Finally, we made a trip to CREAM, a California favorite of soy mint chocolate chip ice cream with snickerdoodle cookies!
Day 6- Monday Melissa: “Today, I was in Foothill shadowing the General Manager, Albert for most of the day. First, we did a quick breakfast walkthrough. During the opening and closing shifts, the manager on duty did a walkthrough of the facility and checked everything. Sometimes, managers also serves as backup for the employees when the serving line or kitchen needs extra support. After the walkthrough, he also did a quick rundown of the equipments they have in the kitchen. For example, tilt skillet, steam kettle, convection oven, warmers, fryer, rotisserie, etc. He also explained the Sous Vide method of cooking in which food is sealed in airtight packaging and placed in a hot water bath for longer than normal cooking. When we were in his office, he showed me how the Kx system works. Conferences and events pre-booked the catering date and location through this Kx system. The system shows the actual number of guest that will be dining in this facility. The chef will use this information to forecast the inventory needs and purchase accordingly. Albert also make the staffing schedule based on Kx system. He also gave me a list of the food distributors where they get their products from. Then, I had a chance to work in the pantry area and help set up for lunch. I helped Irine (senior pantry worker) to cut fresh vegetables and prepare foods for the line. The cutting boards used by the pantry workers are color coordinated according to meat, fruits, and vegetables. I had a lot of fun working with Irine. She was a very sweet lady. During lunch time, I observed and worked on the serving line. Later, Albert and I discussed about the COGS report (Cost of Goods Sold). He gave me a brief explanation of the financial operation in this facility. Around 3pm, Megan and I attended a meeting with the director and general managers. After that, we went to a 2nd meeting with the senior executive chef, executive chef of Crossroads, Albert and Registered Dietitian (Renee) to discuss about the late night menu for the fall semester. Megan and I provided some feedback and input on the menu ideas.”
Melissa working in the pantry
Set up for lunch
Salad bar
Megan: "Today I located in Cafe 3 and worked with the general manager Melvin and the executive chef Sean. I really enjoyed working in Cafe 3 because working with both managers gave me the opportunity to get the front of the house and back of the house experience. I started my morning with Melvin and he did a tour of the facility, and one of the things that really stood out to me was that in this facility all of the storage was in the basement. This was a different layout which made it a bit more work for the store keeper because for each meal he would need to go down to the basement and pull all of the items needed. One of the major differences of this dining facility compared to others is that it had the golden bear cafe which is a mini market during the school year. After I received a tour of the facility, Melvin informed me that each day he had to review the logs and documentations that are completed such as food temperatures, opening and closing duties and manager checks. After we reviewed the logs, Melvin explained to me how the communication logs are used to keep all managers informed about issues in the facility. I thought this log was very useful because it keeps everyone informed even if people work opposite shifts. Next Melvin reviewed the financial aspect of the dining facility and how the budgeting works and using Cal Card to see how many people came to eat at each meal. Another project that Melvin had to work on was figuring out how he was going to accommodate for all of the CalSO students over the next two days. In doing so Melvin ordered the seven tables, chairs, along with table cloths, dishes and silverware to allow enough seating in the facility. After all of this was complete Melvin and I took temperatures of all the food on the line to be sure it reached the proper temperatures and was not in the food danger zone and addressed food items that were not within this zone. The next part of my day was so fun, I got to make Rice Krispies treats for the CalSO dinner. Although this appears to be a very basic task, it was very different preparing this to a huge quantified amount.
Mixing the melted marshmallows and cereal in a MASSIVE bowl
The final product!
The last part of the day we were together in attending a general manager meeting with all of the GM's for each facility. During the meeting we address many issues that pertained to all of the dining facilities. After we finished with that meeting we had a meeting about late night dining with the chefs and GM's and discussed the menu and things we wanted keep or get rid of for the upcoming fall semester.
