Week 4 @ OU!

We started off our Monday with James who is a Concessions manager of the warehouse. He began with showing us all of the grand athletic facilities they have here at OU. Grace was in awe because as you all know she is from

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and does not have facilities quit like the ones here. The first stop was at the football stadium. It seats 82 thousand fans and is 5 stories tall. We walked out on the fifth story and couldn’t believe our eyes you could see for miles. As we toured the facility we saw all the concessions stands that they operate which was about 30. We also saw the suites that are owned by many. There are about 70 of those in the stadium. I did a little research on the stadium and found that the OU stadium is the 16^th largest collegiate stadium in the

. Next we went to the track and indoor facility for track and football. The indoor facility was phenomenal. There is a rumor that the indoor are for football can experience different weather conditions such as rain and snow. Next we went to the wrestling, volleyball, and gymnastics facility. This to me looked like a small basketball gym you would find at a high school. They only have two concessions stands at this one. There is one on the first floor and one on the second floor. Next stop was the softball stadium. We are pretty sure we got to see one of the national teams practice on the field that day. There is only one concessions stand at this facility. The next place was the baseball field. This location has two concessions stand one on the left field base line and one on the right field base line. Baseball is my favorite sport so I sat down to soak in the sun and take in the wondrous view of the baseball field. Next we passed by the soccer field, tennis courts, and rugby. These were very nice faculties but just not as large. It was a great experience to go around and see all the places that they serve food to the people that are watching the games. We saw how they kept inventory, as well as how they bag their own ice. Now how crazy does that sound bagging your own ice. They do about a 1000 bags for each game and they are cleared out after.

After lunch that day we met with Keith the director of concessions. He went over numbers with us. There is a lot that goes into a game that we did not know. They look back at each year to determine what the weather was so that they can determine how much they are going to sell. We found out that the best games to sell food at are the morning games at 11 am or the afternoon games at 2pm. The not so good games are the night games 6pm and 7pm. He said that their nights are never ending when it comes to football and basketball games. Sometimes they start their day at 9am and then don’t leave until 4am the next day. Thank goodness there are only 6 football games at home : ). He also explained to us that to determine the prices of their food they compare it to the OKC Thunder and the Triple A baseball team in Oklahoma.

On Tuesday we went back to concessions and met with Dani. She is the paper lady is what I called her. She is in charge of hiring, training and anything that has to do with money. She counts the money when it leaves the vault and when it comes back in. that sounds like a fun job to me handling all that money. She was a really fun lady to talk with she knew a lot about what she did and likes to try new things she is coming up with a new item for this football season. It is called the walking taco. It is Fritos, chili, cheese, sour cream and then a fork on top. What a money saver you don’t have to purchase bowels for the items to go into. Plus this sounds delicious not to healthy though. As we sat down with her we were trying to determine if there was any way there could be a healthy choice for concessions. Grace and I looked at each other pondered and said I don’t think so. I said when you go to a game it’s your cheat day : ) She is though changing out either skittles or starburst and putting in Welch’s fruit snacks (by the way eating them as I write this lol). We also witnessed her trying to figure out a way to put in new coke machines. There sure is a lot that goes into doing that my goodness. Lots of measurements and drains needed.

On Wednesday we started at a new location. We were going around with Bobby who is customer relations for catering but in our opinion he does a lot more than that. He takes orders for catering the more complicating ones I would say. Most of these people want a lower price but want a fancy meal so he has to make it work for them. He also works on the catering menu. This takes some time putting it in a easy way to read for the clients. There has been all sorts of different ones surprisingly enough the oldest one looks the best. We also had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting with Frank the assistant director of food service and housing. They were taking about the boomer bash menu. Boomer bash is a catered event done for the alumni and their families on the home football games. These people are certainly spoiled in my eyes. They always get the choice of hot dogs and hamburgers but then they get and actual entrée. There were usually one or two entrees and then a starch and then a vegetable. Then there were the desserts. They would get a choice of two deserts such as cheese cake and cobble with ice cream. These took as a long while to go through because they needed to determine what worked last year and what didn’t and how they could change it to keep them happy but also make it easier to keep up with the flow of people coming in.

