Sept. 5, 2008
Q: I have a question regarding establishments serving breakfast on base. With the closure of the Seaside Club and opening of Chili’s, transient personnel living in the Navy Lodge were forced to go elsewhere for breakfast. The last remaining club on base serving breakfast was the Officers’ Club. The O’ Club is now re-opened after the recent re-modeling. I was told by O’ Club personnel that they will not be serving breakfast because, “it is not profitable.” Isn’t the O’ Club, as well as the other clubs, supported by Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR)? Currently, to the best of my knowledge, the only places open for breakfast on the entire Yokosuka base for family and nonmilitary personnel are McDonalds and the American Grill in the Navy Exchange (NEX) Food Court (temporarily closed for re-modeling). I understand it may not be financially profitable to open a club (i.e. Club Alliance, CPO Club, O’Club, etc...) for breakfast, it would improve morale, especially for those families in transit.

A: Thank you for your comments. As recently as March 2008 we looked at this situation and determined that it doesn’t make financial sense to offer a breakfast option at the Officers’ Club or other MWR facilities that don’t attract enough customers to cover basic expenses. You are correct that the Officers’ Club and others are part of the MWR Department, but they are considered Category “C” activities and the Navy requires that this category be self-supporting (i.e., they must generate enough revenue to cover all their own expenses and make enough profits to pay for long-term replacement of equipment). In the 11 months after the Seaside Club closed and we opened breakfast at the Officers’ Club we averaged less than 25 customers per day and produced an average loss of between $50 and $140 per day. Based on this data, we chose not to open an alternate location for a sit-down breakfast option once the Officers’ Club closed for renovation. While we sincerely regret that some customers will be inconvenienced by this decision, the guest numbers over the last 11 months we did offer a sit-down breakfast make it very clear that there are not enough of these folks to justify keeping the service open. Fortunately there are several breakfast options available for those individuals who desire one, including McDonald’s (who’s breakfast numbers far exceed anything seen at the Officers’ Club), Starbuck’s, and the NEX main store Food Court, to name just three. Thank you again for your feedback.