Storeroom: Day 11

I rode my bike to work this morning and now understand biking alongside traffic much sooner than I expected.  Bikers just stay in their lanes – it’s pretty simple.

My morning began with a review of CSU Procurement with Skyler, the Procurement Manager.  Skyler talked about contracts and the billing aspect of Foodservice which I had not considered previously in great detail.

When I buy a pair of tennis, I first consider comfort and weight (so I am considering the quality).  Then I consider where to purchase in terms of who will give me the best value for my money.  I have personally come to love Nike's Dual Fusion tennis because they work for me.  Whenever they break down or become worn out, I buy the same pair and same size.  My first purchase cost me about $108.  The second pair was approximately $100.  My third pair was approximately $90.  I was pretty devastated when I walked into a store on Sunday and saw the same tennis for $80!  I am certain the price reduction had to do with the fact that there are newer and probably more expensive tennis available.  I am so comfortable with this model I would not risk trying a different version.  So my point is, why would it be any different when purchasing food and equipment needed in foodservice?  Everything counts - time, transportation, quality and the services provided.

Speaking of tennis: The gym was pretty fun today, Chanae and I finally got to do one of my Caribbean Cardio workouts which I haven’t done since April!

Anyway, after my meeting with Skyler I attended a cappuccino sampling!  We sampled about 8 different flavours.  I normally don’t drink cappuccino and I really don’t intend to become addictive.  However my favorite flavour was the Original Mocha.  Of course there was Hot Cocoa and French Vanilla, but we also tried Almond Amaretto, Caramel Macchiato, Salted Caramel, Double Dutch Chocolate and English Toffee.  This was a pretty awesome experience.  After the sampling, I looked over the surveys with Skyler as he began to deliberate which flavour would be best for CSU Dining Halls.

I received some much needed encouragement today.  As mentioned in one of my earlier post, I’m currently deliberating my career path after graduation – as I should be.  I was reminded that at this age, even if I tried to figure out everything, typically, life could have another plan in store.  I think I’ve accepted the fact that I don’t know where I’m going to end up and there isn’t really anything wrong with that.  Actually, I think flexibility and having an open mind about the future is pretty healthy and realistic.

Tomorrow, I’ll be begin food safety and discuss my projects during this internship.  

University of Wyoming Week 2

Josh and I wrapped up Week 1 with several new experiences. We spent our second day in the catering kitchen with the executive chef. While I wish I could say we cooked some new and delicious foods, we did not. That will have to wait until early July. We did however explore the lay out of the kitchen and reviewed the various areas in the kitchen that require special attention to HAACP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). We learned that every successful kitchen is continuously aware of the cooking, storage, and traveling temperatures of foods being produced and delivered to the organization. Appropriately scheduled with our discussion of HAACP, the city health inspector, Mary Murrieta, walked us through a typical inspection of the facility. While the health inspector is often a position many institutions and organizations are weary of, we learned that it only proves beneficial to maintain a great relationship with them and keep all lines of communication open. The University of Wyoming has built that relationship with Mary. She explained to us that every business and operation has strengths and weaknesses. She made helpful suggestions to the managers on hand which were received graciously. We learned about the various techniques to be implemented in preventing pests such as mice from entering and sabotaging a food service operation as well as the very simple steps employees can take to ensure the longevity of a safe and clean work environment. Proper rotation of inventory, safety data sheets, critical control points, and flow of the kitchen operation were just a few of the topics discussed in our meeting.

A helpful reminder by the sink. Take the time.

One of the most important supplies in the kitchen: Gloves

After our inspection with Mary, we were given the opportunity to work in the campus garden with Amy, turning the soil to plant new vegetables. We planted a wide variety including carrots, lettuce, onions, cherry tomatoes, and green beans. The vegetables planted will be harvested to be eaten however the garden does not necessarily serve as a source of profit for the university. It serves rather as a learning tool for nutrition and agriculture majors and interns such as myself. At 7200ft elevation, the sun felt just a little hotter than my home in Pennsylvania at 39ft above sea level!

