Air Force dining facility operations are stressed as a result of PBD 720 driven military force reductions, loss of personnel due to deployments, and the reduced availability of appropriated funds for mess attendant contracts, equipment replacement and facility maintenance and repair. “New, innovative methods of operating, funding and manning are needed in order to ensure our dining facilities are able to execute their mission of feeding and serving America’s Airmen” (Halverson, 2006). This research examines outsourcing’s potential as an innovative method to combat the problems facing dining facilities. The feeding models of six universities, which included self-operated, co-sourced, and fully outsourced operations, were used as benchmarks. From these feeding models, the characteristics important to outsourcing decisions were determined. Comparative analysis of the characteristics of the Air Force feeding model and those of the benchmark universities revealed similarity to Kent State University. The fit of the co-sourced feeding model at Kent State suggests that the Air Force would benefit from a similar co-sourced feeding model in its dining facility operations
