NACUFS Summer Internship - Yale Edition

Week 2

Day 6

Aaaaand it’s already week 2! Today we moved into our summer office in Timothy Dwight College. It doesn't have the same luxuries as our kitchen office did, but it will do!

The New Office

In the morning Andew and I met with Gerry Remer, Director of Sustainability, and Betty Binkley, Sustainability and Sourcing Manager. We learned a little about the factors they must analyze when choosing distributors and purchasing foods. These factors include cost, quality, and sustainability. Within sustainability they make sure the products they buy are regional, environmentally friendly, fair, humane, and healthy. It takes a lot of work to fully account for all of these factors. Their aim is to purchase products from within 300 miles of the Yale campus. This is no easy feat in the northeast, especially because the cold winters are not produce-friendly. Approximately 40% of Yale’s current products are considered sustainable and that number has increased since the last time Betty ran the numbers. 40% is very impressive!

In the afternoon Andrew and I started working with the Eatec software for the first time. The project will likely take us a few days.

Day 7

Andrew and I spent most of Tuesday in our new office. We continued working with Eatec, standardizing the format of ingredients and product names. This is a small project that should only take a couple days but it will make reporting easier to do.

The highlight of my Tuesday was lunch. The Morse Dining Hall manager, Marie Pascale, sat with Andrew and I for at least half an hour. We learned all about her work history and different aspects of her job. She told us she also completed an internship at Yale, working in a Yale dining hall, and ended up earning a full time job here shortly thereafter. I really like Marie because of how she can be very friendly and personable while also being quite blunt at times. Rumour has it Andrew and I will be shadowing her for at least a few days in the coming weeks which is very exciting!

Day 8  

Today was a much busier day than yesterday. Ron DeSantis, Executive Director of Culinary Excellence and Certified Master Chef, held a training for the third cooks, pantry workers, and chef’s helpers. The morning half of the training focused on the current state of the food industry, trends, and hospitality/professionalism. Chef Ron is an excellent speaker and was very interactive with the employees. Part of the training session included the saying “Excellence in Hospitality” across the bottom. I find this to be a perfect motto for Yale Dining; everything I have experienced and heard so far has told me that Yale strives for excellence (and greater, if that’s possible…). 

One Secret Society's Headquarters

In the afternoon we met with the Executive Director, Rafi Taherian. I will admit I was pretty nervous going into this meeting. This was our first formal meeting but we had heard a lot of praise toward Rafi and how he always has high expectations (“Excellence in Hospitality, again, is a perfect motto). Rafi was very welcoming. He told Andrew and I some stories about Yale’s history and philosophies toward the dining experience at Yale. He also made some suggestions of places Andrew and I should visit to ensure we make the most of our experience. Some of his suggestions include The Yale University Art Gallery and possibly one of the secret society's headquarters. There were many take-away messages from this meeting but one that stood out to me was that he wants the experience to be “win win”. He wants Yale to benefit from the work that Andrew and I do while we are here but he also wants us to fully experience Yale dining; if there is anything we would like to gain experience in he said he’d try and make it happen. What more could we ask for!?

Samples from General Mills

The day did not end with our meeting. A representative from General Mills came into the office for some product tastings. There were yogurts, sweet potato and rice chips, and Larabars. Everything seemed to pass the taste test so I’ll have to keep an eye out for some of these products in the retail outlets in the coming weeks. The dessert-like Liberte yogurt seemed to be the overall favourite product around the office. I would have to agree!

Day 9

Chef Run at Culinary Insight Training

Thursday was another busy day. It started with the second day of Culinary Insight Training. The training included more technical elements than the first day. Ron spoke about safety, particularly knife safety; proper ways to cook different types of vegetables to maintain texture, flavour, colour, and overall quality; and different cooking techniques.  Chef Ron did a great job of relating the content of his presentation directly to the equipment used and dishes produced in Yale’s dining halls. I heard a couple of the pantry workers and cooks talking during the day and they said that there are times when training is conducted by a third party in conjunction with Chef Ron. Their complaint, essentially, was that the third party is unfamiliar with the day-to-day practices at Yale which makes the take-away messages difficult to implement. The Culinary Insight Training seemed like it would be more beneficial to the employees, overall, than many other trainings because it was easy for the employees to relate to. Having Chef Ron conduct the training was also important because he was able to collect feedback which satisfied the employees in attendance. Hopefully he will be able to implement some of these changes soon.

