From left, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael R. Weimer; Sydney A. Smith, drector of supply policy and programs in the office of the deputy chief of staff; Maj. Gen. Gavin A. Lawrence, deputy chief of staff for logistics and operations for Army Materiel Command; and Col. Craig Thompson, deputy chief of staff for logistics, facilities, environment at Army Materiel Command engage in a panel discussion at the AUSA convention in Washington on Oct. 13, 2025. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — With new privatized dining facilities yet to open at five Army bases, the service is already planning to privatize 10 more facilities within the next year and a half.
Col. Craig Thompson, deputy chief of staff for logistics, facilities and environment at Army Materiel Command, announced the intentions to expand contracting opportunities at dining facilities during a panel Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington. The service also is considering hiring a private contractor for one or two overseas dining facilities, he said.
The first five bases selected for the private facilities, which will mirror the dining halls at major university campuses, are: Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Hood, Texas; and Fort Drum, N.Y. Compass Group USA was announced last month as the contractor.
The Army will assess each of the five dining facilities after 90 days. The first is expected to open in winter 2026, and all should be open by the following summer, Thompson said.
“We’re going to learn with these first five pilots. We’re going to learn for all the services,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said during the panel. “We have some really good ideas about how far we can go with this. … We’ve got to learn fast, and then we’ve got to take what we learn and we have to implement it quicker.”
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll emphasized in his opening remarks to the conference that bringing in industry partners will fix many systemic issues he sees in the service, including how the Army cares for its soldiers.
“We have to take care of them, so we are fixing the basics of food and billeting. Our dining system is absolutely broken. It’s a poster child not only for corrupted systems, but poor quality and unhealthy food,” Driscoll said.
He also said laws, such as the 1936 Randolph-Sheppard Act — which prioritizes companies owned by blind people to operate food service operations on federal property — have been “manipulated” to prioritize profit.
“The result: a dining experience that soldiers hate. We are going to break through this barrier,” Driscoll said.
As the Army rolls out the new facilities, it is also looking for ways to incorporate another pilot program it ran for two weeks in August at Fort Hood that allowed soldiers to use their meal entitlements to eat at select restaurants on base. It was the first time that soldiers could use those entitlements outside of a soldier-run dining operation.
“This is all about extending the ecosystem of food options for our service members,” said Maj. Gen. Gavin A. Lawrence, deputy chief of staff for logistics and operations for Army Materiel Command. “[We are] meeting them where they are and providing options on where they eat, how they eat [and] when they eat, to provide flexibility so we can again, improve the holistic health and fitness of our soldiers.
