University of Nevada - Reno | Week 2

I started last week off in UNR's main retail unit, The Overlook, and spent the majority of this week in the same unit. The overall concept in their retail units is familiar to me in that at UW- Madison all of our dining units within DCS are "retail." Here, retail means you pick out what you want to eat and pay for that amount of food as opposed to a dining hall where you would use "swipes," or the like. UNR has several retail units;

• The Overlook --> a marketplace concept including Chinese and sushi, sandwiches, taco salads/potato bar, tossed salads, a grill, and a coffee and smoothie station
• Elements --> Espresso beverages, salads, wraps, ciabatta sandwiches
• Bytes --> Coffee shop with grab-and-go items
• D-C Store --> convenience store with to-go sandwiches and pizza
• Pathways --> Espresso beverages and grab-and-go items
• Las Trojes Express --> Mexican food

Students, professors, staff members, and community members can access these units during their hours of operation and make purchases with cash, credit, foodbucks, their wolf-cards. Several of these units are owned by sub-contractors that run the individual unit including the popular Las Trojes which is operated by the owners of a local Mexican restaurant in downtown Reno. Likewise within The Overlook, Mandalay Bay is a subcontractor serving Chinese food as well as delicious sushi. All together these units bring in plenty of business for UNR's retail sector of it's dining program.

Grill Nation 

Mandalay Bay 

Outtakes - Grab-and-Go 

Starbucks/Freshens 

Well Bread 

The Overlook and Lake Manzanita

Opening in the fall of 2014 is a new retail location called The Works. I am particularly excited to see this unit open up because of its awesome design and it's two unique station concepts. First off The Works is a Steam-Punk Café. If you aren't familiar with what steam-punk is check out some of these pictures to get a better idea. The design of the unit is very intricate and creates an awesome atmosphere, they have even got ahold of some really cool uniforms for employees to wear. The two station concepts are Waffler and Forklift. Waffler will serve classic waffles to savory waffle sandwiches and everything in between. Forklift is a Chipotle style burrito bar. On Monday I got to go over to The Works with Chuck, the retail director, and Shawn the head chef at The Overlook, and create a smallwares order. A smallwares order includes things like knives, thermometers, pans, and much more. After coming up with a comprehensive list, I put together a document with everything on it including quantities and sizes.

Tuesday I began the day with the Silver and Blue Catering team. Along with special events, they hosted a brunch for about 65 people after the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Pennington Student Achievement Center. Guests were first at the construction site, which is essentially a hole in the ground, and were served coffee drinks, juice, and other light refreshments. They then walked up the main quad to the Honor Court, which is a lovely garden-y area. Beautiful tables were set up with amazing flower center pieces. The catering team set up a bar which included mimosas, coffee, juice, and soda as well as a brunch buffet. Everything looked delicious! I was glad I was able to tag along on such a creative event. Later that day I did an online allergen and celiac disease training, which was all review since we spend a fair amount of time on that material in the Dietetics curriculum. I also got to do some training on the Accounts Receivable and Inventory programs which was great because I am interested in learning the day to day management tasks that accompany running a foodservice.

The setup in the Honor Court 

The walk to the buffet line

Individual French Toast Sticks 

Flower Center Piece 

Red White and Blue Fruit Salad 

Wednesday I spent most of the day cashiering and working the Starbucks/Freshens station. In the afternoon I worked on making a comprehensive list of the YouFirst initiatives. The YouFirst program is a Chartwell's customer service initiative that involves several smaller programs to make customers and associates feel appreciated. The handout will be used as a reference guide for newly hired associates and managers when training for The Works.

Thursday I was assigned my special projects for the internship which I am very eager to get working on. My first smaller project is to sit down with the bakery chefs and devise a game plan to make the bakery and their products more allergen friendly. UNR has already gone to great lengths to make a lot of their menu items as allergen friendly as possible so the next step is to bring the concepts to the bakery. My bigger project, and the one that I am most excited about, is called Design Your Dine. Because the main dining hall is mostly self-serve, student have the opportunity to create dishes out of everything that is available to them, not just the standard menu items. It is my duty to come up with recipes for those students who lack the initiate or creativity to come up with these awesome ideas on their own. By using menu items, I will create healthy alternative dishes that students can make on their own. I am so excited about this because its the way I normally eat anyways and I love making recipes, trying new combinations, and creating things with food!

On Thursday I also created a ServSafe at a Glance packet to be used for training at The Works. New hires will be given serve safe booklets, but the guide serves as a quick reference for them and talking points for the managers and chefs that will be training them mid-July.

Friday was pretty laid back and I spent most of the day cashiering and talking with Chuck about brand compliance, promotions, marketing, and pricing. It's been a long week but I have learned a lot from my time with Retail. I am really looking forward to getting back with the team towards the end of July when they begin testing and training at The Works.