FORT McCOY, Wis. -- For the second consecutive year, a Fort McCoy dining facility will represent the Installation Management Command-Northeast Region in the Philip A. Connelly Award food service competition.
Andrew Pisney, Fort McCoy food program manager, said the dining facility in building 605 was chosen to represent Fort McCoy this year. The World War II-era wood facility was renovated under contract in 2009. It serves the staff and trainees of Regional Training Center-Central, a premobilization training organization at Fort McCoy.
"When we sat down with the food service managers from our food service provider, Superior Services Inc., this spring, we talked about which dining operation to nominate to represent us," Pisney said. "We based our selection on the staff, facility and quality of service and food."
Pisney said the choice of dining facility 605 reflects the installation's history and its distinction as the Army installation that likely has the most remaining World War II-era wood structures.
The Department of the Army Philip A. Connelly Award competition will be held in the October-December time frame, with a site visit at Fort McCoy likely in October or November.
Fort McCoy competes in the small garrison category for dining facilities that serve an average of 300 or fewer diners per meal, he said.
"(Dining facility 605) has a pleasant dAfAcor and new equipment," Pisney said. "We want to showcase Fort McCoy's history and are very proud of what we do."
During the July site visit for the IMCOM competition evaluation, the operation was evaluated on areas including food preparation, food quality, serving, troop acceptability, equipment, facility appearance, food service personnel training management, food safety, headcount procedures, rations storage, administration and command support, Pisney said.
The evaluator also toured building 839 in the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area, set up as a vintage 1940s dining facility, as well as other renovated dining areas in the 1800 and 2700 blocks, he said.
"The whole process leads to improvements in all of our dining facilities," Pisney said. "SSI staff aren't necessarily assigned permanently to only one dining facility, but may move to other dining facilities. When staff from dining facility 605 move to another dining facility on post, they will bring along what they learned through this competition and help improve the other dining facilities, as well."
Pisney said entering the competition leads to a continuous improvement process. The installation will receive a trophy for winning the IMCOM Connelly Northeast Region Competition and the prestige of competing for the overall Army award.
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