The halfway point has passed, and I am now entering the final stretch of my internship! This also means that I am getting closer to the day of my final project theme dinner. And, now, I am realizing that there is a lot more that goes into feeding 550 people than I had previously expected.
On Monday, I worked on marketing for my dinner. The theme for the dinner is "Passport to Europe, " so the meal will feature different dishes from various European countries. My marketing work for the dinner included generating an idea for a poster to advertise the event and searching for decor and music that will be used to give the traditional dining hall, at which the dinner will be held, an atmosphere that is more appropriate for my theme.
Tuesday was also spent working on marketing, but this time I was focusing on marketing tasks for Ohio State. My job for the day was to search the web and generate ideas for a section on the University Residences and Dining Services website.
On Wednesday, I moved away from marketing and worked in the kitchen of Morrill Tower, which serves lunch for the Ohio State orientations. This means that I aided the kitchen staff as they plated hundreds of turkey croissants for the hungry visitors. After helping out with orientation meals, I helped to prepare the employee meal and did prep work for the next day. Before leaving the kitchen, I used the knowledge of the chef and the operations manager to aid me in my menu planning for the theme dinner. Their comments and critiques put me multiple steps closer to finalizing my menu!
Thursday was field trip day! Accompanied by my supervisor and an operations manager at an Ohio State dining establishment, I traveled to Ohio University. The demographics of the cities surrounding Ohio State and the Ohio University are markedly different, as are the dining services operations of the two universities. Our field trip included a complete tour of the currently operating dining services at Ohio University, including a tasting at the bakery and lunch at the union! One aspect of Ohio University's operations that stood out to me was the fact that it has its own warehouse of food products and dining supplies on-site. (I also noticed that there was much less of a rivalry between the two universities, which is nothing like the relationship between Michigan State and the University of Michigan.)
My week concluded, on Friday, with more menu planning, attending an administrative meeting for Morrill Tower dining services, and with inventory work at a campus dining operation. I had the most fun doing inventory work because I was able to put my organizational skills to work. I also know that I will need to use these skills and others during this last stretch of my internship because there is still much to be done for my theme dinner.
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