Life's a garden. Dig it.

Once the garden was leveled, seeds planted, and the irrigation hoses were in place, we moved inside to begin our training video project with Suzy, the training specialist. Video topics included customer service, personal hygiene (one of the leading determinants of food-born illness), and the absentee and time card policies. We took a more creative approach to these videos by incorporating various television and movie themes to engage the employee audience. Overall we had a blast!

As we entered week two we began to dive deep behind the scenes of what it really takes to ensure a smooth dining experience at all locations on campus. We met with Janet Wilson, Senior Buyer for Procurement, and discusses the bidding process involved when ordering new equipment. When a Request For Bid or Request For Proposal form goes out, it is favorable to seek three vendors at a minimum to bid. With more vendors to choose from, the university has a variety of options to consider and choose from. There is an in state preference for vendors, however selecting the most cost effective vendor for the equipment or service provided to meet or exceed the operation's needs is the ultimate goal

In my opinion the most interesting part of the day was meeting with Richard from maintenance. When I thought of food-service operations in the past, maintenance was not high on the list of key components. How wrong I was. The maintenance department of large operations such as a university is often thought to be a reactive force in repairing or maintaining equipment or machinery. For example, changing light bulbs. One can quickly realize over a two hour conversation with Richard, this assumption could not be further from the truth. The department at the University of Wyoming focuses on being proactive in their approach. Upon Richards arrival here, he has aimed his energy towards nipping problems in the bud before they escalate. Equipment used to run the food-service operation such as tilt kettles, ovens, fryers, freezers, and stoves doesn't last forever. Kitchen equipment and machinery often have very time-sensitive life cycles. One of the maintenance dept.'s main duties to stay on top of these and repair the little problems that arise, rather than wait for compressor to fail and lose thousands of dollars in product. Without maintenance the flow of operations would be drastically altered.

In the heart of the operation

Stay tuned for the rest of this week!

Chris

“Everything must be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.”

Another BIG day at the BIG 10 school! For those who don't know (because I certainly didn't, being a New Hampshirite), the "Big 10" actually refers to 12 universities in the United States, primarily in the Midwest,  whose athletics compete in the Division I conference...DISCLAIMER: if that is any way incorrect, attribute the error to my lack of aptitude for sports/sports lingo rather than lack of research.
As you know by now, I am fortunate enough to intern here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the 12 biggies, along with : University of Illinois, Indiana University (where my intern partner, Kyle attends!), University of Iowa, John Hopkins University, University of Maryland (woo, New England!), University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Perdue University. 

Personally, I feel grateful for my 12,500 undergrads at UNH. I cannot imagine the stress of 44,000. Parking is bad enough, and I certainly would not want to experience the chaos at the MUB Dunkin Donuts on your average New England winter morning with that many caffeine rabid youngsters on the loose. :) I am however, grateful to be at such a large school for the NACUFS internship. If I can survive these 8 weeks working in their Dining program,  I can survive anywhere. If I got anything out of this Big 10 school, its amazement at the complexity of a system that controls this amount of bodies. It can be done, and it is slowly starting to make sense.

Day 2: Tuesday

Monday we met the dining facilities and today we met their parents! The fabulous people of DCS (Dining Central Services) who keep the facilities running, breathing, and diapers on.  After breakfast at Carson's Gulley, Kyle and I made our way on Bus 80 across campus to Gordon's Hall where we spent the rest of the day working our way from office to office to meet with the first 6 of the "BIG 10" personnel. I have never met such an array of characters, and it was wonderful getting to know each individuals background and understand just a little bit about what role they play in the building. This is something which I have wondered at for some time now. I have been working in the UNH Dining Halls for three years, going on four, and I have never had the chance to really sit down face to face with the back of house and administrative staff to understand the treadmill that not only keeps me fed as a student but provides me the materials and ability to do my job as a student dining associate.

