Becoming a Military Dining Facility Manager

I'm interested in what it's like to be a military dining facility manager. What's involved in the job description, and do you need specific qualifications or experience to get started?

As a military dining facility manager, your role primarily revolves around managing food service operations at military installations. You're responsible for ensuring the availability of meals throughout the day, overseeing hygiene standards, and supervising personnel.

Some of the main tasks involved in this role include:

- Planning and scheduling meal service: This involves deciding the menu, ordering food supplies, and managing the ration cycle.

- Supervising personnel: You'd be responsible for training food service employees, delegating tasks, and evaluating their performance.

- Maintaining health and hygienic standards: This includes ensuring the cleanliness of the food preparation and dining areas, managing waste disposal, and conducting regular food safety inspections.

- Administering budgets: As a manager, you'd be in charge of managing costs to ensure smooth operations within the allocated budget.

Regarding qualifications, entry into this role usually requires some experience in food service management. This could be gained through civilian roles or through military training. If you're already actively serving in the military, there are specific military occupational specialties (MOS) related to food service you could pursue.

In the case of the U.S. Army, this is MOS 92G (Culinary Specialist). This role provides you with hands-on training in food service operations, after which you can work your way up to becoming a Dining Facility Manager. It's also worthwhile to note that further professional development could be gained through ServSafe Certification, an industry-standard credential in food and beverage safety training.

Lastly, beyond the technical qualifications and experience, strong leadership skills, good planning abilities, and a keen attention to detail are valuable assets for this job. It's a role that requires excellent coordination skills and a passion for delivering quality food service to the military community.