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.

The University of Oklahoma Week 1

Arrival Weekend


Hi everyone! My name is Grace Bagshaw!  I'm from Indiana, and I attend Purdue University where I am double majoring in Dietetics and Nutrition, Fitness, and Health.  I love food and cooking so stop reading if you don't want to see numerous food pictures. ;)  Friday morning I started the long journey from Indiana to Oklahoma with my Mom!  We arrived in Norman on Saturday around noon.  We got my key to the apartment and moved all of my stuff into my room.  There was a bag of goodies and our fridge was stocked with beverages for our arrival, which was so sweet and welcoming! 



    

My apartment complex

  

Right as we were leaving to go to lunch, Lindsey and her Mom arrived to our apartment.  My Mom and I headed out to "The Diner", which was featured on the Food Network, we got their "championship chili" that was recommended.  Being the foodie that I am, this was an awesome start! 

Featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives.

Mom and I's meals                       The "Championship Chili"

After we ate lunch, we came back to the apartment and finished unpacking, made a Walmart run, and then took a long walk around the campus to get acquainted.  The campus is absolutely beautiful and reminds me so much of Purdue, which made me fell much more at home.  We hunted down the Kappa Kappa Gamma house and where I would be reporting on the first day. 

After our campus tour, we decided to go out to the restaurant Blu, where we had an awesome time sharing food and drinks!  The next day my Mom and I took another walk around campus and ventured into the Einstein's for breakfast.  Unfortunately, we then started to pack her up and after grabbing a quick lunch at WhichWich I had to take her to the airport.  As soon as I got back to my apartment, Lindsey and her family arrived and offered for me to spend the evening with them.  We took her Mom to the airport and then went to her sister and brother-in-law's house where they made us an amazing dinner and were so welcoming!  I felt so much better knowing that they would only be 40 minutes away the whole time we were here! 

Day 1

Today we arrived to the Walker Center at 8 AM.  We met our supervisor for our internship, Dot Flowers, and we also met some other staff members.  They all were extremely nice, and I am looking forward to working with them.  We received our projects for the internship, and also got our staff ID's, set up our meal plan, filled out paperwork, got our hats, shirts, and nametags, and also moved into our office right next to Dot's with our own computers! Woo!  Today has kind of been overwhelming trying to take in all the information.  We have been asking a lot of questions, and just trying to get the hang of everything.  We ate lunch at the cafeteria, and barely made it through before the Cheerleading Camp girls all came herding in. Here are some pictures of where our office is located for the summer:

These pictures do not even do justice for how huge this building is! We got off work early and then went to the gym and enjoyed the air conditioned.  Man it is hot here!  We made our first meal together in our apartment and enjoyed that while watching the Bachelorette!  Perfect chill night.



Our awesome tag team meal. :)

Day 2
Today began by going to get our Oklahoma Food Handlers Cards.  On our way we stopped at Einstein's Bagels for breakfast because our meal plan works there (I'm a happy girl to get my vanilla hazelnut coffee for free every morning :) ) After this, we worked in Xcetera, a convenience stored within Walker Center, where we helped them restock all of their shelves.  We worked at this for about 3 hours total!  We both actually really enjoyed it because we like to organize things, so it was a fun job!  We took our lunch break at the Laughing Tomato, which is OU Foodservice's own restaurant with tons of healthy options in their Union Food Court.  I got a chicken salad pita with celery and peanut butter, sorry no pic!  Lindsey and I plan on attempting to try everything on their menu by the time we are done, so we will see how that goes... Haha! After lunch, we stocked shelves for a little while longer and then began to work on our manager's scavenger hunt!  That evening we were treated to dinner by her sister and brother-in-law at Tarahumara.  It was an amazing Mexican restaurant where they keep bringing you fresh queso and chips every 5 minutes, free of charge, so I was obviously in love.  We went to the gym after and just hung out!

