Computrition and Weekend: (Day 7, 8 and 9)

Day 7

Happy Friday!



On my way to work.  Not sure if I'm going to get use the mountains.

I returned to Ram's Horn this morning to work with Pete on SnagIt.   It is an awesome version of print screening.  We used this to copy meal information (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for a week from Computrition into an Excel spreadsheet.  

Pete and I also went over the cost of over-production.  The cost of over-producing food in a given week could possibly be enough to cover my baby sister's high school tuition!  Over-producing is a problem many establishments encounter.  That is why it is so important to understand how to control and eliminate over-producing.  The next step that we will be looking at in terms of over-producing is the details and various factors that can affect over-production.  

Ben, Kelly and I also had a review of this week's training.  I would definitely say my first week went pretty well.  The staff members are amazing and are great at breaking down and connecting the concepts. 

A little blurry :(

I got my wheels and at no cost - thanks to Ben, Lori and CSU Residential Dining Services!  Now my trips to RiteAid will be 15 minutes instead of 30 minutes :D. 

Day 8

Chanae, Alex, Hailey (USDA Interns) and I went for "breakfast" at The Waffle House.  It was pretty decent.  I ate pecan waffles and hash browns with veggies and cheese.  My first time having hash browns prepared this way.  After breakfast we went to City Park where we hung out for a bit.

City Park

                                 

While at the park an ice-cream truck came around and the driver and I had a  brief conversation only to find out that he recently visited one of the Islands of the Bahamas.  He was recently in Exuma which is one of my most favorite Bahamian Islands and he is actually planning to move there to live.  I'm surprised that anyone would want to leave Colorado.  But then again, the Bahama Islands are really beautiful also.

I got cotton candy ice-cream :)

My ice-cream was pretty yummy.  One of the squirrels at the park got jealous, I'm pretty sure.  The squirrel literally chased me around the park and was ready to attack me for my ice cream. 

Hailey, Alex, Ashley

Oh, and about that Caribbean Restaurant,  I mixed up the opening times and missed them  :(.  Apparently they are only opened three days out of the week.  This is still on the agenda as a "must do".

Day 9

One of my goals for during this internship is to enhance my public speaking skills.  Today, I began reading Dale Carnegie's "Effective Speaking".  I am hopeful that this book will enhance my skills and along with lots of practice, will help me to become more comfortable at public speaking.

The USDA interns and I had plans to go back to City Park after breakfast but it started to rain so we just headed back to the dorms and hung out for the rest of the day. We played UNO and other card games that I were not too familiar with.

I'm ready to start my second week!

University of Nevada - Reno | Week 1

My name is Rosie Meyer and I am very excited to be interning this summer at UNR! I am originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin but have spent the last four years completing my Bachelors of Science Degree in Dietetics at the University of Wisconsin- Madison (GO BADGERS!). Throughout my time at UW- Madison I worked for Dining and Culinary Services in various units and have spent the last two years as a Student Supervisor. Through my work and my courses I discovered that I have an interest in school foodservice programs and knew that the NACUFS internship would be a great way for me to explore my interest and gain more management experience.

I arrived in Reno last Saturday (May 31st) with my mom, we flew from Milwaukee to Las Vegas, then Vegas to Reno. Surprisingly there are slot machines in the Las Vegas airport, that was interesting to see. When we arrived in Reno we were greeted by Russ Meyer, associate director for Housing Operations and Dining Services. I got a sign and everything! Ironically we are both R. Meyer, but that is besides the point.

We took a quick tour of places around Reno that I may be interested in, dropped my things off at my dorm, Argenta Hall, and then headed over to my mom's hotel downtown, Circus Circus. After napping and relaxing for a bit, my mom and I decided to check out the casino which was in the bottom part of the hotel. I have never been to a casino before and I did not know what I was getting myself into. The place went on and on, with restaurants, games, shows, you name it, I probably saw it! We ended up finding a sushi restaurant which we thought was a good idea, but it was also a combination mexican restaurant. Long story short, I don't feel the need to go back to a casino for a long time! The next day we spent exploring down town, looking at shops, and going to a farmers market. 

