Compass assigned to cover the Pentagon through NEXCOM

Nation's Restaurant News, August 13, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Compass Group North America scored a major victory this month when the Naval Exchange Services Command, or NEXCOM, was awarded a 17-year contract to manage the foodservice program at the Pentagon.

Kurt Kimball, executive vice president of sales for Compass, said the contract would be worth between $180 million and $190 million. Eurest Support Services, a Compass division, will manage the contract.

Last year Compass signed a 10-year agreement with NEXCOM, the initial phase of which included installing food courts on five Navy bases in the United States and two in Italy.

Aramark has held the contract for the Pentagon for the past three decades. The distinctive building, known for its design and 17 miles of corridors, has a population of about 23,000 military and civilian employees.

"Based on our existing contract with NEXCOM, we are playing the lead role in executing the Pentagon contract," Kimball said. "We worked with NEXCOM on the proposal."

According to the Department of Defense, the contract will begin next March.

Through various partnerships over the years, including the contract with Compass, NEXCOM has built a stable of retail brands that make it very attractive to Pentagon employees. Among NEXCOM's brand partners are Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, Starbucks and Manchu Wok.

Compass owns or has partnerships with several other brands, including Au Bon Pain, Sbarro, Blimpie and Burger King.

"We will bring some national brands as well as some of our proprietary brands from our Profile In Good Taste program into the mix," Kimball said. "We also expect to do a fair amount of catering, and we will be putting some funding into renovations to bring Pentagon foodservice to the next level."

A statement released by the Defense Department indicated that customer preferences led to the decision to change food management: "Recent independent surveys of the Pentagon workforce indicated a growing preference ... for a brand-name franchise food program over the typical cafeteria and snack bar programs currently operated in the Pentagon."

"The principal criteria used were the desires of those who actually work in the building and purchase the food," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley told The Associated Press.