USAFE GSU excels at food service

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Amaani Lyle
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (USAFENS) --  While most nine-to-five people are just coming out of REM sleep at 5:30 a.m., the early shift team at the 702nd Munitions Support Squadron, Buechel Air Base, Belgium, dining facility has already begun daily preparations for breakfast and lunch for more than 120 customers.

Later shifts keep up the pace, just one element of the facility’s overall high caliber, which gained the Eagle’s Nest dining team the coveted Food Service Excellence Small Site Award for the third straight year, the highest honor given for this category .

Tech. Sgt. Erick Lundberg, 702nd MUNSS dining facility manager, said the announcement was made in December, and a representative from USAFE Services headquarters at Sembach came to Buechel AB to present the award. Sergeant Lundberg also noted the winning team receives $10,000 for quality of life improvements.

“This is a joyful and proud time for us,” Sergeant Lundberg said. “We’ve won four out of the last five years and it shows that different personality types can come together to create an outstanding end product. We get the job done in an outstanding manner, all the time, every time.”

Being consistently on top of their game is no small feat for the Eagle's Nest team, since being located at a geographically separated unit significantly limits customers' dining options, said Staff Sgt. DeAngelis Bright, 702nd MUNSS dining facility shift worker and custodial agent augmentee.

“In order to keep our customers satisfied, we have to really go above and beyond to cater to their needs as best we can,” Sergeant Bright said. “We consistently provide patrons with fresh new ideas and new improvement plans, all the while encouraging their involvement.”

Winning the award seems to be the result, not the reason, that the Eagle’s Nest team works so hard day in and day out.

“We have open communication with our patrons -- we also have the ability to apply the Air Force’s core values and integrate them into the way that we, as services professionals, conduct business on a daily basis,” Sergeant Bright said.

Sergeant Bright will join his team member, Staff Sgt. Juan Pagan, to accept the official award in Chicago , Ill. at the end of May.

“We provide optimum service to the people stationed at Buechel (Air Base), who deserve nothing less.”