First on our list was Julie Luke, Associate Director of Dining

With a big smile and good morning, Julie welcomed us into her office, dispelling any fears that may have existed for us interns in hearing the heavy words: "associate director of..." Presenting us with a small organizational chart that she had prepared for our meeting, Julie did a great job acquainting us with the general overview of the enormous Department of University Housing which we would be calling home for the next 8 weeks.

On this sheet, the chart went over each administrative position in the department including the head director of university hosing to the 8 major administrative positions we would be visiting today. It was a useful tool for beginning to understand how the team was structured and how the organization worked together.

It seemed to me that Julie's role in the organization focuses mostly around developing greater system efficiency. She works to develop system models for the department, reorganizing and restructuring layers of operation in order to consolidate responsibilities while breaking down hierarchical structures for better resource management and customer service. As I took note of her daily responsibilities, I started remembering a lot of what I had learned in Management just a few years earlier. To my dismay, I found myself wishing I had paid more attention to these seemingly useless theories. Although at the time management theories, flowcharts, and organizational charts didn't seem as if they would ever play a role in any of my future career options, it became apparent that Julie's role is really about enduring and fervent progress towards improvement, and that is not something to be ignored. It takes an understanding of how these systems work not just on a micro levels but on a level broad enough to get the big picture.

Like an anthill who's exterior is nothing more than a lump of sand, food service systems seem to have almost effortless movement, but there are people like Julie whose efforts keep that treadmill moving. They do not allow anything to stay static for too long. Something can always be consolidated, efforts better communicated and coordinated, preparations set into action, and customers served more efficiently and with greater cost and profit outcomes. For example, under Julie's guidance the university has increased their non-residence purchases by 25% in reducing their item markups.She also works to increase opportunities for student's wishing to gain experience in management. She oversees student employment models including: the assistant student supervisor, head supervisors, and student run facilities like the Flamingo Run convenience store as well as the development of the conference service department which has increased in popularity and allows the University of Wisconsin to provide outreach to Wisconsin state residents.

I admire her work towards progress. On a personal level at least, her lesson to me is to never accept inactivity. Each day is an opportunity to grow more and more skilled at doing something, even if you have already carved out a way to do it.

Next on our journey we met with Jodi Bodnar, POS (point-of-service) manager.

Sitting in Jodi's office surrounded by a large model cashier register and endless mountains of paper, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I soon began to gain a deeper understanding of her invaluable role in UW-Dining. Jodi's journey to her current position began as a student worker and head supervisor right here as an undergraduate at UW-Madison. When I asked her about what type of formal training had prepared her for this position, she spoke solely of the opportunities for learning which she had gained working as a student employee in Housing. Jodi explained enthusiastically that she moved into this position simply because she had the desire to learn, the ability to observe, and a passion for helping others. I found her attitude incredibly REFRESHING. She told us a story from her days as a student in which she would wander from room to room taking mental inventory of each product in their supply and its location. She loved to be that go-to girl for other workers and managers in a time of need. With this self-directed enthusiasm for her job, she found that being that always HELPFUL type of worker really made her position in the establishment invaluable and almost irreplaceable.

If there was anything for certain, I knew that if my computer ever died, I'd be calling Jodi. She is an IT master and her role in the organization has helped them establish an IBM system of registers for all of their establishments through the contracted food service POS systems company Blackboard-Sequoia. Jodi oversees POS register activity, troubleshoots any issues with the system,  manages reporting and charging as well as updating of prices and menus on a daily basis. She also work to develop new programs on the system to suit the needs of the dining facility including building their own functions to suit the needs of POS register transactions and menu planning for the dining staff in the back of the house. It soon became clear to me that the interaction between cashier and customer is a far more complex process than most people can even imagine. It takes an enormous amount of planning, updating, and regulation of records to make sure the facility stays operational. Any slip in accuracy can be catastrophic for inventory, accounting purposes and controlling food costs.