Monday was my first day of the internship. I spent the day touring the various facilities, meeting everyone, and learning about their company. Unlike UW- Madison, whose Dining and Culinary Services are self- run operation, UNR runs its food service through a contracted company called Compass Group. Compass Group includes many other well known contract companies like Bon Appetit, Wolfgang Puck Catering and many more. It serves a wide range of markets from education, to vending, to healthcare, and everything in between. A division of Compass Group, called Chartwells, runs UNR's foodservice program. Because where I had worked in the past was a self-op, I have been learning a lot about how differently a foodservice operates when it is under a contract company. On the outside, the dining halls look very similar, but the inner workings are very different. 

Tuesday through Thursday I spent working with the catering department, called Silver and Blue Catering. I got to know the operation by talking with Kyle, the director of catering, and Lori, the catering coordinator. We talked a lot about how they make a contract for an event, and what sort of detail they put into their events. I was surprised to find how much attention they pay to each of their clients, which I believe lends to their success on Campus. An ongoing contract that they have is with the National Judicial College located on campus where Judges from around the Nation, and globe, come to take classes on specific things. Each day they cater their meals for the judges that are in class that week. I got to work with Michael and Rod, who run the set up and service for the judges each day. Because I have worked in catering before I picked up a lot of things very quickly, but I did learn a lot about what Michael calls, "visual clues." Visual clues help you to remember what you have done and what you haven't done and give you an opportunity to succeed in busy or hectic times. I learned through my years of work in foodservice that it is easier to always train as if you are really busy so when the time comes you know what to do. Michael was very adamant about this concept. He also let me drive, and dock the delivery truck, TWICE! It was a miracle that nothing bad happened, so now I can officially say I can drive a delivery truck! 

I also got to work in the catering kitchen with Doug, the head chef, SonCha, and Sandra. We worked to prepare a dinner for the Board of Regents and then a tea party for Special Events. It was great to be in the kitchen since I love cooking! I learned about how Doug runs his kitchen and the steps he takes to prepare for an event, timing wise. I also got to take a look at inventory, and spent quite a while searching around the dry storage room for various items. 

Though I have worked in foodservice, I have never had the opportunity to see the billing process. Lori, the catering coordinator, showed me the ins and outs of what she does in the office. I learned how to make a contract, how to bill the proper people, how to make invoices, and many other things. Lori is very good with numbers, which I am not, so I had to concentrate pretty hard to keep up with her. But all in all I think I got a good foundation as to the inner workings of the finances behind catering. 

Friday I got to get my feet wet in the retail world. I worked briefly with Chuck to do an overview of what he does and took a quick tour of the Overlook Cafe, one of UNR's retail units. I worked with other employees learning their cash register system, which is way different than the one that I was used to making me extremely slow on the register. I also learned how they make their espresso drinks and their smoothies. I will be working more with Retail over the next couple weeks where I will  learn more about their operations. 

Overall it was a great week getting to know everyone and working with Silver and Blue Catering! 

The second week has been just as exciting as the last!

Since Taylor and I are both dietetics majors our director Carol Cronin sent up a meeting with UCONN's head dietician Amy Dunham. She welcomed us to her office for an informal Q&A session about her academic career, position at UCONN, and personal health. Pregnant with her third child, she was able to give us valuable insight about life as a full time working woman and a mom. Throughout Amy's career at UCONN, she has brought several programs to the campus that promote self acceptance of body image and healthy life styles. Both she and her team see students one-on-one to access any healthy concerns and help coordinate with dinning halls to accommodate for any intolerance students may have. 

For the last half of our day we traveled to what seems to be our home base, 

McMahon dinning hall, where we participated in assistant manager training. Joe Ferris, Area Manager of McMahon, explained his responsibilities. With such a large facility he has to proactively have his hands in every part of service, from employees and computer systems to scheduling. Being the Area Manager of McMahon is no simple task. Fortunately, Joe has a team of skilled assistant mangers, some of which have come from other dinning halls during the summer session, who help maintain the machine that is McMahon. One of those lovely gentlemen is Bruce Hessing, Assistant Manager at Gelfenbein.

                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                    Bruce Hessing

During our evening shift we walked between the five cooking stations; pizza, tandoori, grill, wok, and saute to check with each sections cooks. Since it was a slower evening, Bruce decided to take us on a surprise tour of the Kosher/ Halal kitchen. He explained how the 2003 renovations of Gelfenbein had included the addition of a Kosher kitchen. Funding for the kosher kitchen came from many benefactors across the state of Connecticut. The new kitchen was split into two sections with meat on one side and dairy on the other. 

