MONDAY : Today we spent time with the catering department, which is located at the stadium on campus. After working with the catering manager and learning about payroll, scheduling, and general day-to-day operations, we also got to spend time with the catering sales team. The sales team organizes events that are catered by Cal Dining, such as weddings, work conferences,and social events. Weddings on campus are typically held at the stadium, and can be as simple or elaborate as the couple chooses. Erin, the wedding planner, will meet with the couple to tour the stadium and get a feel for what the couple wants - from wedding colors, to lighting, and of course, food! She took us through the stadium and showed us where weddings are typically held, and explained everything that goes into organizing the catering and food for these events. It was fun to imagine how everything would be set up and to look through the menu options Cal offers as well. Conferences and social events are also held on campus and can be elaborately or simply catered based on the organizations' budget.
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| California Memorial Stadium |
TUESDAY : We were back at catering today, but this time in the kitchen working with executive chef Galen. We were lucky to be shadowing Galen on a day he was preparing a tasting menu for an upcoming event held at the stadium. We went to work immediately shucking and grilling corn, preparing fresh produce like tomatoes and wax beans, and baking cookies! The final menu consisted of a grilled corn and crispy farro salad, pork sliders, grilled peaches with fresh ricotta, and chocolate chip cookies. The recipes were a success and the client was pleased. We got to sample them as well, and everything was DELICIOUS! We couldn't pick our favorites, but the peach/ricotta combo definitely won our hearts. The menu will be replicated in large amounts in the upcoming week! This was a particularly fun day for us because the chef's at retail operations tend to have a bit more creativity and freedom to play with the menu, which means the food prep is that much more elaborate and unique than items traditionally prepared in dining halls. It was a lot of fun to watch Galen plate the dishes and make them look really nice to present to the clients. Working in the catering kitchen was a lot of fun.
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| The pork sliders and chocolate chip cookies we helped to prepare! |
View of campus from the stadium Prepping cookie dough in the catering kitchen!
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| Golden Bear Café |
WEDNESDAY: On Wednesday we shadowed Gary at Golden Bear Cafe, a retail location in the heart of campus that sells grocery items in addition to serving Peet's Coffee, Fresh smoothies, made-to-order burritos/nachos/quesadillas and sandwiches and salads. There's also a mini produce stand inside where students can come to purchase seasonal produce. When we were there, they were offering stone fruits like plums, peaches, and nectarines! Yum! Gary is an extremely organized manager so it was interesting and informative to learn how he schedules his day. He gave us a tour of the facility and explained some of the improvements he's been making in productivity and service since coming on board a few months ago. We also got to sit in on a meeting to discuss a new student employee handbook that will hopefully be published for the upcoming year. The meeting topics included everything from employee use of cellphones to defining the necessary time to use gloves. We also served a bit on the line, making burritos and fresh wraps!
THURSDAY: Thursday was spent shadowing chef Jon at Brown's Restaurant. Brown's is a completely unique campus operation, with a large percentage of their food sourced from within 250 miles. They serve breakfast, as well as fresh salads, slaws, tofu, and paninis. The menu style is also unique because it allows students to "flip" the traditional plate by opting for more veggies than meat. Students can choose from multiple options: a "traditional" plate with 2 proteins, or flipped plates with 1 protein/2 veggies or three veggies. The same menu is offered every day, but changes once per semester and also during the summer. This is to optimize the amount of local and seasonal ingredients that are used in the menu! We were both impressed with such a unique menu, from both a nutrition and sustainability perspective. It was really cool to see how eating healthfully and creatively was really encouraged there. The staff at Brown's take sustainability very seriously, and Chef Jon showed us how they use the "leftover" bits of foods like blending the stems of mushrooms into a soup or making bread pudding out of day-old or stale bread products. He explained how he saves money by serving the foods he would have normally thrown out. All it takes is a little creativity. We truly expanded our culinary prowess at Brown's by learning how to properly cut vegetables, prepare bread pudding, and mix vinaigrettes. It was really fun and we learned a lot about what it means to work in a kitchen and to be passionate about what you do everyday.
Healthy alternative to a soda machine Learning to mix vinaigrettes!
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| Brown's "flipping the plate" |
FRIDAY: Field trip day continues to get better and better with our visit to Clover Dairy. Clover consists of a co-op of dairy farms in the region that are committed to humane and organic farming practices. After a quick sampling of some Clover products like milks, yogurt, kefir, and an iced coffee drink (Clover partnered with Blue Bottle, a local coffee company to make it), we took tour of the dairy processing plant. We got to see milk transition from the time of delivery to pasteurization, bottling, and shipping. We then toured one of the dairy farms that Clover utilizes for its milk, Bi-Valve farm. Located near Pt.Reyes, Bi-Valve is a small yet productive family-run farm that has been around for generations. The tour consisted of a walk around the farm, where we learned about the life of a dairy cow. We then toured the milking barn where the cows are milked twice a day, everyday, 365 days a year (there are no vacations for farmers!). The happy cows at Bi-Valve get access year-round to the beautiful California pastures, which is similar to the other farms that Clover contracts with. It was really nice to be able to meet with such a down to earth and hard-working family that cares so much about what they do. It was obvious that they truly cared about the well-being of the animals and quality of their milk. Knowing that Cal is sourcing their milk products from this organization is extremely heartening; we're so proud to be working for a university so dedicated to sourcing their products responsibly. Yay for happy cows!!
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| Clover partnered with a local coffee company to make this iced coffee drink! |
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| The "teenager" cows at Bi-Valve Farms |
After the tour we treated to an AMAZING lunch at Hog Island Oyster Farm where we enjoyed super fresh oysters, amazing views, and great company. Thanks Clover!
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