The first stop of any foodservice is the food vendor. Most places use US Foods or Sysco but at Purdue, they have set up shop called Food Stores. They provide the majority of the food services for Purdue, with a few small expectations of fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, and a few odd items. Food Stores also process meats and deli items, get food service equipment, coordinate deliveries from off-campus suppliers, and negotiate vending contracts. The orders from the dining halls come in at least two days in advance and the Food Stores staff puts the order together on pallets, storing the pallets at the appropriate temperature. Then the truck drivers start early in the morning to deliver the food to the different dinning halls.
Then Amy and I were assigned to work at Ford Dining Hall. Here we helped put the food away in the storeroom. The food had to be labeled with the day’s date and rotated so the cooks would grab the older stuff first. For the day I helped in the storeroom, they had seven pallets come through. And that was just for a day during the summer. I was told that during the school year they have perhaps five times as many pallets come through to feed the students. Store keeping is a busy job.
Here's one of the pallets delivered:
Our other assignment at Ford was something that all foodservice establishments have no matter where it is. Dishes. Ford has a nice dishwasher that takes at least two people to manage, more during and after the meal times. There’s not much more to say, since as I’ve said, dishes are common everywhere.
That basically summarizes our first week at Purdue. Next week we continue with the basics as we enter the kitchen and work in the different stations.
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