Week 3 already?! It feels like we just got to Montana, but all of our projects are well underway. Yesterday and today were filled with Computrition--entering in the 2009-2010 menus, checking over each others' work, and then copying the menus over to repeat the cycles.
A lot of samples that we previously requested are finally coming in and we are soon going to be able to make some decisions about our special order purchases for next year. We are also chugging along with the plans for the summer fair concession operation with Rocky Mountain Concessions and Rocky Mountain Ice Cream. Today we were visualizing and conceptualizing the ice cream operation since this year is the pilot year for the ice cream stand. We finalized the menu and our equipment list. Tomorrow, we will be meeting with a representative from Meadowgold ice cream to pitch our idea to him and get some plans laid out for the delivery of the ice cream to the fairgrounds, a timeline for buying more ice cream during the week of the fair, and a buy back opportunity that he has offered to Paul. Tomorrow morning, we will visit Bausch's Potatoes for a tour of the facility and more meet and greet experience.
Today we had a visit from Ben Palo, a representative from Pepsico/FritoLay. Much to our surprise, he has nothing to do with Pepsi (for now, there is some complicated background there). Currently, he is only concerned with brands such as Quaker, Gatorade, SunChips, Lays, etc. When he first arrived, we took a walk around the SUB, where most of his products are displayed and sold, and he gave us tips about product placement/merchandising and how that can greatly effect sales. For example, there was cooler of drinks that had some Rockstar energy drinks, some Sobe drinks, some bottled water, and some Dole fruit juice. These coolers had obviously been stocked by whoever was on the job at the time. The arrangement did not look bad, but after Mr. Palo rearranged the case to highlight the different types of drinks, bottles, and coloring, the case looked much more attractive and organized, making it easier to see a drink that you will be more likely to purchase. After that demonstration, I will never have trouble explaining to someone what the word "merchandising" means.
Mr. Palo was a great resource for Tara and me. He has recently won a very competitive award through the Pepsico Company and had a lot of sound advice to offer Tara and myself. He has two sons that are in college, so he had a good insight into what types of job situations we are currrently facing. Paul, Tara, and I ended up having lunch with him at the SUB after our tour and we got to hear his career life story and pick his brain about his opinions on the industry, education, and opportunities. This is the second person that Paul has brought in to give us this type of attention. Both Marti and Ben were so sincere about educating us and truly cared about helping us in our career journies. It is so wonderful to have this opportunity to network with new people and to hear the opinions and view points of people from across the country! My world has definitely opened up in these past 3 weeks.
After a long afternoon of entering the rest of the menus into Computrition, I enjoyed the evening with a jog and then chatted wit hsome friends from home on instant messanger. I am definitely being spoiled with the weather lately--it is so perfect for running and the sun stays up for so long here! I have hours of sunlight once I get off work! It's great!!
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