Slagel Dining Facility is the largest dining facility in the Department of Defense. It serves 12,000 meals a day. Trainees at the Medical Education and Training Campus at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio are required to eat lunch at Slagel, where the staff serves 4,500 meals in just 90 minutes. Business Insider spent two days at the facility to see how the staff plans large-scale operations and prepares meals at scale.
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00:00 [music]
00:06 These cooks are preparing 4,500 meals
00:10 at the Slagle Mess Hall,
00:12 the U.S. military's largest dining facility.
00:16 At 60,000 square feet,
00:19 it serves Army soldiers,
00:21 Air Force airmen,
00:22 and Navy sailors
00:24 who train at Fort Sam Houston
00:26 in San Antonio, Texas.
00:29 Daily, I'm preparing at least about 3,500 to 4,000,
00:35 at least for breakfast.
00:36 Our headcount goes up for lunch,
00:37 so we automatically feed at least 4,500.
00:41 That's some good pasta right there.
00:44 We need a balanced, nutritious meal.
00:47 This is the powerhouse right here.
00:49 So this is where we provide you those meals
00:51 that is going to allow you to get up
00:53 and be the best that you can be for that day.
00:56 Business Insider spent two days with Slagle staff
01:00 as they prepared for the largest meal of the day,
01:03 lunch,
01:05 while following a color-coded system
01:07 intended to encourage service members
01:09 to make healthier choices.
01:12 The three main courses are 600 pounds of ginger pot roast,
01:17 1,400 pounds of Bombay chicken,
01:19 and 210 pounds of cheese tortellini with marinara.
01:24 There's also an assortment of vegetables,
01:26 short-order food,
01:28 and a salad bar that feeds 4,000 to 4,500 trainees
01:32 in just 90 minutes.
01:36 Personnel from all branches of the military
01:39 train at Fort Sam Houston,
01:41 many of them at the Medical Education and Training Campus.
01:44 In 2013, the dining facility was named
01:47 in honor of Sergeant First Class Wayne Slagle,
01:50 a distinguished Army combat medic.
01:52 -Hey, Master Tickets? -Master Tickets.
01:54 -Thank you. -Ready?
01:56 -Oh, yes, ma'am. I can definitely make my day.
01:59 I come here about three times a day.
02:01 It's just -- It's included in my BAS, so might as well.
02:04 The experience is really cool.
02:06 All the staff are very nice.
02:07 I've built a bond with a couple of them,
02:09 especially for being here for so long,
02:11 so it's just nice to see those familiar faces here.
02:14 Slagle serves about 66,000 meals each week,
02:18 about 35,000 to Army soldiers,
02:21 18,000 to Navy sailors,
02:23 and 13,000 to Air Force airmen.
02:26 All trainees are required to dine at Slagle
02:29 for lunch Monday through Friday.
02:33 To prepare the meal in time for 4,500 trainees,
02:36 the lunch staff is broken into two shifts --
02:39 the night crew, which prepares the food,
02:42 and the lunch crew, which cooks, pans,
02:47 and serves it.
02:49 For today's meal, prep begins at 8 o'clock the night before.
02:53 -Javan, Teresa, of course.
02:55 Y'all know there's an uncle.
02:56 I saw it out there.
02:58 Chicken quarters. I haven't seen the tortellini.
03:00 I haven't seen the lasagna. Go check on that, okay?
03:03 So y'all do your thing.
03:05 -Our overnight crew comes in.
03:06 They cook off the gingerbread rolls.
03:09 It's not fully cooked, but they brown it and cook it off.
03:12 That way, when I come in, that makes it easier to slice
03:16 once it's cooled and everything from what they did.
03:18 And then once we slice it, we go back into the oven.
03:21 So it's like a whole process.
03:23 -To prepare the ginger pot roast,
03:25 the cooks start by unpackaging
03:27 about 600 pounds of beef knuckle.
03:31 They move it into pans, season it,
03:37 and move it all into ovens to brown.
