Thursday, September 06, 2007

Belvoir Community Club to end its lunch buffet

Fried chicken and catfish, corn bread, mashed potatoes and all of the other ingredients that make up the Community Club lunch buffet will no longer be available after Sept. 28.

The lunch buffet program will be discontinued because it is no longer cost effective to keep the program going, said Debra S. Taylor, marketing director for Fort Belvoir’s Directorate of Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

“It’s the ending of an era,” said Amber Maxwell, assistant manager for the Community Club. “Change is difficult for anybody-[the employees] are concerned and they’re all kind of curious to see how it’s going to work.”

The lunch buffet is the only program that is being discontinued. Catering, conferencing, and special events will carry on as usual, Taylor said. Special events like the Easter Buffet, Mother’s Day Buffet and Comedy Night will all continue.

“The current lunchtime traffic is not enough to sustain the buffet lunch program,” Taylor added. “Generally, the Community Club sees only one seating whereas other restaurants have multiple seatings throughout the lunch timeframe.”

The Community Club was built in 1965 and opened as a member’s only NCO club. Through the years it featured a very popular disco, a small Class Six-type operation, game rooms, pool tables and catering.

Eventually, the Club was opened to all people accessing the installation. Today, all military ranks, Department of Defense civilians and contractors use the Club’s various services.

Eventually, the Sosa Community Center operations will move to the Community Club location because Army Community Service is moving to the current Sosa location.

“This change is an opportunity to re-evaluate our services,” said Taylor. “As an increasing number of customers visit the Community Club for Sosa’s services, we will re-examine customer needs to determine if a new lunch program is valid.”

On Sept. 28, the last day of the buffet, all of the favorite dishes will be served, including the famous fried chicken and catfish.

“Many of the people coming to the lunch buffet are regulars, so this is a change, but we encourage them to try other lunch buffets,” Taylor said.