Employee
Creative Dining Services and Continuing Education
Creative Dining Services offers our employees excellent training and development programs through our award-winning Creative University. Creative Dining values the education of our employees, and Creative University is an exciting and effective way to further our staff’s education. Started in 2003, Creative University won the National Restaurant Association’s Winning Workforce Award for On-Site Service Provider in 2004. We are pleased to have many fantastic courses on offer this year!
"Qui per totam vitam discit per totam vitam crescit: In lifelong learning lies lifelong growth."
Creative University’s first upcoming course is a Product Emphasis & Brand Extension Seminar on Feb. 7 & 8 in Chicago. This seminar, sponsored in part by Fontanini, Superior Foods, Basic American & Maple Leaf Bakery, will explore new products and techniques to keep our brand and food offerings fresh.
Another great event is the Gordon Food Service 2012 Food Show. The GFS Food Show offers the opportunity to browse new products and attend seminars with a variety of topics. It’s one of the best places to explore current food trends, pick up tips & tricks for food and business management, and learn about what’s going on in the food industry.
Since 2003, Creative University has had thousands of participants in a huge variety of courses. Here are just a few examples of our course offerings:
- Culinary Boot Camp
- Principles in Leadership
- ServSafe Certification Training
- Social Media Marketing
- Turbo Chef Training
- Understanding Customer Expectations
- Vegan Food Seminar
Annual Award Winners
Each year, Creative Dining Services honors hardworking individuals who go above and beyond their day-to-day duties. The Superior Performance Award and the Award of Excellence goes to managers and employees who reflect these qualities:
- Champions the Creative Dining Services corporate philosophy and core values.
- Willingness to assist others.
- Demonstrates superior leadership. (Superior Performance Award)
- Promotes professional growth and development in themselves and their staff. (Superior Performance Award)
- Shows initiative, enthusiasm and a positive attitude. (Award of Excellence)
- Demonstrates excellence in service and performance. (Award of Excellence)
This year’s recipients of the Superior Performance Award are: David Seweryn, Food Service Director of Trinity International University and Sandy Harmon, General Manager of the Haworth Center. The Award of Excellence for 2011 goes to Dan Zantello, employee of the South Haven Conference Center and Rosie Scheumann, employee of Indiana Tech. Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients.
Growing Up with CDS
I can still remember the first time I worked at Hope College’s Cook Dining Hall. I was in 5th or 6th grade, an age considered appropriate by schools and parents for participation in “Bring Your Kid to Work Day.” My mom Chris, who has worked at CDS for over ten years, showed me around the kitchen and introduced me to all of the staff. Chef Todd slapped one of those tall white paper hats on my head. This kind of hat looks fine on, say, a full-sized man, but I can guarantee that it looked ridiculous on a smaller-than-average preteen girl. I dutifully served French fries alongside my mother from the first hot line, smiling shyly up at the college students who peered down at me and probably wondered how many child labor laws were being broken. The paper hat slid down my forehead, the disposable gloves barely fit my small hands, and I was swimming in my white chef coat and apron, but I loved every second. I felt big and important to be working like an adult, to be serving hungry students, to be making sure that every stainless steel surface shone at the end of the day.
I officially began working at Cook Servery and the adjacent Haworth Inn and Conference Center in 2006, during the summer in which I turned 16. I started out doing back-of-the-house duties during catered events. Another girl and I shuffled awkwardly in place, too shy to speak much, just waiting for the dishes to start coming back so we could scrape the uneaten food into the garbage (composting hadn’t quite caught on yet) and stack the dishes on carts to bring to the dishroom. We were so young that we could only work a few hours at a time and had to be punched out before 10:00pm. But it was my first real job, and I loved it. I loved the hustle and bustle of the kitchen as the chefs plated up delicious meals that were arranged just so on the clean white plates. I loved the banter between the catering staff. I loved the challenge of clearing trays as quickly as possibly and neatly stacking the dishes to maximize cart space.
Fast forward to 2011. I’m nearly halfway done with my senior year at Hope College and my sixth year of working at CDS. Chefs, managers, and student workers have come and gone. I’ve done just about everything, from catering serving to working almost every station in the dining hall (deli, salad bar, hostess, etc). I am also the current Marketing & Promotions intern at the CDS home office. Working at CDS has given me years of invaluable experience. I feel truly blessed to have grown up with such a great company!
-Katelyn Hemmeke, CDS Marketing & Promotions Intern
Healthy Habits
Many people are under the false assumption that eating healthy is more expensive than eating take-out/fast food. On Wednesday, October 26, Calvin College’s Catering Manager, Steve McBride, and Executive Chef, Ian Ramirez, proved this notion wrong with a “Healthy Habits” presentation to the faculty and staff.
They discussed many healthy eating topics such as the Food Matters program, and how this fit in with Grow, our sustainability initiative. Their presentation involved using biodegradable products, how to properly read nutrition facts, and the $20 Challenge. An example of the $20 Challenge included a KFC meal (for four people) for $19.61 or a healthy meal from the grocery store which included: chicken, lean ground beef, potatoes, corn, peas, yogurt, oats and milk for only $19.54. To further validate the $20 Challenge, Chef Ian took the challenge himself and cooked a healthy meal for the audience – fifty people for $45!
