Less Than Two Weeks To Go!

Hard to believe it but there are less than two weeks remaining in our internship here at UGA. This past week was another busy one for Kelvin and I. We spent a lot of our time early in the week working on our customers service training initiative project. The initiative is going to be called G.R.E.A.T. which stands for Greetings, Responsibilities, Education, Above & Beyond and Teamwork. We have discussed in detail how each of these five key words or phrases can relate to customer service from the standpoint of both the staff and the guests. We will be putting together a slideshow, which will be used online for student training as well as posters and explanations to hand out and hang up around campus. We hope to have a positive impact on the level of customer service in UGA Food Services with our initiative.

The latter part of the week Kelvin had some days off and I went on my last two management shadows. First I shadowed Mr. Wayne Fair the Unit Manager of Bolton Dining Commons. We spent the morning and afternoon discussing where new concepts derive from and how to prepare to implement them. We took an in depth look at UGA's themed dinners and how they choose themes and how the menus and decor are established for each one. UGA's themed meals are a pride point for their food services as many of these meals have won NACUFS Loyal E. Horton awards for excellence. The key contributors to many of the meals are the student workers who design and create many of the intricate decorations that make the themes come to life. We also discussed how to lead a very large, very diverse team of people day in and day out and what the keys are to showing appreciation to each and every one of them.

Finally I shadowed Gregg, a cafeteria manager at Snelling Commons. We ran a mock health inspection of Snelling and found some areas for their improvement. We discussed resume and interview tips together as well as thoughts on career advancement. Along with Unit Manager Chef Bryan Varin about the ideas of "tray-less" dining and how while it can be more sustainable in terms of water usage reduction and reduced chemical usage, it takes away a lot of good customers service. This is because customers without trays have a harder time carrying for instance just one simple entree, salad and beverage. Especially if they are already carrying backpacks and books when they arrive at the commons. This can cause guests to become unhappy, drop more items and can also cause log jams when customers have to continue to come back to the same lines over and over again. Customer service is key! Let's keep the customers happy and keep using those trays people!

So this is it the final week and half is upon us... This week we will finish our customer service initiative and make final preparations for our Hawaiian banquet! Wish us luck!