Week 3- Mrs. E's

For the next several weeks I spent my time working intimately with the management, supervisors, and staff at the largest residential dining facility on campus, Mrs. E's.

June 21, 2010

This Monday I spent the day with a Health inspector and one of the supervisors at Mrs. E’s, Lorraine Herring. I have never gotten to witness a health inspection before so it was an enlightening experience. This summer Mrs. E’s will have to undergo three separate health inspections mandated by the department of education because there are three separate camps that Mrs. E’s is catering to that require it. Of course having to undergo three inspections in less than a month is never what a food service facility wants to have to go through but after speaking with the health inspector it does not seem like the management here has very much to worry about. Mrs. E’s seems to have built a great reputation with state health inspection and continued to do so today. And really I think that’s what it is all about. I learned today that unless something is egregiously wrong with a facility as long as you have a healthy relationship with your health inspector then passing inspection should be a breeze. However, that’s not to say that a lot of hard work does not go into keeping a facility like Mrs. E’s up to snuff with health codes.
Both during the health inspection and while shadowing Lorraine I learned a lot about the specifications for storing, preparing, and disposing of food. Temperature is crucial. It seemed that the majority of what the health inspector did was take temperatures of hot and cold items to ensure that they were in the proper range for avoiding microbial contamination. The health inspector especially emphasized the importance of proper temperature for refrigerated meats and dairy products because the bacteria Listeria can flourish in cold environments. Overall Mrs. E’s did very well in the health inspection with the exception of one critical control point deduction because an employee was chewing a straw in the kitchen. Staff are not supposed to eat or consume anything in the kitchen or on the serving lines.
After hanging out with the health inspector I joined up with Lorraine to observe and work on the service lines. We started out on the main dish line where I learned the importance of accurate and consistent portion sizes. I was serving French fries and got to witness firsthand how hard it is to keep portion sizes the same, which is directly associated with customer satisfaction. The amount of fries I served were rarely the same size because of the tongs being used to serve them and the speed at which they needed to be served. In order to avoid complaints I think I ended up over serving things quite a bit, especially the french-fries. After the main dish I moved over to the deli where we made sandwiches where I learned the importance of matching the amount of food you have out on the line to customer demand. This is done mostly to avoid food waste. For example, if it seems that the lunch rush is winding down it is better not to restock items because they will most likely not be used.
Then Lorraine showed me how to fill out the “paperwork” associated with service operations. First we went over the temperature monitoring process which consists of recording temperatures of food items and cooling units on a worksheet posted in each station. This is done so as to ensure that all items are cooked properly and refrigerated so that they are not as susceptible to contamination by potentially harmful bacteria. Then she showed me how to fill out the actuals for a meal. Actuals are a measure of how much of an item was produced, served, and leftover (or disposed of). It is a crucial part of forecasting for future meals because it also takes into account the number of people served per meal. After each meal supervisors like Lorraine enter the actuals information into the FMS system so that the information is available to everyone. For the rest of the afternoon I shadowed Lorraine and observed her as she prepared the front of the house for dinner. In between meals, supervisors have a checklist that they follow that includes ensuring that all staff are on task, all silverware, drinks, and condiments are stocked, that the dining area and all food service stations have been cleaned and restocked, etc. It may seem like there is a lot of down time between meals, but this is just an illusion. Things may get chaotic during meals but almost just as much production and activity occurs after all of the diners have left in order to be ready for the next meal.

June 22, 2010

This morning I attended a meeting with Mrs. E’s management staff and Sheryl Kidwell where we checked on the progress of the themed dinners planned for the next school year. The fall semester starts off with a “Back to School Barbecue” featuring menus items such as pulled pork, potato salad, hamburgers and hot dogs, coleslaw, and locally produced tomatoes. The back to school barbecue will be a welcoming event for new students where they can learn about and enjoy the meals that KU dining services has to offer. The next event is a SUA sponsored event with a Carnival theme that will be hosted by all three residential dining facilities.
The meeting this morning was for all special events for the coming year therefore we went as far as to begin planning and discussing themed meals for Thanksgiving and beyond. For Thanksgiving this year, dining services plans to feature dishes that will be representative of various regions throughout the nation. For example, I suggested apple butter and biscuits for a popular Virginian Thanksgiving dish. We also spoke about the Willy Wonka themed dinner that will hopefully be entered into the yearly NACUFS themed meal competition. It sounds as though Mrs. E’s is ready to hold nothing back, especially with the chocolate river they are planning to make.
After the meeting, I met up with Sergio and started cashier training. I spent the majority of the lunch period working with Brian learning how to set up the register, run cards, take cash payments, and fill out the necessary record keeping documents. Most campers have a meal plan that allows them to eat three meals a day. However, some choose to pay with cash and others use something called a directors card which is typically used for small groups of people that are visiting or staying for a small amount of time. Time flew by especially once the lunch rush hit; I think we served close to 800 people for lunch today. I’ve never swiped so many cards in the span of less than an hour. For the rest of the day I went and explored the libraries on campus and brainstormed more decoration ideas for my themed dinner project.

