My first week here at the University of California-Berkeley was amazing!! Everyone is wicked nice and willing to help me with anything or answer any of my questions. My supervisor, Mike Laux, first gave me a tour of Berkeley and all the dining areas on and off campus. My first day involved meeting all the staff of Central Dining. After the introductions, I was immediately involved in many different meetings. I was able to observe and ask a few questions in a phone screening/interview for the open position of Assistant Director. After this I was able to sit in and observe a labor management meeting with one of the two campus unions, Q (I believe this is the union’s name). Along with this meeting, I attended my first CalSO – or Cal Student Orientation. This involved working with Patrice, the Customer and P.R. Manager. We greeted the new students, who were on their way to dinner, and offered them information on the dining.
The next few days involved learning the basics of how the UCal dining operations are run. The entire business is connected through their food management system called FoodPro. This is the system that holds and manages all the inventories, invoices, recipes, and food costs between each different residential dining and campus restaurant. I was able to see how the Production Run is done each week as well. This inventories all the items in each establishment and gets an overall cost of goods along with other information.
Along with learning the basics of Foodpro, I was also introduced to a new system known as LeanPath that is going to be installed into the computers by August. This will be installed within each campus dining area. The main goal of this program is to measure pre-consumer waste, or any scraps of food that cannot be served. These measurements will help to lessen the amount of waste produced in each dining area. I am completely amazed at the lengths that Cal-Berkeley’s food services go to in order to ensure the best meals and a completely organic certified salad bar in each establishment. The cost of organic food can be 2 to 3 times more expensive than the basic produce.
With learning all of these essentials to running such a great foodservice operation, I was also able to meet with the budget and variance report manager, Luther. He went over the multiple binders containing hundreds of excel spreadsheets involved in only one year of budgeting. I knew that a lot of work went into creating the budgets and maintaining them, but I had never known how extensive and detailed it was.
After this first exciting and informative week was over, I spent my first full weekend in San Francisco. Some people I had met from my floor and I explored Japan town (where we had AMAZING sushi) and then spent Sunday in the North Beach area for the Italian Festival. This involved lots of great vendor food and little tents offering jewelry, art, pictures, and clothing. I love it here already and am looking forward to what the rest of the summer holds!!
The next few days involved learning the basics of how the UCal dining operations are run. The entire business is connected through their food management system called FoodPro. This is the system that holds and manages all the inventories, invoices, recipes, and food costs between each different residential dining and campus restaurant. I was able to see how the Production Run is done each week as well. This inventories all the items in each establishment and gets an overall cost of goods along with other information.
Along with learning the basics of Foodpro, I was also introduced to a new system known as LeanPath that is going to be installed into the computers by August. This will be installed within each campus dining area. The main goal of this program is to measure pre-consumer waste, or any scraps of food that cannot be served. These measurements will help to lessen the amount of waste produced in each dining area. I am completely amazed at the lengths that Cal-Berkeley’s food services go to in order to ensure the best meals and a completely organic certified salad bar in each establishment. The cost of organic food can be 2 to 3 times more expensive than the basic produce.
With learning all of these essentials to running such a great foodservice operation, I was also able to meet with the budget and variance report manager, Luther. He went over the multiple binders containing hundreds of excel spreadsheets involved in only one year of budgeting. I knew that a lot of work went into creating the budgets and maintaining them, but I had never known how extensive and detailed it was.
After this first exciting and informative week was over, I spent my first full weekend in San Francisco. Some people I had met from my floor and I explored Japan town (where we had AMAZING sushi) and then spent Sunday in the North Beach area for the Italian Festival. This involved lots of great vendor food and little tents offering jewelry, art, pictures, and clothing. I love it here already and am looking forward to what the rest of the summer holds!!
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