Chef Ron's Chicken Demo

From a technical perspective, my favourite part of day two of training was Chef’s demo of grilling chicken. He purposely overcooked some chicken and had everyone taste it and compare it to perfectly cooked chicken. For a simple chicken breast seasoned with only salt (because there was no pepper around) the taste was incredible. The chicken was juicy and tender. The difference was amazing. Hopefully I’ll be able to implement some of Chef’s tips next time I cook chicken. Apparently I've been overcooking it all along because my chicken never tastes like that!

Keith and Lynn following their
presentation to Gerry

Andrew and I went back to the office after training and just happened to be in the right place at the right time… twice! First, Gerry spotted us asked if we would like to listen to a presentation from representatives of a potential distributor. It was naive of me to think, but I went into the meeting anticipating much of the focus would be on price negotiations. However, prices were addressed only briefly during the meeting. One of the first questions Gerry asked was with regards to the suppliers’ employment policies and many of the other questions related to sustainability. You can tell Gerry seriously considers the sustainability factors she told us about on Monday (regional, environmentally friendly, fair, humane, and healthy) when considering a distributor. I was very impressed with the meeting!

I love this menu board
from the new Cafe in the
 School of Management

Next, Michael van Emmenes, Director of Business Intelligence and Optimization, approached us as we were speaking with Veronica and asked if we would like to see the new café and restaurant at the brand new School of Management building. The modern architecture of the building itself was incredible. The café had a clean look with lots of glass and lightly stained wood. While we were there Michael, Chef Ron, and Adam Millman (Director of Auxillary Operations) were discussing the placement of product on the display shelf. It was interesting to listen to their debates regarding product placement to optimize visual appeal and, ultimately, sales.

Day 10

Friday was highlighted by two meetings. The first was with Michael van Emmenes. Michael started with Yale Dining in March. It was informative to get his perspective because, in some ways, he is still defining his role, similar to myself. He sat with Andrew and I for over an hour, discussing different day to day tasks that he has and encouraging us to ask as many questions as we could think of. What I remember most about this meeting (now that a few days have past) is discussing all of the strengths of Yale Dining including how passionate all of the directors are and how their passion for excellence is translated through the department.

School of Management building - the new Cafe is in the
bottom left-hand corner of this picture

Next we spoke with Howard Bobb, the Director of Business Administration and Finance. Howard has an interesting back story because he came to Yale from Stanford with Rafi. I don’t think he’s used to the New Haven winters yet, though… Most of our meeting with Howard consisted of stories about Yale. During a snow storm a couple of years ago the students were snowed in and not all of the managers could make it in to the dining halls. Howard said he stepped in and managed one of the dining halls. Even Rafi helped in the kitchen by making pancakes for the students. This is just one story that exemplifies how dedicated the directors of Yale Dining are to providing outstanding experiences to the Yale student body every day.

On a personal note, I found I was much more relaxed during these last two meetings. Yale Dining is multi-dimensional, with many different facets of dining constantly changing and improving. I think I have finally grasped the majority of the projects underway at Yale and am familiar with many of the dining halls and retail outlets. Now that I have met with most of the directors in the office it is quite apparent that “Excellence in Hospitality” is not a hollow motto; by listening to each director speak it is clear that there is a team of passionate individuals in Yale Dining, working to be leaders in foodservice. Now that I have a better understanding of what Yale Dining stands for I feel even luckier to have this opportunity and truly hope I will be able to positively contribute to the Yale dining experience before this opportunity comes to an end.

The Weekend

I followed Rafi’s advice on Saturday and went to The Yale University Art Gallery. I am in no way, shape, or form an art enthusiast… but this museum is incredible! It took me over three hours to walk through the gallery and I'm pretty sure I missed a couple of sections. The gallery hosts art from every era and from all over the world. I saw shields and mosaics from ancient Greece, paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance, and post-modern art that I couldn’t describe in words. These pieces included an original Picasso and Warhol. And all for free! I’m very glad I went.

Giant Steps Trail leading to the Summit at East Rock Park

Sunday was fairly uneventful but I did take the time to go back to East Rock Park to take some pictures. I love the view from the summit. I’ll probably be back more than once before the end of this internship.

Sorry for the long-winded entry this week. Everything here is fascinating and I want to share it all! Until next time…

Oh, Hey! (New Haven from the summit)