Pecha Kucha Night
One of Chef Ian's desserts from the 2010 January Series dinners
On Tuesday, October 18, Calvin College’s Executive Chef Ian Ramirez participated in an event called Pecha Kucha at Stella’s restaurant located in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. Pecha Kucha (which means “Chit Chat” in Japanese) is an event focused on creative people sharing creative ideas; it brings the local, creative community together from different fields to network and showcase their ideas. The participants only have 400 seconds to present; they must prepare 20 slides and only have 20 seconds to discuss each slide.
This particular Pecha Kucha event included a wide variety of topics such as astronomy, juggling, meditation and Chef Ian’s topic: 45 Dishes in 15 Days. Chef Ian presented the challenges and rewards of designing 45 creative and delicious dishes for Executives during the January Series at Calvin College. He discussed the importance of knowing exactly whom you are cooking for. Demographics play such a large role when it comes to designing a dish…especially when it comes to designing 45 Dishes in 15 days!
Volunteer Service Award Recipient Named
Joni DeNeef, winner of the 2011 Creative Dining Services' Volunteer Service Award, along with her manager, Stephanie Zdun, of Cook Servery at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.
For nearly a decade now, Creative Dining Services has been recognizing team members who make a difference through their volunteer service. The recipient of this year’s Creative Dining Volunteer Service Award is Joni DeNeef from Cook Dining Hall at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Joni has done extensive volunteer work – providing over 1,000 volunteer hours to many worthy causes. Her volunteer activities include:
- Open Doors for International Friendship in Christ, an exchange program throughMeijiGakuinHigashimurayamaHigh SchoolinTokyo,Japan(1999 – Present). Joni’s family has had the privilege of sharing Christ’s love with 9 Japanese girls since 1999. They have hosted these girls one at a time during the summer for 4 ½ weeks.
- PTO Treasurer and Secretary atSandyviewElementary School(1999-2005).
- Parent Volunteer at Hamilton Middle and High School (Aug. 1995 – Present).
- High School Youth Group Leader (August 2006 – Present). Joni attends monthly leaders’ meetings, weekly youth group meetings, overnight retreats, summer mission trips, summer day activities, and is a mentor.
- Cub Scout Leader (August 2007 – present). Joni participates in monthly leaders’ meetings and pack meetings as well as den meetings twice per month. She arranged all of the pack activities for the past two years and is doing so again this year. She is the Assistant Popcorn Kernel and has quadrupled sales since she started helping out two years ago. Her son alone had over $3,000 in sales last year! She has been on various committees for projects like the Pinewood Derby and has attended Cub Scout Camp atCampGerber.
As a youth group leader, Joni has gone on numerous mission trips to a variety of places, including:
- South Africa (2005) working at an orphanage in Cape Town, where they painted the whole interior, repaired plumbing and electrical systems, purchased a hot water heater, painted and repaired playground equipment, showed the children how to use chalk, gave them toys and traveled to Umtata to work with the locals.
- VestVirginia(2007) working at a kids’ camp inCharlestonfor one week.
- New York City(2008) working at an inner-city church to prepare for a summer Bible camp called TASC (Taking a Stand for Christ). The kitchen was so overrun with bugs that they were told to turn the lights on for a while before going into the kitchen so the bugs would scurry away!
- South Dakota(2009) working at a juvenile detention center on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
- Alaska(2011) working at Sutton Alaska Eagle Crest Ministries. The group did various outreach ministries for the community. Joni did such a tremendous job that the director of the camp asked if she could stay for the rest of the summer! She would have loved to, but she had to get back to her 10-year-old son at home. The director would like her to return next summer and has offered her a position. It is unpaid and as a family they are praying for God’s guidance in this matter. She would love to do it!
When asked about her volunteer efforts, Joni stated “God tells us to go out into the world and share His word with others. We feel that by opening our hearts and home, we can show Christ’s love and the love that we have for Him.”
Congratulations, Joni, and a huge thank-you for all the work you do in the community! CDS is proud to have you as an employee!
Being Creative
One of Creative Dining’s very own Food Services Directors, Rick Balfour with CalvinCollegewas featured on the front page of the magazine, FoodService Director. You can read about a tip that Rick suggested on page 28 of the magazine or check out other tips he submitted by clicking this link: http://www.fsdmag.com/search.html?ordering=&searchphrase=all&searchword=Rick+Balfour
Rick sets a great example of thinking “outside of the box”. If you ever have creative idea that has worked well for you – feel free to share the idea with reports@creativedining.com and we’ll post it to the CDS blog, Facebook, etc.
Inquiring Minds – Interview #7
Creative Dining Services’ Inquiring Minds interviewed Kristeen Vander Wall, Receptionist and Office Assistant at Creative Dining Services home office. Here’s what we learned about:
[Creative Dining Services’ Inquiring Minds]: So, you are the Receptionist at Creative Dining Services. What is your favorite part of your job?
