Navy Pilot Programs Aim to Expand Sailor Food Options At Galleys

Sailors stationed at Naval Base Kitsap, Wash., and Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Miss., will now have access to a wider variety of food options as part of the Navy’s efforts to improve sailor quality of life.

Two food-centered pilot programs under the Navy Installations Command (CNIC), as well as a physical education program on Naval Base San Diego, Calif., are meant to incentivize sailors to use facilities, like the physical fitness facilities and galleys, Commander, Navy Installations Command Adm. Scott Gray told reporters Wednesday.

If sailors choose not to eat at galleys, it is like they are paying twice, Gray said. First, they have to pay out of pocket for their meal, and then, they also lose their galley swipe for the day.

Beginning Wednesday at Kitsap, sailors will be able to use their galley swipes to eat at six Morale, Welfare and Recreation-branded restaurants in addition to the galley. The Warrior Eater, which houses the six restaurants – Better Burger, coffee shop Gourmet Bean, Mexican-restaurant Bombers, smoothie place Blendz, Fresh Choices, which has healthy bowls and wraps, and Uptown Pizza – opened Wednesday.

Under the program, each sailor has a meal entitlement for breakfast, lunch and dinner that is converted into a dollar figure that can be spent at the MWR restaurants.

So for dinner, it could be about $17, meaning a sailor would know that they could spend up to $17 at the MWR Mexican-style restaurant, and the Navy would cover the meal. If the sailor went over the amount of the meal entitlement, they would pay the difference out of pocket, Gray said.

Ultimately, Gray plans for the Navy to work with the Naval Exchange so sailors could use their entitlements at commercial restaurants that are contracted with the exchange on base, such as McDonalds.

The idea behind the pilot program is to give sailors options beyond the galley, especially for sailors coming off a deployment where their only food was the limited options in the ship’s galley, Gray said.

“I recognize that sailors are going to come home, and they’re going to want to go out to Outback Steakhouse and get different things. But to the maximum extent possible, we owe them the things that are attractive to them so they get the full advantage of their meal entitlement,” Gray said.

At NCBC Gulfport, a newer galley, sailors will now have additional choices, including a rotating international station, a vegan station and a Mongolian barbecue station, as well as standard stations, like a salad bar and pizza, that already exist.

Both pilot programs will make the Navy galleys closer to what one sees at a college campus, where the food halls often have a variety of options in addition to other places on campus that accept the student meal plan.

Outside of the two food programs, the CNIC is also working with galleys across naval bases to ensure there are healthy grab-and-go options for sailors. By the end of June, the majority of galleys will have grab-and-go meals for sailors, Gray said. By the year’s end, sailors will be able to grab these meals at any point during the galley’s opening hours, not just at the set meal times, he said.

“We are now [acknowledging] that our sailors are busy, and so this grab and go is an effort to ensure that no matter what your schedule looks like during the day, you have the opportunity to not only ensure that you get something to eat, but that you get healthy options,” Gray said.

Galleys are also implementing the “Go for Green” program, which helps sailors identify healthier options by color-coding food based on their nutritional value. Foods labeled green are considered the best and should be eaten often. Yellow is the designation for foods that you can eat but should not be consumed every day, while red is for food that should be eaten on a more rare occasion, Gray said.

The pilot program in San Diego, which began in February, increases sailor education on nutrition, as well as mental and physical fitness with the goal of reducing musculoskeletal injuries and providing more training on stress management and sleep, according to a CNIC release.

Gray will be looking into if the pilots are successful based on sailor feedback and foot traffic, he said. If more sailors are going to the physical training facilities or the galleys, he’ll know that the programs are achieving the set goals.

Despite the programs being in pilot phases, Gray already has plans to expand to all galleys and bases, although he acknowledges that some will depend on funding provided by the Navy. He plans to approach leadership in the next couple of months with his financial requests for modifying galleys to take on the pilot program being run at Gulfport.

Funding gaps have led the Navy to put less of a focus on galleys and other quality of life facilities, Gray said. Over the past 20 years, the focus was on the deployed sailor as the Navy was involved in a number of operations in the Middle East.

“The reason for that is important and justifiable,” Gray said. “When you don’t have all the money you need to be able to do the things that you need to do, you darn sure gotta make sure that you can do your main thing.”

But that prioritization led to reduced qualities in barracks and galleys, an issue faced by the Marine Corps as well. Now, the Navy is looking to fix the problems caused by the lack of funding. In addition to the pilots, the Navy has also added Wi-Fi to all the galleys and implemented a relaxed dress code so that people want to eat there, Gray said.

Money has already been set aside for the pilot programs and the expansions, Gray said. The expansion of human performance optimization will continue, even if he has to reshuffle his budget.

The overall cost for both food pilot sites was about $3.2 million, which includes renovation and staff training, Destiny Sibert, CNIC spokesperson, said in an email. The San Diego pilot cost approximately $1.4 million, which included staffing and refreshed fitness equipment.

“Come Hell or high water we’re going to continue it, and we’re going to follow it through, and we will transform our food service,” Gray said.