Article

Serving those who serve U.S.

Eating a Burger King Whopper or a Subway foot-long reminds Capt. Bill Roberts of home.

February 12, 2006

Eating a Burger King Whopper or a Subway foot-long reminds Capt. Bill Roberts of home. Stationed in Baghdad, the New York-native occasionally skips Army chow and treats himself to the same foods he enjoyed at his local mall's food court.

 

"If it weren't for the fact that everyone is armed and the guards check everyone's ID before they go in and the large barrier walls around the exterior, it would be like going to a small shopping center back home," Roberts said. "Getting a Whopper with cheese and fries can make a world of difference in morale for someone who has been out in the sandbox for awhile." 

 

The restaurants where Roberts eats are facilitated by the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), which is the military's equivalent to Wal-Mart. On almost every U.S. base, AAFES has a department and grocery store with QSRs nearby, even in a combat zone.

 

"The value of going where the troops are is immeasurable," said Roy Robertson, AAFES' vice president of food and theater. "There is no clearer statement of AAFES' motto, 'We Go Where You Go,' than delivering a taste of home to troops deployed to, sometimes, harsh and austere environments."

What's Important Chains that are serving U.S. Military in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait include:         Burger King Pizza Hut Popeye's Taco Bell Subway Green Beans Coffee Cinnabon Seattle's Best Coffee Charley's Steakery KFC McDonalds Pizza Inn Hardee's Baskin Robbins Starbucks Dunkin Donuts Dairy Queen Orange Julius Nathan's Hot Dogs   To learn about serving U.S. servicemen overseas, visit www.aafes.com and click on the business section.                            Soldiers stand in line at a Popeyes at Iraq's Camp Liberty.   (Photo provided by AAFES)

 

Providing food in a combat zone is a business venture, too. AAFES' 160 restaurants earned $80.1 million in total sales for 2005 at U.S. bases in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. For December alone, the combat-zone restaurants received close to $10 million.                                                      

 

Robertson said ticket averages ranged from $6 at Subway to $13-15 at pizza chains. The top menu items are burgers and pizza, followed by sub sandwiches and coffee.

 

Joining the fight

 

Robertson said serving servicemen increases brand value.

 

"I can't think of a single effort (advertising, coupon giveaways, contests for millions of dollars, etc.) that can make as much impact as providing product to soldiers in a combat zone," Robertson said. "Being 'over there' gives an entirely new meaning to the term brand loyalty. 

 

"To be able to bring a small measure of comfort to troops who have left everything familiar behind is truly a labor of love and support. The hard work that comes with setting up shop in a war zone produces immediate dividends with every service member who smells, tastes and is virtually transported home through a sandwich, drink or slice of pizza."

 

Selecting brands to operate in a combat zone begins at the military leadership level. Once the base command sees the need for a specific brand or type of foodservice, AAFES develops stores that suit its surrounding infrastructure. The end product could be as elaborate as Camp Arifjan's Burger King – with POS systems and digital menu boards – or as basic as the Popeye's trailer at Camp Victory in Baghdad. Then, there's the employee aspect.

 

According to Multinational Forces press releases, 312 civilian contractors have been killed since the beginning of the Iraq war. More than 60 were truck drivers shipping goods to and from U.S. bases and 12 were from a Jordanian employment services company that supplied workers to Multinational Forces.  

 

"The largest single on-going involvement is with the management of people resources to ensure all of the non-combatant food service associates are safely housed, fed, comfortable and, above all, clean and in good health," Robertson said.

 

Robertson said another challenge is transporting goods. Even though AAFES trucks are escorted by heavily armed U.S.-military vehicles, many convoys are attacked. And the method of these insurgent ambushes are normally roadside bombs, which accounted for 60 percent of U.S. fatalities since August 2005.

 

But the fact is, Robertson said, the servicemen take risks to serve the United States, and AAFES serves them. For soldiers like Spc. Kelly Neshika, who is stationed in Kuwait, the brands she sees on a daily basis give her a special feeling, "because back home, I take my kids out for fast-food once in a while as a treat. So it makes me think of my kids."