Beyond her computer abilities, Jodi was a unique type of manager in that she really cared and advocated for her student employees. She explained to us how accuracy of transactions in an a-la carte system of food service can be difficult to maintain when student workers only receive basic training on the register. Students have to be incredibly attentive to which category/subcategory of food they are selecting and any mix-up can result in an incorrect charge. We discussed how accountability in a food service environment is incredibly important. If managers do not hold their students accountable to their training, we cannot blame the student for making mistakes. Jodi really supports system reform from the top down, and I agree with her. Excellence in management is essential to the life of a food service establishment.

Bursting with the enthusiasm and knowledge from our time with Julie and Jodi, Kyle and I wandered a door over to the office of Angie Erickson, Assistant Director of Purchasing.

The first striking information I received was that as an undergrad, Angie had herself majored in dietetics and had received her RD. I was thrilled to learn of yet another opportunity in Nutrition that does not involve clinical or medical nutrition therapy. While I am open to these opportunities, I like to know that there are careers in nutrition that involve teamwork and a chance to apply management and organizational skills acquired through a dietetics degree that do not involve working in a hospital. I like to have that kind of freedom and leeway in choosing a career path.


True to my belief that dietitians rule the world, Angie is the woman who makes the final call on where all of the food serving UW-Madison Housing/Dining comes from, interfacing and developing contracts with major food vendors such as US Foods, Belger, Martin Bros. and Reinhart. She develops monster packets of scoring systems to rate vendors based on their ability to meet established standards of operation at UW-Madison. For example, she evaluates whether or not they are available to deliver at specified times, packing specifications, and equipment furnishing requirements.

I of course, being a Slow Foodie and local/real food advocate was very interested in what role Angie played in moving Dining towards a more sustainable and local program. I told her about our efforts at UNH to integrate the Real Food Challenge into the dining program as well as the Slow Fish campaign. I will have a blog post later on to go over the information I gather on UW sustainable/local efforts once I've been here a few more weeks and have time to investigate. Angie said she may take up on a visit to the Apartment Complex on campus where, AMAZINGLY, a diverse community of gardeners produces approximately $380,000 worth of valuable food for families living in the community in their 581 community garden plots. Again, more on that later...

We later got a chance to meet with Carly Smith,  Purchasing Associate for UW Dining and invaluable
right hand lady to Angie.

Carly works alongside Angie to make sure that orders from the chefs and unit managers are received and sent out to vendors in a timely manner. Now only is Carly the timekeeper of this entire send-out process, but without her, it would be very difficult for Angie, the chefs, Denise, and everyone else to do their job. She handles paperwork and does the tedious work to make sure that all of the receivables match up with the original order, that short orders have been made aware to the chefs for proper adjustments to menus, and that special events are planned for ahead of time with a stock up of items. If the lights go out, Carly is to the rescue with an entire hardcopy book of every item in the dining hall which she can call or fax out to vendors manually.

We learned that Carly's work operates centrally, meaning that she does all of the ordering/direct contact with vendors and invoicing as one person. This avoids the confusion and chaos that would result if every unit manager had to make their own order. One order is placed, one PDF is sent to all vendors at the right time, and all is right with the world.

I was especially impressed with the electronic efficiency of the system. Every system in management operates and relies on  some kind of electronic system. It makes it far more efficient and everything can be done almost automatically. I am realizing that I might need some sort of IT experience when I get back to school!

With more of a feel for how Angie and Jodi worked together to get food into the establishment through purchasing and to get the food into the students through POS service, Kyle and I moved on to discuss Nutrition and Allergen information with Denise Bolduc, CBORD Manager and Registered Dietitian.

Denise and her lovely student assistant, Kate.

Denise's job entails a lot of work with the CBORD, a system which she uses to organize food and nutrition information via NetNutrition and Bartender (a labelling system for individual menu items). The first system helps her to input menu and nutrition information that she receives from the unit chefs in the dining halls and which students can access to read nutrition fact labels and allergen information on every item served in the dining halls.

Today we began working on our first project with the help of Denise and Unit Chef at Elizabeth Waters Dining Hall, Kevin Hoblit. We were trained on how to use the CBORD program to access Nutrition information on the database so that we could check items for potential allergens.

