interviewee Chicago

Foodservice Management

CUL 232

Final Project

Kendall College

900 N. North Branch St.

Chicago, IL 60622

The final project for CUL 233 is conducting an interview with a food service leader in the area. Your interviewee should hold the title of one of the following:

· Executive Chef

· Departmental or Sous Chef (supervising at least 5pp)

· Working Owner (must hold a functioning role within establishment)

· General Manager

· Dining Room Manager

· Operations Manager

· Department Manager (as in a hotel or casino)

*Anyone outside of these parameters that you would like to interview must be approved by instructor. Kendall instructors are not potential candidates.

Prior to the interview you will most likely speak to your candidate by phone. Please be professional and courteous in your interactions with those in the industry. Let them know you are a Kendall student and must interview an industry management professional for your Foodservice Management Course.

Be sure your questions cover issues we have discussed in class as well as:

· Need for Human Resources in Food Service Industry

· Communication / Leadership / Motivation

· Conflict Resolution

· Stress and Coping (How does interviewee deal with stress? What are their coping mechanisms?)

· Decision Making

· Recruitment / Interviewing/ Screening/Training / Retention of Employees

Some points you must cover:

· Challenges/Joys of Management

· Novice perspective vs. seasoned view (then vs. now)

· Level of difficulty finding people

· Training and Motivation of staff (issues, challenges, lessons learned)

· What has worked well for this manager

· Early mistakes, misunderstandings

· Personal philosophy of managing people (Does their philosophy differ with the organization or owner?)

(On a side note, this course involves the nature of employee/employer relations. However it could be easy to discuss the person’s culinary capabilities, keep this at a minimum because you should focus your attention on his or her opinions of the challenges of managing staffs.)

Assembly of Paper:

a) Cover Page

b) First Page – Questions planned

c) Top of Page Two – List:

d) Restaurant/Organization where interviewee is employed

e) Location and Contact Info

f) Interviewee’s Name and Position there

g) How long there/How long in industry (this should all be covered in the first page of paper).

Narrative section of paper (minimum 3 page essay)…

Summarize your conversation (in essay format), retell any pertinent stories, draw conclusions as to what can be learned from your meeting. The focus of your paper should be how this individual has grown as a food service leader over the course of their career. How has their experience in the business shaped their management style?

Presentation Component

In order to share your experience with your classmates, you will also deliver a 7-9 minute presentation on You Tube. Presentation should include a brief history of the chef/manager as well as the environment in which they currently work to establish a frame of reference. You will have to upload by Friday 11:59pm of your week.

The same topics covered in your paper should be touched upon in the presentation. Remember that your classmates will not have the benefit of reading your paper. Your goal in the oral presentation should be to impart a general understanding of what drives the foodservice leader you interviewed. Share with us their philosophies of management, how their style has changed over time, important lessons learned, new challenges to our business, etc. Encapsulate for us the most valuable wisdom related to you and what you gained from your time together.

The project is worth 60 points, equal to your midterm and final exam. Grading for the project is as follows:

· 30 points – Verbal Presentation (about 7-9 minutes max.)

· Content/Message

· Effectiveness of public speaking

· Professionalism

· 30 points – Paper (organized logically, written well, thorough in presenting the conversation that took place, thoughtful conclusions made)

Process to turn in work:

You must upload your paper on Blackboard by Friday by midnight; late work will have a 50% point deduction. Please make sure this is a WORD DOC, no Apple versions, etc.

Also, up load your video to the designated You Tube forum. Also, when you post your paper to Blackboard, please copy and paste your link in the comments section.