Empower is used for time and attendance. It is used for new hire paperwork and payroll. Food Pro is the food management system used for production, planning, and control. I touched on that a little during last week's blog, so I won't repeat myself.
Monday afternoon and evening I shadowed Scott, an assistant manager at Piazza dining center. One on the venues got a late start in setting up for dinner, so I was able to help make pizzas and get them in the brick oven before service started. That was fun, I love making pizzas! Scott also showed me how we shut down for the night and the routine associated with that.
Tuesday, June 7, was a tour day! Lisa, the registered dietitian and purchasing manager, Matt, senior assistant manager in dining, Susan, internship coordinator and senior assistant manager, and myself got to go to the Barilla facility in Ames Iowa. There were a couple of other Iowa schools and their purchasing teams that joined us, so it was a good sized group. We were lucky to have this opportunity because Barilla does't give tours very often.
We started out by suiting up in smocks, hairnets, hard hats, and safety goggles. Sorry folks, no pictures, but I'm sure you can use your imagination! Our first stop was the mill. We learned about different types of wheat and how it moves through multiple stages of the grinding and sifting processes. We learned that the United States actually grows the best durum wheat. Some of the best is actually grown more out West, in desert areas because there is a set amount of precipitation and it rarely varies. Because Barilla gets wheat from other areas as well, some of it has to be hydrated for several hours so that the moisture levels all match before the processing begins.
After the first grinding, the wheat is still quite coarse, but it smoothes out and gets finer and finer after each new cycle. Also, the product gets yellower and yellower as more bran and outer layers are removed. The final product goal is completely yellow and is called semolina. However, Barilla has many more types of pasta than just original semolina. Their whole wheat pasta gets some of the bran added back into it. Their protein plus pasta is multigrain and is made from wheat, lentils, chickpeas, flaxseeds, and barley. Their gluten free pasta is still yellow because it is made from corn rather than brown like other gluten free pastas that are made from brown rice.
This Barilla facility actually over mills what their facility will use, so they send the finished semolina products by rail car to the New York facility.
There is not actually much wasted because the outer layers not used or the pieces that are sorted out get made into animal feed.
We got scrubbed up before we entered the production area of the facility. It was neat to see the sheets of pasta entering the production lines on one end, then seeing the pasta shapes fall out of one section of the line, and then move through the dryers and into the packaging plant. I loved the farfalle (bow tie shapes) and the long strands of spaghetti. The spaghetti and linguine are cool to see move through the line because they are about three times longer than what you get in the box because as they move down most of the line, they have not been cut down into the box length yet.
The packaging area was cool too to see the difference between how long strands of pasta are boxed versus the shaped pasta. For example, the long strands of pasta are carried in little "bins" that keep all the pasta sticking in the same direction before it is dropped in a box. The shapes (bow tie, etc.) can just funnel down into the boxes from a large holding bin because they don't have to worry about sticking in different directions or breaking as easily.
We finished off the tour by listening to a presentation about how Barilla can be used in University dining centers. We also had a delicious lunch that highlighted all the different Barilla products. They sent some goodies home with all of us.
Wednesday, June 8, I had a meeting with Jill, who is one of the catering managers. She gave me an overview of catering in general, the services UNI provides, how pricing is determined, the billing process, and contracts that are made. This was really interesting for me because I have no prior experience in catering. It was good to have this information because I helped cater a wedding later in the week.
I also had my Mastermind Leadership class today. We covered the Law of Navigation (anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course), the law of Addition (leaders add value by serving others), and the Law of Solid Ground (Trust is the Foundation of leadership).
Following class, I had the opportunity to help interview a candidate for the position of assistant manager in one of the dining halls. This was a very good experience, because I have never had the chance to interview someone. It was great to be able to be involved in asking the questions and watch peoples' enthusiasm (or lack of) as they answered certain questions or gave new ideas and input on how to help a certain areas run smoother.
Wednesday evening, I went to a meet and greet at Panther Village (apartment building where I'm living). We played cards games and had pie! It was nice to meet some of the RAs and a couple of the other people living here.
Thursday, June 9, I helped interview another candidate. As I do this more frequently, it's nice to kind of strategize what questions to ask as well as learn to listen for certain answers. It's definitely a different experience interviewing someone versus being interviewed; way less stressful! I have not had to interview a ton of time, so this has definitely been beneficial in helping me to prepare for future interviews.
Thursday evening, I went to the Cup of Joe coffee house because they have live jazz music from 8:00-10:00. The decorations in the place cracked me up. Picture brightly colored, old school fifties vibe, with local art covering the walls. Regardless, it was good coffee, good music, and the people there were regulars. Chatted with a couple of people that had visited Kalamazoo before.
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| Cedar River |
Friday, June 10, I worked in the catering kitchen at the Commons. First thing, I helped with receiving. We checked that each item ordered was delivered, checked the invoice, and put everything away in the coolers/dry storage.
Next, I helped prep food. My favorite! We were preparing the food for the two weddings that were going on the next day. I trimmed broccoli, topped and tailed green beans, trimmed pork tenderloin, trimmed chicken, and marinated pork. Food prep is relaxing for me, especially because we weren't under any tight time constraints. The kitchen team was awesome and it was funny swapping stories and teasing each other!
Angie, another catering manager, had a showing with a bride in the afternoon so I was able to tag along. We toured Commons (the ballroom, ceremony room, and porch) as well as Maucker Union (lobby and ballroom). These are two completely different venues. Commons is used more for smaller groups and has very nice natural lighting due to large windows throughout the entire place. Maucker Union is used for larger parties and they do more with hanging decorations and lighting.
Friday evening, I checked out "live til 9." It's live music (local cover bands and such), food, drinks, and games in a nearby park. Not as good of a turn out as I was expecting, but there were still a decent amount op people. In all honesty, it was probably due to the above 90 temperatures.
Saturday, June 11, I checked out George Wyth Memorial State park in the morning. What a beautiful place! There are a lot of soft trails through the woods (beware of poison ivy and wear lots of bug spray) , paved trails for biking/running, lakes for fishing, and a campground. What a hidden gem! Good thing I went more towards the morning, the afternoon got up to 96…hot!
During the afternoon and evening, I went between the two weddings on campus. I started out at Commons and worked with Angie to make sure everything was set up, the bride and her family were set and comfortable, and the kitchen was on schedule.
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| Reception Room |
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| Ceremony Room (Porch is through the doors) |
After a busy week, Sunday has been pretty relaxing. Orchard Hill church in the morning, got some evaluations/projects done, updated the blog, did some reading, and enjoyed a nice bike ride. Ready to start another week!
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