NACUFS Summer Internship - Yale Edition!

Week 5

Jurassic Park @ Peabody

4^th of July Weekend

My girlfriend, Lisa, came to visit for the 4^th of July weekend. With Hurricane Arthur’s arrival on the east coast, the 4^th of July in New Haven was pretty rainy so most of the weekend’s festivities were

pushed back a day.

Our weekend really started on Saturday morning when we went to visit the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. There was a large exhibit on dinosaurs and another focusing on evolution. It was a fun way for a couple of science nerds to spend the morning!

Does this remind anyone else
of "Pirates of the Caribbean"?

In the afternoon I covered for ESM’s manager Kristen Gill and oversaw

4th of July setup at ESM

the staff for dinner service. It was a relatively slow service so there wasn’t a whole lot required of me but it was still a good experience. Kristen let me look at some of the tools she uses as a manager, such as training sheets and a checklist of daily tasks. The shift was also a good opportunity to interact with staff one on one and gain an understanding of them as people outside of the workplace.

After work we met up with Andrew and his girlfriend, Alex, to (attempt to) watch the fireworks. Unfortunately we didn’t think of the best vantage point and weren’t able to see. But we sat on the New Haven Green downtown and talked for a while so it ended up being a pretty fun night.

On Sunday, Lisa and I ventured down to Lighthouse Point Beach. It was a bright, sunny day so the beach was pretty busy. We found a quite spot at one end of the beach to tan (or, in my cases, get a sunburn). It was a relaxing way to wrap up the long weekend!

THE Lighthouse @ Lighthouse Point Beach

 Day 20 (Monday)

Today we worked on a marketing project Veronica introduced to us last Friday. There is a list of the top colleges for foodservice in the United States released every year. Our task was to summarize the positives of each of these programs for comparison to Yale’s current initiatives and philosophies. We then used this information to help edit a document Yale will publish to market the highlights of Yale Dining. 

It was interesting so read about other college’s strengths. Apparently many campuses are joining the food truck craze and opening a food truck or two of their own. One campus had as many as seven! Yale was #10 on this list. There was a quote which started the description of Yale dining which read “Yale’s dining program couldn’t be more impressive if it tried” (http://www.thedailymeal.com/60-best-colleges-food-america-2013-slideshow). I think this quote should be taken with incredible regard. However, after being at Yale a little more than four weeks it is clear to be that it could be more impressive. And I know this because that is the attitude of all members of Yale Dining from the Executive Director all the way down. The creativity and vision with which the Yale Dining department operates is truly humbling. I expect more big things to come in the near future which will push Yale further toward the top of this list in coming years.

Day 21

Andrew and I were able to complete our two part marketing project yesterday so Veronica introduced us to a nutrition scavenger hunt project. The nutrition database Yale uses, Eatec, is still in its infancy and there are items in its inventory which do not have associated nutritional information. Andrew and I were asked to find the nutritional information for these items from the distributors’ website and then input the data into Eatec. For items which do not have information posted online we will have to go to the units and take the data right off the individual item’s nutritional labels.

So much more to consider than I ever would have imagined...

Before starting our new project we joined the directors and managers from the central dining as they attempted to choose new containers for the salad bars and hot lines. The CSC will be opening for the upcoming school year. One of the most important contributions of the CSC to the dining experience is that it will promote consistency. To go along with the consistency theme, Yale Dining has decided that all residential dining units should have the same containers in all units. Currently, some dining halls use silver containers, others use black. For Yale to provide students with the same dining experience in every setting there needs to be consistency. 

Rafi contemplating this serveware with other members of the central office

One of the major challenges to choosing the serving containers is that not all serveries are set up the same; each unit has different equipment, such as different depths of steamtables. The dining hall designs, as well as appearance, durability, and functionality all needed to be considered and debated before choosing the new containers.

Following the lengthy meeting, the team went back to the office to draw up some layouts and determine what to order for all of the units. I would never have guessed the process would have taken so long is I hadn’t witnessed it first-hand.

Day 22

We switched things up and spent today in the Jonathan Edwards (JE) residential college today, shadowing the managers Rashmi Nath and Sergio Gonzalez. We were able to have conversations for

JE's Spider

at least an hour with both managers at different points during the day. These conversations were very insightful. I found they were also particularly motivating!

Rashmi has been working as a manager at Yale since her internship 30 years ago! She shed light on her management style – keeping her employees accountable but making sure they understand they’re communicating at a human level. She minimizes the difference in power between herself and her employees to help earn their respect. This is not to say that there is any question as to who is in charge. If Rashmi makes a mistake she will own up to it. However, she also demands that her employees are responsible and accountable for their own actions, or

JE's Buttery

inactions, depending on what the case may be. 