Day 7- Tuesday
Melissa: “Today, I shadowed the General Manager of Clark Kerr, Frank Pazzanese. I enjoyed shadowing with Frank because he always have some great thoughts and ideas to share. First, he gave me a tour of the Clark Kerr campus. It used to be the California’s School for the Deaf and Blind. When it moved to Fremont in 1980, its campus was acquired by UC Berkeley. I loved the environment of this campus. Since it is located farther away from the main UC campus, it is so peaceful and quiet. There are also many gardens around this campus. Its facilities include housing for students, faculty members, and senior citizens, athletic facilities, and an auditorium for lectures, special events and conferences. Within the Clark Kerr dining facility, there are 3 main dining rooms and 2 garden patios. The biggest dining room, Great Hall, can seat more than 200 people. During the summer, Clark Kerr is only open for catering event. After the walkthrough, I helped Jenma to create the lunch menu. I sat with her to figure out the allergens in each lunch menu items. We reviewed the final menu with the chef to make sure that we listed all the allergens. Then, Frank and I sat down to discuss about the COGS report for Clark Kerr and review the budget of operation. Around 11am, we monitored the lunch service and make sure that everything ran smoothly. After lunch, we reviewed the open and close check list. Manager on duty is responsible for checking and signing off the check list. Besides, the cooks check the temperature of each food item once every shift (2 hours) to keep food out of the danger zone (40-140F). They also keep temperature logs for future reference.”
Megan: "This morning I started my day early working at the CalSO event. Once the food line was completed I took the temperatures of the food and compared it to the sous chefs readings from when the food was prepared. After this, I was directed to help with directing all 500 students for the event. I was personally in charge of greeting the new students and their parents at the door and be sure they were checked in. Once they were checked in and had their necessary badge to get into breakfast, I counted each student as they came in the door and informed them where they would find food. The event lasted from 7 AM- 8:30 and at the closure of the event I then met Brian at Crossroads, where I would be working for the day. Once I got to Crossroads it was just about time for the meeting with one of the assistant directors for football. When meeting with him he provided us a schedule for training and informed us of what he would like to see for training tables, when meals would be served, and additional restaurants that could possibly use Calpoints. Overall the meeting went very smoothly as he was pleased with training tables in the past and hopes that it continues similarly. The best part about the meeting was that it was at the Memorial Stadium which I had not been to up until today, and it was so impressive!! Below are a few pictures from inside as I got a small glimpse of the facility and can't wait to go back again! Once we returned to Crossroads I worked with one of the operations managers Ron, to hire a new custodian. Ron and I went through many applications and finally arrived at five candidates to be hired. After the meeting finished up I worked on the floor with Betty who is one of the foodservice managers during lunch. I accompanied Betty the entire time and we addressed any issues we saw such as being low on cups at a certain station or directing customers to keep the lines moving. After we finished with lunch, Brian met with myself, Ron and a student manager to redirect student employment at Crossroads and alter the way the students work and are a part of the team. To wrap up the day Brian discussed with me how budgeting works and how the budgets are calculated and balanced. This was very interesting to understand how each managers approaches budgets slightly different."
Enjoying my latte after being up for CalSO early!
