The University of Kansas: Week Eight

How can this amazing experience be over so fast?! Our time at the University of Kansas has been simply incredible and Julie and I are so sad it has come to an end. All the experiences we had and friends we made will never be forgotten! Here is the wrap up of our final week with KU Dining. 

Monday and Tuesday, July 25 and 26th

On Monday and Tuesday Julie and I did a tremendous amount of work to prepare for our final dinner event at Mrs. E's! We met with various people at Mrs. E's to ensure the preparation for our project was running smoothly. We made sure our inventory was in order with Devin, checked out some of our items in Judy's stockroom, and met multiple times with Sam to help us with our final decoration details. We also worked with Adrianna in the bakery to make lots of advanced prep items such as whole wheat cinnamon rolls and whole wheat pizza dough! Though these days were long, we had a lot of fun working with everyone so closely.

Whole wheat cinnamon rolls for our final dinner! 

Julie helped create our special Peach Tart for our event!

Wednesday, July 27th

Wednesday was the big day that Julie and I had been waiting for! We cannot explain how amazing of a job the team at Mrs. E's did in helping us execute our final dinner: The Original Rules of Break Fast. It was such a surreal thing to see the concepts that Julie and I have been working on for 8 weeks come to life. Here is some background about our theme. 

The Original Rules of Break Fast was inspired by the The Original Rules of Basketball, written by James Naismith and adopted by no other than KU. The Original Rules of Basketball were recently purchased by an alumnus of KU and the new DeBruce Center was built to house them right on KU's campus. With the excitement of the rules and the strong love for jayhawk basketball at KU, we came up with a clever play on the Original Rules of Basketball and therefore created the Original Rules of Break Fast. We decided to stick with classic jawhawk decor in the dining hall and also implemented an overall basketball theme - we were even as fortunate to have a life-size James Naismith cutout serve as a selfie station during our event - donated so generously by KU Memorial Unions Marketing. For our nutrition education, we created a MyPlate "game plan" poster for the focus of our nutrition kiosk along with rosters of the 5 "starters" of MyPlate: fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy. We also had a pop-a-shot with nutrition trivia for participants to win prizes and a chance for all event attendees to enter a raffle. As for our menu (pictured below) we stuck with a fun twist on breakfast foods that could also work at dinner foods (since our event was held during dinner). 

Everyone from Christine, to marketing, to Cheryl, to the entire staff at Mrs. E's, and all the upper management at KU Dining that came in to support our event, played a role in helping us execute such a successful event! The only "mishap" was the popularity of Julie and I's chicken and waffles. When we ran short on the pre-made waffles, Julie had to jump in the back of the house and make some with Mason, fresh of off the waffle iron! Other than that, our 12 hour day ran very well!

Our decoration committee did a fabulous job!

These Jayhawks are hand-made by Sam at Mrs. E's!

Sam also created this amazing homecoming style sign! 

Julie with our nutrition kiosk!

Playing our MyPlate trivia allowed you to try our pop-a-shot and win prizes!

Our friends supporting our event! 

Keith, The Market manger, brought his family to The Original Rules of Breakfast - how amazing!

        

Our most popular dish!

Thursday, July 28th

Julie and I had our final presentation to all of KU Dining upper management this day! As nervous as I was, I think Julie and I did a great job, especially since those we have worked with already came to support us and hear about our time during our internship and made it a very relaxed audience to speak to. Julie and I prepared a giant slide show, made a short video of our final event, and brought in our nutrition kiosk to the presentation in order to show everyone all the amazing things we accomplished during our intensive internship. After finally having the relief of being done with our internship and the entire experience going as well as it did, Julie and I had the pleasure of enjoying a reception at Mrs. E's that everyone planned for us! We had cake, drank punch, took photos, and had the chance to talk to everyone and let them know how much we appreciated them having us this summer. I will admit that it was bittersweet, but the experiences and new bonds that I have made with some many people at KU is something I will always cherish! 

   

Example slides from our final presentation and all the activities we did during our internship! 

