Week one as the Food Tecnologist

So far, being at Heinz has been nothing short of amazing. My co workers are extremely intelligent, well rounded, and use excellent grammar and professionalism when I speak with them. They don’t regard me as "the new guy" and accept me as if I had been there longer. The only co workers who have the "so what?" mentality are the lab assistants, but they are all temps who participate in receptionist style employment. Not that it matters much, but most of them are ex sorority girls who spent little time in the real world. Otherwise, the staff is accepting and extremely helpful.
On my first day I was given a grand tour from my immediate supervisor, Biana. I saw a large mock plant, the labs, office floors, conference rooms, and met many people who I hope to manage to remember names. The office floor is confusing because of the shape of the building. For being the Innovation Center, the design sure is innovative. I preformed a large amount of compute orientation and made a sauce that was part of a Boston Market sodium reduction project from another JW grad from the Denver Campus. I spent my afternoon lunch with Aaron Bennett, my team manager. He explained the concept and standards that I’ll be developing and spoke with me about the nature of the line extension. Unfortunately, I can’t share the information about it specifically, but I did pick up other assignments that I can speak of.
Tuesday I signed my life away around noon. Three confidentiality waivers and enough paper work and information to track me anywhere I would go for the next 5 years were in order.
I also participated in a discrimination test before lunch. It involved sample of soup, beef stock, and country gravy. I was able to tell that there was a difference in them, but that may come from the type of education I’ve received.
After lunch, I received more online orientation, usage of the Heinz specific product lists, and met some more faces. I learned that there is a gym on premises and began to take advantage of it after hours.
Wednesday morning I finished the last bit of orientation and began researching ideas for my prototypes. I have to come up with 40-50 enticing names which will be sent to a focus group for their top ten. Those will in turn be whittled down by the team during a "cutting" and from there I will have 4-6 that I will actually begin making the Gold Standard for. Gold Standards are the best that the food can get- using proper ingredients with no thought to what lies ahead for furure development. After they are evaluated, I will work with the food technologist, Biana, and develop them into suitable counterparts for consumers.
I also took on a side project today. Ten samples of what are supposed to be moisture inhibitors for freezing were sent in to be used on our long pasta dishes made with either dry pasta or egg based pasta. I was assigned to carry out the experiment with short and long pasta and apply the solutions in two forms; spray and toss (the only applications available in the plant). After receiving access to the corporate account to purchase goods at a local grocery store chain, I set out to work. I put in an extra hour or two at work and knocked 2 of them out before calling it quits. I also learned that I can eat anything at any time that I please from the Smart Ones library (60+ different meals) for "comparative purposes."
Thursday morning I was back in the lab testing the other 8 varieties and getting them ready for freezing. I also learned that in comparison to Healthy Choice- the Smart Ones entrees taste much, much, much better- which isn’t saying a whole lot considering they’re still frozen foods. On any note, I finished around 10:30 and was off for a team luncheon at the concept that we’re mimicking for the new consumer products line extension. We also had a team meeting that I wasn’t so involved in, but it was still very neat to sit in on and see just what everyone does. It’s amazing how much work everyone does here- there isn’t a single employee without a huge load on their shoulders, yet they never snap and are always happy to lend a hand. I finally received my laptop, phone, and desk assignment around 3pm and am now able to communicate more effectively with other staff members. Outlook is EXTREMELY effective for interoffice communications.
Today, Friday, I am finalizing my first draft of concepts for the line extension. I am also participating in a cutting of Boston Market gravies. It seems that there are 4 different types and when Stephanie, the other JW grad, discovered this, she ordered them all so that the BM team could evaluate the differences and similarities in these 4 gravies distributed under the Boston Market name.The changes were so, so, so off it was ridicilious. Some major overhauling is in order. Even the two factory producted lots weren't even close to each other. Pathetic. I also plan to visit the gym after work and head to Target and JC Penny for a wardrobe update. I’m so used to just tossing on the Culinary uniform and going right out the door in the morning that I ran into a kink and trouble when I saw that even in lab, the attire is business casual. Friday’s appears to be jeans day too. Anyway, I thought I had a fair amount of dressy clothing, but it seems that when I go to the same place each day, I barely have enough to fill out the week- considering everyone sees my attire. As a result, I now spend time in front of a mirror for more than just shaving in the morning. I take the time to (what I hope is) matching my wardrobe and styling my hair.
This first week here has been incredible and exceeded my expectations. I’m extremely happy to be here and love every minute of it- even through the workload and extremely technical lab work! I could go on and on but most of what I have to say is extraneous to the the job itself.