Inside the football conference room
UC Berkeleys Conference
After dinner we took a trip to "Ici Ice Cream"
Day 8 - Wednesday
Today we met with Renee and went over her role as a RD in Cal Dining. We learned she completes a wide variety of tasks on the day to day basis, for example:
1. Quality assurance auditing including food safety, temperature check and taste test
2. Customized the audit sheet for each dining facility
3. After auditing she works with the senior executive chef to take action on existing issues
4. In charge of the secret shopper program by working with nutrition students on campus
5. Assists in developing a healthy menu for special events such as world vegan day
6. Provides inservice training for dining staff such as food safety and allergen training
7. Working on a the menu for the wellness station, which will be implemented in the upcoming spring of 2016
8. Offers cooking demonstration and education to students in the residence halls and potentially in the test kitchen
9. Serve as a preceptor for dietetic students
10. Manages the NACUFS intern students
11. Consults with students who have a special diet by giving the student a tour of the dining hall and meeting with the manager to make them aware of the students needs if there are any specific arrangements
12. Serves as a resource for training table, catering, campus restaurant and concessions
After going over Renee's responsibilities we deepened our understanding of her role in campus dining with furthered our interest into this career within food service. Next, we reviewed the menu for the wellness station and communicated with Sunil, who is the commodities manager, about future products we were interested in sampling. We visited the on campus market named "The Golden Bear" to look at the gluten free selections in the market available to students. The next part of our day ventured outside of Cal Dining as we visited Christina Voyles who is in the brand and marketing manager and works with Cal Dining to create marketing material such as posters, social media and table tents. She also provided us the inspiration for our special event theme, which we are now really excited about! Christina briefly discussed our options for marketing our special event and the types of fliers or posters that the marketing department could possibly produce. After we finished meeting with her, we had time to start planning our event and get brainstorming on menu ideas and decorations. The last exciting part of our day, was taste testing new products! During the chefs meeting, we sampled some new products that the senior executive chef was hoping to use for the fall semester.
Golden Bear Cafe
Inside Golden Bear Cafe
Samples we tried during the chefs meeting
Melissa about to taste test!
Day 9- Thursday
Melissa: "This morning, I met with the General Manager of Café 3, Melvin Garcia. We monitored the breakfast service. Melvin explained the “to-go” meal policy to me. They offer students a “to-go” meal option through their “Chews to Reuse” program . Students pay a one time purchase fee of 5 points/ $5 for a reusable container. Students can fill up the container and have it to go. They are not allowed to eat in the dining hall with their “to-go” container. During the summer, Café 3 catered meals to all the students attending CalSO (Summer Orientation). They also have a Bear Market, where students can buy packaged foods and groceries. However, the Bear Market is only open during the school year. The best part part of the day was when I got to make 2 batch of Rice Krispies Treats for CalSO dinner! The recipe calls for only 3 ingredients: butter, marshmallow and Rice Krispies. Even though it seemed to be a very simple recipe, making it could be quite a bit messy and “sticky!” Mixing the Rice Krispies and marshmallow together was the hardest part. Since I was making a big batch of them, it took me a while to get everything mix together evenly. After that, I put them into a 2” high pan and pressed them down with a rolling pin. When I was done, Sean came over and did a quality check on my final product. He said, it was perfect! YEAH!!! Then, I brought it to the pantry worker for them to cut it into pieces. Then, I went to lunch with Jose, Renee and Megan at a Salvador restaurant.”
Megan: "Today was my first day at Foothill Dining facility working with Albert the general manager. Working with Albert was extremely informative as he went through all of the components of MIS and the systems and worksheets involved. First Albert and I took a tour of the facility and reviewed who was working, who was needed on the line and shifted some of the staff to serve the needs of the customers coming in for breakfast. Once everything was settled in the kitchen and we took a quick walking tour of the facility. First we reviewed the KX system which is the system that conferences use to book events during the summer. From this reservation, this indicates how many people will be attending each meal to help predict how much food to produce and cut food costs. After we reviewed KX we went over the MICROS system, which is a database that tracks everything for Cal Dining for example, hours worked and the amount of food sold and sales in the markets. Following this, Albert explained how he figures out how many full time career workers and student workers he needs per meal, again based upon the number of people being served per meal. Then Albert described to me how the variance budget sheet works and how it is useful in determining how all of his costs are being allocated and if he is has a profit or a lost. Then we looked at the overall budget for Cal Dining and Residence Life in a fiscal year how the department is working within their allotted budget. Following all of the budgeting aspect of the operation we looked at a program called BearBuy which is s purchasing system for all products except for food, such as office supplies, paper supplies and similar items. For each unit on campus when the invoice comes through the system, the manager needs to check that the invoice is correct and also log it into the finances for the day. Once the invoice is checked and correct, the manager approves so the company is billed appropriately.