Our special going away reception - thank you to all of KU Dining! 

Friday, July 29th

For our final day in Kansas, Julie and I will be traveling home in the afternoon after Christine gives us her final evaluations after our lunch with her. We look forward to our final moments with her and the staff at Mrs. E's. 

Those at KU Dining that have shown us tremendous support through our journey! 

So with that, NACUFS, and everybody reading, I would like express how amazing my summer has been at KU Dining. All the experiences, new skill sets, insights and personal growth that I have experienced have been truly remarkable. I believe that my time with KU Dining has been the biggest challenge that I have faced professionally and I value it so much. While I am sad to have heard about the discontinuation of this exceptional internship, I can only hope our current blogs are true exemplifications of how meaningful our experiences with the NACUFS Foodservice Management Internship really are!

Sincerely,
Briana

The University of Kansas: Week Seven

How can it already be week seven?! That means there is only one more week left in this exciting NACUFS journey!

Monday and Tuesday, July 18th and 19th

Monday and Tuesday were some of Julie and I's favorite days! We were baristas at The Roasterie! We were trained on everything coffee including how to make drip coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, frappes, Americanos, macchiatos, you name it! The most interesting thing was learning the differences between those drinks and how to tailor each one for all the different customers that came by The Union. In addition, we also learned how to make smoothies and chai tea lattes! After all said and done, we had a quiz with Katie, The Union Roasterie supervisor. She ensured we passed with flying colors, mostly because she was an excellent teacher! Julie and I loved working at The Roasterie! 

Barista fun!

Julie made her first latte!

Maybe one day we will be able to master latte art! 

We love making frappes!

Wednesday, July 20th

Wednesday was a special day for Julie and I. We had been working hard to prepare our final dinner packets to present to management at Mrs. E's. We were to communicate our overall dinner theme, lead responsibilities on event day, diagrams of concept set up and decoration, our recipe creation, and anything else we needed to discuss to ensure successful execution of the event! Though it was intimidating presenting to the management at Mrs. E's, the meeting went well and the help and support across KU Dining has been tremendous! In the afternoon, Julie and I shadowed Travis, brand new Executive Sous Chef at KU Dining, about his previous position as Production Manager at Mrs. E's. It was interesting to hear how his past three years working at Mrs. E's to manage the back of the house has most definitely prepared him for his new, larger role in KU Dining! 

Our 24-page final dinner packets!

One sample concept diagram

  

Thursday, July 21st

On Thursday, I had a very exciting day shadowing Kory, Mrs. E's Service Manager. We first started with an interview for the open supervisor position at The Studio! It was a three person interview, lasting about 30 minutes long. Afterwards, we all had the chance to discuss how management typically assess candidates and also records interview answers in their online system. It was so interesting to get to watch their interviewing process as I have been wanting to sit in on an interview for a while! Afterward, Kory and I attended a meeting to discuss the craziness of the first week of school and the students' tail gate and boxed lunch events. KU Dining will be serving about 3,600 students so it is vital that all of KU Dining is involved in the production and execution of the food and events! Mark, KU Dining's new Director and John, KU Dining's new Executive Chef, led the giant team of upper management in ensuring everyone knew their responsibilities to prepare for the first week of school at KU. It was a great meeting to sit in on! After all the excitement, Kory gave me the chance to ask him about his role in KU Dining and his specific management style. It was a fun day! 

Friday, July 22nd

Friday was jam packed with FUN! Christine took Julie and I to Kansas City to do some very cool things! We first went to The Roasterie, a locally started coffee shop/factory in the heart of KC. We learned how The Roasterie got it's start and how it's one of the most unique coffee shops in that they air-roast all of their coffee beans (which tastes fabulous, by the way)! We got a tour of their factory to see how they hand package their coffee and then also tasted a new coffee blend made by both a pour over method and French press method - both having totally different tastes! After the Roasterie, Christine took us to one (if not the) best places for BBQ - Joe's Kansas City BBQ. We all had the best lunch ever! Later that afternoon, we all headed to Boulevard Brewing to go on a brewery tour! We heard how the company got it's start in creating great craft beers and toured the huge brewing facility. We (not underaged Julie!) even got the chance to try a few samples! We all had so much fun spending all of Friday together!

