The Service of Food (Internship Week #1)

First Day. :) Almost an RD

For those of you who don't know, I started my internship this week. It's been great. The first few days my preceptor wasn't there so I just kinda threw myself into the game. I am starting off with my Food Service Systems Management (FSSM) rotation at Granite School District. Granite is very different from many of the other school districts because everything (well, almost everything) is produced in a centralized kitchen. This place is HUGE! I should get the stats on a few things to give you an idea of what they actually do there. It's nuts. First thing I did was rotate through the kitchen, getting to know the layout. Just to give you an idea, if all the appliances weren't bolted to the ground in just the kitchen area you could have about 4 basketball courts. Not to mention the dry storage area, another 5-6 b-ball courts, and the freezer (there are 4 of them) could have 2 Olympic sized skating rinks in them!
The other day I was trying to verify a recipe so I had to go into freezer 4 (the biggest of all of them) to find some blueberries. I thought to myself. If for some reason I got trapped in here, this would be the worst way to die. IT'S SO COLD!!! I only hope I don't ever have to do a full inventory out there. BURR!
Pretty much this week I got to know the staff. Went to meetings with them, and in my free time went and helped out in the kitchen to get better acquainted with kitchen staff. I will be teaching an in-service to them in a couple weeks and I think it is best to just get out and learn about people so they will appreciate coming to an in-service, hopefully. :)
My schedule has been a little crazy, since Food Service in Granite is kinda a 24 hr humming beast. I have come in REALLY early some mornings to see the early crew and help with a catering project. Hopefully that doesn't become a regular thing, I was soooooo tired!

Sedexo is the management company that partners with Granite School District. Their Regional Operations VP came in Thursday  for a quarterly visit. I didn't know who the heck he was, so I just started talking to him like he was just some Joe Shmo (not that I treat people differently from their title, but it would have shut me up about just talking about what I was doing, since he probably had better things to do.) Anyways, I was asking him all of this stuff and giving ideas of what I would do differently or what I love about Granite after being there for only a week. THEN after all this I find out who he is, and connect the dots as to why our conversation was leading the way it was...DUH! Anyways, it all worked out well because I overheard him talking with the director and he was impressed that I was wanting to learn so much, he said he hadn't heard someone that open and honest and wanting to glean as much as she could in a long time. He said it was refreshing. Needless to say that put a smile on my face and made me feel more confident that I can actually be a dietitian one day.
..
I am excited to learn more, and even though I didn't think I would end up in food-service I am liking the time I am spending there and at this point I need to keep my options open.
FEWWWW! What a week!

Rockin' my USU name tag.