A worker fills tacos at 42 Bistro, the Army’s first privately run dining facility, at Fort Hood, Texas, on Feb. 12, 2026. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
The Army is yet again expanding its privatized dining facility initiative to three more bases, releasing a request for business proposals just days before the service’s second venue is slated to open.
Vendors have until July 2 to submit plans to design, renovate and operate a dining facility each at Fort Knox, Ky.; Fort Sill, Okla.; and Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va., according to the request.
Last month, the Army released a similar proposal, which remains open, for Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Campbell, Ky.; Fort Irwin, Calif.; Fort Polk, La.; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Known within the Army as campus-style dining venues, each facility is designed in the way that many large universities feed student-athletes, and the effort aims to entice more soldiers living in the barracks to use their meal card entitlements. Other people on base can pay out-of-pocket to eat at the facilities.
“Expanding the campus-style dining venue pilot through multiple [requests for proposals] allows the Army to refine requirements and encourages market competition,” the service said in a statement.
The Army’s first privately run dining facility, 42 Bistro, opened in February at Fort Hood, Texas, under the operation of Compass Group USA. The company’s second location, Stack House Bistro, will open Wednesday at Fort Carson, Colo. It will open others at Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; and Fort Drum, N.Y.
“As the Army continues to transform, modernizing the Army Food Program is critical,” Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, commander of Army Materiel Command, said in a statement. “We have to ensure our soldiers remain the best sustained, best fed and fittest fighting force in the world.”