To end our evening, we followed Randy Markes around, aka the keeper of the vacuum. Randy was very passionate about keep McMahon looking its best! No task is to big or small for him including taking a hand held vacuum around to clan vents or renegade gnats. UCONN has very dedicated employees!

On Thursday we had a surprise adventure to New Haven's local news station to watch one of UCONN's own, Rob Landolphi, host a gluten free cooking segment. It was both Taylor and my first time at a news station. To our surprise, we realized that most news rooms are one large area with segmented areas. In the mock kitchen area, Rob made a gluten free vanilla angle food cake with a mixed berry compote and set up a copy of his latest book with Cooking Light "The Gluten-Free Baking Book." It was a privilege to see a great chef in action. At UCONN, he works tirelessly to improve to quality of the universities gluten free, vegan, and healthy options. 

The longer I work at UCONN, I realize just how dedicated the employees are to improving the quality students meals. Whether it be through Kosher dinning halls, staff excellency, or gluten free options, UCONN truly cares about their students! 

Rachael Rounsley

Computrition: Day 6

I worked on post-meal counts and creating a produce order for Corbett Dining Hall. I also had the opportunity to reflect on my life after graduation.

I've been getting a lot of questions about my plans for after graduation and this is expected with only one more year left to complete (thank goodness).

In Minnesota, the question was generally, "What will you be doing after graduation?"  I found this quite easy to answer: Working (and hopefully grad school as well).  I understand that there are a lot of other educational opportunities out there and I intend to pursue those but frankly, I need to start generating consistent income.

Recently the question here at CSU has been "What do you want to do?".  This actually required me to do some thinking and reflecting before I answered.  I do still want to work and pursue grad school.  I also want to work with young people and guide them and assist them in achieving their goals.  My Mother has been so supportive of my dreams and I've encountered many wonderful mentors that have helped me to be where I am today.  I have no choice but to "pay it forward".  And I believe that I can do this through education.

I've always assumed that teaching has to be done in the traditional classroom setting.  At CSB I've been training students for two years and through this I have learned a lot about myself.  Education isn't just for those who are being educated or trained.  Teachers can also be the recipient of knowledge through teaching.  Through interaction with others we are all challenged in some way and this promotes personal growth - or at least it should.

All of this is to say that at some point in my working career, I want to pass on my knowledge and experience.

Anyway, I strayed a bit - back to NACUFS.

So after we were done working on the orders, I went into the hall to experiment with the nutrition kiosk.  The kiosk generates nutritional information for menu items from the Computrition database.  It was pretty cool to have that information easily accessible.

Tori and I worked on reports for a while and then I headed to lunch where I had a "Long John" for the first time (generally known as an eclair donut).  It was really, really good.

I went to the gym later with a few friends and met a new dance buddy :D :D.  It was so much fun - we got started on a choreography together.  I love to dance by the way, maybe more than I love chocolate.

Thanks for the welcome CSU!

Computrition: Day 5

Aris, a Computrition Specialist took me over to get my RamCard Employee I.D. today! I have officially concluded that this campus is filled with really awesome individuals.

#RamNation #BennieForever

As mentioned in my previous post, I started off this morning in the bakeshop.  I thought sitting at a computer was a challenge, imagine sitting at a computer near a bakery with cinnamon and sugary aromas lingering in the air.  Sigh, good stuff.  Now I understand and can appreciate what my nutrition professor meant when she said that she can gain a pound just by the smell of freshly baked bread. 

I had the opportunity to put my training to work today. I got hands on experience with preparing production sheets for the bakery with Aris.  The process made sense now because I was applying what I had learned.

I was truly amazed that the bakery actually has an entire section cornered off just for gluten-free production.  I got to try a gluten-free, white chocolate macadamia nut cookie which is my most favorite cookie after double fudge chocolate, of course.  Contrary to my previous views on gluten-free food, it tasted just as good as any other gluten free cookie I have ever had, maybe even better.

I support this.

                                             
Later in the afternoon I began to work with Peter at Ram's Horn, one of the dining centers.  We focused on menu production, meal forecasting and inventories.  I was introduced to a new vegetable today, jicama.  It looks pretty familiar to me.  If you know a different name for this vegetable, let me know please!  


