July 6, 2011 - Mizzou

Hi!

Today Sara and I were assigned A.M. Supervision at Rollins and Plaza 900 respectively. I shadowed one of the assistant managers at first and then the assistant manager/sous chef later in the evening. I learned many of management's responsibilities and watched how they handled the daily problems. One of the major complications they had to face was tardy or no-show staff. They discussed the proper discipline procedures to follow up on such behavior. On the other hand, I was able to sit in on an interview for a food service worker 1 position. The interview was very interesting and I was able to experience the difficulties the managers have to work through, such as language barriers. It was very inspiring how management was able to deal with all the problems of the kitchen and work on their other current projects at the same time. It felt like someone was constantly running into the office to ask a question to a different problem every other minute - but watching the staff work together through these problems was inspirational.

July 5, 2011 - Mizzou

Today Sara and I met with Julaine, who is the Campus Dining Services Director. During our meeting she discussed the different roles of being an RD in a college setting. It was definitely interesting to see how many opportunities there are in a college setting that most people don't even think of.

Later we worked on our mini and major special events. Sara and I are almost done planning our mini-special events. We completed the well-diagrams and placed where our dishes would be placed. We also completed the preparation chart, which assigned different tasks to the staff to prep for our dishes. As for our major event, we are creating a "World Tour" theme. In planning this, students will travel to all the dining halls, in which each one will be a different country with a different cuisine. It's going to be a lot of work and we have such little time. But I am excited to start working on it because it is going to be a great event that CDS can implement in the future.

June 30 and July 1, 2011 - Mizzou

June 30th we worked at Wheatstone Bistro, Starbucks, and the Bookmark Cafe. Wheatstone Bistro is kind of like a combination of Panera and Subway. The bookmark cafe is located right inside of the library and they sell a variety of coffees/lattes/espressos. It was great to take a look at these retail locations because they serve a different crowd than the student center. Even though Starbucks is contracted, it is Student Union run. We were unable to officially work behind the counter for Starbucks because you have to go through their training program.

July 1st Sara worked at Rollins and I worked at Plaza for AM salads. We worked the salad bar and the dessert bar. We basically had to make sure the bars were restocked at all times and prepare the breakfast cart for the next day. We had to prepare foods such as the special salad of the day, whipped toppings, and pastries(that were either frozen or from a premade batter).

June 29, 2011 - Mizzou

Today we worked at the Student Centers again. It was great learning how the retail stores operated differently from the residential dining halls.

 The counters of each location are either made of granite or quartz. This counter is from Kate and Emma's and is made of granite.

 Even though Sunshine Sushi is run through a contract, they are one of the most popular locations and makes sushi made with real fish.

 All the hood fans were carefully crafted from the graphic designer - Casey.

 This machine is located in Infusion - which sells pastries, coffee, ice cream, and other shakes/drinks. They have their own coffee bean roaster.

 This machine removes the rocks from the coffee beans. It uses air to push the coffee beans through, and the rocks do not get pushed up in the air because they are too heavy.

 This is the donut machine in Infusion. they make their own donuts. To control portion size and pricing - they make the donuts smaller, that way you get the same great taste but at a smaller amount.

 They freshly squeeze their own orange juice. This way you know that you are getting the best quality fresh juice.

June 28, 2011 - Mizzou

This morning, we took a field trip to the meat lab. Here we were taught how the animals were slaughtered, stored, cooked, and sold. I did not take any pictures of the carcasses for those that have an easy stomach. But it was my first time at a meat lab and it was a great experience. 

 There were many attachments hanging from the ceiling used to slice/butcher the animals.

 This is the picture of the kill floor. The blood is collected in a pan when the animal is drained and stored in the cooler for proper removal. None of the blood or animal actually touches the floor. A certified USDA inspector must be present at all times during the killing process.Pigs and Cows go through different killing processes, and pigs take about 15 minutes, while cows take longer.

 This machine is used to remove the hair off of the pig after it is drained and killed. It is filled with 140F water and the machine turns to remove the hair. After this, the pig is flamed to remove anything excess on the skin.

 This is where the pigs would be slaughtered. It is first stunned unconscious (picture below) and then sliced at the jugular before being hung by the Achilles tendon.

After being slaughtered, inspected, and sliced, the pigs are then smoked in this smoker. This room smelled like roasted bbq pork. The pork and beef are then sold at the front of the meat lab at their store. They sell to the public but not for resale. 

Later, Sara and I both worked at the Student Center. It was newly renovated four years ago and the University owns all the retail stores located inside it, except Sunshine Sushi which is contracted. We spoke with the manager for a while, who then showed us around to the different locations and the unique machines used at each place. 

 This is one of the retail locations that sells different types of pizzas and pastas. All their pastas are whole grain and they have a special pizza every day.

