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| Words to live by |
In my last post I commented about the week flying by; well this week felt like it was over in the blink of an eye! Along with our scheduled meetings and activities, Tonya and I also did a lot of evening recipe testing in Mrs. E's as well as a bunch of non-work related activities.
Monday morning we met with the marketing team to learn a little more about their role in KUDS and the university as a whole. Claudia Larkin, the director of marketing, explained to us that the department operates in-house and is used only for KU related business. The team does a lot of work specifically to market the meal plans on campus. Much of the aim is to keep the spending of the KU community on campus instead of people going to chain stores to get their goods. They also design all of the informational ads that are put into the orientation materials to help incoming students choose which plan is the best for them.
We also met with Chad Beatty who designed the KUDS webpage. He recently completely remodeled the site to make it showcase the Union, which is what dining services is associated with, rather than the whole university. He asked us about our experiences with the website and we all had a mini brainstorming session about how to make the site even more user friendly. Tonya and I have also been working with marketing to get our promotional materials completed for all of our crazy projects- so far they've been working their magic and doing a fantastic job at capturing what we're going for.
We met with Kamay Plunkett who works with all of the Pulse KU branded coffee shops and helps coordinate between them and The Roasterie coffee suppliers. Our meeting place, the Burge Union, had lost air conditioning for a couple of days already; pairing this with the stretch of humid 90 degree weather made for a bit of an uncomfortable morning. Luckily, we weren't spending too much time there since we were going to be barista training at The Roasterie Cafe Headquarters in Kansas City!
The Roasterie is a locally owned and brewed coffee company that KU has partnered with to provide for of the KUDS locations. We went on a tour of the plant and learned some interesting things about coffee and the origins of the company. Danny O'Neil, the man behind it all, started the business with and has continued to use direct trade- this way the farmers pay isn't shared with middle men and the company has more communication with and information about the beans being grown to ensure the quality of the product.
The beans themselves actually originate inside a little red cherry, which is dried off and leaves behind a green seed. The Roasterie air-roasts their beans instead of drum roasting so that the beans are cooked more evenly and have a more homogeneous and consistent flavor. After this roasting, the green seed turns brown and takes the form of the brown coffee bean we are all familiar with. You might be wondering, how does a seed turn into a bean? Well, it doesn't. Coffee "beans' are still seeds, they've just been referred to as such for so long that changing it wouldn't make sense or might cause confusion.
After the tour we met with Simeon Bricker, quality controller and barista trainer of The Roasterie. Simeon recently competed and won first place in the U.S Latte Art Championship in Seattle, WA. Tonya and I were blessed with being his humble pupils for the day. He started out showing us the process of "cupping" the coffee to extract its real taste and aromas in order to evaluate and control the quality of each batch being roasted. Hot water is allowed to steep the coffee grounds for 3-5 minutes, then the tester puts his or her face up close to the cup and using rowing motions breaks the "crust" of grounds formed with a spoon which is then skimmed off and discarded. A small amount of coffee is taken into a spoon and slurped up quickly- this is supposed to aerate the liquid and give a truer taste (or something like that!). We sampled a couple different roasts before Simeon explained what they all were to us. I'm going to be honest here- they all pretty much tasted the same to me, especially since I am not that much of a black coffee lover!
Next came the actual barista training. We were brought into the newly created training room and showed us how to work this beast:
We learned how to pull a shot of espresso, foam milk for lattes and cappuccinos and also how to pour the foamed milk under the crema of the espresso to give that characteristic look.
Here's my first attempt at latte art:
The next day was spent with Kamay practicing our barista and smoothie making skills (thankfully we moved from the Burge into the Studio Pulse- much cooler!) We were given a written test and went through rigorous practicals and are now certified KU baristas.
On Thursday we met with Mindy Pendreigh, systems administrator and CBORD master. She showed us the ins and outs of the software including the Foodservice Management System (FMS) and inventory. This system is used to create useful data and helps with the analysis of all of the different things that need to be taken into account like cost of goods, wasted product, proportions of students using certain meal plans etc. It's important to put only relevant and correctly calculated information into the system in order to glean anything meaningful from it- this is referred to as the "garbage in- garbage out" principle.
