I arrived a little early today for our lunch with Robbie Wright from Chat with Women. It was very fun and she was so enthusiastic and entertaining. She wants us to help out with her event for the opening of the movie Eat, Pray, Love. Then I made a bunch of our private dining packets that we can pass out to potential clients. And, of course, I filled out my daily Banquet Information Sheets. Then I helped Erich get ready for happy hour behind the bar. Finally Gracie and I headed to Seattle to apply for our membership with the Seattle Convention Bureau and to talk to Arie, the Sales Manager at the Seattle store, about her upcoming vacation and what we will be doing in order to cover for her. All in all, a very productive day!

Today I helped out with my first satellite dinner. I came in a little later in the day than usual and Gracie and I brainstormed and shopped around for new August gift ideas. Then we met with the satellite dinner hosts who came 2 hours early to set up and make sure everything was in order. I also helped Ron with the cold side line check. We tried all of the dressings and sauces and made sure they were up to our flavor standards. We also checked all of the temperatures to ensure that they were safe to eat. Then we looked at all of the food products, including the desserts, to ensure that there was enough and that they were all aesthetically pleasing enough. It took longer than I thought it would, but Ron explained the importance of making sure everything is to a Ruth's Chris standard every single day. Then Gracie and I welcomed the guests to our satellite dinner and another party and made sure that everything ran smoothly. There was one minor blip with a menu that was printed incorrectly and slipped past all of us, but Neil, the server, was able to keep the guests happy and I don't even think anyone noticed our mistake. Finally Gracie and I scoped the neighborhood competition's balconies to see what we were up against in the hot weather. Luckily, we weren't overly impressed with anyone!

Sorry Lisa, you missed out on the mini cheesecakes, berries & sweet cream, and the chocolate sin cake...YUM!

Mistica Wines Launch Party introducing their Argentinian Wines at the Pampas Room. Whoops, Scott blinked.

Monday, No intern...see you tomorrow!

Today is the start of the famous Bellevue Arts Fair! So Alicia and I hit the streets and passed out our lunch menu to the visitors and happy hour menus for the vendors who are finished around 10. We definately got some customers that we saw in our restaurant later! I also filled out Banquet Information Sheet for all of our upcoming events. Now Jeff is going to train me in the bar!

I haven't blogged in a couple days because we have been very busy! But last Tuesday was a crazy day where we had 4 events going on at lunch and Gracie and I had to make a presentation at Expedia to promote our private dining and catering to major neighborhood businesses. We offered them signature appetizers, like sweet potato in a pecan crust and slow-cooked chicken salad canapes, to sample. The day ended up going alright even though it was one of those when we couldn't think of anything else that could go wrong. All the events were pulled off flawlessly for the client! I helped Matt completely reset our ST. Charles room for our evening big event. Then Gracie, Adam, and I with the AV set-up for our dinner party as well. Yesterday I arrived early to help with another large lunch event. I simply was available to help the guests with any requests they might have. Then Gracie and I checked out J. Bookwalter venue for catering. We loved it!! the women who just took over are extremely nice and excited about a partnership of some sort and the wine and space are wonderful!! Finally today I helped Marco with meat consolidation again. Then Gracie and I went to the Parlor to meet Kayce and Crystal and see their venue. It was really cool! And it offers us with a good after-dinner outing to offer our guests and out-of-town business parties. Then it was back to help Marco with desserts, hamburgers, and employee meals. It's always good to work with Marco because he's sooo good at his job and really helpful at teaching me the ropes of the kitchen. Plus he's an excellent singer!

Today I worked with our beverage manager, Scott, for the majority of the day. I learned how important inventory is to a restaurant and just so we know what is in stock, but so that we know how much money we're making off of all of our products and who is sellin what. First, we had to manually count all of the liquor in our restaurant. Then we totalled it all up and entered it into a spreadsheet that calculates the total value of the liquor we have based on how much we buy it for. Next we entered it into another spreadsheet that calculates the COGS and the percent of sales. Scott did an excellent job of explaining all implications of this percentage and how he works to keep it as low as possible so as to maximize our funds. Then Gracie took me to El Gaucho, another steakhouse in the neighborhood, so that I could compare the different steakhouse and private dining options in Bellevue. It was interesting to see how different two steakhouses could actually be and to see what each company emphasizes in their sales and marketing of private dining.

-Lisa

Another busy day! I came in a bit early since we were hosting a corporate lunch for 55 people in our main dining room. And things got hectic quickly when the host decided he wanted to make a slight change to the menu. He simply wanted the dessert served with the entree so that there would be no service during the presentations. Seems like a small differences, but it just goes to show how detail-oriented this business is. We caught up in time, but the back of the house really had to push it! Then since everyone was busy with the event I helped Marcus on the lunch bar again when we got a 10-top walk-in. Things chilled out and we were able to please all of the customers, but it was bit stressful. ~Lisa