03:45 While the beef knuckle browns in the oven,
03:47 the cooks begin placing the chicken quarters on pans
03:51 so they're ready to hit the oven
03:52 when the lunch crew arrives the next morning.
03:55 -You got about 600 pounds? -1,400 pounds.
04:00 -You cook?
04:01 -Whoo!
04:05 -It's kind of a workout. -Yes.
04:07 [ Laughs ]
04:09 -On the other side of the kitchen,
04:11 another cook finishes boiling macaroni noodles
04:14 for the pasta salad.
04:16 -See, that's some good pasta right there.
04:19 Look at that good little pasta salad.
04:23 Let it sit for a little about 10 more minutes.
04:25 It should be cooked.
04:26 -While the pasta cools,
04:28 the cook begins preparing salad for the salad bar.
04:31 At the same time, cabbage is being washed and chopped
04:38 in preparation for the calico cabbage dish.
04:42 With the pasta cooled, the cook returns to the tilt grill
04:45 to add in peppers, onions, and seasoning.
04:48 It's then scooped into a pan and stored in the fridge.
05:06 After just three hours of prep,
05:08 the cooks move all of the food into the refrigerator
05:11 for the next shift.
05:13 -Okay.
05:15 -I might need that for my sauce.
05:18 -Okay.
05:19 -The next day, lunch prep begins at 6 a.m.
05:23 A cook seasons the chicken quarters
05:25 before sticking them in the oven...
05:27 ...while another slices the pot roast.
05:36 -How long does it take you to slice the pot roast?
05:39 -It depends on how much you use, but an hour,
05:42 I would say about 400, 500 pounds.
05:45 -Once it's sliced, the pot roast is placed back into the oven
05:49 to finish cooking.
05:51 In a 60-gallon kettle,
05:59 the marinara sauce is made with 114 pounds of pizza sauce,
06:04 vegetable oil, and an assortment of seasonings.
06:08 Once the sauce is ready, it's poured over the tortellini...
06:25 ...and placed in the oven to cook.
06:34 With the main courses underway,
06:37 450 pounds of peas, carrots, and cabbage
06:41 are added to the tilt grill and boiled...
06:44 ...while more cooks pan and prep
06:54 the remaining produce for the salad bar.
06:57 -It's not really a challenge, or it's not too hard for us
07:02 because most of us have been here 10 to 15 and 20 years plus,
07:06 so it's like we're in a motion of doing this already.
07:09 We kind of already have this idea of, you know,
07:12 I know how many soldiers I'm going to feed.
07:14 They told me we fed this much last night,
07:16 so I know to project this head count for the next day.
07:20 -In the hot kitchen, the chicken is removed from the oven,
07:25 moved into serving pans, and topped with Bombay sauce.
07:30 The chicken is moved into warmers
07:32 to stay at a safe temperature until lunch,
07:35 while the ginger pot roast goes back into the oven
07:38 to continue cooking.
07:40 -I've never met a person before that has not had a sweet tooth.
07:47 But again, my key word is balanced.
07:50 -Cooks prep the desserts by cutting over 2,000 slices of cake
07:55 and moving them into individual serving containers.
07:58 Slagle orders over 1,800 cakes per week.
08:02 -So, our desserts that we provide here at the Slagle,
08:05 they come in a multitude of combinations.
08:07 Some are pre-prepared and some that are prepared in the facility.
08:11 However, we try to cut down on the sugars and the fats,
08:15 but more importantly, it's all about the taste.
08:18 So if we can fool them and give them a great taste,
08:21 then we have won.
08:23 -In 2022, Slagle Hall served 2.1 million meals.
08:28 -It's not how much food we serve.
08:31 It is what is our grocery bill.
08:33 So, our grocery bill is astronomical.
08:37 -According to Slagle, the mess hall spends $14.2 million annually
08:42 on the food provided to trainees for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
08:46 served 365 days a year.
08:50 And managing that food is a logistical challenge.
