Monday
Today we met with Elaine Magee, the wellness & performance registered dietitian for Stanford dining. Elaine is a very successful dietitian who has extensive experience as author of 25 books in nutrition and healthy cooking. Additionally she has consulted for Nob Hill supermarket chain, webMD.com and many more. Recently, she has been recruited by Albertsons supermarkets in Boise Idaho to work in a new pharmacy and dietitian team. This really opens our eyes to the types of opportunities that registered dietitians have within their field. We met Elaine at Arrillaga Dining Commons which is a high performance dining facility. Arrillaga Dining Commons has a state of the art teaching kitchen that they frequently partner with celebrity chefs to host cooking classes and events. Also the sustainability team member hosts cooking classes in the Teaching Kitchen. We then met with the food safety expert, Daniel, who oversees all staff trainings for food safety, and conducts audits for all 22 dining facilities on campus. We had a 45 minute presentation about food safety on how Stanford complies with the health regulations. Then we were introduced to Mary Duch who is the General Manager of Ricker Dining, who is also a RDN. Ricker Dining facility is the only peanut free facility, so if students have severe peanut allergies they know this is an appropriate dining facility to meet their needs. Dining services goes through precautionary steps to ensure none of the food from the central kitchen is brought into Ricker and ensure the food they receive from the vendors does not come in contact with peanuts. Within Arrillaga Dining Commons there is a Gluten Free Micro-Kitchen, where there are items provided that to students that are part of the Stanford Dining Gluten-Free Pilot Program. The kitchen is completely gluten free, with refrigerators, freezers and pantry which are stocked with a variety of gluten free products. After we went to a newly renovated dining facility called Florence Moore for lunch. There was a large variety of options and all of the food was labeled with allergens and there was signage that informs the consumer of the health benefits of salad for example.
Garden outside of the Arrillaga Dining Commons
Florence Moore newly renovated facility
Clearly labeled lines
Gluten Free Mico- Kitchen
Teaching Kitchen for 10-12 participants
Registered Dietitian Elaine Magee of Stanford Dining
Tuesday
We spent all day working on our special event at Foothill. Majority of the setup was done today. We felt very prepared for tomorrow since we got everything set up and made tons of lists to keep super organized!
Wednesday
The big day is finally here and we were more than excited! So now it can be revealed we were hosting a 50's Diner themed. We named our diner event as M&M’s Diner, which stand for Megan and Melissa. For the last couple of weeks, we have been working with our special event planner DD, who we would like to give a special thanks to! She did an amazing job in coordinating the details of the event, and making the AWESOME milkshake and popcorn balloons!
We started planning for this event on the 2nd week of our internship. We met with DD to discuss about our theme and decoration ideas. Our primary goal was to create a memorable and fun event for 550 kids who were attending summer camps. We came up with the ideas of setting up a candy bar and photo booth as our interactive activities with the kids. Chef Marcos, who was part of our event planning team, came up with a bunch of suggestions for food that matched our diner theme. We reviewed the menu with Chef Marcos and made sure that we included vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options for the kids. Marketing created menu cards with a red and white border and simple diner clipart, which included the allergens of each menu item. One of the most exciting parts of the menu was to have a milkshake station that offer three variety of flavors including strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. Another important aspect to planning the meal was the layout of the serving lines to allow for traffic flow especially when it came to the milkshake station. In order to carry out our vision of the perfect M&M’s diner, we planned everything ahead of time and decorated every corner of this venue as you will see from the pictures below!
For the serving area, we covered the entire counter with black and white checkered counter wrap. We changed all the hangover menu posters to custom retro diner themed posters we selected. We also hung some records around the serving areas to liven up the space. All the servers were dressed in diner soda jerk costumes (red bow tie, red apron, soda jerk hat) like in the 50's. The serving trays were lined with red and white checkered liners to mimic 50's diner serving style as well.
For the dining area, we hung eleven large custom posters on the wall and covered all the tables with white linens, since we wanted to make this a special dinner. For the centerpieces, we handmade 17 beautiful peppermint candy bouquets with the help of some ideas from Pinterest. Making these centerpieces was not easy or quick, we were very glad to hear that everyone loved our creativity in making them. Also, we added 1950's comics that we attached to the napkin holders on each table. Lastly, we ordered some vintage paper car models to alternate the centerpieces with 50's California licenses plates.
Finally, it comes to everyone’s favorite parts of the event – candy bar, popcorn stand and photo booth all in Stern room! Again, we covered the original movie themed posters with our custom retro food posters to create the feel of a real diner. The candy bar and popcorn stand were perfectly setup with giant milkshake and popcorn balloons, that all the guests were super excited about! Megan was managing the candy bar, and Melissa was managing the popcorn stand. Everyone had a big smile on their face when it came to free candies and popcorn. We were so happy that everyone had a great time at the event!