Their pizza is kept heated by an above heat lamp and a glass heater underneath them.

They cook all their pizzas in this oven. Their are flames on both sides that control the temperature of the air in the oven. The bottom of the oven - which is kind of like a flat grill heats up as well to cook the bottom of the crust.

 What is great about this retail location is that not only do they only use whole grain pasta, they customize your order as well - and will put any type of vegetable you order in it, with the variety of different sauces available.

 This is the rotisserie grill used to cook the meats sold at Domundo's- which is one of the other retail locations in the student center and stands for BBQ of the World.

This retail location is called Kate and Emma's - named after the manager's daughters. They sell a variety of wraps, sandwiches, salads, and soups.

June 27, 2011 - Mizzou

Hi again,

Today started out working on our mini-special events. They are coming along very nicely. I recipe tested 'green pancakes' today. They are a spinach pancake that I found in this medieval book in the library. After tweaking the recipe a little, they came out great! I forgot to take a picture of them - but they will be at my event, so you'll see what they look like then.

Later in the day we went to Bradford Farms Research Extension. On this farm, they conduct research and contribute to community projects. The farm works with CDS by collecting the food wastes (plate waste) from the dining halls and combines it with animal by-products to create a composting mixture. They also collect the fryer oils as well. The compost is then used to grow their crops, which then can go back to the serving lines in the dining halls.

They also grow many varieties of tomato and peppers on the farm. The farm is over 800 acres and about 60% is used for research. They test many different varieties of crops with different genetic alterations to find the best product.

They have a green house that faces south and these black barrels full of water heat up - to heat the green house. The heat keeps the plants warm and healthy during the winter. There is no electricity involved to heat this green house, especially during the winter.

They have a biofuel garden on the farm as well. They grow a variety of plants in this garden to test the biofuel ability. It is great to learn all the different sustainability practices the university is implementing and investing in research.

These are basically giant 'umbrellas'. They are drought fields - that control the amount of water on the field. Here they have only soybeans and corn. Right now the two structures on in the rest position, but when it starts to rain, the doors will open up and move over the crops. After 30 minutes after the rain, the structures will move back to the resting position.

This was definitely a great experience and I was glad that I was able to see the country side of Missouri.

June 26, 2011 - Mizzou

Today we worked at the convenience store again at Hitt Street Market doing inventory. Inventory is counted here only twice a year. While the dining halls collect inventory once a week. During inventory, we counted every single item. For example, if there were 284 piece of taffy, we counted every single piece. The store was broken up into different sections and each staff member was assigned to a specific section in the store. I'm glad that they don't have to count inventory once a week, like the dining halls, because they have a lot of product to count.

Yesterday we went to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play at the Busch Stadium. It was my first professional sports/baseball game I've ever gone to! It was so much fun and I would definitely go again, even though they did not win. We were able to get discounted tickets and go with a group because it was Mizzou day. While we were in St. Louis we were able to walk around for a while and see the arch - which was cool! Below is a picture from the game. Megan is on the left, she is interning for Res Life at Mizzou (and also lives with Sara and me). I'm in the middle, and Sara is on the right. Going to the game was so much fun, I would totally go again!

Tomorrow we are going on a field trip to see the meat lab - more details will follow on my next post.

June 24, 2011 - Mizzou

Today we worked at the convenience store, specifically the Hitt Street Market. We learned all about how it was different from the dining halls, and how marketing played a big part of their business. The managers explained to us the different methods that go into planning the design and layout of the store. For example, the shelves are lower than a normal grocery store, and how the bigger items are located on the bottom of the shelves. They showed us different planograms for the shelving units and floor plan layouts. We also watched one of the student managers handle safety deposit money from the day before - how he counted it and collected the money from the safe vault. They also explained the safety mechanisms throughout the store - like the cameras and triggers for a police call. I found it interesting how the vendors themselves restock the shelves. The managers were telling us that sometimes that could be a problem because there could be a new product with a different price and the managers are unaware of the change and didn't put it in the system. Sunday we are going to go back to the convenience store to help out with inventory. What I like most about the convenient store is the hours that they are open. During the school year they are open 24/7 which is great. But during the summer they are open from 7 to 11, which is still convenient.

Below is a picture of Plaza 900, which is one of the all you care to eat dining halls. It opened in 2004 and is the largest residential dining hall on campus. On the left side of the picture is Sara talking to the Executive Chef. This is where our mini-special events will be taking place.

Tonight we went to Addison's for nachos. They have the best nachos ever! I would totally recommend this place - and definitely come back to Columbia for this! For next year's interns - Happy hour with discounted nachos starts at 10, you'll definitely not be let down! I am going to miss this place when I go back home because there is nothing like it!

