Services cooking up improved menu

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Williams
  • 934th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Minneapolis-St. Paul --  An improved menu is one of the forthcoming changes that are in the plans for the 934th Services Squadron's dining facility next year. 

Two squadron members, 1st Lt. Dennis Davis and Master Sgt. Al Schumacher, came up with suggested changes that are now going through the approval process. Sergeant Schumacher is the dining facility superintendent and reports to Lieutenant Davis.
"We want to do more from scratch," Sergeant Schumacher said. "What we want to do is come in a little earlier on weekends and start out baking, then prep for breakfast. Another shift will come in and prep for lunch." 

Master Sgt. Schumacher knows what he's talking about. He graduated from a culinary arts program from a Wisconsin community college before working in a bakery for a dozen years. He currently works at a cheese processing plant in eastern Wisconsin.
"I worked for a mom and pop operation that was pretty big for a husband-wife team. We would make 1,200 dozen hard rolls a day and 400 hamburger buns. We also did about 500 loaves of bread. It was all automated. I haven't been there for 10 years and visited recently. He had it more automated than when I was there," he said.
He admits that the current equipment and budget will limit his creativity, but is working on incorporating changes within the current constrains of his ability. 

"There are a lot of things that I would love to get creative with," he said. "But we aren't set up here to do a lot of baking. You need certain equipment, which we don't have, and it wouldn't pay for us to get. We can do cakes, pies, cookies and cheesecake. There is so much other stuff that we would like to do, like doughnuts and Danish, but there are a lot of other variables that will make it hard for us to do so."
Saving money is another benefit to making food from scratch instead of using pre-made mixes or canned goods. 

He added, "We want to try to do more scratch soups to save our money. We get a budget with so much money per customer. If we can feed them better for less, that's good for us. If we could do more scratch stuff, that means we can buy better ingredients including better cuts of meat." 

Senior Airman Mike Berish, services specialist, is happy to see the changes.
"I'm all for it," he said. "It's always nice to have change, especially with Air Force food. I know a lot of people tend to complain that it's the same thing. I'm definitely willing to try new things. If you try something new and someone likes it, keep it. That goes the same with all of the products that we serve. I'm really looking forward to that." 

The airman appreciates Sergeant Schumacher's mentoring ability.
"He has lots of patience and understands that when you are new, you're not going to pick everything up at once. He definitely is willing to work with you and make it happen. He showed me how to properly even out the base in a cheesecake and how to put the topping on with a nice garnish. That was one of the things he taught me."
Sergeant Schumacher said that due to the length of time in planning and training the cooking staff, the changes will start hitting the menu sometime early next year, if the approvals are granted.