Last but not least, we both had a lot of fun putting everything together and were really proud of what we accomplished! We gained some valuable knowledge on the different aspects of event planning, ranging from sourcing, menu planning, marketing, creating planning timeline, communicating with different managers to setting up the event, and ultimately working together. We learned not only how to handle the big aspects of the event, but also know how to focus on the details. We want to give a big thanks to D-D, Chef Marcos, Brian, Renee, Albert, all of the marketing team including Christina and Elly, Mike, Sunil, Tiffany, Jennifer, Mike, Lucky, Shawn, Thierry, Sean, Mary, Matt, Connie and all of the employees at Foothill who we wouldn't have been to make this event successful without! We believed that the little details are the things that people leave remembering. =)
We walked into the best surprise at work!
And we were obsessed!
Melissa trying out the server costume!
Melissa working hard on making the center pieces
Hanging up posters to decorate the Stern Room
Megan hanging posters in the hallway of the dining hall
The Photo Booth getting set up for the event
Melissa putting the final touches on the counter paper, and she matches!
Megan and Chef Marcos adding the finishing touches to the milkshake station
Welcome to M &M's 50's Diner Event-
The ultimate candy bar
DD did an amazing job on the ballon pieces!
The serving area all decorated 50's style!
Even the foodservice workers were dressed up!
The milkshake bar!
Dessert Station
Megan and Melissa ready for the event to start!
Melissa, Chef Marcos and Megan admiring the serving line!
The Dining Area all dressed up!
Our two types of center pieces in the dining room!
Pictures from during the event-
Guests visiting the candy bar!
The line for the candy bar was out the door!
Megan and Melissa ready to serve popcorn and candy
Guests admiring pictures from the Photo Booth
Megan and Melissa with Jennifer's kids enjoying the candy bar!
The line for the candy bar was out the door!
We even got to have some of our own fun in the Photo Booth!
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Chef Marcos and a server!
Floor manager Connie, with two foodservice workers
After a long day on Wednesday working on the special event, we were both a bit slow to get started this morning. The most important thing we had to do today was finish breaking down the event from last night. We had to organize all of the materials, so it could properly be put away. Also, we separated all the materials that had to be put back from their various locations across campus, and then deliver them back to their original owner. After we returned all of the materials we worked on our blog, since we had a little catching up to do. Then we had an exciting dinner to go to at the stadium. Tonight was the kick off dinner for pre-season training for the Cal football team. We were invited to attend with the entire team, coaches, and all other related football staff. It was a really fun dinner since we were able to interact with the football team and see how their team dinners work and enjoy the types of food they have before to kick-off pre-season. Tonight was an amazing dinner with so many delicious options including lobster tails and steak which were our favorites. There were also a great Cesar salad, fresh seasonal fruit, green bean, okra, wild rice, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, clam chowder and so much more. This was by far our favorite meal we have had so far and were so happy we were able to attend dinner with the team!
Friday
This morning we worked with Brian at training tables. Brian has recently been onboard in helping with training tables for all sports teams across campus. One of the major changes made to the menu, is that every sport works off the same master menu, and from there customizes it by subtracting items to therefore fit the teams needs. The training tables at the stadium is mainly for the football team, since that is where they spend most of their time. During the weeks of pre-season training tables serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to the athletes. Brian discussed with us the idea of decorating the kitchen space with large posters of the star players and pictures of the stadium. The morning flew by quickly and then we were off to Airbnb HQ in San Francisco! Our tour was led by Airbnb foodservice product and vendor lead, Meghan. When we entered their office building located in 888 Brannan Street, we were amazed by the simplicity of the office design and spacious workspace. This office building currently has 1000 employees. The design of the building was done by two of the Airbnb founders, Gebbia and Brian who are both Rhode Island School of Design graduates. Most the working areas replicated the Airbnb listing spaces, which we thought the idea was brilliant! Touring through the space, we truly experience what Airbnb was all about and each workspace tells a different story from different part of the world. Meghan discussed the plan for Airbnb expansion in the near future to accommodate up to 2500 employees. We checked out their worksite cafeterias and coffee bars, where they served healthy homemade items like granola bars, flavored sparkling beverages, and beef jerky. We also ran into the executive chef for Airbnb, Sam. Sam began adopting a raw vegan diet due to his health condition. He was inspired by the positive changes on his body and hope to help others to eat the same way. He used to work for a raw vegan restaurant and Google. Now, he is running his own food program for Airbnb and aspired offer healthy, simple and wholesome cuisines for employees. Then, we headed to the 5th floor for an awesome lunch with Meghan. Meghan also told us that Airbnb dining is allergen friendly as the main dishes only come with one type of allergen. They also worked with Airbnb employees who have severe allergy. We had an awesome experience at Airbnb, really loved the tour and hope to come back in the future!
Welcome to Airbnb, the tour begins after check-in!
The general atrium when you enter the building
Sydney cafe
L.A. snack and drink station
Homemade chocolate chip granola bars which made a perfect afternoon snack!
Work-side bulk bins to snack from
Megan enjoying homemade lavender lemonade, which was delicious!
Another work-side cafe, and now we traveled to Cairo!
You never know what type of space you might want to work in!
Map of where their local food comes from!
The menu of the day is based on one their Airbnb locations
The dining facility that should serve about 600 employees
Even the bathroom has its own theme!
Homemade vegetable stock!
Thanks for having us Airbnb, we really enjoyed it!
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