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One Change = Big Difference

The reuse of food is discussed a bit in my paper but I would like to expand on it here. Reusing food is not considered a new solution but it is a solution restaurants should actively practice. There are always options for various ways to reuse food – you can make a stock with leftover bones and veggie scraps or with leftover veggies and fruits you can make smoothies.

At the Lea Restaurant the seasonal fruit on their brunch menu is being wasted each time it is served. One new way to fix this is to take all of the unused fruit and veggie/fruit scraps to make smoothies. With the addition of yogurt (already on hand) the restaurant is able to incorporate this practice, introduce a new menu item, and reduce the amount of food wasted during their brunches. That’s a win, win, win situation.

Restaurants need to constantly change their approach to food to stay “present” in this overcrowded industry.

Model Restaurant: The Farm on Adderley

The Farm on Adderley is in my neighborhood of Kensington, Brooklyn. I love going to this place because their food is so yummy and I really like that they use fresh local ingredients. This is also a restaurant that composts their food waste and has their used cooking oil picked up and reused a fuel. How cool is that?

My project consists of me using the Lea Restaurant in the Kensington, Brooklyn neighborhood to not only model after the Farm on Adderley but to expand and continuously change as it perfects the process of reducing food waste.

The SRA in London

The SRA is the Sustainable Restaurant Association – it is located in London, England. This group was formed in 2010 and was created to make it easier for restaurants and the industry as a whole to incorporate sustainability practices. This organization is not covered much in my paper but I thought it was important to show you existing models outside of the United States. This goes to the overall conversation that food waste is a worldwide issue that needs to be addressed sooner than later.

The SRA has 14 key areas of focus and they work with restaurants on pledges. I love this idea. The SRA appoints account managers and then helps them pledge to make changes in any of specific these areas. This allows the restaurant to weigh the cost and benefits of becoming more sustainable in one area (say water saving instead of community engagement).

Existing Solutions: Composting

One of the existing solutions to reducing food waste is composting. What is composting? Composting is a mix of organic and decayed substances, such as food scraps or dead leaves. Composting has three main ingredients, carbon (browns), nitrogen (greens), and water. Brown materials consist of branches, straw, paper, and wood chips. The greens come from food scraps like vegetable peels, fruit and coffee grounds. Water is added to create a proper amount of moisture needed to make the compost productive (EPA, para 2).

Below are two links that have more information about composting. The second link specifically relates to the NYC aread.

http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8799.html

Food Waste Facts

When I started my research I thought the numbers of food waste would be high but I didn’t expect them to be as high as they are. These numbers are astounding and scary. If we are wasting this much food now how much higher will it go as more people inherit the earth? Landfills are overcrowded and they produce and introduce methane gases to the air (which also contributes to climate change). Food waste reduction and sustainability is something all restaurants and consumers should make a priority.

Food Waste/Sustainability

This semester my focus will be writing a paper about food waste and sustainability. Specifically I will be talking about new ways restaurants in Kensington, Brooklyn can incorporate these practices. There is one restaurant in my neighborhood that is already sustainable so I will use them as a guide for other restaurants in the area.

I still have a lot of research to do and it is possible my findings will lead me in another direction. However, I am excited to see where I end up once my paper is completed.

I hope you will come along for another ride with me this semester.

Maria

Final words…

We have reached the end of my blog posting for this semester…it was a pleasure to share a little bit of me with you. I hope that you were able to tell from my posts that I enjoy being silly and having fun. That my focus is event planning within the hospitality industry and that I would love to work with companies focused on events for children.

For years I did not know what I wanted to do with my life. I have been in digital sales for over eleven years now and I feel it is time to move on to something different. I have mastered the elements of digital sales and while it continues to change all the time…my heart is no longer in it. I long for new challenges and experiences. I long for a more fulfilling job in life. I do not just want to work for a company, I want to work for one making a difference somewhere and somehow in this world. It can be anything from employee empowerment to fundraisers.

I understand that profits are important to any business…but my hope is that my attention to detail, hard work and focus are noticed and appreciated. I want to be the first person the company thinks of when a kids event needs to be organized. I want to execute events that are remembered forever. Maybe it was the perfect centerpiece for a kids party…or a surprise guest that makes it memorable.

I know some of my fellow classmates have an interest in creating their own business. I have a lot of respect for them but it is not something I am interested in pursing. While I enjoy leading — running, managing, and growing a company from scratch is a LOT of work. I would rather make my imprint within a company. I have no problem helping a company grow and shine more from within.

