Café 100 serving new menu items

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Café 100, under the management of the AEDC Services Office, recently added a Hot Line that includes new entrée style menu items. Barbara Stewart, the director of the Services Office, expressed that the addition was made to meet the customers' needs.

"In order to help the flow of customers, we decided to start the hot line service to provide a quick and easy meal for our customers to pick up and eat within their 30-minute lunch period," she said. "While the menu itself is limited to what we can make with the equipment we have, we are doing our best to provide a selection that is variable and that our customers want and enjoy."

The improvement in service, as stated by Stewart, offers customers a "meat and three" option which is a meat and up to three side items. The menu includes set items for each day of the week, such as the Monday menu item is lasagna, Tuesday is chicken enchilada, Wednesday is barbeque pulled pork, Thursday is meatloaf and Friday is baked tilapia. Special entrees are introduced for limited times.
Since the start of the Hot Line, customers have been asked to voice their opinions on options.

"In order to see if the offerings we had were acceptable, we started asking our customers to use the ICE (Interactive Customer Evaluation) website," Stewart said.

"This allows our customers a quick and easy way to give us online feedback about what we offer and what they'd like to see. There are times we can't meet their requests, because we don't have a full kitchen in the Café, so we are limited in what we can do and what we can offer."

The plan to offer the new menu items developed in 2015. Stewart said it took some time to acquire extra staff to offer a hot line and to continue offering the grill line which serves hot and cold sandwiches, wraps, pizza, salad, Starbucks® coffee and breakfast items.

While the staff continues to increase the level of service at the Café, Stewart is looking toward the future of Café 100.

"The Café has not increased prices since it began serving grill items in 2012, but the cost of those items has continued to rise to a point where the Café is beginning to operate at a loss," she said. "So, customers will see a price increase in August. While the increases will be small, we know some customers will not be happy about the changes. We aren't happy we have to make the increases, but we have done everything we can to reduce expenses on our end."

The Café will also change some of the food options.

Stewart said, "For instance, if you want more than the standard condiments on a sandwich (tomato, lettuce, onion and pickle) there will be a charge for the extra toppings."

Café prices are charged to the customer under similar guidelines as the Services Arnold Lakeside Center. If a patron is a Services Club Member, they can receive a 10 percent discount on their meal. They may show their card to the cashier to receive the discount.

"If someone eats in the Café each day, and pays an average of $7 for their meal, they will have received back approximately $14 in discounts," Stewart said. "So, depending on their club category - i.e., enlisted, officer, or civilian - they can earn back either more than their [membership] dues or almost their entire dues payment."

Café 100 continues to offer services for office parties, breakfasts and luncheons if they are provided with at least a week of advance notice.

For more information about Café 100, call 454-7426 or 454-5885.

-AEDC-