• QUANTICO
In late August, the Marine Corps’ Business and Support Services Division (MR) awarded 34 Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) activities aboard nine Marine Corps installations and support activities for their exceptional performance in 2024.
As a result of their efforts, these team members and activities have received an abundance of positive and personalized guest feedback and helped drive patron loyalty and preference. It is this type of commitment that distinguishes Food and Hospitality Excellence Award winners.
The leadership and staff of these operations have excelled beyond the values, principles, and core competencies of MCCS. The recognized groups continue to accomplish the MCCS primary mission of taking care of Marines and their families by enacting best-in-class operating practices and infusing their activities with the voice of guests.
MCCS has also expanded the Food & Hospitality Excellence Award program to recognize two of the Marine Corps’ highest performing staff as the Hospitality Manager of the Year and Hospitality Associate of the Year.
2025 FOOD AND HOSPITALITY EXCELLENCE AWARD RECIPIENTS
MCB Camp Butler, Okinawa: Life Juice Café Schwab; Life Juice Café Futenma; Life Juice Café Foster; Life Juice Café Hansen; Life Juice Café Kinser; Thirsty’s Enlisted Club; Surfside Consolidated Club; Legends Officers’ Club; The Palms Consolidated Club; Ocean Breeze Consolidated Club; Tengan Castle Restaurant; Habu Pit Restaurant; Butler Officers’ Club; Beach Head Consolidated Club; Sumo Burrito Camp Foster; Hashmarks SNCO Club; Bayview Enlisted Club
MCB Hawaii: Aloha Kitchen; 9th Puka Snack Bar; Starbucks; SNCO Club at Kaneohe Bay
MCAGCC Twentynine Palms, Calif.: Warrior Club; Mobile Canteens
MCCS Lejeune-New River: N.C.: Spare Time Sports Grill; Onslow Beach Resort; French Creek Snack Bar; La Casita Loca; Starbucks
MCX Camp Pendleton, Calif.: Del Mar Beach Resort; Lake O’Neill Recreational Lodging
MCB Quantico, Va.: Bulldogs Burgers; Quiglet’s Restaurant
MCCS South Carolina: Java Café – PI Visitors’ Center; Beaufort Bowling Center Snack Bar
Club Of The Year: Thirsty’s Enlisted Club – MCAS Futenma, Okinawa JP
Restaurant Of The Year: French Creek Snack Bar – MCB Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Lodge Of The Year: Del Mar Beach Resort – MCB Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Hospitality Associate Of The Year: Octavia Carter, Cook Supervisor, The Club at Paradise Point – MCB Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Hospitality Manager Of The Year: Gerald Stokinger, F&B Manager, MCB Camp Butler and MCCS Okinawa, JP.
HISTORY
The Food and Hospitality Excellence Award Program was established by MCCS — the entity that oversees the Marine Corps Exchange (MCX) — in 1999 to recognize restaurant and hospitality activities that exceed the highest level of standards of operational excellence and service to Marines and their families.
These awards provide the opportunity for any club, restaurant, snack bar or lodging facility, regardless of size or location, to measure their results against criteria in pre-established categories of customer service, financial performance, human resources development and operational excellence.
Source: MCCS/MCX
Edited by Larry Lapka