We also met with Craig Josling, procurement officer. He is the conductor of all things purchasing within KUDS. As the chief communicator between dining services and prime vendors, he makes sure to work with them to obtain as many discounts and breaks as possible to save some money. Craig has to consider many different things when writing specs for equipment or product to ensure that what is purchased meets the needs and budget of the unit and department. Craig is also a judge for dog shows around the country on his free time and has the cutest dog as well!
Later that same day, Tonya and I were able to sit in on one of the monthly leadership meetings. This is a time where all of the members of the leadership team come together and catch each other up to speed or discuss any important matters. At this meeting, executive chef Janna Traver was also surprised with an employee of the month award; she was nominated and given plenty of kind words by her co-workers. Congrats Janna!
Last but not least for the week was our day with Cheryl Wiley, registered dietitian and nutrition coordinator of KUDS. She has many varied responsibilities such as training employees about sanitation and general safety around food, planning monthly nutrition topics, coordinating national nutrition month, and in-house sanitation inspections. This all seems like a lot to juggle, but after 40 years of practice, Cheryl seems to have it on lock.
The morning was spent looking over some of the different meals and events she coordinated and even won some awards for. The rest of the day we went spent poking and prodding at The Market and North College Cafe doing sanitation inspections. There are so many little things that we have to account for, from temping food at the different stations to dust on the tops and sides of various signage. Cheryl keeps everybody on their toes so that by the time state inspection rolls around, every location is in tip top shape.
As mentioned, after many of our workdays we also went to work in the kitchen at Mrs. E's and with the help of Travis, Mike and Simon we did more recipe testing! Here are some of the results:
Some of these recipes are still in the works, but we're off to a good start.
Midwest Adventures
For those who don't know, I am an avid swing dancer. If you don't know what that even is, watch this and be amazed!
Monday morning we met with the marketing team to learn a little more about their role in KUDS and the university as a whole. Claudia Larkin, the director of marketing, explained to us that the department operates in-house and is used only for KU related business. The team does a lot of work specifically to market the meal plans on campus. Much of the aim is to keep the spending of the KU community on campus instead of people going to chain stores to get their goods. They also design all of the informational ads that are put into the orientation materials to help incoming students choose which plan is the best for them.
We also met with Chad Beatty who designed the KUDS webpage. He recently completely remodeled the site to make it showcase the Union, which is what dining services is associated with, rather than the whole university. He asked us about our experiences with the website and we all had a mini brainstorming session about how to make the site even more user friendly. Tonya and I have also been working with marketing to get our promotional materials completed for all of our crazy projects- so far they've been working their magic and doing a fantastic job at capturing what we're going for.
We met with Kamay Plunkett who works with all of the Pulse KU branded coffee shops and helps coordinate between them and The Roasterie coffee suppliers. Our meeting place, the Burge Union, had lost air conditioning for a couple of days already; pairing this with the stretch of humid 90 degree weather made for a bit of an uncomfortable morning. Luckily, we weren't spending too much time there since we were going to be barista training at The Roasterie Cafe Headquarters in Kansas City!
The Roasterie is a locally owned and brewed coffee company that KU has partnered with to provide for of the KUDS locations. We went on a tour of the plant and learned some interesting things about coffee and the origins of the company. Danny O'Neil, the man behind it all, started the business with and has continued to use direct trade- this way the farmers pay isn't shared with middle men and the company has more communication with and information about the beans being grown to ensure the quality of the product. |
| A real airplane on top of the headquarters |
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| Burlap sacks full of coffee beans |
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| Coffee bean process |
After the tour we met with Simeon Bricker, quality controller and barista trainer of The Roasterie. Simeon recently competed and won first place in the U.S Latte Art Championship in Seattle, WA. Tonya and I were blessed with being his humble pupils for the day. He started out showing us the process of "cupping" the coffee to extract its real taste and aromas in order to evaluate and control the quality of each batch being roasted. Hot water is allowed to steep the coffee grounds for 3-5 minutes, then the tester puts his or her face up close to the cup and using rowing motions breaks the "crust" of grounds formed with a spoon which is then skimmed off and discarded. A small amount of coffee is taken into a spoon and slurped up quickly- this is supposed to aerate the liquid and give a truer taste (or something like that!). We sampled a couple different roasts before Simeon explained what they all were to us. I'm going to be honest here- they all pretty much tasted the same to me, especially since I am not that much of a black coffee lover!
