By Amanda Sauceda
My first week of school foodservice is done and I feel like I’ve been there forever, in a good way. I've hit the ground running right from the start. School foodservice has so many different components to it that I didn’t even realize.
The first day had the normal things like introductions with the staff and a general overview of the site. By the end of the day I was already prepping for a product evaluation to be done the next day. The product evaluation was comparing two in-house products, grilled cheese sandwiches and sausage, to possible replacements. To get ready I had to look at the food item specifications for the nutrient analysis and cost per serving to put in the comparison sheet. Evaluation sheets were also created so everyone could either pass or fail the product based on the taste, nutrient profile, and cost. At the end of the evaluation the sheets were collected and the results tabulated to see if any of the new products passed. Considering this all happened my first and second day I’ve accomplished a lot already. At the end of the week I was on the tray line at an elementary school for their lunch. That was a great experience to actually see the kids and exactly how their food was served to them.
This week I also had a meeting with the purchasing manger and reviewed the bid process and all the details involved with buying food for the schools. For example, if the purchase order is over a certain amount of money they are required to go out to bid for the product. The actual bid is a very detailed document stating what the school district is looking for in their product and the expectation for quality, cost etc. After that meeting I got to sit in on a vendor meeting where a food company came in to discuss their products with the managers. It was a nice tie in after the discussing how vendors are chosen.
All and all it was a very busy week and the rest of the rotation is just as packed with meetings, tours, and more product evaluations!
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