JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The Army and Air Force Exchange Service has opened the doors to a new multi-fast food restaurant – that includes a Burger King and a Popeye’s – to customers at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
The Burger King located in the new restaurant at Winfield Scott Road, across from the PXtra store, opened its drive-thru for customers April 22. That was followed by the opening of the dining area at the Burger King April 27 for to-go orders only, adhering to safety and social distancing guidelines because of COVID-19.
Eddie Devlin, South Texas Area Exchange general manager at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, said the restaurant is taking safety precautions for both the well-being of customers and employees.
He said employees and customers at the restaurant are wearing masks, with employees also wearing gloves per AAFES requirements for the food business.
Signing and decals at the restaurant have been put into place to make sure proper social distancing is being practiced and tables have been removed from the dining room to support the grab-and-go, or to go, setup for the time being.
For now, customers will not be able to fill up their beverages at the drink stations in the restaurant as employees only will be allowed to fill cups.
The opening of the Popeye’s portion of the multi-food restaurant has been delayed until after training for Popeye’s employees can be completed. Because of restrictions related to COVID-19, job trainers are not able to travel at this time.
Once the restaurant is opened to dining, it has the capacity to seat 245 customers.
The lobby and dining area of the Burger King is open for to-go orders from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Friday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Drive-thru hours are 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Devlin said customers will have an improved dining experience at the new multi-food restaurant because it is bigger than the Burger King and Popeye’s restaurants it replaced at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston and has new furniture and up-to-date equipment.
The new Burger King is one of four Burger King restaurants serving customers at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston and JBSA-Camp Bullis. Once it opens, the new Popeye’s will be the only one located at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.
The multi-fast food restaurant was constructed on the site of the former Popeye’s, which was demolished to make room for the new restaurant facility.
The Burger King housed in the new restaurant was originally located on the site of the new $54 million JBSA-Fort Sam Houston AAFES exchange shopping center, which is being constructed across from the current exchange center at Henry Allen and Winfield Scott roads.
The site of the former Burger King was demolished and will be utilized as a part of the parking lot and the loading area for the new exchange building.
Devlin said the new 210,000-square-foot exchange center is planned to open Nov. 1.