The Roasterie in Kansas City!

Julie, myself and Christine!

Testing the new Malawi Misuku Hills coffee

The classic Z-Man Sandwich - YUM!

The University of Kansas: Week Six

The excitement and challenge at the University of Kansas does not stop at week six! Julie and I had one of our busiest and longest weeks yet - but the experience and fun have been all worth the while!

Monday, July 11th

Julie and I had the pleasure of working a long 10 hour shift this day! My day started at 5:30am (whew!) with Hugh, the back of the house supervisor at Mrs. E's. We had a crazy morning that day as we spent a majority of it cooking breakfast to help out in hot foods. Afterwards, Hugh taught me how to schedule the staff in the daily work assignments, and also talked to me about his specific role at E's. The day with Hugh was fun and educational, but afterwards, I do admit I needed a nap!  

Tuesday, July 12th 

On Tuesday, Julie and I got to meet with Keith, The Market manager! We had met Keith a couple times prior to our official meeting and he was always so nice so Julie and I were really excited for our time with him. During our meeting we talked about how The Market, which is located in the Kansas Union, serves a very diverse population so that is always taken into consideration when planning menus and concepts. We took a tour of The Market to take a closer look at Keith's menus and all the changes he has made throughout the years. After our meeting with Keith, Julie and I headed back to Mrs. E's to ensure our themed dinner event continues to run smoothly, as it's coming up so quick! We spoke various chefs and managers and Mrs. E's to gain some insight and help on our recipes, layout diagrams, and marketing requests - everyone has been so helpful! 

Wednesday, July 13th

Wednesday was an exciting day! Julie and I and a huge group of Mrs. E's staff and Sysco representatives ventured to Rich Hill, Missouri to Vernon County Produce! Vernon County Produce is a family owned and operated business and is very unique in that they use horse power and other alternative methods to run their facilitates. The Mennonite group that took us on the tour were very welcoming and friendly, they even made us lunch and invited us into their house to eat when a huge storm hit around noon that day! It was amazing to see their way of earning a living and all the hard work they put into their business. This day was one I would not forget! 

Their peppers were picture perfect! 

Delicious Heirloom tomatoes!

 

Kale!

Now that's a hayride! 

Thursday, July 14th

Thursday involved another 10 hour day, but this time in the front of the house at Mrs. E's with Jason! We did various assessments and lots of problem solving that day! He taught me how to perform a sanitation check and how to schedule staff for the front of the house. He also taught me how crucial good communication and delegation of tasks was among his employees. It was fun getting to know about Jason and work with the entire Mrs. E's crew!  

Friday, July 15th

 

Friday was a very early day as well, which started at 6:30am at North College Cafe (NCC), a dining hall on north side of campus. As soon as we arrived at NCC, we were immediately in the action! We helped the NCC staff serve breakfast to a 20-person group of students visiting KU from the University of Costa Rica! As we worked to prepared the food and prep for later that day, we talked with Dave, NCC manager, about his career path and journey in KU Dining. Afterwards, Dave invited us to lunch at The Market! Then later that day, Julie and I had a very important meeting with marketing as they showed us their final designs from our mock ups for our Original Rules of Breakfast themed dinner! Marketing did a great job on our materials and we can't wait to start promoting our event! 

Social media marketing! 

Julie and I's imitation of the Original Rules of Basketball! 

Weekend Fun

 This weekend, Julie and I had some experience working with management at Mrs. E's on both Saturday and Sunday! We shadowed more supervisors in the front of the house and in the back of the house. The day was filled with lots of assessments and great teamwork. It's so fun to get to see how well management at Mrs. E's works together to feed KU's students! 

