KU Dining Week 7: The New North College Café

I cannot believe that my time at the University of Kansas is almost over! I have had a ridiculously good time. Leslie and I are always discussing what a privilege this internship has been! I have been exposed to so many things pertaining to dining at a university and have learned so much about management, food trends, customer service, menu development, procurement, opening a new facility, the list goes on and on! Needless to say, I am sad to leave.

Moving on, This week has been FANTASTIC (in my best Jim Schilling voice). Jim Schilling is the new, and very positive, manager at the newly renovated North College Café, and “fantastic” is a word that I heard him say often. This week Leslie and I had the privilege of helping the staff at North College get ready to serve the masses come August.

The newly renovated North College Café is down right beautiful!

The new renovations create a warm and chic atmosphere. It is evident that the dining concepts and interiors were developed with much care, concern and skill—everything flows so well.

What we did this week at North College Café:

·      Helped test the current recipes to see if any reformulation needs to occur to account for the changes in the way food cooks with the new equipment (for example: there is a brand spanking new Brick Oven for the pizza! We burnt a few pizzas, but by the end of the week we got the temperature and timing down perfect. Delicious!)

·      Attended staff trainings for some of the new equipment by some of the dealers such as Hobart

·      Participated in an all day new staff training on Wednesday that included: ServSafe, knife handling skills, brief history and vision of KU Dining Services, customer service skills, among other topics

·      Helped construct shelves for the dry storage area

·      Assisted in other duties that come with setting up a new facility