In the next few weeks, we will be helping Kevin to develop a menu for the newest addition to Liz Waters, a station that offers allergen-friendly options that excludes peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish and offers more gluten-free options in the dining hall.

I am incredibly grateful to the individuals who took time out of their busy schedules to offer us some insight into their responsibility and give us a picture of this complex organization. I am especially excited to continue work with Denise and Kevin on the menu project. This is really a great opportunity to freshen up my nutrition knowledge of allergens and wheat intolerance (aka Celiac's Disease), problems which are very important to consider not just in my academic life, but in any future career which involves serving food to a diverse group of customers.

Each day brings a new adventure at UConn! Rachael and I have been tirelessly learning new skills and information, as diverse as the best techniques for using brick pizza ovens, and how to feed a baby goat its first meal (more on that later). Our coordinator, Carol Cronin, keeps us busy!

On Friday, we had the pleasure of working with a seasoned chef, Bruce Haney, who showed us the ins and outs of preparing pizzas and cooking them using the (at first intimidating) brick pizza oven. Rachael and I had anticipated many cheese burns and failed pizzas would result. Luckily, Bruce's instruction kept us burn free, and our pizzas gradually became more edible. At McMahon Hall, there are always two pizza options. The basic option, margherita pizza, is served at lunch and dinner daily. The second option is always imaginative; in our time here, we have seen green bean pizza, bacon and chicken pizza, buffalo chicken pizza, and many more!

Bruce Haney and the pizza oven

Spreading pizza with garlic oil

On Monday, we went back to the Commissary to learn about Cold Production. UConn creates most of the pre-made sandwiches and salads in the giant refrigerator that is the CPK (Cold Production Kitchen). Rachael and I give many kudos to the employees who spend their mornings in the CPK, because it is COLD, very very cold. We learned the meaning and value of the word "layers". In the CPK, we learned who to use and operate the industrial meat slicer, with the help of Diane, a very dedicated Kitchen Assistant. We also learned how the meat is distributed to the various dining halls. During the afternoon, we worked with John Dumphy, who told us all about taking inventory. He managed to make the process of entering refrigerators to count meats and cheeses fun, a true feat.

John Dumphy and Rachael

On Monday, we also had the opportunity to speak with Chef Ron Swiller about the process of recipe development, triathlons, and aspic. These are three topics that rare coincide in the same conversation, although when talking to Ron it is impossible to not become curious about the numerous topics on which he is knowledgeable!

Ron Swiller and I

On Tuesday and Thursday, we worked at the campus restaurant Chuck and Augie's learning both front and back of the house skills. On Tuesday, we were greeted by Chef Tyler May who guided us in creating a daily special, the NACUFS salad. Our salad consisted of a bed of cooked kale, fried mushrooms (aka vegan bacon), shredded onions, cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, kale blooms, and shallot flowers. It was dressed with a mustard avocado vinaigrette. Although the salad took a little while to gain popularity, it eventually sold out! On Thursday, we learned about the history of the University and Chuck and Augie's with Roselyn Lamont. It was very interesting to hear about how Chuck and Augie's was designed and created. The huge success of Chuck and Augie's can be greatly attributed to Roselyn's hard work and perseverance. We spent the rest of the day on Thursday hostessing at Chuck and Augie's under the direction of student manager, Maleek. Another great couple of days at UConn!

NACUFS salad

Chuck and Augie's kitchen

6/9-10/2014 Montana State University

Happy Tuesday!

On Monday, I worked on my tomato project a little bit more and found out we will save $7,800 by switching to the new company!  I was very surprised!  I also continued to work on my part of the dining center remodel.  I never would have imagined how much work it is to remodel a dining center! I am working on planning out the bread bar.  This entails figuring out what bread products and condiments we need, how much of everything we need, whether the product needs to be kept hot, cold or room temperature, what to put the product in, and where it will go on the counter!  Uffda!  It involves so much visualization.  So far I have only determined what condiments we need. I have a meeting scheduled with the sanitarian tomorrow to get the down low on what temperature these products need to be held at.  Then I can move on and start planning out the placement of all of the products.  Until then, I will be starting planning out the deli part of the remodel! 