Day 3
Today we arrived at Crossroads restaurant for the day located in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.  We met with Gary Baker, who is the general manager for the restaurant.  Crossroads is a 24/7 restaurant, and the only one on campus.  They serve crazy combinations of foods from chicken and waffles, hotdogs, paninis, parfaits, and they also have a creamery.  We learned a lot about what Gary does as a general manager.  He taught us a lot of logistic items such as how to track all of their inventory, where their inventory is located, how to schedule all of their employees, how to track food and labor costs, how to train employees, how their rotation of employees works during the day, and also how to pick new menu items.  However, he also taught us a lot about his personal beliefs of what makes a good manager: making it a team feel, keeping morale high, and leading from the front.  It was very obvious how passionate Gary was about his job, and he kept Lindsey and I interested for the entire day that we were with him.  We asked a lot of questions, and talked a lot about the decisions he makes and how he chooses to make these decisions.  We had lunch again at the Laughing Tomato and today I got the Thai Chicken Supreme Flatbread, and man was it good :).  After work, Lindsey and I made some dinner and sat around and enjoyed the air conditioning.  It is so hot here!!!  Finally we worked up the energy to go workout and then went in the pool for the first time at night! Just a side note for humor purposes: On our way to the gym we threw our trash into the dumpster.  However, when we got to the gym I couldn't find my phone. Turns out that I threw it into the dumpster with all of our trash, and then had to jump into the dumpster and get it before climbing myself out.... Haha. Anyways, back to the good stuff.  Last night was so absolutely beautiful.  We both just floated in the water and looked up at the deep blue sky with the perfect crescent moon and stars!

Day 4
Today we worked on sorting through all of the projects we are in charge of completing and trying to come up with ideas for them.  The main project that we were working on was a recipe development and evaluation project.  After meeting with Gary yesterday, we decided that we wanted to develop a menu item for him for breakfast.  The University of Oklahoma food service department has a Fitter Menu program that they have developed.  Currently there are 3 restaurants within the food service department that have incorporated this program: The Flying Cow, The Laughing Tomato, and Crossroads.  In order for an item to belong to this menu, it must be under 500 calories, below 15 g of fat, and be low in sodium.  His breakfast menu has a lot of egg items that fall into this category, but no pancakes or French toast, so Lindsey and I spent the day searching for healthy French toast and pancake recipes, which alternately made us really hungry. Haha.  We ate lunch again at the Laughing Tomato and I tried their Jalapeno Chicken Wrap and Red Pepper and Gouda soup. Yum! After lunch we kept working on the recipe development and then went to the Housing and Food Service Carnival at the Union. We went with Nancy, who is awesome! Her office is right across from ours and we love her!  While we were there the wind picked up and literally uprooted an umbrella from a table and threw it so hard it broke... that was terrifying.  Lindsey and I pigged out on free soft pretzels and ice cream. Hah. Then we went upstairs to see the Ballroom where they hold all of their important events in the Union.  After work we spontaneously decided to go get pedicures together, haha.  This whole 8-5 workday is killing our feet ;).  The pedicure took forever so when we got back home we were starved and ended up making one of the recipes we liked while we were searching for a recipe development: Nutella Banana French Toast.  I know what you are thinking... But it actually is not that bad for you!! We used whole wheat French toast and didn't add any sugar or anything to our eggs.  It was really good. Then we went to the gym and swam a lot to try to burn off some of the calories we consumed today. Haha. Once we got home, it started to come up all over the news that there was going to be a huge storm so Lindsey and I proceded to freak out and download like every news station app so that we would be alerted if anything happened. We both enjoy storms where we are from, but here, the slightest wind or rain makes us think a tornado is coming. 

Day 5
Today we worked with the catering staff at the University of Oklahoma.  This staff included Ali, Charlotte, Nancy, and Dana.  Charlotte is in charge of events specifically for the President of the University and his wife, Mrs. Boren.  We headed out to their personal residence, which is about a 15 minute drive away from campus.  Mrs. Boren was hosting a lunch there for a group of 13 people.  We helped get all of the house set up for the event, and then we started by carrying around appetizers for the guests as they filed in.  They ended up having appetizers for around 2 hours, so when we finally got to the main course it was a shock at how quickly the pace picked up!  We were running around trying to refill glasses, and continue to set the plates up, take them out, bring them back, and finally get dessert and coffee out.  We did a lot of cleaning afterwards to make sure that we left everything better than we found out (we even took the trash with us).  Lindsey and I had a really great time working with this group of people!  It was a long day though... We didn't get back till 5 and had still not had lunch!  So after we got back we went to Couch, the dining court, to grab some dinner.  After work we were exhausted, so we sat around for awhile at our apartment and finally got up the energy to go to the gym!  We of course went to the pool and hottub after and made a new friend, Jack, who we invited to hang out with us the next day.

