Theme Meal

Theme Meal: National Candy Corn Day Theresa Price The University of Southern Mississippi

Theme Meal Theme Meal Title and Concept The theme meal presented was titled National Candy Corn Day. This day was found by utilizing an internet search to find a fun and creative day to base the meal around. The concept of this meal was to have a unique day to celebrate within the cafeteria with delicious foods. Since the theme was based on candy corns the foods were going to be based on the traditional candy corn colors of yellow, orange, and white. The foodservice director also wanted items that were made with candy corns so recipe searching took some time. The first item found was the entre, which was an orange honey glazed chicken breast. This entre item fit perfectly with the theme due to the orange color and hint of sweetness provided. The second item found was the candied bacon macaroni and cheese. This item was perfect for the theme due to the yellow and orange color of the cheese and the sweet and salty flavor of the candied bacon. The pasta salad was used for the theme meal because the tri color noodles worked well with the color scheme of the meal and incorporated some fresh ingredients such as bell peppers and tomatoes. The honeyglazed carrots were also used for the theme meal due to the orange color and the sweetness provided by the honey. The yeast rolls are prepared daily and were an important part of the total meal and provided a white color to the plate. The most exciting part of meal planning was the dessert, which included a bread pudding with candy corn glaze and pound cake with added candy corns. These items fit perfectly with the theme due to the sweetness and candy corns added to them. All the theme meal items, a drink, and one of the two dessert options were priced at $5.50 for the Blue Plate Special of the day. The dining room decorations were handmade and pleasing to the eye. The intern collected 21 bottles over the course of two months. The bottles were spray painted white, orange, and yellow to look like candy corns.

Theme Meal

After the paint was dry the intern added orange ribbon to the middle section over the orange paint, and yellow ribbon to the bottom section over the yellow paint to give the bottles a fancier look. Yellow and maroon flowers were added to the bottles and placed in the center of the tables in the dining room. A serving of candy corns were placed in clear plastic bags on each table for customers to take. The decorations were well liked by all survey takers (See Table 5).

Theme Meal Quantities The quantities planned for the lunch period of the day was 75 servings for each food item. The cooks prepare enough of the same meal items for both lunch and dinner so there were more than 75 servings actually prepared for the day. There were quantities of food left after the lunch period, which is from 11am to 2pm. Each item sold more than 75 servings, which meant the goal of selling 75 servings for lunch, was met. The leftovers included one of the two large pans of bread pudding, out of 110 servings of chicken there was one pan left, there was one pan of carrots left, there were 32 slices of pound cake left out of 112 servings, and the rolls, pasta salad, and macaroni and cheese sold completely out. According to the Menu Item Sales Detail Report there was a total of 70 Blue Plate Specials that were sold during lunch mealtime.

Theme Meal Budget South Central Regional Medical Center does not work by a strict budget. The food costs are determined once a year by the foodservice director and costs are kept low by using CMA products and purchasing the lowest priced item possible when making purchases. The estimated planned budget was to keep the food costs lower than the retail pricing. Purchasing items that the kitchen currently uses in order to keep similar costs achieved the planned budget. All food items were below the retail value and provided a $2.29 profit per meal. The decorations were given a $50 budget price. The flowers were estimated to cost $50, which was provided by the foodservice director. The paint, ribbon, and bottles were collected, paid for, and decorated by the intern. The total costs for dcor aside from flowers was $32.

Theme Meal Theme Meal Evaluations Overall the theme meal was successful. There were 30 surveys collected in total from 11am to 1pm. There were many more than 30 people in the dining room between lunch hours but not all got the blue plate special, which consisted of the entire theme meal items. There was an estimated amount of 75 diners who would purchase the theme meal items. There were several people with certain items from the theme meal and many others with nothing from the theme meal. During the lunch hours, surveys were passed around to those with all or multiple theme meal items and asked to return the surveys when they were finished eating. Many of the participants (80%) stated they were aware of the theme meal before they came into the cafeteria, and of those participants 87.5% became aware from the flyers posted around the hospital, and 12.5% by word of mouth. The foodservice director sent out a mass email to all hospital employees to increase awareness of the meal but that option was left off the questionnaire by accident. Only one participant stated they would not eat any of the items again and 86.6% of participants stated they would eat an item from this meal again. The pound cake was the most popular item that participants stated they would eat again at 60.2%, macaroni and cheese was the second most popular item at 51.7%, and the chicken was the third most popular item at 48%. All participants stated they like the dining room decoration. Out of 26 applicable surveys, 13 respondents (50%) stated their favorite menu item was the pound cake, followed by the chicken (30%) and the macaroni and cheese (23%). Out of 30 responses, 15 participants (50%) left the answer to the question, What was your least favorite meal item blank, while 15 respondents reported items they liked the least which included 6 people (40%) disliking the chicken, and 20% of participants disliked the carrots. The following tables provide more detail from the patron surveys.