Next came the actual barista training. We were brought into the newly created training room and showed us how to work this beast:We learned how to pull a shot of espresso, foam milk for lattes and cappuccinos and also how to pour the foamed milk under the crema of the espresso to give that characteristic look.
Here's my first attempt at latte art:
Oh oops, that was actually number one latte artist Simeon's example for us. Here is my real first attempt:
See? They're both so amazing that I got them confused. But really, I think I did a pretty good job for my first pour!
Before leaving, we made sure to get a group picture in the captains chair:
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| The Bean Crew! Thanks to The Roasterie for the royal treatment |
The next day was spent with Kamay practicing our barista and smoothie making skills (thankfully we moved from the Burge into the Studio Pulse- much cooler!) We were given a written test and went through rigorous practicals and are now certified KU baristas.
On Thursday we met with Mindy Pendreigh, systems administrator and CBORD master. She showed us the ins and outs of the software including the Foodservice Management System (FMS) and inventory. This system is used to create useful data and helps with the analysis of all of the different things that need to be taken into account like cost of goods, wasted product, proportions of students using certain meal plans etc. It's important to put only relevant and correctly calculated information into the system in order to glean anything meaningful from it- this is referred to as the "garbage in- garbage out" principle.
We also met with Craig Josling, procurement officer. He is the conductor of all things purchasing within KUDS. As the chief communicator between dining services and prime vendors, he makes sure to work with them to obtain as many discounts and breaks as possible to save some money. Craig has to consider many different things when writing specs for equipment or product to ensure that what is purchased meets the needs and budget of the unit and department. Craig is also a judge for dog shows around the country on his free time and has the cutest dog as well!
Later that same day, Tonya and I were able to sit in on one of the monthly leadership meetings. This is a time where all of the members of the leadership team come together and catch each other up to speed or discuss any important matters. At this meeting, executive chef Janna Traver was also surprised with an employee of the month award; she was nominated and given plenty of kind words by her co-workers. Congrats Janna!
Last but not least for the week was our day with Cheryl Wiley, registered dietitian and nutrition coordinator of KUDS. She has many varied responsibilities such as training employees about sanitation and general safety around food, planning monthly nutrition topics, coordinating national nutrition month, and in-house sanitation inspections. This all seems like a lot to juggle, but after 40 years of practice, Cheryl seems to have it on lock.
The morning was spent looking over some of the different meals and events she coordinated and even won some awards for. The rest of the day we went spent poking and prodding at The Market and North College Cafe doing sanitation inspections. There are so many little things that we have to account for, from temping food at the different stations to dust on the tops and sides of various signage. Cheryl keeps everybody on their toes so that by the time state inspection rolls around, every location is in tip top shape.
As mentioned, after many of our workdays we also went to work in the kitchen at Mrs. E's and with the help of Travis, Mike and Simon we did more recipe testing! Here are some of the results:
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| Roasted potatoes with lemon dressing |
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| It's just punch we swear! |
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| Grilled pineapple with a honey glaze |
Midwest Adventures
For those who don't know, I am an avid swing dancer. If you don't know what that even is, watch this and be amazed!
Anyway, I found out that KU has a swing dance club and dragged Tonya along with me to one of their meetings. She had never danced swing before, but was willing to socialize- little did she know that she was going to be swept onto the dance floor just seconds after entering the room. Everyone was really nice there and hopefully we'll be able to make their weekly meetings.
Tonya and I braved the Kansas interstate and made our first trek out to Kansas City. We went to a really cool outlet mall, Legends, and mostly window shopped.
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| First time at Cabelas |
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| We found a bunny on our way there! |
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| I also won my first chess match everrr! Of course, after being mercilessly defeated by Tonya the match before |
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