I am so lucky to have finally found a field that I feel comfortable in…where being talkative and polite are an asset. Where going above and beyond to make someone happy is the goal. I never thought of myself as someone who would want to work in the service industry. I never thought putting together an event would be so meaningful to me. Maybe because it has a beginning and an end that I can see it before my own eyes…or maybe it is because I love to make people smile, especially children.

Whatever the reason, I am so glad that I found it and that it found me. I planned my first event in 2006 and it was awesome. It was the annual St. Patrick’s Day party for clients and we had so many people show up the marshal shut us down! How is that for a new and challenging experience? The following year I managed to prevent any shutdowns but it took a lot of work and coordinating to do so. I miss those days so much.

If you want to contact me, please feel free to do so on here.

Have an eventful end of year!

Looking Ahead

As I look ahead I am focused on my short term goals of securing an internship in a hotel or event company and graduating with my degree. I want to say that securing a degree seems easier to me than securing an internship. Who said that? I might be crazy for making this claim…but I feel like I can let my grades and hard work speak for itself. With an internship you need to sell yourself and that my friends is no easy task…

internship

An internship, like any job is an interview and sometimes interviews don’t go well. Even if you are not getting paid. I am thinking about targeting hotels first like any of the Kimpton properties in NYC and/or the Hilton (they have so many hotels!!).

I think my best approach is to start applying now for an internship. Although I do not intend to actually do it until Spring 2017, you do have to secure your own and I want to take the time to vet companies beforehand. Choosing the right environment is like choosing the right pair of shoes — not only should they be pretty and unique, they should be comfortable and allow room for growth (or swelling, haha!).

I am excited about all the potential opportunities out there for internships. I want to work for an event company but I am not sure that internships for these types of companies come that easy. So now it is all about researching and networking. Branding myself an event professional with my past experience (even if it’s from 5+ years ago) and showing off all my potential to succeed in this space.

People tell me my superpower is organization and with that superpower I need to find a way to leap myself to the front of the internship lists. It is important to show all the ways I am organized and how I can increase organization for their events. How can I increase their efficiency?

I also want it to be a fun company, somewhere I can learn tricks of the trade while having a smile on my face. I want the internship to be challenging and inspiring. I want to make people smile and laugh. Bring joy to their lives for a couple of hours a day or even for a brief moment in time. I want the company to walk away thinking, we need her. She is an asset. She is a go-getter. She is coming up with new ideas and pushing us to be better at what we do.

And I want the customers to walk away feeling happy that they met me, that they had this event and this location and had the opportunity to meet/work with me. I want customers to feel joyful about their encounters with me.

If I am lucky enough I will hear those two wonderful words — you are hired. Being a new hire creates opportunity for new experiences and growth. What could be better than that? Okay, maybe a smiling kid…but you know what I mean.

Hello I am the…

I look forward to the opportunity to one day walk up to someone and tell them these exact words. Sometimes I wish I would have realized earlier when I wanted to get into even planning but as they say, ‘better late than never.’ I am hopeful that my education here at City Tech along with the assistance of my classmates and professors help leap me into the world I so desperately desire to be a part of on a regular basis.

I know planning events for children won’t be easy. I will have over-protective parents who want to oversee everything. I will have parents who are completely unreasonable in their requests. My goal to attempt to bring the parents back down to reality is to ask them, “What does your child want? Will this make them happy or sad?” I think if you refocus the parents on the children they will realize that the event is not about them but about their desire to make their kids happy. If you throw a party and the birthday kid is unhappy….you have to ask yourself was it really a party for them or for yourself?

My goal will always be to focus on the children. To make sure that the events I am planning make them happy and keep them happy. My hope is that an happy child = happy parents. Let’s hope and pray.

Desire to Plan

I’d like to say getting into the event planning field is easy but so far it is not. I work full-time and go to school part-time so my availability to get out there and promote myself is limited. Since I have not planned an corporate event in years I figure most companies are looking for recent experience. This may be my initial downfall but I don’t think it would take me out of contention in the hiring process.

However, I have put together 10 sales events in various states and in another country. All of the events were successful and the clients were very happy (as you can see!)

However, kids events I have never specifically planned for a company. I love children and love being silly around them. I have helped my mother plan an birthday party for my little sisters and I have also helped family with their parties for kids. I know this is not the same thing but it goes to my overall desire to do this for children.

One of the type of kids parties I would like to plan is for kids with disabilities (wheelchair). The space would have to be right so that wheelchair access is not an issue outside or inside the space. Then it’s about finding out what other special needs the child has in order to make the event a huge success for the parents and their children.

The ultimate goal is to make the parents and children happy with their events – and to have it be memorable to them.

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