[Kristeen Vander Wall]: Since my start in June, I’ve been enjoying the fun (sometimes feisty) environment and being able to help the staff with various tasks.
[CDSIM]: Our readers would like to know: what is your favorite cuisine?
[KV]: Well, what goes with Mountain Dew? On a more practical level: anything Italian. For my birthday, my husband prepared me a wonderful and delicious dish of spaghetti. It was amazing!
[CDSIM]: If I take a look inside your refrigerator what would I find?
[KV]: Hmmm, depends on what is on sale that week. The must haves are: milk, eggs, cheese and Mountain Dew.
[CDSIM]: If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
[KV]: Throughout my schooling, I took 5 years of French and I minored in Greek so, I would love to travel somewhere that I could put those languages to use. Paris? Greece? Yes please!
[CDSIM]: And finally, how will you handle your new-found fame once this interview is published on the Creative Dining Blog?
[KV]: Let’s just say, I will autograph anything you’d like, but it’s going to cost you!
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Seeing that we are a culinarily-focused company, Kristeen has agreed to share her recipe for Guilt Free Spinach Dip. Here’s what she has to say about it:
“We all know that holidays are a good time for packing on the pounds. All the delicious goodies and treats that are readily available for the taking at family gatherings and get-togethers, who can resist? This past Independence Day I did a pretty nice job of turning down the extras – I felt satisfied after the long holiday weekend. However, the week following, my husband’s family and I went camping up north to Mackinaw City. This meant a deadly combination: Mackinac Island Fudge and Happy Hour. You see, our family has a long running camping tradition that every day from 4 to 6 we bust out the snacks and treats, then we sit back and indulge. It’s a great tradition. Those couple hours are heavenly. Much to my surprise, we mostly ate healthy (besides my contribution of white-chocolate covered peanut butter balls). My favorite recipe of the week was the Guilt-free Greek Spinach Dip. Try out this delicious and easy recipe if you are looking for a great dish to pass at a party or just needing something to nibble on. You won’t regret it!”
Guilt-free Greek Spinach Dip
Makes 4 Cups
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Chill Time: 2 Hours (for best taste)
Ingredients:
1 Dried vegetable soup mix
1 Container (16 oz) nonfat Greek yogurt
1 Cup low-fat mayonnaise
¼ Cup diced red onion
1 package (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/3 Cup thinly sliced green onions
Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, combine vegetable mix, yogurt and mayonnaise until smooth. Seed and dice tomatoes.
2. Gently stir in tomatoes, red onion and green onions into yogurt mixture.
3. Cover and chill for 2 (or more) hours. Serve with sliced veggies of your choosing, or my personal favorite: Pretzels or Pecan Nut Thins.
4. Indulge, I mean, Enjoy!
Inquiring Minds Interviews – #6
Creative Dining Services’ Inquiring Minds interviewed Mona Scherf, Administrative Assistant at Judson University. Here’s what we learned about:
[Creative Dining Services’ Inquiring Minds]: So, you are the Administrative Assistant for Judson University Food Service. What is your favorite part of your job?
[Mona Scherf]: Definitely the flexibility of my hours of work in the office as well as the close-nit relationships with my fellow employees.
[CDSIM]: Our readers would like to know: what is your favorite cuisine?
[MS]: Anything someone else is cooking! I hate to cook, I prefer to bake desserts; but baking doesn’t feed the family properly! 
I know, it’s seems weird to work in a food service & not like to cook but I’m in the office!
[CDSIM]: If I take a look inside your refrigerator what would I find?
[MS]: Most importantly, MOUTAIN DEW, about 10 or 12 vanilla whipped yogurt containers (it’s about the only thing my 3 year old will eat), fixin’s for my 2nd grader’s lunch box, leftovers that no one will even think of touching, my homemade raspberry & grape jams, all of the standard condiments & typical butter, eggs, milk kind of stuff.
[CDSIM]: If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
[MS]: Hmmm, I’m not really adventurous. I’d like to take the family I’d like to go to see the ocean & play on the beach.
[CDSIM]: And finally, how will you handle your new-found fame once this interview is published on the Creative Dining Blog?
[MS]: I will screen calls with my handy-dandy caller ID on my work phone!
Inquiring Minds Interviews – #5
Creative Dining Services’ Inquiring Minds interviewed Rose Marie Scheumann, Supervisor at IndianaTech. Here’s what we learned about her:
[Creative Dining Services' Inquiring Minds]: So, you are a Supervisor for IndianaTech. What is your favorite part of your job?
[Rose Marie Scheumann]: Not doing the same thing everyday
[CDSIM]: Our readers would like to know: what is your favorite cuisine?
[RS]: Chinese
[CDSIM]: If I take a look inside your refrigerator what would I find?
[RS]: Lots and lots of food for family, friends and neighbors.
[CDSIM]: If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
[RS]: Arizona
[CDSIM]: And finally, how will you handle your new-found fame once this interview is published on the Creative Dining Blog?
[RS]: I will let you know when I am “famed”