June 23, 2010

Today the United States beat Algeria in the 92nd minute of play in the World Cup Tournament, thank goodness I didn’t have to work until 12:30 today, I got to watch every minute of it on a big screen television from a comfortable bar stool. When I got to Mrs. E’s today I met with Sergio again and began learning about warewashing. I spent most of my day in the dish room, which was not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be because time flies when you are doing fast paced, intense work. I felt like I was only in there for 20 minutes when in reality I had been on the dish line for more than two hours.
Throughout the day I learned dish washing techniques such as the “three sink method,” something that I am very familiar with having worked in many small restaurants and eateries. This method as it states entails using three sinks. The first sink is for washing dishes with soap to remove any food and debris. The second sink is for rinsing the dishes with clean water, and the third sink is filled with very hot water or a combination of water and sanitizer. Dishes are submerged in the third sink and then allowed to air dry to ensure proper sanitation. Next I spent time in the main dish room in order to better understand the layout of the dish room. Basically there are 5 stations: plate clearing, washing, loading, sorting, and replacing. I got to experience all of these first hands in order to better appreciate the hard work that dish room staff do. I also was shown how to clean out the dish machine and refill it.
However, I did not spend my entire day doing dishes. During the afternoon I sat in on a supervisor meeting where I had to opportunity to gain some insight into how to address conflicts between employees. After a lengthy discussion it was concluded that confrontation between employees needs to be confronted before things escalate to ensure that the work environment remains professional and cordial. Petty argument undue disruptions in the workplace that can have a negative impact on production and the well being of other employees therefore it may be necessary to go as far as to write disagreeable employees up to preserve order in the work place and send a strong message that inappropriate behavior is unacceptable. I think it is important to have standardized procedures to follow when employees misbehave in order to clearly establish what kind of behaviors are expected of staff in the work place. I can see how behavioral problems could become common without proper explanation and subsequent enforcement expected norms.

June 24, 2010

This fine Thursday morning I met up with Jim and Dave Hurwitz at the Union to work the Kansas Memorial Union Dining table at the New Student Orientation information session. There we answered any questions students and parents had about KU dining. I really enjoyed listening to and watching Jim speak with the parents and new students because he was always very clear, engaging, and informative while speaking to people about how meal plans work at KU.
Next I took a tour of the Mortar and Pestle facility with Nona, Jonna, John and a few others. All the walls are up and the place looks like it is really coming together. You can actually visualize where everything is going to be. Most of the equipment, such as shelving and stoves, are already in we are just waiting for the construction crew to finish up a few last minute details. Things should start moving along quickly after next week.
Last and not least today I learned about hot foods operations in Mrs. E’s with Hugh Reno. First we went around to all of the appliances like the ovens, steamer, and grittles and Hugh showed me how to operate and clean all of them, which will come in handy as I begin testing the menu for my special event.
One of the things that stood out to me today was how willing everyone is to share with me what they know from culinary skills to food service experience. Huge has had copious amounts of culinary training and thus has a lot of insight into food preparation so I really enjoyed speaking with him about hot foods preparation. For example, I learned that vegetables retain the most nutrients and color when they are blanched, not steamed or sautéed. And that the most important aspect of a soup is a high quality stock. How do you make a high quality stock you might ask? Well Hugh Reno can tell you. It all starts with your mirepoix which is chopped celery, onion, and carrots. Then you add your meat, for instance if you were making a chicken stock you would add chicken backs, legs, and bones then bring the mixture up to heat quickly so that the fat from the meat separates out and can be removed. You will also want to skim the top of the stock periodically to make sure that it does not get greasy. Then you let the concoction sit for anywhere from 2 to 24 hours depending on what kind of meat it has in it and voila! The cornerstone of a good soup is born. I can’t wait to have a kitchen again so I can attempt to make my own stock.