The Gateway Dining Facility

What makes RAF Mildenhall’s Gateway Dining Facility so Special

From the huge decorative stone fireplace hearth to the dark oak paneling and wrought iron chandeliers, RAF Mildenhall’s Gateway Dining Facility, built in 1939, reflects an unmistakable old world charm. But the menus have come a long way since the facility housed the “Airman’s Mess.” Go-for-Green is one of the nutritional initiatives at this historic facility. In recognition of the old adage, “you are what you eat”, Go for Green is a nutritional recognition labeling system designed to help customers gain a quick snapshot of the nutritional value of choices available at the food stations. The Gateway Dining Facility displays color-coded signs: red, yellow and green. Red is a performance limiting food and should be consumed rarely. Yellow is a moderate performance food and should be consumed only occasionally and Green is a high performance food that should be consumed often.

Nutritional advice is only one of the much-appreciated services provided by The Gateway Dining Facility. Open every day of the year, including holidays, this award-winning facility is staffed by highly trained and proficient staff members priding themselves in providing the BEST Service for the BEST customers!

The Gateway Dining Facility’s unequalled and popular Quarterly Birthday Meal Program as just one of many ways the Dining Facility serves RAF Mildenhall’s dedicated Airmen. “This meal is extra special because we honor those Airmen who live in the dorms. The menu for these keynote events are ‘top notch’, with steak, lobster and many side items the Airmen and their guests can choose from. Also, we include volunteers from different squadrons, including 1st Shirts, in the role of waiters.” Sign-up sheets to attend one of the Quarterly Birthday Meals are located at the cash registers, so signing up is easy too.

So, who is eligible to use the Gateway Dining Facility? Technically, the Dining Facility is specifically designed for the enlisted personnel entitled to Essential Station Messing (ESM) but the facility happily accommodates other military, DoD personnel, Officers, personnel on TDY, Federal Civilians, Non-appropriate Fund employees, on-duty Ministry of Defence for one meal, Local Direct Hire, and Retirees. If in doubt about who can dine there, just look for the eligibility memo displayed just inside the main entrance.