Meal Project Final ReportDate: October 14, 2015Theme: Food Truck Fest

A)Menu Development

• ThemeThe theme I chose for my meal project was “Food Truck Fest”. The first

day of my rotation, Rebecca gave me free range on my meal project theme and encouraged me to be creative and unique. Being a dietetic intern, I rarely have the opportunity to work on projects that aren’t centered around making healthy choices. Since I had the chance to use my creativity and branch out, I decided to incorporate street-style food into the dining commons. I chose this theme because it was something the dining commons had never done before, and it also provided students with the opportunity to try new foods. My inspiration for the

theme came from the Disney movie, “Chef.” This movie focuses on the rapidly growing food truck culture and producing simple yet high-quality foods. Because food trucks are a global phenomenon and they strive to expand authentic flavors to different parts of the world, I wanted to highlight different countries throughout the dining commons to incorporate global awareness.

• Budget (costs for labor, food and supplies)Cost of labor budget- $8,250

Actual cost of labor (for the day of 10/14)- $7,973.86Actual number of employees (for the day of 10/14)- 76. 45 staff

members worked the actual meal during the evening. Cost of food budget- $8,500 (including paper products)Cost of supplies (decorations) budget- $150Total budget: $16,900

• Recipes- See Appendix A

• Nutrient Analysis- See Appendix B

• Menu- See Appendix C

B) Production

• Production Sheets- See Appendix D• Forecasting

The forecasting for all events at the dining commons is generally based off of previous patterns. Much of the forecasting by the chefs is done from memory. I had to dig a little deeper for the forecasting numbers because the chefs automatically know how much to order based off of previous experiences. Generally, 1,800 people are served during dinner time (4pm-8pm). For my meal, we forecasted to serve 2,100 people total. We came in very close to that number at 1,960 meals for the night. The amount of product to purchase for each specific recipe was forecasted out based on the normal flow of the dining hall and the preferences of students in the past.

Forecasting by menu item:- Curros: 1,000- Crepes: 1,200- Clam rolls: 800- Falafel: 300- Monterey Chicken Artichoke Pizzarito: 400- Margarita pizza: 400- BBQ chicken plat bread: 400- Pho noodle soup: 450- Perogies: 1,752- French dip sandwich: 600

• Costing Out of Recipes & Purchasing: See Appendix EMany of the ingredients for my meal project were already fully

stocked in the kitchen or were items that needed to be used quickly. The recipes that ended up costing the dining commons the most to order were the desserts and the pizza recipes. Other recipes, like the perogies and Pho were very cost efficient and required very little additional purchasing.

Items already stocked in inventory (did not need to purchase):- Perogies- Strawberries- Strawberry sauce- Caramel sauce- Hot dog roll- Pita- Rice noodles- Pho stock

- Onions- Red peppers- Green peppers

Costing out of individual recipes (from items that needed to be purchased):

Desserts: $1,171.48Churros: 1,000 @ $347.60

Hot Fudge: 12 containers @ 139.84Crepes: 1,200 @ $468.84

Whipped Cream: 48 @ $80.32Chocolate Syrup: 58 containers @ 107.88

Pizza: $1,154,41Dough: 960 @ $459.00Flat Breads: 100 @ $85.28BBQ Sauce: 4 cases @ $43.45Chicken Breast: 20 cases @ $275.80Mozzarella Cheese: 36 @ $85.41Artichokes: 12 cans @ $106.12

Clam Strips: $893.06Fried Clams: 60 packs @ $615.00Tarter Sauce: 8 @ 87.06Shoestring Fries: 60 cases @ $191.00

Falafel: $48.48Garbanzo Beans: 12 cases @ $48.48

French Dip Sandwich: $921.64Beef: 24 cases @ $486.52Ciabatta Bread: 600 @ $430.30Horseradish: 1 @ $4.82

Perogies: $133.02Applesauce: 6 cases @ $30.34Sour Cream: 12 @ 102.68

Pho Soup: $513.96Shrimp: 30 cases @ $348.66Pork: 4 cases @ $87.12Tofu: 12 cases @ $78.18

Total purchasing cost: $4,816.34

• Service diagram: See Appendix F

• Left OversThe chef and I worked together throughout planning the meal to make

sure food waste was as little as possible. Along with using many items that were already in stock, we used items that could easily be repurposed into other meals. There ended up being a very small amount of leftover food from the event. Items that were completely gone included: churros,

crepes, falafel, all three pizzas, and the beef from the french dip sandwich. All other items were recycled the next day, put back into stock, or frozen for later use.

• Employee work distributionThere are 6 stations within the dining commons that were used for my

meal project. Employees were distributed amongst the stations in the same volumes as a regular dinner night. The only change was an increase in the number of employees at the dessert station (from 1- 4). There were also 3 floor supervisors the entire evening and myself for supervisor support.

