June 22,2011 - Mizzou

Today we worked at one of the retail locations, J Cafe. It is located in the Journalism school, hence the "J." This little place gets a lot of business, especially during the school year. Sara and I worked together, here, making many different types of beverages. Personally not being a coffee drinker, (except during exams, maybe), I had to learn the basics - from latte, to cappuccino, and mocha espressos. We also made a selection of smoothies, but not nearly as many as Catalyst Cafe, which is another retail location but located across campus in the life sciences building. At the J Cafe, they are known for their cheesy flat bread that goes with their salads and soups. They mainly serve sandwiches, salads, and coffees/espresso or smoothies. They also have the soup and sandwich of the week. Working at the J Cafe is very much like working at Catalyst, except it is less busy (at least during the summer), the rushes are smaller, and the their coffee is better.

After we grabbed lunch we headed over to Plaza 900 which is one of the main buildings. In it is one of the biggest dining halls on campus as well as the campus dining services offices on the second floor. The meeting was with the operations and support staff. It was very interesting to see how they all interacted and worked together as one cohesive force. Previously we have met with each one of the staff members of the department to discuss their role in the campus dining setting. I really enjoyed the meeting, even though they are not meant to be very fun or anything. But, the department staff are really nice and it was great getting to know them. After the meeting there was a little farewell celebration for the Marketing member. He actually facilitated the meeting when they talked about the revisions of the CDS (campus dining services) goals. Even though it was my first time meeting him, I knew by the way he presented himself that he was a great addition to the department and was very good at what he does.

Tomorrow Sara and I are going to meetings in the morning. After that we have about 5 hours I think to work on our projects (mini-special event). As mentioned before, Sara's theme is mangoes, while mine is Medieval Times. We already recipe tested, so we have to write them out on the production worksheets to put them into CBORD. Which is very exciting - we are actually bringing a recipe into the database that they can implement into the dining hall menus. I am very exciting about my event - it is coming along nicely. I'm in the process of having the Raptor Rehabilitation Project come to do booth presentations at my mini-special. It would be great  to have them because it is kind of Medievalish with the wild birds. It is great that they have something like that available on campus - I believe it's through the vet school here. So far so good with that -Just can't wait for it all to come together!