To recap two weeks ago, on Monday June 27, I began my two day rotation at the Maucker Union. This gave me more of a look at the franchises on campus as well as some retail. The first rotation here was in the back of the house helping to pack retail kits like apple slices and peanut butter, yogurt parfaits, sandwiches/wraps, veggie trays, etc. that are sold in the food court "grab and go" area. Then I had a rotation helping with inventory. Brr! Those freezers are chilly. Next, I got to work at E&G; a sub shop similar to Jimmy Johns. I made some subs and worked the cash register (they use a Micros system). Next stop was Chats coffee shop where I learned how to make lattes, cappuccinos, caramel macchiatos, and frappuccinos, etc. I relied on the recipes to make a lot of the drinks because I didn't know how much of all the syrups to put in. Chats also serves Freshens smoothies and many baked goods made in the bakery on campus. Last stop was Essentials; a retail location selling university clothing, school supplies, snacks, beverages, greeting cards, and personal care items.
Tuesday June 28, I had my second day in the Maucker Union rotation. Carolyn discussed how cash summary reports are used in regards to sales per week and guest check averages. She also talked about inventory control measures and we reviewed an inventory analysis through FoodPro together. One of the many pieces of information it provides is if we ran out of an inventory item before we were supposed to or if we had excess that had to be tossed. For example, if we ordered extra milk to accommodate the orientation groups at Chats coffee, but then less people showed up than expected and the milk went past date, we would have excess.
There was also recipe testing that was going on Tuesday. Juli was testing a bunch of grilled sandwich recipe ideas for the upcoming fall semester. They went over pretty well.
My final rotation at the Union was at Wasabi's. Wasabi always has a full salad bar with a bunch of yummy options for create your own salad as well as some prepared salads (couscous salad, macaroni salad, etc.). Wasabi also has a Mongolian grill that is used for made to order mongolian barbecue style stir fry. The grill is not used for that during the summer, but it us used to make quesadillas quite a bit. Wasabi also does "bar concepts" as well. They do taco bars, pasta bars, burrito bowl bars, etc. The Tuesday I was there, it was pasta bar day. There were multiple noodle choices, sauce choices, and toppings. Who doesn't love creating their own meal? The sauces were roma tomato, alfredo, and cheese (like for mac and cheese). The toppings were sautéed mushroom, onions, zucchini, bell peppers, chicken, and steamed broccoli. We continuously made small batches of the pasta and vegetables throughout service, so the quality was very high. The noodles didn't get dried to or too sticky and the vegetables didn't go soggy.
Wednesday June 29 I had the Mastermind class. We covered the law of the picture (people do what people see), the law of buy-in (people buy into the leader, then the vision), and the law of victory (leaders find a way for the team to win). I also met with Sara to precost/forecast for my special event. In the afternoon, I met with Jen and Cheryl to discuss the special diet venue as well as the cycle menu for the special diets. This is one of the bigger projects I will be working on.
Thursday June 30 was year end inventory across the whole campus. In the morning, I helped Susan at Piazza. Some of the areas I helped her with were chemicals/equipment, spices, dried goods, and we started on the coolers but then I headed to another part of campus. I also got to help a bit in Biscotti's, one of the retail stores. They were audited, so I was able to observe that process.
Friday July 1 was a project day, so rotation evaluations were finished and I was able to go in Piazza's basement storage area and sort through their decoration to find decorations for my special event.
Saturday July 2 I took a day trip to Maquoketa Caves State Park. It was absolutely beautiful! There was a lot of hiking and a large system of caves. The main, larger caves, had very easy paths and some stairs for easy access to them. This is where the most people swarmed later in the day. I was definitely glad to have beat the rush by getting there a little earlier. I preferred the harder trails. People were still on them, but less families with bunches of kids. There were some good climbs and these trails often lead to the smaller caves that you had to crawl through. These were so much fun! I love getting down and dirty and I'm glad I remembered to bring a flash light as these smaller caves were not lit.
