University of Kansas: Week 3!

Three weeks down, five more to go. I can't believe how quickly this summer is passing me by. Staying busy both in and outside of work is definitely making the days seem short and the weeks fly by without hesitation. This week was the first week that I didn't spend the majority of my time in the kitchen and instead spent it in various new location on campus. 

Monday: $$$

Monday was a day for meetings. We began our morning with Alecia Stultz, the Assistant Director of Retail Dining, and we got the opportunity to walk around campus and visit some of the various retail locations. This was great, as Talia and I haven't done much venturing around campus. Alecia explained the differences between retail and residential dining and some of the key factors that contribute to retail success. We also got a chance to discuss our food truck project and we were very happy to obtain more information about starting and running a successful food truck. I think the highlight of the day for myself was dining at Impromptu, and on campus full service restaurant, with Talia, Alecia, and Dave (our internship coordinator). The food was amazing and the service was quite good too. After lunch Talia and I met with Nona Gollege, KU Dining Director, and Lisa Englebrecht, Business Manager, to budgeting. We learned a great deal about creating and analyzing a budget and got plenty of practice running numbers during the meeting. We also left with some homework, to create a budget for one of the retail dining locations on campus. 

Tuesday: Residential Dining at Oliver

My first shift in a kitchen outside of Mrs. E's was working the induction station during breakfast service at Oliver. It was quite busy and fast paced as the vast majority of diners were 250 basketball campers that all came in to eat at once. I spent an hour or so making breakfast burritos and spent the rest of my time at Oliver receiving the Sysco order for the day and taking inventory. 

Wednesday: Oliver Supervisor Shift

Talia and I got to work together on Wednesday, which was a nice change as pretty much all of our shifts are opposite schedules. We spent the morning following Dave around Oliver and observed the role of a dining manager. From staff meetings to line checks we got to see quite a bit that day. The second half of our day was spent with Frankie, in which we learned a great deal more about the role of a supervisor. 

Thursday: Recipe Testing

Thursday was a schedule project planning day, so I took advantage of my free time and spent the early part of the afternoon recipe testing. Talia and I decided to find a new recipe for our chocolate beet cake, since the price of eggs is skyrocketing and our original recipe called for 20 in one full sheet pan. The cake came out beautifully and I think it may have even been better than the first recipe we used. We also made a baked apple oatmeal crisp that was super tasty. Recipe testing success!

Test Success

Friday: North College Cafe

Supervisor shift number 2! Talia and I, yet again, got the chance to spend the day working together. We spent Friday working at North College Cafe residential dining, following Bill and Jim, the NCC manager. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this shift. Lunch was amazing and I wish I had taken a picture of all the wonderful food we indulged on. We pretty much dined on a vegan/vegetarian smorgasbord, it was divine. Jim was a great help and very knowledgeable and informative, Talia and I learned even more about budgeting and analyzing financial reports and a went over the process of menu planning and reviewing a cyclic menu. 

Saturday: Boulevardia

Another day trip the Kansas City, MO. Talia and I decided to hit the town for Boulevardia, a food, beer, and music festival. We had an amazing time and got the chance to sample beers from 40 breweries, see some really awesome bands play, and snack on some appetizers from local restaurants. We rode a ferris wheel too.