Autumn - Ohio State University

This weeks activities consisted of Menu Planning and Cafe Services. On Monday, I spent time with two of Ohio State's chefs, in order to fine-tune the details of my final project, which is to plan a dinner that will be served in a traditional campus dining facility. The chefs aided me in completing the menu that I am planning for the final project, and I was able to shadow one of the chefs on that day. During the shadowing experience, I sat in on a meeting between the chef and a student with allergy concerns. I also witnessed a sales meeting between the chef and two sales representatives.

On Tuesday, I experienced a more technical side of the foodservice system at Ohio State. I spent my day learning some of the functions of CBORD, foodservice software, and of the university's register systems, MICROS. Tuesday was a very technical day, and I was provided with a lot of information. However, I was able to use the time to use CBORD to look up the recipes and food products that would be needed for my final project.

For lunch on Monday and Tuesday, I was able to participate in a tasting of revamped menu items that will be served in one of Ohio State's dining halls in the Fall semester. The food was plentiful, as you can see below, and it was delicious!

Wednesday was the beginning of my cafe services experience. I also experienced cafe services on Thursday and Friday. During these three days, my time was spent shadowing the Cafe Operations Manager, her Assistant Manger, and her Service Coordinator. Each day, I followed one of these individuals on trips between three of Ohio State's five currently operating cafes and their main office. The tasks that I completed with cafe services included learning how to make espresso drinks for the first time and completing evaluations of the three cafe locations, in addition to learning the varying yet overlapping responsibilities of the individuals who I shadowed.

An exciting event that occurred during my stay with cafe services was that, on Thursday, the division of Ohio State's University Residences and Dining Services (URDS) that supplies the cafe's with sandwiches and salads was understaffed and was not able to produce the needed amount of food in time for delivery. As a solution, myself and other URDS staff put on aprons and hairnets, over our business casual attire, and helped get the sandwiches and salads out on time. This event illustrated just how much the various URDS divisions depend on each other. I really enjoyed my experience with cafe services; however, next week, I will be moving on.