
Master-Bilt Refrigeration News & Product Information
Partner in Success: Something to “Bragg” About
Ft. Bragg
Ft. Bragg, NC
Fort Bragg Family Morale Welfare and Recreation Division (MWR) opened its new conference and catering center in the spring of 2015 to replace the Fort Bragg Officer’s Club on base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The new 50,000 square foot, $17.5 million facility is unrivaled in the region boasting a beautiful commercial kitchen, spacious ballroom, three bar areas and five conference rooms.
Fort Bragg Conference and Catering Center replaced the on-base Fort Bragg Club. Family and MWR Business Operations Officer Michelle Hagwood said the previous club fell short of the base’s needs. “The Fort Bragg Club was very inefficient. It was small, and the kitchen wasn’t where it needed to be to make the operation efficient,” Hagwood said.
The new $2 million commercial kitchen serves 1,200 people at a time and the facility also offers a lunch buffet every weekday and a coffee café during large conferences. On average, the center serves at least 1,500 meals per week. In June of 2014, Thompson & Little, Inc., a 70-year-old food service dealership located in close proximity to the base, was selected to provide the state-of -the-art kitchen facility. The facility opened in March 2015. Thompson & Little’s Contract Director and Vice President Andrew O’Quinn said the most challenging aspect of the job was the tight schedule. “It was a fast-paced project,” O’Quinn said. “The military needed it open on a certain date, so we had to meet their deadline.”
Fort Bragg Club Chef Robert Gibson says the center’s commercial kitchen rivals any in the region. The kitchen includes two Master-Bilt walk-in combination cooler-freezers with three compartments each, as well as a Master-Bilt single walk-in cooler totaling approximately1286 square feet of refrigerated space. The walk-ins are equipped with LED lighting, structural flooring capable of handling heavy pallet jack traffic and temperature alarm systems. “Fort Bragg’s new Conference and Catering Center was built to better serve members of the Fort Bragg community, Hagood said. “We’re very happy with it all across the board.”