After we each finished up at our separate dining hall locations we met up with Renee, and Chef Jose and we went to a restaurant in downtown Berkeley called Platano which is an El Salvadoran restaurant. It was an amazing restaurant with fantastic food, and we were finally able to try a pupusa. After lunch we went back up to Foothill and met with Dee and Chef Marcos to go over our ideas for the special event. The meeting went really well and they provided us a lot of constructive ideas and things we could and could not do to have a better idea of what our event would be. In addition we reviewed the meal ideas we had and how it would be set up in the dining facility. The next thing on our agenda was to pick a date and start getting things more solidified. After we inspected all of the dessert recipes from our supplier and listed all the allergens.
Melissa: "This morning, I met with the General Manager of Café 3, Melvin Garcia. We monitored the breakfast service. Melvin explained the “to-go” meal policy to me. They offer students a “to-go” meal option through their “Chews to Reuse” program . Students pay a one time purchase fee of 5 points/ $5 for a reusable container. Students can fill up the container and have it to go. They are not allowed to eat in the dining hall with their “to-go” container. During the summer, Café 3 catered meals to all the students attending CalSO (Summer Orientation). They also have a Bear Market, where students can buy packaged foods and groceries. However, the Bear Market is only open during the school year. The best part part of the day was when I got to make 2 batch of Rice Krispies Treats for CalSO dinner! The recipe calls for only 3 ingredients: butter, marshmallow and Rice Krispies. Even though it seemed to be a very simple recipe, making it could be quite a bit messy and “sticky!” Mixing the Rice Krispies and marshmallow together was the hardest part. Since I was making a big batch of them, it took me a while to get everything mix together evenly. After that, I put them into a 2” high pan and pressed them down with a rolling pin. When I was done, Sean came over and did a quality check on my final product. He said, it was perfect! YEAH!!! Then, I brought it to the pantry worker for them to cut it into pieces. Then, I went to lunch with Jose, Renee and Megan at a Salvador restaurant.”
Megan: "Today was my first day at Foothill Dining facility working with Albert the general manager. Working with Albert was extremely informative as he went through all of the components of MIS and the systems and worksheets involved. First Albert and I took a tour of the facility and reviewed who was working, who was needed on the line and shifted some of the staff to serve the needs of the customers coming in for breakfast. Once everything was settled in the kitchen and we took a quick walking tour of the facility. First we reviewed the KX system which is the system that conferences use to book events during the summer. From this reservation, this indicates how many people will be attending each meal to help predict how much food to produce and cut food costs. After we reviewed KX we went over the MICROS system, which is a database that tracks everything for Cal Dining for example, hours worked and the amount of food sold and sales in the markets. Following this, Albert explained how he figures out how many full time career workers and student workers he needs per meal, again based upon the number of people being served per meal. Then Albert described to me how the variance budget sheet works and how it is useful in determining how all of his costs are being allocated and if he is has a profit or a lost. Then we looked at the overall budget for Cal Dining and Residence Life in a fiscal year how the department is working within their allotted budget. Following all of the budgeting aspect of the operation we looked at a program called BearBuy which is s purchasing system for all products except for food, such as office supplies, paper supplies and similar items. For each unit on campus when the invoice comes through the system, the manager needs to check that the invoice is correct and also log it into the finances for the day. Once the invoice is checked and correct, the manager approves so the company is billed appropriately.
After we each finished up at our separate dining hall locations we met up with Renee, and Chef Jose and we went to a restaurant in downtown Berkeley called Platano which is an El Salvadoran restaurant. It was an amazing restaurant with fantastic food, and we were finally able to try a pupusa. After lunch we went back up to Foothill and met with Dee and Chef Marcos to go over our ideas for the special event. The meeting went really well and they provided us a lot of constructive ideas and things we could and could not do to have a better idea of what our event would be. In addition we reviewed the meal ideas we had and how it would be set up in the dining facility. The next thing on our agenda was to pick a date and start getting things more solidified. After we inspected all of the dessert recipes from our supplier and listed all the allergens.
Avocado salad
Tropical Salad
Pups with fried plantains
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