Sultan's Inn providing support

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tiffany Colburn
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  For nearly two decades the Sultan's Inn has fed Team Incirlik members.

"The Sultan's Inn was originally built and opened in 1988 with extensive renovations in 1995," said Andrew Pastula, 39th Services Squadron Food Service superintendent. "Previously, the dining facility was located in what is now Crossroads Café."

The Sultan's Inn is open to all meal card holders, but customers paying with cash are allowed as well. Customers should carry their military identification card or orders to receive service.

"The primary mission of the Sultan's Inn is to support Essential Station Messing customers - i.e. - meal card," said Mr. Pastula. "These customers eat at no charge because they are not receiving basic allowance for subsistence. Other types of customers are authorized as well per the commander's policy letter which is available at 39services.com and in each dining room above the condiment bars. This mainly includes temporary duty personnel and all permanent party members."

There is a wide variety of food offered at the Sultan's Inn, including entrees, main dishes and vegetables. The full menu is available at 39services.com.

"Our goal is to ensure that all menu items are available to all customers for the duration of the meal," said Mr. Pastula. "Normally three entrees are required on the main line, but we add on many items to increase variety for our customers. With that in mind, we do our best to manage the availability, but naturally some of the more popular items might finish before the end of the meal period."

The Sultan's Inn is service orientated and services employees are always trying to accommodate their customers.

"We're always looking for ways to improve," said Mr. Pastula. "Please do not hesitate to fill out a comment card and let us know your ideas. We can always request new items be added to the menu, if approved. Just take note that due to our location it generally takes four to six months to actually receive new items in stock for service."

The Sultan's Inn went through a trial hour period from July 30 to Aug. 10 to see if customers preferred extended breakfast hours. The idea for the change came from Airmen Committed to Excellence.

"The Airman that came up with the idea initially was Senior Airman Stephanie Garcia," said Airman First Class Crystal Dark, 39th Medical Group Bioenvironmental Engineering apprentice and ACE secretary. At our monthly meeting with Chief Antwine we informed him that many Airmen living in the dorms were not given enough time to get a good breakfast while still trying to crunch in time for PT and still be ready for work before the Sultan's Inn closed."

"That quality of life concern caused a spiral effect as we went to the dorm council to poll the Airman about a possible time change."

Once the request was sent to the Sultan's Inn, the new hours were implemented on a trial basis.

"Generally the hours are not really evaluated on a regular basis as we have standardized hours like most bases," said Mr. Pastula. "However, when requests come up we look at each request on an individual basis. Several years ago the breakfast meal changed to open earlier at 4:30 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m. to accommodate security forces personnel going on shift early in the morning."

After the trial period, the Sultan's Inn staff found that increasing the hours for breakfast allowed more people a chance to eat, and chose to incorporate the news hours in the permanent schedule.

"Previously, the breakfast meal closed at 8 a.m. now its 8:30 a.m. Lunch used to open at 10:30 a.m. now its 11 a.m.," said Mr. Pastula. "The reason for the change was to accommodate personnel who wanted to have breakfast after PT."

As for the dinner hours, they will remain the same. The dinner hours are as follows: Monday through Sunday from 4:30 to 8 p.m. and the midnight meal is open seven days a week from 10:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.