OCTOBER 28, 2026 — Soldiers at Fort Stewart used their meal entitlements on Oct. 26, at Club Stewart as the installation’s Directorate of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation joins the Army’s Flexible Eating & Expanded Dining program.
“It’s going to be a great success because of the variety and quality of products we are offering,” said Bart Perry, Club Stewart business manager. “The ability to come into the club, get your food within minutes and not having to wait on it – you can’t beat that.”
FEED is a pilot program overseen by Army Materiel Command that launched Aug. 3 on Fort Stewart and allows Soldiers to use their daily meal entitlement for select meals at approved dining spots. The initial launch included access to Starbucks, Qdoba, Subway and Burger King on the installation.
“Army Materiel Command realized that Soldiers who did not have proper food accessibility — it adversely affected them,” said Richard Bennett, a team member for the Army Food Innovation and Transformation Team at AMC. “Food is a morale booster. If you have good food, nutritious food, then Soldiers’ morale is lifted, and this installation needed additional accessibility.”
To accommodate the FEED program, Club Stewart now offers three buffet style meals a day, seven days a week. The buffet, like any Army Dining Facility, includes signs that are color coded red, yellow or green to indicate nutritional value.
“We developed our menu off the Army standards,” Perry said. “We already understood what the needs were, and it was easy to follow what was there to then make adjustments as needed.”
This additional choice gives Soldiers even more flexibility in finding food that fits their schedules, preferences and missions, while remaining on the installation.
Pfc. Christian Wheelock, a mechanic assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Division Sustainment Brigade, was one of the first Soldiers to go through the buffet and said he learned about it from the Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program.
“I like that it is a buffet because I am trying to add on some more weight and muscle and this has a lot of options to do just that,” Wheelock said.
He also added that he thinks this will help distribute lines away from Qdoba and Subway which have grown long due to the program’s popularity.
“When we implemented the FEED program at AAFES, on day one we only fed around 250, but within two days that was up to almost 900 because Soldiers talk to Soldiers,” Bennett said.
Before FEED, the installation was averaging about 15,000 meal entitlements used per week. Now, over 20,000 meal entitlements are being used per week.
Bennett believes the number will jump even more with the addition of Club Stewart.
“We’ve increased the entitlement usage and all that adds up to is money back in their pockets,” he said.
Many partners such as FMWR, Defense Commissary Agency and AAFES feed Soldiers every day. Normally, they’re using their own money to purchase food at these places, but the FEED program allows Soldiers to use their entitlements as payment.
“We absolutely believe it is a success because when we look out and see an installation where Soldiers have a challenge with food accessibility and then we implement FEED, it’s unbelievable the reaction,” Bennett said.
He also gave high praise to Fort Stewart’s FMWR team for their quick action to try and join the program.
“MWR on this installation is one of the best because they were all in from day one,” Bennett said. “They understood the nutritional requirements, and they made changes to their menus, their production, and even their cooking procedures.”
Club Stewart will serve breakfast from 6:30-9:30 a.m., lunch from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and dinner from 5-8 p.m. Monday-Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday brunch/lunch is from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and dinner from 5-8 p.m.
For all FEED menus and additional information, visit the ESM Food tab in the My Army Post App.
Story by Kelsie Steber
Fort Stewart Public Affairs Office