Or how about the mess members create a fine food society, inviting the old staff to come back and cook. May be increased price, but at least we can enjoy the traditions of our mess knowing we are not filling the pockets of some mega contract caterer. Or how about Social beer calls on squadrons every night instead of inflated bar prices? Bar would be empty however I dare say the Station Commander may take a dim view of PAYD not functioning as advertised due to mess members revolting.
As long as the contrators self-regulate this I will never agree to it; there is too much scope for them to do the absolute minimum required in the contact and furthermore ignore mess member discontent. Seeing as this is Tri-service, the Officers and Sgts messes should request an independent, service led auditing team to determine whether the contractor is providing the required level of service, and us the best value for money, not letting the contractor determine it for themselves. \f they offer anything less, they loose the contract. As a mess member, I dispare at the thought of this lunacy being forced through without a mess vote; once this one is in, I fear the expenditure required to reverse it will mean that any complains will be put down by saying "well, we dont have enough money to put it back as it was"