University of Wyoming Days 1 and 2

Sunday June 1, 2014 - Day 1

I have finally arrived at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. I spent a week before my arrival exploring sights unseen to a native Philadelphian. Days 1-4 of my time out west were spent hiking and camping in Moab, Utah. If you haven’t been there I suggest making arrangements now. I made it back to home-base at a college friend’s home in Denver, Colorado. No stone was left unturned as we explored the city on bikes, visiting Denver City Park, various eateries and unique craft breweries in the area. On the final day of my stay in Colorado, I was fortunate enough to go snowboarding for the first time. Arapahoe Basin is one of the only mountains still open in the Rockies, and we took full advantage of what snow was left. After a long physical day on the mountain, we freshened up and prepared to meet for dinner at Steuben’s in Denver with my NACUFS roommate, Josh Reyes. Josh will be a senior at Arizona State University, majoring in Food Industry Management, a unique gateway into the industry.

Josh and I arrived in Laramie to be greeted by our internship coordinator at UW, Mark Zieres. We received a warm welcome and moved into our housing immediately, followed by a tour around the town of Laramie. The town is unlike Philadelphia or its neighboring suburbs, to say the least. Having it been Sunday, most stores, shops and restaurants were closed, but I am excited to explore the scene with an open mind. The surrounding landscape is beautiful and like nothing I’ve had the opportunity to experience to date.

Monday June 2, 2014 - Day 2

Fresh Gear

               We started our day by finalizing paperwork for payroll and met with Roxi Knopp in human resources. The role of human resources is more involved than one would think. We learned about the various obstacles the organization must overcome when hiring, terminating, or letting employees go, and how they use these experiences to forecast for the future. This is especially important on a college campus, where employee schedules and lives are always growing with change and changing with growth.

               After a great discussion with Mrs. Knopp, we met some of the catering staff and moved on to meet with Amy Bey, RD. Our discussion with Amy included such topics as sustainability, purchasing, nutrient yields, vendors, and an introduction to the C-BORD database, a lifeline of the dining operation at the university. The C-BORD database allows the purchaser to easily analyze the amount of food needed versus what is available in-house. We then had a chance to tour the gardens we will be working in over the next few days. The garden, started by the Residence Hall Association, offers no substantial profit for food grown, however serves as a learning tool for students and interns such as myself.

University of Wyoming campus

               Our final task of the day took us for a walk around campus, where we were introduced to the many retail food locations, most of which are self-operated. Some locations included The Book and Bean, the convenience (C) store, a pizza eatery, and Elements sandwich shop. Later in the summer, Josh and I will have a chance to get hands-on experience at each location.

The Book and Bean

               While our day included no detailed objectives to complete, we were able to see the lay of the land and prepare for the challenges and excitement to come. We wrapped up a beautiful Laramie day by taking a short hike in Vedauwoo on the Turtle Rock trail. I’m excited for the rest of the week and I am confident the next will be even more fulfilling.

Turtle Rock Trail - Vedauwoo, Wyoming

Until next time,

Chris Ware

Colorado State University: Orientation (Day 3)

Since I arrived here in Colorado I had the opportunity to visit a few of the Dining Centers here at CSU but today I got the opportunity to visit the office of Housing and Dining Services for the first time.  I was introduced to Lori who gave me a tour of the campus and assisted me with becoming more familiarized with the area of Fort Collins.  

Lori's original plan was to show me around the city to help me with my bearings (and mainly to locate Walmart) but we soon found ourselves driving around the mountains.  This was so exciting. 

Side note: I got an awesome deal on a used iron for $5.00 from a thrift store for my uniform! I think it did a pretty decent job.