After lunch we got the pleasure of judging the Just desserts competition. OU food service and housing likes to put on fun things for the staff to do. They have had a kickball game, volleyball game and now the just desserts. At the competition all the staff was welcomed and then we had four groups of staff put together with their decorated aprons ready to compete. In each group there were about 4 people. They had to make a WOW dessert and then a dessert that could be massed produced for their sweet shop they have in their cafeteria. They had thirty minutes to make the dessert for us to judge. Cake was already made for them to use. They could bring items with them in order to help them out. Grace and I plus two other judges went to another room to taste these fantastic looking desserts. It was a tough decision they all were very tasty.

On Thursday was another fun day with many things to learn. We got to hang out with Dana all day well that’s what we thought we also go the opportunity to go to lunch with the Director of housing and food service.

We started off with Dana who is the manager of catering. One of his jobs is to look over the catering events going on for the day. We started off by going to the Fred Jones Museum were they were hosting an event for under privileged children. It was set up so nicely and ready to go for when the children got there. I was super impressed that they were not scrambling around for anything they were actually done early waiting to begin (not often do you see that happening). We also go the opportunity to walk around the museum and see the presentation that was set up for century of magic. It was all Disney pictures. It was the most amazing thing to look at. Grace and I really love Disney so it was a cool experience to be able to see that. Next we went to the union where there was another event getting started. We met with a supervisor that helped gather everything that is supposed to go out that day for each event. They have check list after check list so that nothing is forgotten. After we were done with that we took a ride to the surplus store where OU takes all their old and none used furniture. This place was huge. It was like a big warehouse full of supplies/ furniture.

Next was our lunch date with the Dave the director. He took us to a place called Fuzzy tacos. I am from AZ as some would know so Mexican food is second nature to me. On the east coast of

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it is not frequently seen. This place was so colorful and had a large menu to choose from. We sat down and had a good conversation with the director he told us how he actually got into the field which was mighty interesting because he never went to school to be in the position he is now. He actually has a degree in teaching which he did do at some point in his life. He never planned on living here for as long as he has but when they came here they fell in love. This is not the only person we have heard this form but many people who come to Norman all seem to never want to leave. It wasn’t all about him he wanted to know more about us more than anything. He asked us what we like so far if we were enjoying our stay and what our plans where for the future. He was a great guy and I can see why everyone gets a long with him so well. I hope to have a boss just like him some day.

After we had our lunch we went back with Dana because there were more events that we needed to look over. We went back to the Union because there was a catering event being set up for a lady that was retiring after 30 years. They place was set up so nicely for her friends and family. The catering and decorating staff did a marvelous job with making it look earthy and southern. The cake that was made for her was delicious looking. There was two tables of food one had bits of meats and cheese on them and then other was fruits and vegetables. They looked fantastic. We watched them set up as well as saw how they were all working together to make it the best retirement party ever. After we were done over seeing this event we went over to OKC (Oklahoma City) to oversee and event that was not Dana’s really but he did lend them some of his workers so wanted to make sure that they were all set to go. We helped there a little with filling the salt and pepper shakers as well as make sure the sugars were all ready to go. This event was a little behind as we walked in but with three extra hands I think they got right back on track. This day was one of the longest days but extremely fun.

Today is Friday! It has been a fun week and lot of information was given to us. Today though we work on our project as well as take a breather from all the excitement. We also prepare for another fun filled week next week. Next week contains us going to an operation called Flying cow which is located in the national weather center. This should be fun and not to forget Fourth of July is next week so we will be enjoying those fireworks. Grace though won’t forget to celebrate

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day on July first. She has her t-shirt and everything.