The University of Kansas: Week Five

Only three more weeks to go at the University of Kansas?! How can that be?! Here is all the fun-filled details of our short 5th week at KU! 

Monday, July 4th

Fourth of July was super fun in Lawrence! Julie and I got to experience "Kaboom," Lawrence's Fourth of July festival filled with tons of fireworks (of course), good music, and great food. Julie and I had the pleasure of meeting some friends here at KU so here are a couple of pictures of our work-free Monday! 

The lovely Burcham Park and Kansas River!

Lots of fun friends at KU!

Interns just want to have fun!

Tuesday, July 5th

Tuesday we were thrown back into the busy work flow! It started with mid-term evaluations given by Christine. They were nerve racking, I admit, but very helpful on both Julie and I's part - we appreciated all of Christine's comments! Afterwards, we had endless amounts of project time (yippie)! Working on the multiple monthly nutrition topics are a tough job, but I feel they will be very rewarding. 

Wednesday, July 6th

Wednesday was a very unique time for Julie and I! It was an entire day of just recipe testing and tasting! Before we got into the new, yummy recipe making, Chef Travis, KU's newly promoted Executive Sous Chef (congrats Travis!), informed us of the recipe creating process. I learned so many new things since I've never truly been introduced to the kitchen before. It all revolved around the correct ways of writing recipes and ensuring they will feed the mass amounts of students we will be serving at our end of internship themed dinner. Then, for our "Original Rules of Breakfast" theme, we made a whole-wheat pizza crust, whole-wheat pancakes with berry syrup, and one version of our peach tart (for James Naismith's famous peach basket of course)! Though some recipes were fantastic on the first try, about half had to be tested again, which meant more tasting in the future (Julie and I were just fine with that)! Chef Travis and Chef Mary were great to work with for this project!

Our bacon, green apple, havarti cheese and caramelized onion breakfast pizza - the winner!

Our egg, spinach, feta, black olive and red onion breakfast pizza - the runner up!

Peach tarts - delicious!

Thursday, July 7th

Thursday called for more project time, specifically finishing up our breakfast pizzas and the peach tart! We had some winners for our final recipes and we are very excited to share them at the dinner! In the afternoon, Julie and I had the privilege to go to the new DeBruce Center and speak with Cindy, the DeBruce chef and manager. She told us all about her ventures in the start of the new center, which houses the Original Rules of Basketball (hmmmm, wonder where Julie and I got our theme inspiration from?!) and how she picked the specific concepts for the Courtside Cafe, which serves both the public who visit the museum and the basketball and football athletes of KU! Her experience and insight were great to listen to. Afterwards, Julie and I were give another tour of the DeBruce center and even invited to eat when the athletes ate at their private dinner! 

KU basketball's nutrition tables! This looks like your typical,  fancy booth set-up, right...?

Until you find out they were actually made for giants! Julie's feet can't touch the ground!

Friday, July 8th

Friday morning was a bustling one! Julie and I got to visit with Chris, KU Dining's satellite operations manager. Chris is essentially in charge of most retail locations on campus, including all coffee shops. We first visited him at the Mortar and Pestle, the KU School of Pharmacy's coffee shop - the entire building was gorgeous! After hearing about his role in KU Dining and observing how his operation serves all other locations with cold foods and other items, he took us on a tour of some of his other locations on campus. We went the Fueling Station for the KU athletes to hear how he services athletics and then we also visited KU's brand new Capitol Federal Hall School of Business - which was also so gorgeous! Chris' coffee shop in the School of Business is the first of it's kind - KU Dining has franchised the coffee shop to the school so they can use it as a business model for their students - how interesting is that?! Chris is definitely excited to see how this new venture pans out, as is the rest of KU Dining's retail team! After our exciting morning, Julie and I met with multiple Mrs. E's staff to solidify our recipes and orderings for our themed event. We also sent in marketing requests and worked on project for Aaron, the sports dietitian. Though Julie and I have had A LOT on our plates all at once, we've been having fun the entire way!   

My favorite place for summer school studying!