08:53 -I have dairy Monday through Friday,
08:56 produce the same thing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,
08:59 and then I have my bread Monday, Tuesday,
09:02 and then Thursday and Friday.
09:04 So, basically, there's always something going on
09:06 with what's coming in or what's going out.
09:08 -The kitchen at Slagle has 10,000 cubic feet of refrigerator space.
09:13 -It's a big freezer.
09:14 I can probably hold maybe up to $300,000 worth of food.
09:18 But I vary about $187,000 to $200,000.
09:21 My meats will be basically hidden back here where my pallets are.
09:27 My breakfast items -- sausage, pancakes, waffles.
09:33 These will be all our greens, which is asparagus, green beans, broccoli, peas, corn.
09:39 It goes all the way to that back wall over there.
09:44 -As lunch nears, the staff prepares the dining rooms
09:49 and moves the produce onto the salad bar.
09:53 An elevator helps them move the food between the two dining room floors.
09:59 The food is removed from the warmers
10:03 and set out on the serving line.
10:06 Outside, trainees begin to make their way to the mess hall.
10:11 Typically, trainees are required to march into lunch in formation.
10:16 However, on this day, because of an unseasonably cold Texas morning,
10:20 trainees were permitted to arrive independently.
10:23 -Instead of limiting us to just one item,
10:33 it's cool to have a variety, especially throughout the week.
10:36 It's not the same thing every week.
10:37 For me, personally, it takes me a little longer
10:39 to try and figure out what I want to eat for today.
10:41 But just going through the line, they offer us, I believe,
10:44 it's two proteins and then two sides.
10:46 So it's just a different variety of sides.
10:49 Sometimes it's hard to pick.
10:50 You want to try? You got to try.
10:53 I always do stop at the salad bar as well,
10:56 usually to try and add a little bit of extra protein,
10:59 so maybe some eggs or some ham cubes to my meal.
11:03 -Serving 4,500 trainees in 90 minutes is no small task.
11:09 Slagel is broken into two floors,
11:12 each with its own serving lines
11:15 and dining room that fees 1,100 at a time each,
11:20 meaning trainees must eat quickly
11:23 so everyone can be fed in the allotted time.
11:26 -Most of the companies, we have anywhere between 200 to 300 people.
11:30 If you're closer to the front of the line,
11:32 you get a little bit more time.
11:33 If you're near the end, you don't get as much,
11:35 but roughly 15, 20 minutes or so for everybody at least,
11:39 and then they want you outside ready to go
11:41 so you can go back to class
11:42 and focus on our primary studies and everything.
11:45 There's no specific calorie count that we're trying to hit
11:48 because we do not tell an individual
11:50 that you can't come through the line again.
11:52 However, it has to be balanced.
11:55 -The menu follows a DOD-implemented program
11:59 known as Go for Green,
12:01 which encourages service members to make healthier choices.
12:04 On the serving line, the food is categorized into three groups,
12:08 each represented by a different color.
12:11 Green for healthy foods trainees should eat often,
12:14 such as steamed brown rice.
12:16 Yellow for foods trainees should eat occasionally,
12:19 like hot rolls.
12:21 And red for foods trainees should eat rarely, like gravy.
12:26 -If you was to ask me why trainees need so much food
12:29 and why we have to provide the balanced meal that we do,
12:32 it's because they're not at home anymore.
12:35 They are not on the couch.
12:37 They are out here training, getting in,
12:40 defending the country that we all love.
12:43 And in order to do that, you've got to have the spirit.
12:46 We don't provide that, but what we do provide
12:49 is the fuel and the energy that you need in your body.
12:54 -As lunch comes to an end,
12:56 trainees leave the mess hall to return to their training,
13:00 while Slegel's staff cleans the dining room
13:02 and prepares for dinner,
13:04 which is now only four hours away.
13:08 -And that's when they can probably escape,
13:11 go to some restaurants that I'm not going to name,
13:14 and they're not looking for love,
13:17 but they are just looking for a little bit more fat.
13:21 You know what I'm saying?