Every day, a team of cooks and waitstaff serves 13,500 meals at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Midshipmen gather for every meal in the historic King Hall, the dining hall in T-shaped Bancroft Hall — the largest single-building dormitory in the world. Staff at King Hall can prepare 2,000 pounds of shrimp, 3,000 hamburgers, or 2,500 pounds of chicken a day for the 4,400 midshipmen seated at the 392 tables in the dining hall.
Business Insider visited King Hall to see cooks prepare an estimated 500 pounds of sauerkraut and 7,500 wursts for their annual Oktoberfest dinner and celebrate the Navy’s 248th birthday by slicing a cake with a ceremonial sword.
