{"id":2106,"date":"2026-09-12T02:46:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T02:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/2106\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T02:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T02:46:31","slug":"soldiers-can-now-buy-beer-hard-seltzer-at-fort-hoods-dining-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/2106\/","title":{"rendered":"Soldiers can now buy beer, hard seltzer at Fort Hood\u2019s dining hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\tGet Task & Purpose in your inbox<\/p>\n

Sign up for Task & Purpose Today to get the latest in military news each morning.<\/p>\n

Soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, can now buy beer and hard seltzers from the base\u2019s new dining hall, Army officials said.<\/p>\n

42 Bistro at Fort Hood is the first of the Army\u2019s new dining halls to offer alcohol for sale. The bistro opened in February and is what the service is calling a \u201ccampus-style dining venue,\u201d modeled off of college cafeterias and run by a private contractor.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur soldiers are adults, so we\u2019re treating them accordingly,\u201d said Lt. Col. Joseph Payton, a spokesperson for III Corps at Fort Hood. \u201cThis provides another dining option for eligible patrons while maintaining the standards of responsible alcohol consumption expected across the installation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beer, wine, hard seltzers and ciders will be available to purchase for those of legal drinking age from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and noon to 7 p.m. over the weekend, base officials said in a\u00a0post on X.<\/p>\n

\"FortThe sale of alcohol at chow halls frequented by junior enlisted service members is a recent development. Army photo.<\/p>\n

To eat at the 42 Bistro, soldiers use \u201cfreedom dollars\u201d to pay for breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of the traditional meal plan that those living in the barracks have used to buy meals on base. However, for alcohol, soldiers will have to pay with cash or by card.<\/p>\n

All of the Army\u2019s new campus-style dining halls will be able to serve alcohol at the discretion of senior commanders, according to Army Materiel Command officials. At Fort Hood, the decision was made by Lt. Gen. Kevin Admiral, current commanding general of III Armored Corps, and the future head of Army Europe and Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Army initially announced plans to bring private contractors to run new cafeterias modeled off of colleges and universities back in January 2025. Later that year, the service said they were going to revamp at least 10 dining halls across the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii. When the Army announced the expansion, officials told Task & Purpose that one of the reasons they\u2019re allowing alcohol sales is to give contractors a way to make revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fort42 Bistro at Fort Hood, Texas, now serves alcohol. Army photo.<\/p>\n

In recent months, the Stack House Bistro in Fort Carson, Colorado, and the Belvedere Bistro at Fort Drum, New York, have also opened their doors. Army officials did not respond to questions about whether those dining halls are considering alcohol sales.<\/p>\n

With the campus-style dining changes, the Army\u2019s goal is to get more soldiers to utilize the DFACs and their meal plans by offering dining options that appeal to young soldiers, whether that\u2019s takeout and delivery, flexible hours, or just more modern food choices. On some bases, DFACs have even closed because of underuse, which has contributed to \u201cfood desert\u201d issues years later. An NBC report found that Fort Carson has seen a threefold increase in soldiers using their meal plans since the new DFAC opened in April.<\/p>\n

Patty is a senior reporter for Task & Purpose. She\u2019s reported on the military for five years, embedding with the National Guard during a hurricane and covering Guantanamo Bay legal proceedings for an alleged al Qaeda commander.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Get Task & Purpose in your inbox Sign up for Task & Purpose Today to get the latest in military news each morning. Soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, can now buy beer and hard seltzers from the base\u2019s new dining hall, Army officials said. 42 Bistro at Fort Hood is the first of the Army\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[176,221],"class_list":["post-2106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-dining"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117255784624450266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}