Monday
Monday morning, Kaylene and
I met with Frank Hoppe, the events manager located in Gordon Dining and Events
center. He gave us a little background information on his position and the
events they host (about three a day!). We toured the four beautiful rooms used
for events, and Frank showed us all the bells and whistles in each room,
such as drop down projectors and screens, music, lighting, etc. In addition,
three of the rooms can actually be connected to form one giant room! After our tour, he explained that one of his main job duties was flipping the
rooms between events for the unique setup needed at the next event. He
explained that our task this morning was to manage a team of three employees to
flip two rooms. We were to remove the furniture from the last event, vacuum and
tidy the room, and then set up the next event layout! The first room needed to
seat 100 people at round tables, and the second room was for a board meeting
and had a rather complicated layout. Frank told us to use the information we
had learned and decide the best way to set them up. This is what we came up with:
Frank came back a couple
hours later to check on our progress, and he was pleased!
After our morning flipping
rooms, we were starving, and Frank treated us to lunch on State Street. We
chose the restaurant Himal Chuli, a Nepalese restaurant that was absolutely
delicious! I got the Momocha, which is
steamed dumplings filled with a peanut paste and herbs, served with a tomato sauce!
After lunch, Kaylene and I
met with Mark Muller, the maintenance supervisor. Mark talked to us about his
job in the maintenance department. He also gave us some tips on how to keep
machinery in top shape, such as cleaning equipment properly, reading the
manuals for tips, and keeping a special eye on problem equipment such as
dryers, fryers, and hoods.
After our meeting with
Mark, we learned how to operate a fancy floor cleaner called the T5! It makes
cleaning the floors exponentially faster and easier, and is a good skill to
know!
After a short meeting with
the coordinators Mike and Sue, we ended our day slightly early to put the
finishing touches on our Rock 'n' Roll theme dinner and sent it off to the chefs!
Tuesday and Wednesday
Tuesday began bright and
early as I reported for the breakfast shift at Gordon Dining and Events Center
beginning at 6am. I started in Deli-icious (the deli station) and was prepping
for breakfast until a manager told me a summer camp was coming soon and I was
needed in a different station! I got there just in time to witness 500 young
boys from a basketball camp running into the cafeteria! I spent the next hour
serving breakfast to the kids before being asked to help the dishroom through
the rush. After that was taken care of, I returned to Deli-icious and began
prepping meat and cheese trays for lunch:
After finishing the trays,
I reported to my second assigned station: Capitol City Pizza Company. Here, I was
shown how to hand-make pizza! We stretched out the dough, and I watched the
chefs throw it up in the air! Next, we added our sauce, cheese, and toppings.
The cafeteria actually bakes their pizza in a wood- burning pizza oven. I was
able to learn tips and tricks on baking pizza and breadsticks in this type of
oven, which is actually sort of complicated; it is very easy to burn the pizza!
After the lunch rush was
over, I reported to the floor lead, Nicole, and she showed me what tasks she does
to keep the dining hall looking its best, such as emptying the trash, cleaning
spills on the counters, refilling straws/sugar packets, cleaning glass guards,
etc. Although these tasks may seem small and tedious, they make a huge
difference in how the dining hall appears to customers.
I also reported to the
breakfast shift on Wednesday in Gordon. I was able to continue learning about
meal service for large groups as I served breakfast to 500 basketball campers
once again. I was shown proper portions and the importance of timing while
making food (i.e. make sure you allow plenty of time to make fresh food before
you run out!)
After the breakfast shift
was over, I reported to my next station: Fired Up (burgers, chicken sandwiches,
fries, etc). I learned how to work a multitude of new equipment, including:
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| The fryer |
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| The grill |
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| The bun toaster |
During the lunch rush, I
was able to practice the skills I had learned at breakfast and time how long
French fries and chicken sandwiches needed to cook with how many were left in
the serving line.
After the lunch rush was
over, I moved on to my last station of the day: the coffee shop, called the
Bean and Creamery!
I was taught basic barista
skills, including how to steam milk, make specialty teas, and espresso drinks
including lattes, mochas, and an iced caramel macchiato:
The coffee shop also sells
smoothies, treats from the bakery such as cookies and bars, breakfast
sandwiches, soft serve ice cream, and hand-dipped ice cream:
Thursday and Friday
Thursday and Friday I moved
to Four Lakes Market to complete my station training. Thursday morning, I was
in Deli-icious, and I was able to prep morning pastries such as bagels, scones,
and muffins:
After this prep was done, I
moved onto lunch prep and began cutting and plating desserts:
After I was finished
cutting desserts for lunch, I moved onto my next assignment: the cold prep
kitchen! The cold prep kitchen makes all grab and go items for UW – Madison
convenience stores, called The Flamingo Run, including salads, yogurt parfaits, cut
fruit, hummus, and more. They also make all cold specialty salads for the
dining halls, such as cold pasta salads, coleslaw, etc. I was able to make a
few grab and go salads to be shipped out to convenience stores. I never
realized how specific these salads are; each ingredient in each salad must be
weighed out to ensure correct portion sizes!
Next, we prepared various
components to some cold salads:
For our next task in cold
prep, I was shown a new piece of equipment in order to make a green bean salad: the steamer:
We steamed the green beans
and prepared a spicy sauce to complete this dish!
Once the green bean salad
was complete, I moved on to my last station of the day, Great Greens (salad and
fruit bar). I worked for the last part of the lunch period before being shown
how to close the salad bar until dinner, which included covering the wells with cling wrap, wiping down the
counters, sweeping, and mopping.
Friday marked my last day
doing station training at Four Lakes! Instead of working breakfast and lunch, I
worked lunch and dinner. I began my shift at Buona Cucina, a pasta station, and
served build your own pasta dishes to customers.
Next, I moved to 1849, a
station serving comfort food:
I finished the lunch period
here, and closed the station until dinner, which involves cleaning their
in-house smoker:
After finishing at 1849, I
spend the remainder of my shift working at Deli-icious for dinner prep,
service, and closing:
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| House-made Pepperoni Crisps! |
This concludes our station
training! I’ve learned so much about station prep, service, and clean up, along
with how to use a multitude of new equipment. I’m ready to move to the next
phase of our internship!
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