NEW INTERN, NEW DAY

My goodness, what a busy first few days! From the beginning, the entire staff has been amazing and eager to help with my acclamation to the fast pace life that an intern at Ruth’s Chris leads.

Monday consisted of inputting clients into the computer, a job that is surprisingly repetitive, because you see the name once, and remember it forever. Also, I got to learn all about the history of Ruth’s Chris (and a standard sexual harassment video). Anyone know why it is called “Ruth’s Chris”? I do, so feel free to ask (just like a guy in my Business Ethics class did. Of course it was before I actually knew, but I told him as soon as I found out why!!!)

Tuesday was a great (and early) first meeting day! Gracie and I went to the Downtown Bellevue Association meeting, the topic being the new Puget Sound transit system, running through Capitol Hill to Downtown Bellevue. It was an interesting meeting and the food made it so much better! A sort of Steak Eggs Benedict with fruit from El Gaucho completely hit the spot, much better than the Yoplait I gulped down driving over 520. Wish I had snapped a picture, but now I know to bring my camera everywhere, so as not to have you followers miss a beautiful meal!

Wednesday was a day dedicated to confirming reservations and updating Ruth’s Chris social networking skills. Everyone should add us on LinkedIn and Facebook, cause it is now my responsibility to update these pages! I am excited to have this task, just because you can never be too tech savvy!

Plans for tomorrow: Class and then Ruth’s Chris at 4pm. Onto the Project Greenlight Fall Fashion Show with Gracie to see amazing designers and nibble on some tasty bites! Can’t wait for all the amazing experiences coming my way!!!

Team Sizzle at the Covey Run 5k/10k

One of the projects Lisa worked on before she went back to school was organizing the Covey Run 5k/10k.

Well a couple weeks ago, many of us woke up (EARLY) and got to the starting line by 8 a.m. YIKES! Keep in mind we work in at a restaurant...late hours.

We started and ended at the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville, WA. The Covey Run is a run benefitting Children's Hospital.

Beautiful sunny day and we all had a great time.

Half of us ran the 5k and the other half the 10k.

Where's Lisa?

OK, Lisa's last day was Tuesday. She's on her way back to University of San Francisco. Sad. We're going to really miss her, but she will be back for our busy Holiday season.

So what's next for the Sizzle - The Internship? Welcome Justin.

Here's our fearless leader, Darrell, planning out Justin's day, in the background, Justin studies his inventory lesson.

More to come...

Today is a very exciting day! We just launched our next seasonal menu so it was also a very busy day. First, Gracie and I sat down and completely organized and set-up our calendar thus far through the end of October. August is shaping up to be a pretty busy month and we had a lot of banquets as well as catering events to account for. Once everything was completely caught up, I helped Ron switch all of the old menus out. Now Marco and I are going to present all of the new dishes to the staff and prep them for the upcoming season. They look soooo delicious!

As for the end of last week, we were also pretty busy. On Thursday Gracie and I found our final venue for our catering venue list: Covington Cellars. They are located in Woodinville and have a beautiful and versitile tasting room, as well as a large barrel room. We also scoped out the Bellevue Farmers' Market where they do Chef demonstrations. Then we came back in time to set-up for the parties we hosted that night. Finally we attended the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce Networking event. It was at the new Metro 112 apartment complex and catered by SEastar Restaurant. We met a lot of interesting people. The wine was provided by a new winery, Mistica Wines, who were very interested in letting Scott sample and potentially serve their wines. We also met Beth Hinkson from Ezulwini Game Lodges, who represents a company that hosts safaries in South Africa. We were super excited because she was willing to donate some sort of package for auctions! Finally we met John Webb from DeVry University. He is the employer liason and was interested to know about our internship opportunities... Perhaps Gracie will be able to find a new me!! All in all, it was a very successful and fun party.

On Friday I worked with Marco in the morning. Then Gracie and I ventured out to the outskirts of downtown Bellevue to inform the hotels (especially the extended stay ones) about our concierge program, in which guests that have their hotel make the reservation for them receive a complimentary appetizer on their first visit.

~Lisa

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!