Taking Things Into My Own Hands

Food Service Systems Management is not necessarily the most appealing title for a Nutrition class, at least, not in my opinion. However, hiding behind the technical title is a jewel of a class which I hope to enroll in for the summer session. This course is a mega-course that requires much time and effort. Upon completion of the class a student will receive 5 credit hours for the class! Food Service Systems Management was developed to provide students with knowledge of the principles of food service management that are used in preparing and serving food. The course has an emphasis on menu planning, quality control, purchasing, equipment, layout and design. The extreme amount of cooperation and time required for the class allows for the student to actually apply basic food service management principles from financial planning to personnel issues. Unlike many courses, this one is not based solely in textbook knowledge, but actually provides time and the necessary mentoring for application of textbook concepts. In consideration of this, I hope to gain experiential knowledge about the food service industry from this course. I am confident that this will take place as I have heard from classes in the past that a large portion of the class is dedicated to a semester long project to plan, market and prepare a formal dinner for the nutrition faculty and their guests. I have already taken classes on food handling that will equip me with formidable knowledge of food safety in the area of food preparation. However, I believe that this class will offer many opportunities for growth in areas of nutrition that I have never explored, of actually planning and marketing a function and managing the personnel and budget, while providing guests with palatable and healthful foods. With the prior knowledge I have of this course, I can only look forward to the opportunity to engage in such an interactive class and wait expectantly for the challenging environment it will involve.