Tuesday, June 26, 2012
University of Northern Iowa
I just got back from a three-day weekend. It was nice to have the chance to go home. I went to Rialto for some breakfast and to work on my special event, which is less than a month away! I started by spray painting my hula-hoops for my javelin throw. They are now bedazzled and awesome. Next, I help a food service supervisor upload my recipe into FoodPro; I wish that I had changed the name of the recipes to Shauni’s…, so UNI will always have some way to remember me.
Afterwards, an assistant manager and I walked over to Piazza to get a large sheet of paper. I am making a vertical jump test for one of my games during the RialtOlympics. We did not want to cut it short, so we allowed five yards of paper. It took me over two hours to line the “measuring paper.” Fifteen feet may not sound like a lot, but when you have to measure 180 inches and mark lines across it, then it gets tedious.
Then, I created QR codes for our soups. QR codes essentially are the new square bar codes that you may see that you can access information through a smart phone. I wanted to create point of purchase nutrition information, and we decided to start with the soup to see if it is a hit or a flop. It is actually quite simple to create QR codes. First, you find a free QR code generator online (I used http://www.qrstuff.com/). Second, you copy and paste the website. Third, you download the code and distribute it wherever. I like simple, quick, and effective tools that are college friendly.
Lastly, I was roped into inventory at Rialto. Brr! The freezer is so cold. I worked with a student supervisor, and we counted the inventory at Colby’s, S’mores, Formaggio’s, the bread, front of the house cooler, etc. It was a lot of work. Everything must be completely accurate or Rialto can either run out of product or have too much in storage, and it becomes wasteful. The system is a bit strange. For instance, Mayo could be in dry storage or in two different coolers. It became very confusing. The reports were sorted by section, but there were items in the storage place not on that particular list, but may have been on someone else’s list. It made for an unnecessarily stressful evening that I think can easily be fixed.
DAY 14: C-STORES AND CARTS AT UNI
Wednesday, June 27, 2012University of Northern Iowa
Today, I toured the convenience stores and convenience carts at UNI. These places are for the accessibility of students, faculty, and staff. A person can purchase anything from a candy bar to toiletry. 23rd Street is the main c-store on campus, and a person can purchase miscellaneous grocery items, can grab a meal from the deli station, or have a slice of Godfather’s pizza. There are three convenience carts on campus: the Apple Cart, Crunch Break, and Commodities. The carts are conveniently located around campus in the Schindler Education Center, Wellness Recreation Center, and the Curris Business Building, respectively. Each open during lunch hours and contain a variety of kits, sandwiches, candies, snacks, and drink items. At these carts, a person can use their UNI identification card to purchase the items.
We discussed how the products are ordered. Each company such as Martin Brothers, Farner Bocken, and Frito Lay has their own ordering systems. Martin Brothers uses the Food Pro system to the orders. On the other hand, Farner Bocken requires c-stores to use an E-Pad scanner, which allows the clerks to scan the bar codes of the items that he or she needs and inputs the quantity. Lastly, Frito Lay has a vendor come into the store to stock the chips. In addition to the stocking, Frito Lay will credit back the items that the c-store does not sell after the expiration date.
Next, we discussed the differences between branded concepts such as franchising and self-operated concepts. Franchising is basically when UNI sells Godfather pizza at 23rd Street Market. Some of the advantages that branding/franchising are name recognition, easily attained marketing strategies, and the ability to move upward and outward in the organization. The disadvantages can be the prices, commission sales for the original company, opposing values of the companies, and specifics/requirements of the particular company. On the other hand, the advantages for a self-operated venue are there is no commission, have the same values, and they manage the venue from the manager’s perspective not the franchised company. The disadvantages are there is no name recognition or support for promotions and products.
Lastly, we discussed the different reports that can be viewed at the convenience stores. There are retail summaries such as the number of guest in the store, the average check per customer, the payment types of the customers, the percent of sales of certain products such as what Iowans call pop, etc. I still have not got used to the title of soft drinks here in Iowa; back home we call it soda. These types of reports are done on a weekly/daily basis. Each month the store manager does a budget report with all the costs expenditures included such as maintenance, utilities, etc. Then it projects the profit of the c-store for that month.
Since these c-stores are not open during the summer, I did not get the hands-on experience that I love. However, I have a project for the c-stores that will give me some experience. I am going to create a marketing promotion for the fall; it is going to be a movie night promotion within the store where there will be a space set up for the movies including candies, soda/pop, and popcorn. Students will be able to enter for a chance to win a TV.
DAY 15: CATERING BACK OF HOUSE/PRODUCTION
Thursday, June 28, 2012University of Northern Iowa
Today I worked in Piazza’s kitchen for catering. Their kitchen is normally in Commons, but it is getting a renovation. We put together food items to go out for that day. The food can be as simple as a fruit tray or as extravagate as beef tenderloin with a bordelaise sauce.