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| One of the larger caves |
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| Natural bridge in front of a cave |
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| One of the crawl only caves |
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| Beneath a natural bridge |
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| Plenty of rocks to scramble over |
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| Queen of the hill! |
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| One of the larger cave interiors |
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| On top of a rock formation at the the tree line |
Monday July 4 was of course Independence Day! Drove to Galena to meet up with some of my favorite Michiganders…Guess who?!? In the late afternoon, I went to a cook out with some co workers and saw some fireworks. Kind of surprised they still had them because the weather was crappy and it started thundering. Oh well, Iowa was determined.
Tuesday July 5 was a project day. I continued to work on the special diet menu. It is kind of challenging because they always have three different meals during meal time. They have one that is just gluten free, one that is free of the top 8 allergens (gluten, dairy, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, shellfish, and fish), and one vegan option. Granted there are a lot of recipe options out there, but bear in mind that these are college students. They're fussy. They currently don't like about half of the options on the menu (that's why I'm trying to work on it). They want "kid food" (college kid anyways). They like simple food like sandwiches, burgers, chicken tenders, etc. They don't want to have food that's too different from what everyone else is eating. I will try my best to accommodate for everyone and add in some recipes they will like.
Wednesday July 6 was another project day. I worked on making some decorations for the special event as well as meeting with the bakery to test my movie candy topped brownies for the event. The topping will be mini m&ms, heath bits, and chopped reeses peanut butter cups. They're not a healthy item, but they're delicious and they will definitely go over well with the crowd my event will be serving. Also, They're topped with movie candy, so they fit my theme of night at the movies perfectly!
I also had my mastermind class on Wednesday. We covered the law of the big mo (momentum is a leader's best friend), the law of priorities (leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment), and the law of sacrifice (a leader must give up to go up).
Thursday July 7 I met with Cathy in computer systems again. I have been working with the food management system FoodPro a good amount the past couple of weeks, but I wanted to meet with her again to go over more details of what the system can do now that I understand more how to operate it. The first time I met with her was the second week I was here and it was harder for me to understand some parts of it because I had never used it before and hadn't had the opportunity to practice. During this meeting, We went over the two levels; FoodPro global functions (across all of campus) and FoodPro local (in one area of campus; Piazza dining center, fresh beginnings bakery, commons catering. etc.). I was more familiar with the local level because that's what I have been using the past couple of weeks at piazza. I have done nutrition analysis with it, recipe batching, and recipe research for both my special event as well as for the special diet menu.
Thursday, Susan and I also went out to buy some additional decorations for the upcoming event. I will do a separate blog post for the event, as I intend to include several pictures and it might be too long if I include them all in my usual post.
Friday July 8, I worked with Chris at the C-stores and retail location Biscotti's. Chris is the retail manager at UNI. He oversees the carts, cafes, concession stands, and retail stores. I mostly worked at Biscotti's on Friday. I worked the cash register a bit, learned how to make some Starbuck's drinks (they aren't a franchise, but they are a "proudly serve location" and have the ability to make most of their drinks), learned how to stock the shelves, learned which companies restock their own products and have a product guarantee (the company will replace stock if it expires), learned how to close the registers/make deposits, and reviewed daily and weekly sales reports. Chris discussed trends in the convenience store market.
Some of the other retail locations on campus include 23rd street market (convenience store similar to Biscottis but they serve Godfather's pizza), Apple cart (a cart selling snacks and drinks in an academic building), Crunch break (another cart in the wellness and recreation center), and Book Bistro (a cafe selling food, drinks, and coffee in the library.)
It was exciting to see the plans for the new apple cart. It is being remodeled into a permanent cafe. Chris talked to me about some potential new ideas they are thinking about implementing. For example, the food items have not been determined yet but some that have been tossed out as ideas are mexican food, bagel sandwiches, or sushi as none of these items are currently sold anywhere on campus and it would broaden the options.
Another retail option on campus is the care package business. Chris has a website he created that has many care package options that can be ordered for students. He also has partnered with a local florist to provide floral arrangement and balloons for purchase on the website.
This weekend has brought some pretty crappy weather in the form of thunderstorms. Bummed out that I can't spend as much time outside as i would have liked. Oh well, maybe next weekend will be clear for the next adventure!
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