We spoke with Sergio during lunch. He approached our conversation from a different perspective. He has been a manager at Yale for about two years. He graduated from college with a degree in Spanish Literature. He told us an excellent story, linking chess as a metaphor for life. He told us of how he was able to work his way up from the bottom in the food industry, staying persistent in his achievement to move up the ranks. He told us to be open to new opportunities and that not everything in life is

JE's Game Room

going to go according to plan, so just enjoy it! I felt motivated to go out into the world, find a new opportunity, and go for it after listening to Sergio talk. I really appreciate the time that both he and Rashmi took out of their days to speak with Andrew and I. 

Day 23

We were up bright and early this Thursday, heading to JE to shadow First Cook, Stu, and Second Cook, Dave. Not only were we able to ask the cooks some questions, but they even allowed us to help with some prep work.  Dave told us that he started at Yale as a dishwasher and worked his way up from there. I admire Dave’s passion for cooking and the work ethic he possesses to allow him to advance to the Second Cook’s position. My personal motivation for applying for the NACUFS internship came from coursework in an on-campus restaurant so I was very excited to work in the JE kitchen.

Seasoning Chicken in JE

We moved from the kitchen to the servery for lunch. We talked with other staff during that time and gained a different perspective on what it means to work at Yale. One of the staff members was telling us about the secret societies, which I find to be fascinating. Another staff member told us about the positives of working for Yale. She told us that Yale provides its employees with a number of benefits and opportunities for growth that I could not imagine would be provided elsewhere. The interesting part of her story was her obvious appreciation of Yale. When someone possesses a negative attitude on the floor it is obvious and stands out. It is rarer to gain insight from employees who appreciate their job because it is not as easy to see. It was a unique opportunity to hear someone preach their passion for their job and the institution for which they work. 

Day 24

Today marked the second day of the Uncommon Market. The farmer’s market was much more successful today from an operations standpoint. There are still some small tweaks to make for next week but we were able to serve customers much more quickly than last week. One of the largest improvements was the use of a checklist. Andrew and I filled out a checklist of produce for everyone in line with a large order. Each customer then gave the checklist to the cashiers, making the checkout process quicker. Despite this, we found it was even more effective to write up a grand total for each customer to speed the process up even further.

Our Improved Order Form for the Uncommon Market

Andrew and I decided to walk over to the newly opened SOM building for lunch after the farmer’s market. It was interesting to see the shelves fully stocked after seeing the empty counter. There were samples for some of the pastries at the counter (I may have had two or three ginger molasses cookies) and the iced coffee was probably the best I’ve ever had.

We were able to arrange a last minute meeting with Sergio this afternoon. He walked us through some of the challenges of being a manager this afternoon. Sergio’s unit is closed for the summer so he was at JE this week to cover for another manager. Since he was only here for a week, he didn’t want to change anything in the unit. One of his tips for success was to utilize existing assets. One of his staff was particularly effective at making sure everything was locked up before closing. Sergio understood this so he allowed this staff member to take care of this take and he could focus his efforts elsewhere; it was all about appraisal.

Our main purpose for meeting with Sergio was to better understand working within a budget. I have used many of the formulae he presented to Andrew and I but it was a helpful refresher, especially with real-world examples. What I liked best about Sergio’s talk, similar to our previous conversation, was that it applied to all settings. He didn’t limit our scope to the university setting. Outside of working on the budget, one of the things he said that will most stick with me is that you cannot manage from behind a desk. This makes sense to me because I would find it difficult to listen to someone tell me what to do as they sat in a chair but, after learning about the many responsibilities a manager has to complete within their offices, I see that this is a difficult objective to achieve.

There is one more thing I would like to mention before describing my exciting weekend. As I said, Sergio was only filling in for one week; this was not his unit. There was an employee who had mixed up their schedule and needed it to be fixed. However, this employee brought up the issue at the same time Andrew and I were sitting in the manager’s office. Instead of becoming flustered or putting off the issue, Sergio quickly resolved the issue and that was it. I appreciated his composure and understanding of the business. It is clear to me that there is a lot to be learned from Sergio, even if he has only been at Yale for 2 years.

The Weekend

Lisa and I bussed over to New York for the weekend! We stayed

This is... umm... I forget?...

in a hotel/hostel on the Upper Westside and Lisa expertly planned a packed trip. We purchased tickets for a package of four double decker bus tours which allowed us to jump on the bus and leaveas we pleased. This package also included a pass for 80 or so of the biggest attractions in the massive city. In two days we completed two of the 2 hour bus tours and visited Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, andthe Met; cycled around Central Park; saw the musical Chicago; and ate pizza at a relatively famous restaurant on Greenwich Village. I had a great time but I think I need a vacation to catch up on some sleep now that the trip is over! 

Lisa and I on the observation
deck @ The Empire State Building

Me @Madison Square Garden!

Before closing for the week I have to see how surreal it is that I have already been interning at Yale for five weeks! I was speaking with Camelia in the office this morning and I mentioned that my time at Yale was almost over. She had to think for a minute before she believed me. She said it felt like Andrew had been in the Dining office for two, maybe three, weeks at most. I am very grateful for the opportunity I have had so far and look forward to these next three weeks! I’m sure they will fly by.

Until next time…