After almost two years of construction, the newly built regional kitchen and the two newly built finalization kitchens in the Schwarzenberg barracks have now been officially opened. With the symbolic cutting of the red ribbon by the Governor of Salzburg, Wilfried Haslauer, the Head of Directorate 7 (Infrastructure) of the Ministry of Defense, Hofrat Johannes Sailer and Salzburg’s military commander, Brigadier Peter Schinnerl, the new catering facilities were officially handed over for use.
3,000 portions in one cooking cycle
The new regional kitchen is designed to prepare around 3,000 portions in one cooking cycle three times a day. 2,200 portions per preparation are required purely to cater for the troops currently present in the province of Salzburg. The regional kitchen at the garrison base in Wals-Siezenheim is connected to two newly built finalization kitchens with dining rooms. The new building represents a general modernization of the infrastructure to ensure sustainable catering in the military properties in the province of Salzburg.
Special attention was paid to environmental protection and sustainability during construction. The new regional and finalization kitchens are equipped with photovoltaic systems and thus cover one hundred percent of their own energy requirements. In addition, all buildings were equipped with a functioning emergency power supply to ensure the energy supply and thus operational readiness in the event of an emergency, such as a blackout. Furthermore, the kitchens are air-conditioned and heated by a modern heat recovery system, which also incorporates a service water reservoir for harvesting rainwater. High-quality construction project
The construction project combined the four outdated kitchens in Austria’s largest barracks into one new regional kitchen. New kitchen equipment and modern catering management will increase quality and efficiency. A cooperation with Salzburger Agrar Marketing (SAM) will also increase the proportion of regional food. This means that small farms from Salzburg can also offer their products and the federal army with local food.
The planning contract was awarded in 2019 and the ground-breaking ceremony for the start of construction was held on June 14, 2021 by the Minister of Defense, Klaudia Tanner, and the Governor of Salzburg, Wilfried Haslauer. Following the completion of the construction project, the new buildings were handed over to the Salzburg Military Command for use in February. The total investment in planning and construction costs for the entire project amounted to 40 million euros. This also includes completely new kitchen facilities for canteen kitchens worth 1.8 million euros. Strengthening Salzburg as a business location
Minister of Defense Klaudia Tanner commented on the new kitchen: “With the completion of the regional kitchen in Salzburg, we are not only strengthening the garrison location, but also the economic factor in the region. In future, sustainable and high-quality catering for our soldiers will be ensured in particular through the purchase of regional and seasonal products – from the region for the region and for our armed forces.” https://militaeraktuell.at/klima-hacker-spionage-sind-die-groessten-sicherheitsrisiken/ “The implementation of this construction project has further expanded the infrastructure of the military base in Salzburg. This modern catering management system not only increases efficiency but also quality through a conscious commitment to even more regionality. This is of particular benefit to the troops in the individual Salzburg garrisons,” said Governor Wilfried Haslauer. Salzburg’s military commander, Brigadier Peter Schinnerl, said that the opening of the new kitchen infrastructure was an important step for the modernization of the Austrian Armed Forces in general. He also said that the new kitchen was the basis for providing the best possible care for the soldiers stationed in Salzburg.