First, I assisted in the preparation of relish trays, a cold food appetizer. The vegetable were already sliced, so we only had to placed them nicely on the trays. To give the plate palatability, we placed the vegetables so that there was one colored vegetable then one green vegetable.
Next, I assisted in the preparation of a main entrée for catering. A few student workers and I made Turkey, Bacon, Ranch Wraps. It was simple. First, we weighed four ounces of turkey on a small scale. Second, we placed the turkey onto a ten-inch tortilla wrap. Third, we added tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, bacon. Fourth, we topped it off with ranch dressing. Then we tightly wrapped the tortilla, halved wrap, and placed in them to keep them together.
Afterwards, I assisted in the preparation of a hot food appetizer. A student worker and I prepared stuffed mushrooms. The looked delicious! We took out the stem of the mushrooms, and then we processed the stems into the sour cream, cheese, vegetables, and spices for the stuffing. Lastly, we stuffed the mushrooms and tightly placed them together to bake.
Before we went to lunch, I assisted in the preparation of another cold food appetizer item. It was a blanched sugar snap peapod with a cream cheese filling. I learned how to decorate the pods with a decorating tip. It surprised me that I actually did it well. We cleaned up our area and did the dishes then went to lunch.
After we came back from lunch, I assisted in the preparation of another hot food appetizer. We made circular puff pastries topped with a chunky tomato salsa and cheese. I have worked with puff pastry previously, so it was simple. I had to make sure, when I was using the circular cookie cutter not to twist it, or else the pastry would not puff properly.
Lastly, I assisted in the preparation of a garnish. We made a green onion flare. I learned two techniques 1) using the cutting board and paring knife to slice “fans” in the green onion, and 2) holding the onion in your hand and using a paring knife to create the “fans.” I am eager to see how the production of the catering foods goes to the service side. I will see how the service side of catering works on Saturday.
DAY 16: INDEPENDENT WORK DAY!
Friday, June 29, 2012University of Northern Iowa
There is less than one month from my special event, and I believe that I am right on track. I planned my decorations today. I rough sketched the venues at Rialto, then wrote what I would like to be in certain spaces. Since I have a low budget for the amount of space in the dining hall for decorations, I am planning on using the plotter a lot. I decided to incorporate famous landmarks from different countries and place them at the venues that I am serving that particular country’s cuisine.
Since it is an Olympic year, I am having trouble finding decorations that are in stock online. I am glad that I have thought about the decorations in enough time to create my own. I decided to place centerpieces on many but not all of the tables. They are 20-in. handcrafted torches with tissue paper that resembles the flames. Each took about 5 minutes to make, so I was working on that a lot. Hopefully, everything will turn out in the plotter.
DAY 17: CATERING A WEDDING RECEPTION
Saturday, June 30, 2012University of Northern Iowa
It’s a Saturday, and there is a wedding that needs to be catered! I arrived at the Commons around 2pm; however, I had trouble getting into the building. Finally, the last door I tried opened. The pre-reception began approximately at 5:00pm where they served hors d’oeuvre and cocktails. The actual reception began around 6:30pm when the bride and groom arrived.
I began by shadowing a catering coordinator. It is her job to assign tasks to the other student workers to ensure everything is done at an optimal time. Some of the tasks included filling the water glasses, plating the salads, setting out the relish trays, fruit trays, assorted nuts, meats, and cheeses, preparing the dressings and dips, setting up the bar, and preparing breadbaskets. The food had to be transported from the downstairs coolers and warmers to the upstairs coolers and warmers.
After everything was completed and ready for service, the catering coordinator had a pre-service meeting. First, I would be observing and helping the open bar during the pre-reception. We served mixed drinks, five types of wine, Fat Tire beer on tap, canned/bottled beer, soda, and water. Most of the drinks were sponsored, only the canned/bottle beer was not, so we went through a lot of alcohol through that period. I learned how to make a few mixed drinks, and towards the end, I was helping make drinks.
The reception began, and we served the Caesar salad at our three tables. I was so nervous; I thought I would spill the salads onto the laps or backs of the wedding attendants. Thank goodness, everything went well. Next, we took our tables’ drink orders. They only served tea, coffee, and water; however, when the main entrée was served the bartenders filled their wine glasses. After we cleared the salad plates, we served the entrées: it was a Chicken with a Mongolian sauce and rosemary-roasted potatoes. Yum! Good thing we were able to try it later. We refilled the drinks and discarded the dirty plates.
For the rest of the evening, we cleaned up the plates and waited for the reception to end. It was hard to determine which drinks should be cleared or not since everyone was up dancing. The music was phenomenal, so it kept me going most of the night. However, we did not get to leave until 1am. It was an extremely long day of on my feet. I cannot even explain how many dishes there were. We had to take them out of the carts from upstairs and place them in the dishwasher. It seemed never ending. After, we finished in the dishes, the dish room, ballroom, and preparatory kitchen had to be cleaned, swept, and mopped.
Catering front of house has been by far the most challenging student job that I have experienced at UNI. I was very worn-out, and I am glad that I will not have to do it again.
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