Mise en Place: Teaching customer service, caramelized onion secrets, more

Why is teaching customer service so important? For Andrew Klipsch, general manager at Bruce Dining Hall at the University of North Texas in Denton, it’s a factor that can make or break the dining experience:

“Because more than anything, customer service is something you can customize. Even though you can have a dress code and a uniform, with customer service, you can say, ‘This is who we are, this is what we do.’ And this is where you can stand apart, and also where you can fall below.

“As you’re training people and going over how we serve, how we clean a table, how we do our garbage station, how we refill our lines, continuously remind [employees] that the most important thing you can do is smile and acknowledge the customer. You always have to make eye contact as soon as a customer comes in, even if there are 100 people in line. Don’t just greet the person in front of you.

“We have a large labor force with a lot of international students. Making eye contact and smiling isn’t universal around the world. So it’s something we teach. You want the attitude and look of ‘Hey, we’re here, we’re going to help you, we’re going to serve you.’ It takes the focus off of customers wondering how long it’s going to take them to get through the line.

“We’re the service community and we should be doing it well. Sometimes that’s new to student employees. That’s why it’s important to teach them these things.”

Photo: National Onion Association

How To: The secrets of great caramelized onions
Caramelization (the oxidation of sugar, the process by which raw onions magically become nutty, brown and sweet) adds so much to so many recipes, it’s a technique worth studying closely.  

At the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) in Greeley, Executive Chef Aran Essig got fed up with what passed for caramelized onions both in restaurants and in his own kitchens. He teamed up with a UNC dietetics class, conducting a lab project and tasting with caramelized onions.

They tried a variety of methods, then blind taste tested several batches...the following steps and secrets were revealed:

Secret 1: The cut of the onion affects texture. To see more onion in a dish, cut with the grain. For less noticeable onion texture, cut against the grain.
Secret 2: Cover the pan in the first stages to sweat the onions over low heat to slow the browning down at this point.
Secret 3: When onions are translucent, remove the lid and increase the heat to medium. If the onions stick, add small amounts of water.
Secret 4: Lower the heat and stir occasionally. The thicker the cut of onion, the lower the heat should be.

Photo: National Onion Association

Psych 101 for Food Color

Color has been proven to change the way people choose and consume food. Here are a few findings from recent research published in Flavour Journal:
✓ We perceive red drinks as sweeter, and blue drinks as more thirst-quenching.
✓ People eat more candy when served multiple colors rather than just one.
✓ Popcorn eaten from blue bowls tastes saltier than the same popcorn in a clear bowl.