UGA Week 7!

Monday (7/13)

An easy start to the week! We were able to sleep in and start the day at 1pm and then

we got to go along with Susan Miller as she preformed a cash audit at the Creamery. She goes in to retail operations at random times to check that the money is balanced; today she was going to the Creamery. We arrived at the location and luckily it was slow at the time so we weren’t holding up business. First, Susan printed out a report for the day’s business and then we counted the drawer and bank to make sure the numbers evened out. Along with counting the money she looks to makes sure everything else is in order, if anything is off (money or procedures) she has to report it right away to the head of the retail operations.
Once we finished the audit we were off to the Commissary to look at the foods we prepared on Friday. We concluded that it was a success; the recipes need some slight adjustments but for the most part were good!

Tuesday (7/14)

We had such a busy day shadowing Susan Van Gigch, who is the Associate Director for Retail Operations. UGA is currently making many additions and changes to the retail operations and we were lucky enough to see some of these changes today! We started the day off by eating breakfast with Susan and Bryan Varin where we talked about some of the changes happening within the retail operations; they’re adding some new units (Au Bon Pain and Panda Express) and changing some older ones (expansion of the current Chic-fil-a). After breakfast there was a phone meeting with Au Bon Pain to discuss some of the building plans and space available. After that meeting we ran off to meet with Panda Express coming to check out the kitchen and the space in Bulldog Café where they will be. Once the meetings with outside vendors was over we ran over to the Summit where we sat in on another meeting proposing to close the dining hall an hour earlier for easier running of the dining hall. After a quick lunch at Bolton I was off to class! I was able to sit in on a Peer Nutrition Educators class; these students are preparing for the fall where they will be the ones to educate other students on nutrition. The class was very interesting and I enjoyed seeing the educational part of the food service dietetics.

Wednesday (7/15)

VJ Little is a broker who does business with UGA and we were able to go to lunch with her today to learn more about her job! We went to The Last Resort restaurant in downtown Athens and the food was delicious! Her job is basically arranging transactions with different production companies with the buyer (UGA is one of her accounts). The part that amazed me the most was how much product she had to be knowledgeable about in order to be effective for the buyer and seller. Also, the most important lesson she taught me is how important it is to have a good relationship with the people who you are doing business with and gaining their trust. This is an important lesson I will carry into my professional career. VJ had so much to teach us, I enjoyed getting to sit down and talk with her.

Thursday (7/16)

Road trip today to Kennesaw State! We were able to take a trip to another university today and see how their food service program operates. When we first arrived I was dazzled by how modern the facility looked as well as how many options they have (during the school year they serve exotic meats on one of their serving lines – so cool!). Their building also has its Gold Leed certification meaning it meets certain marks in sustainability. One thing they have done is brought in many on-site herb gardens so the chefs have fresh herbs at their fingertips!

The Commons

Germination station in dining facility

Kennesaw State also has a farm-to-campus program where they bring a lot of food in from local farms in their dining hall; we were lucky enough to check out a nearby one! They had so much happening on their farm! They had a chicken pen, mushrooms growing in the woods, corn out in the field, tomatoes growing in the green house, and so much more. It was really cool to know that all that food that was being grown was going back to the dining hall.

Joey and I met a new friend :)

UGA Crew

After getting to tour the farm we got to eat! I really enjoyed this part of the tour, I tried a little bit of everything… it was delicious! 

Ice cream is prepared in front of you! 

Friday (7/17)

Jittery Joe's roasting facility

I always start my day with coffee and today we got to do just that! Jittery Joes is a local coffee shop, it started here in Athens, and the coffee is roasted right here in town, this morning we were able to visit the roasting facility. We met Charlie who roasts all the coffee for Jittery Joes and he went through the process of roasting coffee. We were able to look at the beans throughout the roasting process to see how the bean was changing. He also described how he receives orders and ships them out to the local facilities that use the coffee. I thought this was so cool, I am so glad we were able to see this process. I will now appreciate my cups of coffee so much more knowing how it came to that point.

Coffee beans at different stages

Coffee beans cooling

Once we got coffee to go we were headed off to the Commissary to work on more grab and go items! Today we made a Tomato, Cumber, and Onion salad, a Hummus and Roasted Veggie Gluten-Free Wrap, and a Cauliflower Grilled Cheese sandwich. We packaged up the first two and tried the grilled cheese sandwich - it was excellent. We will be going back next week to see how the products held up.

Tomato, Cucumber, and Onion Salad

Roasted Vegetable and Hummus Wrap

Weekend Fun!

I want to explore as much of Athens as possible before I leave. This weekend I went to Terrapin brewery, which is an Athens originated brewery. I was able to try some delicious beers (the chocolate peanut butter beer was my favorite!) and went on a tour of the facility. I had never seen how beer was brewed and bottled before so I really enjoyed seeing that!

My friend Will & I touring the facility

I can't believe next week is the last full week! I have been having so much fun that time has been flying by! I will have to do as much as possible next week while I can!

Kara :)