UGA Week 4

Well, here we are, half way through our summer in Athens, and each week seems to be even better than the last.

You can find dozens of these bulldogs scattered all over the city!

This week started off with Maura and I attending Day 1 of the Managers Academy. This is the first time that the Dining Services has put on a Managers Academy, and I believe it will become a great resource for the managers here at UGA. Day 1 was dedicated to new managers, and covered topics such as leadership skills, supervision, policies, and everything that you need to know about the meal plans. I learned a great deal from this academy, and honestly, I would have loved to have attended the entire 5 day course, however, I know that our time getting hands on experience is very important!

On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of working with the catering staff, to help set up, work, and break down the freshman orientation breakfast. During this time, I got to learn about presentation, timing, scheduling events, and billing. I had no idea how busy the catering staff was, and how many events they are needed for throughout the school year, I truly give them props!

The table I helped set up at orientation breakfast

My alarm clock went off at 4:30am on Wednesday... it was time for weekly inventory! Our morning started at 5am at Bolton Dining Hall, the largest and newest of the 5 dining halls on campus. Maura and I split up, each assisting a Materials Handler in completing the inventory. After that, delivery trucks began to arrive, delivering milk, produce, dry goods, and other supplies that were ordered two days prior. The ordering system works on a 3 day schedule of sorts; you order food one day, to be prepped the following day, to be served on the next day. We had the opportunity to get hands on experience working with FoodPro, and using it to keep track of inventory and place orders from the central warehouse on campus. We also learned about the multiple other programs that the dining halls use to order things like the dairy and produce, which gets delivered directly to the unit. We ended our day by meeting with Katherine, the dietitian at UGA, who I did not realize played so many important roles on campus, including conducting one-on-one meetings with students, information sessions about eating healthy on campus and so many other topics, as well as working with the marketing team to create amazing resource tools for students.

On Thursday, we had the luxury of sleeping in for an hour more than the previous day, which believe it or not, makes all the difference! Thursday consisted of shadowing Assistant Managers at Bolton who are in change of opening procedures, weekly payroll, overseeing the transition from breakfast to lunch, walking the floor, and delegating staff to complete tasks. It was very cool to be able to step in their shoes for a day and see what it is really like to be a manager here at UGA.

After a long week of early mornings, I was finally able to sleep in! (Maura wasn't so lucky though) Today was the first real day that we were truly split up and doing completely different tasks. I spent the day shadowing an Assistant Manager who oversees the 11 (and more to come!) different eateries that are currently located throughout the campus. I very quickly learned that her job very heavily revolves around money and counting. I spent the day closing down the eateries, counting money, rolling coins, and imputing data into Excel. Although math isn't my thing, I found it very interesting and kind of fun!

I apologize for all the words and the little amount of pictures, but I promise that is all about to change, because we had a fun filled weekend that I am ready to share with all of you! Our weekend consisted of visiting one of the local farmers markets, venturing to Atlanta to experience the largest Aquarium in the United States, having fun at a local board game cafe, swimming, and so many more fun activities.