Pentagon Answers Call, Switching to Fast Food

Some of America’s most famous fast foods are about to invade the Pentagon, offering to feed the troops with franchise standbys like chocolate glazed doughnuts and crispy fried chicken wings.

The Pentagon is considered one of the world’s largest office buildings. Its Web site estimates that workers consume about 4,500 cups of coffee, 1,700 pints of milk and 6,800 soft-drinks on a daily basis.

Even so, most of its 23,000 workers have relied for years on a series of small snack bars, two cafeterias and one dining room. And while the building is staffed on a round-the-clock basis, most food available at off-peak hours is only found in vending machines.

Pentagon officials, who announced the move in a statement Thursday, said the switch to fast food was prompted by the demands of its hungry customers.

So what do military personnel want? The Navy command “will make extensive use of brand-name franchises such as Dunkin Donuts, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Manchu Wok, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Sbarro, Starbucks, Subway and Taco Bell,” the Pentagon said.

“Recent independent surveys of the Pentagon work force indicated a growing preference, by a 3-1 margin, for brand-name franchise food programs over the typical cafeteria and snack bar programs currently operated in the Pentagon,” the statement said.

Starting in March 2002, the building’s prime culinary territory will be run by the organization that handles stores for the Navy, which is known as the Navy Exchange Service Command.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley told reporters the move reflects the highly successful and popular brand-name food programs that have been placed on many military installations in recent years.

“The principal criteria used were the desires of those who actually work in the building and purchase the food,” Quigley said.

The food service contract has been handled by ARAMARK Corp. “The food by ARAMARK was good, but it was a known quantity. It sometimes got repetitive, like a school cafeteria,” said Terry Mitchell, a self-proclaimed Starbucks fan and assistant director of the Information Support Branch.