So for Day 17 they placed us with Bobby who is technically the customer relations person for the catering department, but does a whole lot more for the department!
In the morning we got to sit in on a meeting with Bobby, Shirleta, and Frank where they were discussing this years menu for "Boomer Bash". This is essentially a big tailgate party held 3 hours prior to a home football game where alumni and their families can go to eat. H&FS actually donates the first 3,000 meals of the season (they typically get around 500-700 people per game) and after that they begin to charge ~$10/meal. It's served in the Ball Room at the union building and there are 2 lines opened with at least 2 entrees (like brisket, hotdogs, hamburgers, mac & cheese, shrimp, chicken, etc.), sometimes soup, vegetables, desserts, and beverages. These people seriously get spoiled! They sound like delicious meals. So they went through the menu's and based off of how successful certain items were last year they made changes accordingly. They also gave an extra look to the big games of the season (Notre Dame, OSU, and homecoming) to make sure that the meals they prepare are both pleasing and easy to replenish since the kitchen within that building is small, it can cause more challenges for catering to keep everything supplied.
After the meeting we went over to the union building where Bobby's office is and he went through everything he does for catering. So he will take requests for events that someone wants to have (weddings, receptions, graduations, etc.) and input them into the EMS system they use which states where it's going to be, how many people, the event title, who's hosting, and what kind of food their having with pricing. He also showed us the different suite style menu's they use for the football stadium suites and the new style that they'll be using for this coming year.
Next up Kelsey and I got to be judges for the "Just Desserts" competition that was being held for all Housing & Food Service staff. There were four teams and they each got to create two desserts: one that could be mass produced within Couch for students and one wild card. They were given certain ingredients and objects to use for their prep work which was limited to 30 minutes! It was SO much fun.. not to mention delicious :) what better job could you ask for? Yummm. That was it for the day and we just worked on our project for the afternoon and then spent some time and the pool and relaxed. It really can't get much better!
For Day 18 we spent our second in catering with Dana. He is one of the managers for catering and we got to follow him around to a bunch of different events that were going on that day. To start, they were holding a dinner at the Fred Jones Museum of Art. It was only a small venue with 32 people, but it looked gorgeous! It was our first time inside the museum and the building actually had money and art donated by a couple who had them restructure the actual portion of their home with the art had previously hung. Talk about fancy! So Dana basically just went down to the prep area ahead of time to make sure staffing was alright as well as whether both the amounts and type of food was prepared for the event. We had a little extra time so Kels and I were able to go and look at the special collection they have at the museum: A Century of Magic - Disney! It was so beautiful. There were a million different pictures depicting all of their movies with a small blurb on each piece. It was so cool.
After that event, we got to drive to the surplus location and drop off some stuff then headed back and went to lunch with the director of all H&FS Dave Annis. He took us to Fuzzy's Taco's, a Mexican place on campus corner, and ohhhhh my god the food was to die for! I got a burrito and we had some nachos and salsa before and I seriously have never enjoyed a better meal. It was awesome! We got to talk to Dave about how our experience here has been so far, what we plan on doing after the internship, and just overall what we've been up to outside of working at OU and how we're enjoying Oklahoma. He's such a nice guy and I can see why everyone loves working for him.
We were back with Dana after lunch and got to watch the whole set up take place for a retirement party in one of the lounges at the union building. So when we got there they had just finished setting up the decorative part of the event (table cloths, cutlery, etc.) and were in the process of bringing out the food which was GORGEOUS (pics on facebook). It was so stunning! They had a punch and cake table, a drink table, a fruit/veggie table, and a Mediterranean table with extravagant cheeses, dips, and others set up. The catering was only for a reception so it didn't involve preparing meals for the guests.
Our last event was down at the Health Science Centre in OKC so we drove up there to give them a hand. Technically Dana isn't in charge of the events that are held there but he was helping out since some of the employees he sent were going to be a little late. It was being held for new incoming residence students with their families as a welcome kind of thing with a fiesta theme. So Kels and I helped to set up some chairs, move furniture, fill salt/pepper shakers and place them on the tables, as well as organize sugar/sweetener containers. We got to work with a few of the student employees we see working at Couch all the time which was nice, plus one of the managers over at Cate's where we'll be in two weeks. Afterwards, we headed back in, ate, went to the gym, and just relaxed! All we've being doing so far today (Day 19) is working on our project and for the weekend we're planning on going to Bricktown to explore so keep an eye out for some pictures of downtown OKC!
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