Theme Meal Evaluation Tables

Table 1 Question 1: Were you aware of the theme meal before you came in for lunch? Yes Total Percentage 24 80% No 6 20% Total 30

Table 2 Question 1a: If yes, how did you find out? Flyers Total Percentage 21 87.5% Voicemail 0 0% Word of Mouth 3 12.5% Total 24

Table 3 Question 2: Would you eat any of the items again? Yes Total Percentage 26 86.6% No 1 0.03% N/A 3 10% Total 30

Table 4 Question 2a: If yes, which would you eat again? (Circle all that apply) Chicken Pasta Salad Carrots Yeast Roll Bread Pudding Pound Macaroni Cake and Cheese Total Percentage 14 48% 4 13.7% 8 27.5% 4 13.7% 6 20.6% 18 62% 15 51.7% 1 0.03% N/A Total Applicable Surveys 29

Theme Meal Table 5 Question 3: Did you like the dining room decorations Yes Total Percentage 30 100% No 0 0%

Table 6 Question 4: What was your favorite meal item? Total Carrots Pasta Salad Yeast Roll Bread Pudding Pound Cake Macaroni and Cheese Chicken N/A Total Applicable Surveys 1 0 0 4 13 6 8 4 26 Percentage 0.03% 0% 0% 15.3% 50% 23% 30% 15%

*Note- N/A was calculated with total number of surveys, menu items percentage was calculated using the total applicable survey numbers.

Theme Meal Table 7 Question 4: What was your least favorite meal item? Total Carrots Pasta Salad Yeast Roll Bread Pudding Pound Cake Macaroni and Cheese Chicken N/A Total Applicable Surveys 3 2 0 1 2 1 6 15 15 Percentage 20% 13% 0% 0.06% 13% 0.06% 40% 50%

*Note- N/A percentage was calculated with total number of surveys, menu items percentage was calculated using the total applicable survey numbers.

Theme Meal Self Evaluation and Activities Most menu items were prepared the day of service and went relatively smoothly in the kitchen. The desserts were prepared the day before and reheated and portioned the day of. All other menu items were purchased the Monday before service and arrived the day before. The rolls were also produced in the bakery the day of service. The main chefs cooked the carrots, chicken, and macaroni and cheese the day of service, while the salad maker prepared the pasta salad. The intern mainly helped in the bakery and assisted in production when asked or when needed while overseeing the rest of the production areas. Only two activities did not go as planned which included when the order was originally supposed to be made, and using tablecloths on all dining room tables. The foodservice director and intern had discussed the order being made the Thursday before in order to arrive the next day. If any items were missing from the order they would be placed on Monday in order to come in Tuesday for production on Wednesday. The supervisor who places the order took the order guide from the intern but did not place the order until the following Monday. This action did not follow as planned but still worked out for the theme meal production. The foodservice director has a catering company that caters inside and outside of the hospital. Through this company the director was supposed to have tablecloths available for the intern to use for the decorations within the dining room. The intern looked through some of the tablecloths and they were all different colors, sizes, and shapes. The white tablecloths were originally supposed to be part of the dcor but the intern ultimately decided having only a few tablecloths would not look appropriate and they were not used.

Theme Meal The only two recipes that were changed were the macaroni and cheese and the bread pudding. The macaroni and cheese recipe called for a large amount of Tabasco sauce and the chef and foodservice director thought the large amount of Tabasco would cause the macaroni and cheese to be too spicy and not sell well. The baker chose her bread pudding over the provided bread pudding recipe by stating that they were very similar and she knew the public liked her recipe. Both decisions were agreed upon with the intern. There were several activities that were unexpected. One activity that was not accounted for in meal and survey planning was the large amount of carry out meals. All customers that received a carry out meal were unable to provide survey answers and were not asked to fill out a questionnaire. There were also a large amount of customers who had mixed meal items on their trays that were not the entire blue plate special for the theme meal. There were many customers who purchased a slice of pound cake to go along with their meal but did not have any other items that were part of the theme meal. These activities impacted the anticipated amount of surveys collected.

Theme Meal Recommendations Although the eye-catching flyers were posted all around the hospital to create awareness to all employees, the blue-plate specialty and theme meal pricing was not advertised. It is recommended to keep the flyer pleasing to the eye and informative but to include meal pricing to increase awareness and participation. It is also recommended to change the survey to include email as a way that participants became aware of the theme meal since the foodservice director sent out a mass email to all employees. In the future it is recommended to order the theme meal in advance to make sure all ingredients and items have arrived to save the stress of having to purchase items at the last minute. Based on the survey results it is recommended to have decorations in the dining hall more often since all participants liked the decorations. Based on the survey results it is recommended to serve macaroni and cheese as a side item in the cafeteria. For future studies, carry out meals should be accounted for. A recommendation could be for the intern to stand at the check out line and hand surveys to all participants of the theme meal and ask them to bring the surveys after completion to the dining room where the survey collection box was kept. If tablecloths were a necessary decoration it is recommended to find and try the tablecloths prior to the day of service to determine if they will be useful for as a decoration. The foodservice director informed the intern to collect data from 11am to 1pm but the cafeteria stops serving the main lunch meal at 2pm. The cafeteria supervisor informed the intern that from 1pm to 2pm there is a small rush of customers. It is recommended to stay in the cafeteria until 2pm in order to increase survey results.