DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- -- The Longhorn Dining Facility has started a new customer appreciation program to allow patrons the opportunity to win monthly prizes.
The program is part of ‘Five Star,’ a larger initiative with Dyess’ food service contractor, Sodexo, and aims to increase the quality of service and morale of customers eating at the facility.
“Within ‘Five Star’, the goal is to have both an internal and external recognition program that results in a five-star rating,” said Bernard West, general manager of Sodexo at Dyess. “The internal recognition program, focuses on staff members and Airmen working at the dining facility. The new external appreciation program focuses on our customers— those who eat at the dining facility— so they get recognition for supporting us.”
Getting each star requires something different. For example, to get the fourth star the facility has to have some sort of external program in place; Dyess earned the fourth star last month and is the only Air Force base so far to have it. Once it has kept the program for several months and passes an inspection Dyess will then be eligible for the fifth and final star.
The ‘Five Star’ program can be found at all Air Force bases partnered with Sodexo under the Food Transformation Initiative, but Dyess is the first to implement its own external customer appreciation program. The program consists of a random monthly drawing.
Everyone with base access can eat at the dining facility. This includes Airmen of any rank, dependents, contract workers and government civilians. Entering into the drawing is easy and requires no extra effort than what customers are already doing: eating at the dining facility.
“You come in and purchase your meal, request to have a receipt if you’re a meal card holder, write your contact information on the back and then you put it in our selection box located by the registers,” said 2nd Lt. Matthew Baldwin, 7th Force Support Squadron food service officer. “At the end of the month, we’ll pull a name from the box, and they’ll win a gift card to a variety of establishments around Dyess and Abilene, provided by Sodexo.”
The next drawing is scheduled for Aug. 8.
“When I won the drawing, I felt like the luckiest Airman on the base,” said Airman 1st Class Robert Glasser, 7th Operational Support Squadron air crew flight equipment specialist and first winner of the drawing with a $10 gift card. “I’ve never won anything before this, and it helps me appreciate the Longhorn Dining Facility and all of its workers.”