The U.S. Navy is in the process of expanding the amount of grab-and-go food stations at shore-based installations and implementing changes that will make those options accessible all day.
Vice Adm. Scott Gray, commander of Navy Installations Command, announced the development during a media roundtable Wednesday, in which he discussed the service’s recently announced food service transformation initiative.
“We acknowledge that our sailors are busy,” Gray said in the roundtable. “This grab-and-go is an effort to ensure that no matter what your schedule looks like during the day, you have the opportunity not only to ensure that you get something to eat but that you get healthy options.”
In 2025, there were few grab-and-go options across all shore-based galleys, Gray said.
By the end of June 2026, there will be a grab-and-go stations at 95% of all shore-based galleys.
The Navy is also planning to maximize the amount of time those grab-and-go stations are open by the end of the year.
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Right now, galleys operate so that they only offer food during breakfast, lunch and dinner time.
In between those hours, sailors are unable to access food there.
But by the end of 2026, grab-and-go stations will operate from the minute the galley opens to the minute it closes to ensure that sailors always have a meal option that accommodates their busy schedule.
“If you come in, for example, at breakfast time and you have your breakfast and you know you’re not going to be able to come back and have lunch, you can then swipe your card before you go and take a sandwich, a salad and a protein drink with you, so that you can eat,” Gray said.
Gray also provided more information about the expanded meal entitlement options for sailors that the Navy Systems Command announced last week.
The service launched its shore food service transformation initiative on May 29 at Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Mississippi, and on June 3 at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington, with the goal of expanding its reach to other installations if the implementation proves successful.
The Navy intends to begin phase two of the rollout between March and July 2027 and expand the initiative to another nine installations.
The food shore initiative, aside from the expanded meal entitlement program, will offer multiple food stations within the galley, including international cuisine, a vegan station, a Mongolian barbecue station, pizza stations, a deli station and a salad bar, among others.
The Navy is also attempting to boost the quality of food and service, having recently brought members from the Culinary Institute of America to both pilot program sites to train cooks.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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