Stations and number of employees:- Vtop (desserts): 4- Pizza: 2- Elm City: 2- Vegan: 1- Grill: 2- Global Cuisine: 2- Floor supervisors: 3- Support: 1 (me)

• Final food cost: See Appendix E for purchasing costsTotal final food cost for the event: ~$6,816.34

Purchasing costs of $4,816.34 + ~2,000 (cost of food already in inventory)

Customer Satisfaction Tool

• Customer Satisfaction Tool1. Results

84/100 surveys completed

• What was your favorite street food?Churros- 22, 26%Crepes- 19, 23%Perogies- 19, 23%Vietnamese Pho- 3, 3%Clam Rolls- 17, 10%Pizzarito-12, 14%Pizza- 5, 6%BBQ flatbread pizza- 2, 2%Everything- 4, 5%

• Did you try a food you had never tried before?• Yes- 45, 54%

Crepes- 2Perogi- 5Churros- 3Clam Roll- 1Horseradish- 1Pho Noodle Soup- 2

• No- 36, 42%

• The decorations were:Wonderful- 57, 68%Fine- 20, 24%Ehhh- 4, 5%What decorations- 0

Other comments:• Do this again!• Sometimes hard to try new things are a vegetarian• More effort into the decorations• “Good food, bad taste”• Thank you note from student

2. Interpretation/AnalysisI received very positive feedback on my meal project. The staff

and students both had great things to say. I was able to talk to many students while handing out and collecting my surveys. Most of the students expressed they really liked the food truck idea and that they were enjoying trying new foods. I overheard many students sound very excited about the dessert options and we struggled to keep up with the demand. From the survey results and the pace of the dining commons, the crepes and churros were the clear fan

favorite amongst the students, which was expected. The perogis were also very popular, and were a new food item for many students. I was surprised by how many students selected the pizza options as their favorite. As for the decorations, the feedback was

positive as well. Most of the students enjoyed the theme decorations and no one said that they did not notice them! I was pleased that more than half of the students, 54%, tried a new food that they had never eaten before. Although the three survey questions that I asked provided useful information, I wish I included a comments for suggestions space. A couple of students wrote in comments and I found those to be the most valuable for learning what to do better in the future. I received a nice handwritten note from one of the students thanking the dining commons staff for the night and everything they do to meet the student’s needs (see note attached in appendix G).

C)Marketing: See Appendix H

• Advertising• My advertising strategy consisted on making flyer that promoted the

event, posting pictures on Instagram and Facebook, creating napkin holder flyers, and word of mouth. Shortly after I decided on the Food Truck theme, and spent a couple of hours trying to create flyers on my own, Rebecca showed me the new Sodexo catalog in which they highlighted a food truck fest. Luckily, that provided me with templates for the flyers, menus, and napkin holders. I was also able to use this template for my customer satisfaction tool as well.

1. Flyers - The flyer highlighted the theme, time and date of the event. I posted the flyers one week before my project. They were posted at the entrance to the dining commons, on the back of the bathroom stalls, in the student center, and in the library.

2. Social Media- Although the dining commons doesn’t have an extreme amount of social media followers, I posted pictures to Instagram and Facebook twice each. One post was of the flyer and the other post was of the set up process.

3. Napkin holder flyers (see attached)- I was also able to use the template from Sodexo to create the napkin holder flyers. These flyers included time, date, and theme of the event and were placed on almost every table in the dining commons.

4. Word of Mouth - This was my favorite form of advertising. I had many opportunities working at the stations in the weeks before my event to talk to students to generate interest about food truck fest. I was able to gage just how interested student were in the food truck theme and I encouraged them to tell their friends and spread the word.

• Design/Implementation of signage• For the signage at the event I used a combination of the food truck

fest templates and chalk boards. Since many food trucks write their menu items on chalk boards, I wanted to use chalk boards to create the feeling of being at a food truck at every station. The actual menus for the stations were on the food truck template, this is also where any allergens or vegan options were noted. The chalkboards were used to highlight to countries the specific foods originated from (see attached pictures- Appendix I).

• Decorations• The color theme came from the Sodexo template. I liked the bright

neon colors in contrast with the black background to create more of a night ambiance. My main goal for the decorations and set up of the dining commons was to create a laid-back, “beer garden”, environment. Ideally, I wanted to push all the tables together to create communal, picnic style seating, but I quickly learned that would be too time consuming. We were able to create 5 sets of communal seating by pushing 4 tables to create one. These tables we covered with white tablecloth and then a green plastic table clothe to tie into the color themes. The center pieces were mason jars with blue beads and fake flickering candles. The main center piece was at the entrance on the V-top. I used peach creates, mason jars, a chalkboard, and a world map to create the display.

D). Reflection

Overall, the evening was a success. The entire process of creating the event was a valuable learning experience and I am grateful I was able to conduct this project in an environment full of people so willing to teach. I enjoyed going through all the different steps of creating a meal event; from menu planning, to ordering, decorating, implementing, cooking, and executing. The entire process is much more complicated and in-depth than I originally thought. Producing any meal on a large scale is truly a team effort by all the staff. If one area doesn’t do their job, the entire meal suffers. Thankfully, the staff at KSC DC are very organized and efficient and my meal project was implemented smoothly. If I had the opportunity to re-do this

project, I would make more of an effort to be more involved in the actually cooking of the meal. Throughout my rotation, I spent very little time in the kitchen preparing foods. Looking back, I would of liked to of spent more time preparing my meal so I could be more aware of the ingredients and the preparatory process. In reflection, I also should of placed a higher priority on learning about the forecasting and budgeting of the meal. As I mentioned earlier, in the regular day to day, this is done by the chefs memory. Because of their experience in dining services, they know off the top of their heads how much to order for each item. I on the other hand, was clueless. This process reminded me of the importance of asking questions when you are unsure about something. Since I did not speak up initially, I spent more time than necessary backtracking and asking questions after the meal was complete.

I am very thankful for the time the staff took to work with me on my project. This project, as a part of my entire food service rotation, helped to change my opinion on food service in a positive way. I have realized that I really enjoy working with college-aged students, as well as the fast paced environment of dining services.