On the other hand, I am doing a really poor job of taking pictures around campus but below are a few awesome ones taken of the mountains surrounding the area.  I will definitely provide more photos in future blogs. Trust me when I say that my cell phone camera does not do the beautiful scenes justice.  My suggestion: visit Fort Collins, Colorado for yourself!! It is beautiful and refreshing despite my ears popping a few times while adjusting to the altitude.  This is definitely a "must visit again" spot.  I can't wait for the opportunity to hit the trails!

Pointing at Arthur's Rock
Reminds me of my Grandfather whose name is also Arthur by the way :) 

Horsetooth reservoir

Horsetooth reservoir features a rock/landmass that resembles a horse's tooth - hence the name.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get close enough to get a decent picture of the rock.  You can check it out here.  

I've been working for Saint John's University Dining Services for three years (going on four this fall!) and the differences between the two campuses are pretty interesting.  One of the obvious reasons is that CSU is home to about 25,000 compared to SJU's 2,000 (or 4,000 depending on how you look at it).  CSU's dining service works directly with the school's housing program and a few of the cafeterias are actually connected to the dorms.  I'm really looking forward to learning more about the processes and systems here.  

I realized that two things have been pretty consistent since my arrival on Saturday.

If you're lost, look for the mountains - that's the west.  I found this to be pretty funny because I had actually feared that I would have gotten lost yesterday as I explored Old Town.

Bikes are everything.  At least 75% of the persons I've met, asked me if I owned a bike.  I'm thinking that most of the streets here in Fort Collins have bike lanes.  

I'm so excited to participate in my first rotation tomorrow as I will be working with the Computrition program!  Computrition is a foodservice software program used to administer effective menu programs and reduce food waste, among other features.  I've been looking forward to testing this software for a while! 

I am sharing this blog post with many of my friends, family and mentors at CSB/SJU in Minnesota and in Nassau, Bahamas because I really want you all to take this journey with me.  I really appreciate you all taking the time to follow my daily blog.  Thanks for your continued support!

Montana State University- First week

Hello from Montana!

We just finished our first real day of projects! Last week we had orientation Wednesday through Friday so it is exciting to actually get started.  We have been in Bozeman for just over a week and have already had some great adventures. Since we got here we have:

1) Hiked triple tree trail: This is a beautiful trail that we thought was only 1.1 miles, it ended up being 5.5!  It was a great workout and there were beautiful views.

2) Visited Bozeman Beach: It was a really nice day, we all got burnt, Carla and I jumped in and the water was freezing!

3) Hiked the "M":  This was also a great hike, we got to watch the sunset and someone jump from the top with a parachute, which was really cool!

4) Visited Hyalite Canyon:  This is a reservoir up in the mountains just outside of Bozeman, we hiked around the reservoir and had lunch with a beautiful view!

5) Soaked in the Norris Hot Springs: this was very refreshing and relaxing! They served great food and the water felt great!

Last week we took tours of campus and the facilities, and learned about management, purchasing, internship expectations, softwares and everything in between!  Today we had some technical difficulties but we were able to get a bunch of little tasks done that will save us time in the next few days! The people I am working with and the other interns have been so awesome, I can't wait to spend the rest of my 8 weeks with them! Can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings!


For now,
Katie Olson

University of North Dakota

Week #2

I have a newfound respect for my professors in setting up courses in blackboard. I think we finally worked through all the kinks and the ServSafe course is ready to launch and teach the employees about this week! Our next big endeavor is the remodeling of one of the biggest dining facilities, Wilkerson. Everything has been cleared out and construction begins this next week. Now it is time for the next step, menu development. Putting together the new menu involves blueprints and lots of inputs from the experts who have been working there for years! This is what you can see below.

Aside from all the planning I have also begun to scratch the surface with how FoodPro works. It is kind of a complex system, but actually fun when I got the hang of it! The bakery is also undergoing a lot of changes. We are working on taking all of the trans-fat out of the bakery items. So the baker and executive chef are busy trying to find replacements for the food items we used to use. The recipe and taste testing began this week and I think it was definitely a success!