a

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guest chef program at the White House

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in 1996 , and here we are in 2025 , a

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long time . So I met , I've met over

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the last two days . So the armored

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division that was in Lithuania when I

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was there last , a couple of years ago ,

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I've met people that was in Afghanistan ,

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Iraq , Poland , Spain . Uh , just

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countries , so a long time , and , and

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when they show me the pictures , number

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one , I don't look any older , just so

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you know , um , but they recant stories

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and what are them stories about ? It's

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not about that I drove a tank or I ,

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you know , I flew in a helicopter ,

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it's about the meal we shared at a

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table . Afghanistan , 30,000 people ,

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we cooked there , we shared and

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yesterday a guy came up to me and said ,

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you remember I sat with you 2015 .

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It blows my mind . That food

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changes lives , it saves lives , and it

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makes a huge difference in a family's

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life . What is it like for you to see

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this finally open today ? The whole

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thing has come to fruition at Ford .

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I'm 60 years old . I remember getting

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my first set of weights at 11 , and

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we're a very poor family . And those

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weights were my life . They , they give

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me a whole different thing to get into

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the military . It's like Christmas all

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over again . I , I feel like 11 years

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old in a 6 year old body , like itching

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to get out because the journey has been

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so long . Because of , of , you know ,

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bureaucratic systems that are in place ,

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the army systems that were in place ,

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and Lieutenant General Admiral ,

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Lieutenant General Mohan and

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the Chief , Randy George , Sergeant

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Major Weima , Dan Driscoll , Secretary

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of the Army , they made this happen

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with a lot of people behind the scenes ,

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right ? It's not Robert Irvine's show .

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I'm a small piece of a big engine .

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But I don't wear a uniform . So I'm not

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holden to say nice things and say

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things to people that are not true ,

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right ? I can say what I feel and

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hopefully it resonates with somebody to

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get things done . Um , and it resonated

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with all those people I just , I just

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talked to who care about our soldiers .

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Welfare , their family's welfare , and

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for years and years and decades and

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decades , since 1936 in fact , we

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haven't really cared . We've changed

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menus and we've painted wars , but now

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we've put an investment . In the human

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being that flies the planes , that

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drives the tanks , that shoots the guns ,

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that protects this , it's called

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freedom . And we're doing the right

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things at the right time for the right

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people . And you have follow-up

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questions for chef ? OK . I have one ,

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chef , so we've been doing a lot of

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soft openings , trying to get a little

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feel , do some tweets , but now with

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the grant opening , where are you

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hoping for the feedback ? What kind of

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feedback do you want from the soldiers ,

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um , to help you move forward ? So

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whether I like it or not , we're going

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to get feedback . These things are

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amazing , right ? We , we don't have to

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hide , we want the feedback , because

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what feedback does , and we say we just

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cut a ribbon , great , it's open . Now

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my job for the chief is to make sure

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that Alison and her team continue the

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level of excellence that we start with ,

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right ? That's my job , and I , and I

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anticipate over the next couple of

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weeks coming in here . I don't care

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about that . The next couple of weeks ,

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Alison and the team are gonna change

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some things . When we see it not

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working , the soldiers are going to

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tell us on social media , because they

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do , hey chef , is this , that's what

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this modern age is , and we , we , we

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love that feedback because last night I

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sat with soldiers . And we saw people

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walking with with to go boxes and a

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shake on top like this , and the

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soldier , I sat with a soldier and he

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said to me , and this is a direct quote ,

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Chef , we need bags on the , on the ,

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on each of the stations . I got up from

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my chair , I went straight over . There

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were bags on the stations in 3 minutes .

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That's how important the feedback is

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because this , this pilot program at 5

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restaurants will not be good if we

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don't fix the first one perfect . Or as

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close to perfect as we can get it ,

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right ? We look at a salmon last night

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and this is nothing bad , right ? We ,

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we grill it to try and put flavor on it

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because that's what chefs do , but then

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when we move it to the front to put it

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on the flat top , we break it . So why

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are we doing the first step , we , we

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think of those things and then oh we've

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gotta , we've gotta , we've gotta

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change that . So I think that's the ,

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the beauty of , of having amazing

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partners . To be able to not take it

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personally , and if she said to me ,

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Robert , I don't agree with you , then

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tell me why . There has to be a why and

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a reason to change , otherwise we don't

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change . That's the truth , so I want

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feedback . At Robert Irvine ,

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I'm here . At Chef Irvine on social

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media , on on WhatsApp or whatever it

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is , right , I'm not that smart , I'm

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old . But I answer all my own Twitter ,

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all that information I calculate down ,

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it goes in a report . And that's really

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important . Why ? Because it keeps us

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honest . Doing what we said we were

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gonna do , and I hold Alison and her

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team accountable for what they said

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they're gonna do . And yes , you're the

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CEO of of of Compass . I'm good with a

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stick . I have no problem . I have no

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dog in the fight , as they say , right ?

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All I want is the soldiers who have the

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best , the freshest , the most

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nutritious food in the best place

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possible . Couldn't agree more and that

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is a great segue for Alison it's like .

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Here you are , what you do , and what

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is your responsibility here .

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Absolutely . So my name's Alison

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Trinkle , and I'm the VP of culinary

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for Compass Group , and my

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responsibility here is in ensuring that

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transparency and visibility into what

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we're doing behind the scenes . We are

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an open book . If soldiers want to know

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what's in the food , we will tell them .

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We're meeting 70% or better go for

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green out there , which was part of the

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Army's initiative in the first place .

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We lead with great food . That , hey ,

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it happens to be healthy and nutritious

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for you . It's uh kind of like stealth

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health . We're not hiding things in

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there . We kind of are , but again ,

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you're gonna taste it and you're gonna

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know that it's a delicious meal that

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you're having and oh by the way , it's

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gonna be healthy for you . It's gonna

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keep you fueled up . It's gonna keep

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you feeling good and when you come off

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the battlefield out here when they're

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doing their training and exercise ,

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it's gonna recover you , take care of

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you , and then make you feel safe and

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ready to go the next day .