University of North Dakota

Week #5

This week I was able to spend time working with managers in the other departments. I started out working with Jackie and Molly in Squires. This is the only dining facility which is open all the time for the summer. It was fun to learn the art of forecasting, scheduling employees, ordering groceries, and managing the smooth execution of serving the meals. We set up the Whole Grain salad concept that I helped to construct last week to test how the students liked it. The people who tried it loved the recipes, but not too many of the customers were adventurous enough to try it. So we will probably do more with sampling the new whole grains to encourage people to try the recipes

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I also helped to test their new homemade pizza dough that they have been experimenting with. I think we finally perfected the pizza though, because I everyone agreed that it was delicious! After Squires I finished off my week by working with the catering staff. Now I haven't spent a lot of time with catering before, but it takes a much different perspective to be a successful caterer than someone running a dining center. It was fun though because I learned how they schedule and plan events and even met with a customer to help them decide what food to order for their event. I also helped at a simple reception of pastries and drinks. The food looked so good that I took a snapshot of the fresh pastries before the guests came and devoured them!