It is so cool to be able to think that the concepts I am planning out will affect the kitchen staff and the guests of the dining center for so many years!  We are really lucky to be a part of such a rare opportunity! 

This morning we had a procurement meeting with some of the dining center managers and chefs.  We talked about what samples have came in and when we will be testing them.  We have a busy week of sampling next week!  Today I have been working on getting things straightened out for the big tomato product switch, we called the representative of the company and asked about receiving a bill-back and about some of the other products they offer.  I have also been doing some nutrient and cost comparisons on two granola products. 



Last night, Carla, Sam and I went for a walk on the painted hills trail that is right by campus. It was a beautiful night and it is nice to get outside and enjoy the views after work.  We are planning on going to the farmers market tonight! 



Katie Olson

Week #1 Purdue University

Hi everybody, We are the summer 2014 NACUFS interns at Purdue University in Indiana! We had a very fun and educational first week! We come from all different universities: Lizzy is from Penn State, Kelly is from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Amanda  is from Viterbo University and Maggie is from the University of Houston. Our first week consisted of a lot of orientation and getting to know Purdue's campus. On Tuesday,we met with Willie and Krista who are from the diversity office and they wanted us to brainstorm different ways to advertise special holiday meals. We will be creating bulletin boards and contacting different media outlets to help promote the events. At 3:00 p.m. Mary Ann, our supervisor, held a small reception for us where we go to meet everyone we will be working with throughout the summer. On Wednesday we explored Chicago for a day where we visited an Italian store called Eataly and shopped around the city. Every Thursday from here on out we will be working the campus's Farmer's Market. There, we will be preparing and selling BBQ sandwiches and homemade slushies. On Friday, we met with Carrie, the nutritionist, and Michelle, the dietitian, to discuss nutrition education and ways to promote healthy eating throughout the school year. Our job is to come up with interactive games for each topic to get the students more involved.

Throughout the week we did many fun activities during our free time. We walked around campus and saw all of the monuments, explored the local mall, walked around downtown, visited the zoo, saw a movie at the local theatre, and relaxed after a very exhausting week.

Love your favorite interns,
Maggie, Amanda, Kelly & Lizzy

Interns in front of The Bean at Millennium Park in Chicago.

Here, we are standing under the Purdue archway.

This is all of the food that we prepared for this week's Farmer's Market.

Us at our welcome reception.

 

Storeroom: Day 10

My assignment for today was to visit the storeroom to gain an understanding of how food products are received, handled and dispatched to other units around the CSU campus.  I helped Jeb with receiving produce from Freshpoint into the cooler (which was about 33 degrees Fahrenheit).  I also assisted Jeb with checking the weekly inventory.  I thought I would have no problems checking inventory in the freezer after having lived in Minnesota for the past three years.  I was mistaken as I did not last a minute in the freezer, it was about -6 degrees.

I also got to drive with Phil in a 24-foot truck and was shown how to use a forklift.  This was way more difficult than I expected.  I then had a conversation that was definitely a reality check.  It was about food waste, supply and demand.  It was suggested that we are putting an enormous strain on the Earth, its plants and animals in order to feed our people.  However, we are still producing way more food than we need.  Food scarcity is a passion of mine and I now feel compelled to do much more to alleviate this problem.

I finally drove home from work today on my bike!  I was actually pretty nervous and honestly felt that I was about to get run over at least three times.  Thank goodness that everyone else around me knew how to drive. I am sure that I will get the hang of bike riding on the main street by the end of the week.

The book that I am reading, (Effective Speaking) is going really well.  One line that really stood out to me, written by Emerson was, "Fear defeats more people than any one thing in the world".  This is so true.  We all have ideas and dreams that we wish to pursue that could possibly make our lives and the lives of others so much better.  Unfortunately, we allow fear to stagnate us and we question our abilities.

Have a great week everyone :)!.