June 23, 2011 - Mizzou

Wow, it's almost the end of June! I can't believe how fast time flies! Today we had meetings and worked on our mini-special event project. Our first meeting was with Debbie and she discussed her role in CDS. One of her responsibilities involves coordinating all of the conferences that come to MU and want to eat in the dining halls. She also plays a role in organizing the dining plans in addition to other tasks. It was great to see all of the different aspects of the Human Resources part of CDS. We then went to a training meeting. The training committee consisted of about 10 members from the department staff. They discussed the different training programs, the schedule, and who would be leading them. The training programs are for the staff/student worker employees. They are basically workshops to encourage further learning on safety, sanitation, and customer management/satisfaction. It is great that the department offers such a resource for the staff and student employees. After our meetings, Sara and I worked on our mini-special event projects. We wrote our recipes that we tested and worked on the special event memos. There is a long process that goes into having these special events and ordering the food. So any of the unique food (for example, I am having turkey legs for my theme) will have to be ordered specially. And any food that is not into the program (from the new recipes we've created) needs to be put into CBORD. It was a long day working on our projects and getting all the calculations for our recipes (like yield, portion size, amount, weights, ect.).

Tomorrow we are going to be working at the Hitt Street Market - which is one of the convenience stores. It will be interesting to see how CDS funds them and how they are operated differently than the dining halls and retail locations.

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!

Getting Started at Mizzou

Hi Everyone,

It is now the third week of the internship, here at the University of Missouri - Columbia. There are two NACUFS interns here, myself, and Sara. I am from New Jersey and attend Rutgers University. Sara is from Pennsylvania and attends Boston University.

The first week there was a very warm welcoming from the department. Everyone here is extremely nice and knows we are the 'NACUFS interns.' We started the first week with a lot of meetings - it was great to get to know all the people involved in campus dining one-on-one and be able to ask questions. We did a campus scavenger hunt to get to know the campus grounds better. I am awed by how big and beautiful the campus is! The Rec center has three floors, and they are currently undergoing renovations on multiple buildings. One of the buildings that is being renovated is Sabai. Sabai is one of the new dining halls that will feature South Asian Cuisine. They are also closing the Mark Twain Market (an all-you-care-to-eat facility) for renovations. But currently they have it open to service the scholars program, which are students in high school.

Our first time in the kitchen, I worked at Rollins and Sara worked at Plaza 900. We both worked in the dish room. Which I thought was not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I learned all about the dishwasher, where everything belongs in the kitchen, about the pulper, ect. After two days in the dishroom we both worked with the stock clerk at our respective locations. It was nice to see the shipments come in and the role of the receiver. After receiving, we each worked in production at our separate locations as well. Here they use CBORD as their computer program. In production I learned about how the forecast their food and plan for the next day. I was also about to observe how the staff communicates between each other. For example, the counter workers would continually communicate with the cooks to tell them if more of a specific food needed to be made before it ran out. Everyone at Rollins is extremely nice and took the time to explain any questions I had about the kitchen - since there were equipment there that I have never used before. But the big new thing for me was weighing everything. All the dishes were weighed during preparation, before it went out on the line, and after the meal hour was over. In production I also learned how they utilize the POs (Pan overs) which are also left-overs.

Here they have one executive chef and many sous chefs (mainly 1 or 2 at each dining hall). Even though each dining hall competes for numbers, they are one big family - and it is great to see how they work all together.

This week Sara and I are starting to work at the same facility together. We worked at Catalyst Cafe, and will work at J cafe tomorrow.

The projects that we were assigned for the summer include a mini-special event (each of us creates one) and two major events. My mini-special event theme is Medieval Times, while Sara's theme is Mangoes. Basically the mini-special event is a little change at one of the stations and they will still be serving the same food at the other stations. For the two major events, one is when all the stations will be changed in the one dining hall, and the other event we are creating is for a campus wide event - like Thanksgiving. We will not be implementing our two major events, but will only be creating the business plan for them. While, we will be executing our two mini-special events. I am still in the process of finalizing the menu for my event. We pick one or two recipes that we want to test. Mine is Frumente, which is a wheat dish they served in the medieval time period. Sara tested a banana-mango spring roll, tandori style chicken on mango rice, and a chopped mango jicama salad. We tested today in Plaza 900's kitchen. Out dishes came out great and we were able to serve them on the line during dinner! While we tested the recipes we had to record everything we did, and weigh the raw products as well as the final product to write in our recipe. We also had to calculate serving sizes - which we will need for the nutrient analysis of our recipes. Below is a picture of Sara and her Banana-Mango Spring Rolls with Chocolate Ganache.

Sara and I are having a great time here! I am learning so much and am having such a great experience!

PS- for the future NACUFS interns, I am going to try to post as often as I can, so you guys have a better idea of our day to day activities. .