Week 1: Madison,

Day 3: Wednesday

Kyle and I wrapped up Day 3 with a handful of final visits with the staff of DCS. It was a big morning! We began our day with the lovely Joie Schoonover, a hardworking, goal-oriented (and goal-achieving), sincerely genuine and kind Director of Dining and Culinary Services here at UW-Madison. As a bright-eyed intern, I simply cannot speak enough about Joie. Our conversation with her was empowering as she explained her journey to where she is now. Her top 3 tips: Listen, Be Yourself, Work Hard! and true to her words, this is exactly how she made her way to the top. 

Joie's Engagement Plan Sheet

 

In her time as Director of Dining at UW-Madison, Joie has successfully overseen the construction and opening of the two largest dining facilities on campus (Four Lakes Market and Gordon), lead a major staff restructuring eliminating the excess layers to increase communication between departments and department heads, spearheading a purchasing overhaul that included adding in a cycle menu to increase forecasting accuracy and combined vendor contracts. We learned that it was Joie who moved the dining halls from the cafeteria, stainless steel era into its current marketplace, branded-concept setup.

I was of course humbled by her achievements, but only to a point of quiet adoration. One of the greatest aspects of Joie's character shines through in her management style and treatment of the people and organizations she interacts with.  She explained to us that her preferred style of management is one that emphasizes giving back and employee engagement. She developed an amazing plan she calls the 
Employee Engagement Model to increase the development of interpersonal relationships and employee satisfaction. The model is simple enough on paper, but I was taken by its well-thought out organization and progressive style. It starts with Interpersonal Relationships and links in Professional Development, Cooperation/Respect, Policy Fairness and Transparency, and Employee Recognition. As a manager, I hope to serve as an ambassador to Joie's attention to respect and teamwork. I truly believe that the most direct route to success not just in management or food-service, is the recognition of the diversity of talent and the power of employee engagement with their higher-ups. 

Another thing that I admire in Joie was her determination. She set goals, she strategized, and she achieved those goals. Her accomplishments began as enormous projects, but she never faltered in her vision. I know personally, I have began many projects only to doubt myself half-way through, or feel that progress was not being made, or the opposition was too strong, and I gave up. No more of that! Of course, not all ideas are good ideas, but with careful attention to detail and bit of self-confidence many things are possible and they can be the difference between average and great. 

 
Working through the rest of the office, Kyle and I finally met with the ladies whose smiles have greeted us each morning with an enthusiasm that seemed to over score my own perceptions of self-importance. The last-but not least Kris and Jenn, Central Office Functions Receptionists. As a receptionist in the mail room at UNH, I know how the responsibilities of these women serve as the life blood to the operation. A kitchen can have an army of talented chefs, but without the dishwasher, no one gets served! Kris and Jenn make sure no one goes hungry!They keep track of the sometimes overlooked aspects of a food-service operation. Changing prices as they filter through from purchasing, fronting phone calls from seriously confused parents , printing/labeling product, and of course, someone has to update the website and TV menu boards so that patrons know when, where and what they can access for food.

As we move into our food service rotations tomorrow, the information we received from Paula Storch, Cook/Chill and Bakery Unit Chef at Gordon Dining Center was certainly a great start to understanding how those jobs get done. Paula gave a walk through of the paperwork and scheduling that provides the food prep staff the materials, foresight and accuracy to get their job done. It is quite the process to get from menu to mouth. I still haven't sorted out all of the on-paper information yet, but Paula promises it will start to make more sense as we see the process of menu planning, ordering, and production in real time. Something that I found quite striking about her role was the amount of detail that goes into planning a menu. We discussed how sometimes determining a menu goes beyond simple numbers on a register. Sometimes Paula has to do a bit of mind-reading, guessing on the psychology of the students and customers on any given day; what they're going to prefer to eat that day, what season it is, the weather, etc. It was amazing to me the attention to detail required to be a chef. It's not just about creating something yummy to eat. I am excited to get more into this aspect of food service as the weeks go along. As a student dining associate at UNH, I know the ins and outs of making food, but I have always sort of taken advantage of the fact that the food I cook comes from a system of great complexity.

The recipe list we used to mark off allergens/gluten using CBORD

Finishing up lunch, Kyle and I headed over to Liz Waters to continue work on our allergen/gluten free menu which we have been building with Kevin Hoblit using the recipe nutrition database, CBORD. We made great headway today, finishing up recipe checking for allergen and gluten contents. It was a tedious process, but I feel that I have really benefited personally from scrutinizing ingredient labels. It has really sharpened my skills at recognizing gluten-containing ingredients (which can sometimes be hidden), and I know that reading these labels will be of great use to me when I take Food Science next semester. Something that really shocked the Slow Foodie in me was the amount of ingredients in items who's names would suggest simplicity. Nothing to turn you off from that chicken nugget in the dining hall than knowing it contains somewhere in the range of 20-30 ingredients, most of which I can't pronounce.

Searching for those pesky glutens!

Going above and beyond expectations (because we are awesome!), Kyle and I typed up a consolidated list of each recipe that Kevin could use to create his menu. We made a list of eliminations for those that we found contained treenuts, peanuts, or shellfish, a list of recipes that contained no allergens or gluten, and a list that contained gluten but could be modified in some way to make it gluten-free. (i.e removing the bun, substituting for gluten-free version). I know these are the kinds of things I will most certainly be tasked with as a dietitian, and even if that is not that path I venture down learning to pay attention, make recommendations, and produce accurate and clear reports for superiors is a necessary skill of any employment.

Another long day tomorrow, but I'm ready! The next few days, we will be working in the dishroom, and I have to admit I'm pretty excited! It will be a bit of brain break for me. I have been working in the dining halls for 3 years, and I have cross-trained on every station. I hope that I will learn new things, but also have a chance to shine and show off my work ethic.

That's it from this intern! Stay tuned.