If I haven't stated this before, I'm really enjoying the opportunity to be in this environment and talk to a wide variety of individuals in this industry.  

Random fact #1: Although Minnesota is known as "The Land of 10,000" lakes, apparently Wisconsin actually has more lakes.  Ben actually told me this yesterday or sometime earlier this week. 

Random fact #2: Colorado contains 75% of the land area of the U.S. with an altitude over 10,000 feet.

Montana State University- Day 5

6/3/2014

Day 5 as a NACUFS intern!

Today we had a meeting right away in the morning with some of the food service managers about the samples that we are getting in to test for possible inclusion in the menu for next school year.  It was really cool to learn about the process of getting a new product and replacing old.  After the meeting we got to work on some follow-ups that needed to be done regarding some samples.  I made a spread sheet comparing the difference between the pizza crusts that we are currently using and the pizza crusts that we are thinking about switching to, I also did cost comparisons on out tomato products and  on garden burgers.  I contacted some brokers about some products.  I also did some investigating of prices and compared the brand of salad dressing we are using to the brand that we might switch to and found a large price difference.  Then I contacted the broker and discussed these differences.

During lunch today we got to sample some recipes that chef Martin is testing for possible inclusion in the Food Truck that will be arriving at MSU this summer!  He made chipotle beef sandwiches and beef Verde sandwiches on white barrel bread, he also made jalapeño cheddar bread, guacamole, avocado salsa, Pico de Gallo, and some Asian coleslaw.  It all was very delicious!

After work I got to play golf at Bridger Creek with some of the guys that work for MSU.  It was a really fun round but we got rained on a little bit! I was glad to get out and play, I didn't know anyone in Bozeman that played golf so this was my first time playing since I got here!


Katie Olson

Computrition: Day 4

This is definitely a first for me!!  I never thought I had it in me to sit at a computer for an entire day.  It was definitely a struggle.  As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I began working on a computer based training program for Computrition at approximately 7:45am this morning.

 The first module made me chuckle as the first lesson was on 'how to use a computer mouse'.  I thought great, I can do this with my eyes closed.  Well I was in for a rude awakening as I got further into the training program I had a reality check.  Kelly, my supervisor for the day, warned me about what I would encounter with the program and she was right.  Kelly also advised me to take breaks or a stroll whenever I felt the need to.  By 8:40am I wanted to run!  Computrition was all that I expected and a whole lot more.  The information and details that I was exposed to in order to understand the program was simply amazing - and somewhat draining. I literally felt all my energy sucked from me as I sat at the computer screen.

 At SJU, we use the CBORD software for foodservice management.  As a nutrition major, I was always interested in developing the nutritional education aspect of our dining services and began conducting research on various programs.  My supervisor advised that a program like Computrition would require one person to monitor the program and I now understand why.  Computrition and similar programs monitor the inventory of every single item and the vendors they are purchased from.  Imagine having to take account of the baking powder used in bread, beef used for burritos and the amount of bananas that are wasted for every dining hall and retail store on a College Campus! Kelly and I talked about the advantages and disadvantages of working with Computrition versus CBORD.  Now that I am exposed to another food service management software, I have no favorite, but its more exciting and interesting to discuss these programs rather than searching for information on the programs on the internet.

 So besides learning how to use a mouse, I was totally excited about being exposed to menu production, nutrition analysis, forecasting and the financial aspects of maintaining a dining service.

 After work, I was so drained, I couldn’t wait to go running.  So I headed to the dining hall for dinner with plans to go running into town and buy myself a smoothie.  I never got the smoothie.  After eating dinner alone Saturday night, I vowed to myself that I would join any group of students/interns.  Tonight I met a group of interns who are working for the USDA and they had plans to go to the gym after dinner.  Mission accomplished.  I was so excited!  My plans for going into town were out the window and I headed to work-out at the gym instead.  Not a bad trade.  Surprisingly, I actually missed lifting weights. I’m sure Keith, my trainer from The Bahamas (McFit Gym) would be happy to know this.

 I even played – or attempted to play basketball and scored a point!  I believe I’ve scored about 6 points in my short lifetime so this is a big deal.

Today was a great learning day!!  I can’t wait to go to the Bakeshop and dining hall tomorrow to see Computrition in action.