Today we spent the entire day at Foothill to prepare for our event. It was a really exciting day because we were able to see all of decorations that we had ordered and really get a feel for how the event was going to come together! Everything for our event will remain a secret until next week, so get excited because we are!
Tuesday
Today was an offsite visit day! We went to Google with executive chef Mary, catering executive chef Matt, catering manager Nate, foodservice manager Laurry, and sous chef Jennifer. Google HQ is located in the heart of Silicon Valley in Mountain View. We were beyond excited to see the foodservice operation in Google! Ida, who use to work at Cal Dining and currently works for Google foodservice team, led our tour. It was impossible to get in to Google facility unless you have a friend/family member who works at Google and was willing to provide the tour. Our tour began with observation of the new Kitchen Sync dining facility. It was a beautiful facility for Googlers! They offer lots of healthy options like salad, sushi, flat bread pizza, etc. All the food were individually plated and measured before serving, to control portion size. In Kitchen Sync, there were electronic displays showing the ingredients of the dishes, calories and the level of healthiness. We totally loved the electronic displays because they were easy to read and came directly from the recipes! There were no sugar-sweetened beverages in this cafe. They served fruits and vegetable infused water. We had a small lunch at Kitchen Sync and we both loved the sushi! They have a sushi bar where they made fresh sushi everyday and you can customize your own sushi if you don’t like their pre-made options. According to Ida, their foodservice operation was contracted to outside companies who run the operations. Kitchen Sync was contracted to Bon Appetit, all the dishes were inspired by the creativity of the chefs. Within the Kitchen Sync, there was also a teaching kitchen where Googlers can sign up for cooking classes.
Next, we went to Fishfood. There were 4 different stations
in Fishfood. Most of the dishes were served in big bowls. We had some thin
crust pizzas and they were yummy! We also had the opportunity to take a peek in the micro-kitchens in the office. The micro-kitchens were not typical office break areas. The kitchen was stocked with healthy snack options
like edamame snacks, banana chips, popcorn and fruits. They also strategically placed sugar-sweetened
beverages at the bottom of the refrigerator where the glass doors were frosted
and not visible to the employees. This helps to reduce the number of sugar
sweetened beverage consumption among employees.
Then, we went to the Root café where they offer more ethnic
food options. There was a Pho station,
customized salad station, and sautéed vegetable station. The menus constantly changed, but the Pho
station remained open at all times. If a Googler doesn’t like any of the food
served, he/she can always get Pho from Root cafe. Surprising, we noticed there
was very limited desert option in all of the cafés. Ida said they tried to
limit the number of dessert in order to promote healthy eating habits about the Google campus.
Last but least, we went to Megan’s favorite place – Coffee
Lab! It was a coffee place with amazing ambience where Googlers often spend
their time working on their laptops while enjoying a fresh cup of Joe!
Two take-aways we learned from the Google tour was the
emphasis of healthy food choices and the emphasis of employees’ productivity.
Google strives to provide high quality meal options for their employees to
enjoy and also stay energetic at work.
Welcome to Google!
What a fun way to travel around the Google campus!
Megan in a fun chair relaxing on the google green
Pizza we tried from Fishfood!
Melissa trying some tea in the Coffee Lab
The Coffee Lab
The twins with their Google bikes!
Relaxing after work, taking in the view of the city!
