The University of Kansas: Week Three

Greetings from another successful week at Jayhawk nation! This third week was surely a busy one - here are the details of our day to day activities at the University of Kansas!

Monday, June 20th

Monday, we spent our morning getting introduced to catering by Whitney, the KU Catering coordinator. She gave us the scoop on how KU Catering successfully runs their huge catering department to serve the entire KU campus. We also got to take a look at KU Catering's enormous selection in their catering guide - everything looked absolutely delightful and decadent! In the afternoon, Julie and I got to to work in the catering bakery. We make dozens and dozens of brownies, rice krispies, muffins and rolls. We had a lot of fun baking with Katelyn! 

Tuesday, June 21st

On Tuesday morning, Julie and I had the pleasure of checking out KU's rooftop garden located on the top of the Kansas Union. There were so many beautiful herbs such as basil, sage, thyme and there were even peppers grown in their garden. That morning, Julie and I spent some time transferring basil into new pots with Joe, KU Catering chef, and then picking basil to make some fresh pesto - yum! In the afternoon, Julie and I spent some time in the "hot side" of KU Catering's kitchen. We helped prepare chicken, pasta, vegetables and even made 600 (yes, six HUNDRED) black bean quesadillas! It was a lot of work I admit, but still a very fun and educational afternoon! 

Wednesday, June 22nd

On Wednesday, Julie and I met with John, The Underground's manager. The Underground is very popular food court located in the heart of KU's campus - so they get a lot of business during the school year! John explained to us many aspects of The Underground, but my favorite to learn about was the differences and rules of self-branded concepts and franchised concepts. It was great to put what I learned in my previous food service class to use! In the afternoon, Julie and I met with Karen, KU Dining Meal Planning Advisor, and Kaidee, HR manager, and had some of the more administrative side of KU Dining explained to us. Our day was full of educational meetings! 

Thursday, June 23rd

Thursday, I worked in front of the house catering with Robert, KU Catering Director. It was a lot of fun helping the catering staff prepare for a 400 new student orientation that day. I also helped switch out food during the hectic orientation lunch and observe how catering ensured the event ran smoothly. Afterwards, I helped the crew breakdown the catering tables and prepare for tomorrow's event! 

Friday, June 24th

Friday, I worked with Kim, Impromptu Café manager. Impromptu is a café at the Kansas Union which prides itself on a casual and friendly dining experience even during a hectic school day. Their menu offers a wide variety of exotic, vegetarian/vegan friendly and award-winning options all created by the amazing Chef Janna! I assisted Kim in hostessing front of the house and had a lot of fun! In the afternoon, Julie and I had a meeting with the marketing team for KU Memorial Unions, which handles all of KU Dining's projects. We met with Lauren, the Marketing Director, and her team to discuss their vital role in KU Dining and even went over our themed dinner idea: The Original Rules of Breakfast - which they all seemed to love and were very excited about! They already had some great ideas to work with for our dinner theme and we can't wait to work more with marketing soon!

Lemongrass Chicken Spring Roll Bowl special!