Tyndall AFB Wins Hennessy Award

  • Published
  • By Corinne Coleman
  • 325th Fighter Wing Services Marketing
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  The 325th Services Squadron food service program at Tyndall Air Force Base was recently named the 2008 John L. Hennessy award winner: the highest honor an Air Force food service program can attain.

Established in 1957, The Hennessy Award program is an annual competition for bragging rights for the best food service program in the Air Force; essentially, the Super Bowl for eateries in blue.

The Hennessy evaluation team visited Tyndall Jan. 30- Feb. 1 to evaluate the Berg-Liles Dining Facility and the Eagle Quick Turn Flight Kitchen on areas such as training, kitchen operations and readiness. After visiting nominees from each of the major commands, the team deliberated and selected the 325th Food Service program as the best in the Air Force.

"Although this is a food service award, we would not have been able to successfully compete without the tremendous support of the entire base," said 1Lt Patrick Wilkinson, Combat Support flight commander. "We are thankful to the Wing for considering all our requests and for funding improvements to the activities. We also appreciate the efforts of the Contracting Squadron which helped make the necessary purchases and Civil Engineering for getting our facility into the best possible condition before the big evaluation."

Leading the charge to prepare the food service program for the comprehensive Hennessy evaluation were Tech. Sgts. Guadalupe Rodriguezvaldez and Brian Denny, Berg-Liles managers, Staff Sgt. Jason Brandy, Eagle Quick Turn manager, and Master Sgt. Erica Shipp, Food Service superintendent.

"It was great to lead these young Airmen in such an important event," said Sergeant Rodriguezvaldez. "The team came together and worked hard. Seeing how it paid off is very rewarding."

During the evaluation, Airmen had the opportunity to speak with the evaluation team and explain their roles in supporting the thousands of customers they are responsible for feeding on a daily basis. Based on this interaction, the team selected Airman 1st Class Claribel Torres, food service apprentice at the Eagle Quick Turn, for the Hennessy Travelers Association Award of Excellence. Airman Torres was chosen for exemplifying the highest standards of professionalism, attitude, and culinary skills. She will now compete for the overall HTA Award against the winners from other bases evaluated by the team.

The Air Education and Training Command is making plans to help send Tyndall's Food Service team to Chicago to accept the award at the National Restaurant Association's annual food show in May.