The Berkeley Marina
Wednesday
In the morning when we arrived to Clark Kerr dining hall we were informed Cal Catering had officially started moving from Clark Kerr dining hall to the stadium. To help with the move, we assisted in packing all of the glasses, linens, and dishes. Shortly after an employee accident, we found the importance of wrapping everything in saran wrap to prevent things from falling over and breaking. In the afternoon we meet with the sales team of catering. The team consists of Natalie, who is the sales manager along with four other sales team members. First, we went to a sales operation meeting, which included the Cal Catering sales team and the stadium operation team. In the meeting there was a list of events that are being hosted over the next week and the sales team informed the operation team where the event was hosted, when the event started, what elevators would be used, the entrance the guests would enter in, and many other specific deals to ensure everyone was on the same page. For each event, there was a BEO (banquet event order) which detailed the specifics of the event along with floor plans of how the facility would be set up. It was very interesting to see how everyone worked together to be informed and know exactly how everything would run especially in such a large facility. After the meeting, the sales team provided us a tour of the stadium and explained how Cal Catering utilized the space of the stadium for the their special events. They allowed us to see the field house, stadium club, university club, and Chancellor's Box, which include all 8 floors of the stadium. We were both really impressed with the facility and the view from the glass terrace was AMAZING! We then returned to the sales team office on Clark Kerr's campus and met with Anita. Anita, has a very important role in the sales team because she is the initial contact for the customer interested in booking an event. Anita provided us a tour of the Clark Kerr campus and told us a little bit about they offer their customers. Anita also explained Cal Catering ToGo system and how it works. The customer is able to select exactly what they what, where it needs to be delivered or picked up, what time it is for, and then an invoice is created. In the invoice it it mentions the customer information, delivery information, payment information and event information. All of the Cal Catering ToGo menu options are from a San Francisco restaurant called Boudin. Cal Catering partnered with Boudin a few years ago. Boudin prepares the food and drops it off for Cal Catering express to deliver to the event on campus and set up the breakfast, lunch or dinner event. After work we went to sushi and then got Tara's organic ice-cream! It as a great end to the day.
Melissa and the view from the glass terrace
Inside the Field Club
Glass deck terrace
View from the Chancellor's Box
Krutch Theatre room
Break out room to the Crutch Theatre
Who doesn't love sushi for dinner?
Thursday
Today we started early at 7 am and met Dan at Clark Kerr dinning hall to assist in the deliveries for Cal Catering ToGo. When arriving to the facility we found there was only one breakfast order and four lunch orders for the day. We started brewing coffee and preparing the milk, sugar, and cups that would be needed for the delivery. Additionally, we gathered the additional beverages on the order which consisted of apple, orange and cranberry juice. Once everything was ready we brought it out and delivered it to the botanical gardens that had a delivery time of 8:00 AM, so we got there at 7:45. When we got to the gardens we brought in the supplies, set up the table with the coffee, assorted breakfast pastries, and then juice. After returning to Clark Kerr, we prepared juices and teas for the afternoon events. When there are multiple events at the same time it is difficult to ensure everything is on time, but Dan said the best thing to do is leave a little early and make sure everything is prepared and ready to go. After we finished working with Dan in the morning we met with Matt who is the senior executive chef of catering. First, Matt showed us around the kitchen facility along with the catering areas and explained how all the food is prepared in the main kitchen and sent to the satellite kitchen where it is kept warm, garnished, and then served. We then also had a quick meeting with Deborah and Matt where they discussed the catering operations, along with the plan and strategy to improve Cal Catering. Matt discussed the potential for altering the menu and work with one main menu opposed to offering seven menus. After the meeting we met the chefs and cooks in the central kitchen for catering. Matt introduced the wide variety of recipes we would help prepare for an Indian wedding tasting tomorrow. All of the recipes were provided by an Indian family, which they were specific about the way in which their type of Indian cuisine was prepared. We were very impressed that Cal Catering is willing to go the extra mile, with very complicated recipes, to meet the needs of the customer. The most interesting part of the day was to learn how to make the bo la lot which was made with seasoned beef or often lamb which was wrapped in the traditional betel leaves. Since the betel leaves were particularly difficult to find, they substituted with grape leaves. Matt taught us how to place the beef inside leaf and properly roll to ensure it was super tight. Matt checked in on our progress and said we were the queens of bo la lot!
On Friday morning we met with Deborah who provided us a the BOE of both the Indian wedding tasting and wedding ceremony. Within the BOE she explained the importance of reading over the specifications for the event and menu. We were then instructed to read the BOE, and pull the appropriate amount of supplies. We pulled items including: dishware, flatware, linens, and serving platters. Pulling the items for the events took the entire morning to complete, since we were pulling supplies for 150 guests. In the afternoon we headed up to Foothill and prepared the centerpieces for our special event next week!
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