Journals | Grace Cucco

June 5th

Day 1

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June 6th

Day 2

I worked 9-5 today. A small group of new hires and I had another orientation with a trainer who told us all the rules of working in a kitchen. I learned about what shoes to wear and wear to park. He told us all the basic rules and we had to sign a lot of waivers such as agreeing to a drug test if requested and other such forms. This orientation took up most of the morning and after we went to get lunch.

I finished lunch around 1:30pm and met the employees who work in the beer garden. I took time to study the menu and the ingredients that are in each option. I was shown the portion sizes and the order of the ingredients that go in each dish. The idea of the beer garden is that the menu options are quick and simple so they were not challenging to pick up. I practiced serving certain orders until it was time to go home.

June 7th

Day 3

I worked at the beer garden again today. I learned how to prepare more complex orders. For example, the pizza is premade and just goes in the oven for a few minutes before being cut into six pieces and served with garnish. The salad and nachos are not premade so there are more ingredients included on the item.

Because I worked 9-5 I learned how to open the beer garden. First we sanitized everything and made sure all the food was fresh. Then, we unwrapped all the food items we needed that day and restocked to be prepared for customers. We cooked the food that was served hot, made guacamole and pre-scooped servings of fruit, guacamole, and salsa.

In the late afternoon I did more training sessions and began working on my ServSafe certification.

June 8th

Day 4

Today was really crazy busy in the cafe so they threw me in expediting without warning. There were two of us expediting. Each ticket had a tracker and the tracker number and table number were different. I had to quickly learn how to use the computer, trackers, and memorize what each item on the menu looked like as I helped the other expediter. I told the runners where to go and helped put food on trays for them to deliver. Then I went to see if there was anything pastry needed me to do. I helped them wrap up and clean the station for the day. Then, I went to do computer training and worked on my ServSafe certification.

June 9th

Day 5

Today I had the opportunity to work at the cooking show with the chef. Every Saturday and Sunday at 1pm and 2pm there is a sponsored cooking show on Fruit and Vegetable Island. I assisted in preparing the samples and cleaning. It was fun to be a part of the show.

After the two shows I did some online training to work on my ServSafe certification. Then for the rest of my shift I helped with event preparations for the wedding that night.

June 12th

Day 6

I worked with the two pastry chefs today. I first made muffin batter. I made blueberry and banana chip muffin batter. Then I made cheddar bacon scones. I learned where all the pastry supplies are stored because they are in a few different locations around the kitchen. When the scones were baked off and cooled I wrapped them and put them in the walk in cooler. While the scones baked and cooled I made granola for the grab and go. I had never made granola before so it was a fun learning experience. When I was finished, I cleaned and sanitized my station and went to the office to do computer work. Today’s episodes were about proper leadership and delegation in the workplace.

June 13th

Day 7

When I got to work today I started by making lemon cupcakes. While the cupcakes were baking I made blackberry frosting for them. I put the frosting in a storage container so the pastry chef could pipe them the following day for an event. Then I made macaroons which I really like making. While they were baking and cooling I made 7 layer bars for the cafe. It is interesting to see exactly what goes in every recipe. Once the macaroons had cooled I dipped them in chocolate and drizzled chocolate on top using a piping bag. Then I cleaned my station and went to the office to do computer training. Today the videos were about harassment and inappropriate behavior in the workplace.

June 14th

Day 8

Pastry did not have a lot of work to do today so I helped out at the beer garden instead. I helped open which involves wiping everything down, making sure all the food stored there is the correct temperature and then unwrapping all the food. Then we heat the hot foods, like the sausages, hot dogs, onions, and beans, in the oven before putting them where they belong. Most of the food comes with chips so we prepared some baskets with parchment and chips for when it got busy. Once the flow of customers died down, around 3:30 I went and watched training videos on my computer about how to practice safe service at events.

June 15th

Day 9

June 18th

Day 10

I made brownies today and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I had made plenty of batter so far in the internship but the brownies were much more challenging. The amount of batter was much larger than anything I had prepared and there was a lot of walking back and forth across the kitchen to use the big mixer. I ended up being covered head to toe in brownie batter and it took me most of the day. When I finally got to baking them off the pastry chef who hadn’t seen any of my struggle said they were the most perfect brownies she had seen in a long time so that made it all worth it. When the brownies cooled I cut them into portions and put them in the walk-in cooler for the front of the house to use.

June 19th

Day 11

In pastry today I made lemon ricotta pancake mix for breakfast in the cafe. Then I made lemon poppyseed muffin batter and helped the pastry chef peel apples for her recipe. I dipped the cake pops from yesterday in chocolate and then froze them. Once the chocolate had hardened I decorated them. In the afternoon I did some computer work until the end of my shift.

June 20th

Day 12

Today I worked at the beer garden. I served and prepared food, cleaned the stations and swept. I worked there all afternoon. At 4pm I did computer training and watched videos on how to safely use a stove and oven, as well as lift heavy items and the proper way to store food, for example, keeping raw food on the bottom shelf.

June 21st

Day 13

Today I packaged food for the wedding. I baked off 130 chocolate chip cookies. Then I packaged all of them and scooped muffins and pulled scones from the freezer for tomorrow. I decorated macarons and wrapped some and stocked some in the front of house. I did my computer training for the rest of my shift.

June 22nd

Day 14

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