Page 6 - gfs0718_Magazine

FRONT BURNER

Auxiliary Dining Facility Pinch Hits During Renovation

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s Gold Rush Inn dining
facility has been popular with service members prospecting
for meals while the Wilderness Inn dining facility under-
went renovation.
Hungry service members soon will strike gold. Reno-
vations to Wilderness dining facility are scheduled to be
completed July 1. Service members being directed to the
Gold Rush since Dec. 31, 2017, when the Wilderness dining
facility closed after serving dinner, can return.
With the Wilderness dinning facility soon to reopen, The Gold Rush Inn is an auxiliary dining facility at JBER-R and is in use until
Gold Rush returns to its role as an auxiliary dining facility. renovations to the Wilderness Inn Dining Facility are completed. (Photo by Senior
Airman Javier Alvarez, USAF, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Public Affairs)
While Wilderness was closed for renovation, the first
soldiers would begin arriving at Gold Rush Inn around 4:15 open to serve the day’s first meals.
a.m. and the complete opening crew of 10 would be ready “The dining facility is the best place for breakfast,” Arnone
to start the day at 4:30 in the morning. said. “We have everything and anything anybody could want.
They work alongside 13 civilian counterparts over the Once the Wilderness Inn re-opens, we’ll be able to incorporate
next two and a half hours to dice, flake, fry, grate, bake, all the specialty bars we’re not able to host here.”
mix, mince, peel, pare, shred, steam, toss, stir and stew the By 7:29 a.m. a scattered group of service members in
ingredients making up the daily breakfast menu. physical training uniforms and Army Combat Uniforms is
“On average we serve 350 people for in-house breakfast,” waiting for the Gold Rush Inn doors to open.
said Sgt. 1st Class Donnie Arnone, 2nd Battalion, 377th Pfc. Joshua Messerschmidt, a soldier with 2/377th PFAR,
Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade lives in the barracks and does not have time to cook most
Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army mornings. “Breakfast is by far my favorite meal here,” he
Alaska, dining facility assistant manager. “On any given said. “It’s consistent. You know what you’re going to get,
day we can feed up to 1,500 people from this location.” which is reassuring.”
“Providing a good meal sets the tone for the day,” said At 7:31 a.m. the kitchen staff is hard at work filling and
Kevin Moore, 673d Force Support Squadron food program refilling serving trays. In a corner of the kitchen, a cook is
manager. already dicing chicken breast for lunch. Chicken tortilla
By 7:15 a.m. there is a much slower tempo in the kitchen. soup is on the day’s menu.
Most of the assigned tasks are complete before the doors

40th Anniversary Proves Company Set Out on the Right Path

nHarvest can trace many markers along the path that led it to source and process a
Ivariety of high-quality nutritious and flavorful grains from a beginning 40 years ago,
back before wild rice achieved popularity.
The InHarvest story dates back to October 1978 when it was founded in Bemidji, Minn.,
by a local couple as Consolidated Wild Rice. This year and into 2019, it commemorates
its Ruby (40th) anniversary.
Growing along with the popularity of wild rice in the United States and internationally,
a portion of Indian Harvest was purchased in the 1980s by Duininck Companies, a then-
second-generation-owned company (today third-generation owned) based in Prinsburg, Minn., which quickly
expanded the focus to include a broad variety of whole grains and legumes.
An innovator, Indian Harvest began working with seed banks in the 1980s to find varieties of time-honored
grains with the flavor and nutrition absent in many of the contemporary modified versions. Careful research
resulted in success with such rice varieties as Colusari Red Rice grown in the Sacramento Valley.
In 2013, the company shortened its name to InHarvest to signify its primary focus growing wild rice, as well
as its evolving product line and capabilities in the food industry’s food service, retail and industrial sectors.
Today, InHarvest continues its commitment to agricultural diversity by sourcing and processing the highest-
quality whole grains, developing unique grain blends and searching the world for new and ancient rice, grains
and legumes that offer superior nutrition and flavor.
“InHarvest’s personal investments in each grain it offers, its relationships with growers locally and worldwide,
and its commitment to every individual in the production channel makes the journey of each of our products
to our customers something of which we are very proud,” says the company’s CEO, Gene Addink.”

6 GOVERNMENT FOOD SERVICE • JULY 2018