Week 3

Monday 12/10: I didn’t expect today to become busy at all, but it snuck right up on me. I started the day by designing a new Excel sheet for my pasta freezing project. I calculated my percentages, dilutions, and percent to be applied to pasta for freezing. After that I took off to the store and purchased my pasta. I worked right on through lunch because I got into a groove and kept my turnover going quickly- considering how many times I’ve done this same style of project thus far I’m really getting quicker and quicker. I hadn’t been paying any attention but my project manager, Aaron, was watching me and mentioned that I worked very systematically and with flow. I’m assuming this is a compliment because he didn’t have a frown on his face when he said it. I chatted with him about the results up until now and some small talk about this past weekend. Very personable people I work with, I really feel like I belong. I finished the pasta, cleaned up, and made my way to my desk to record my production results on my Excel sheet and to arrange my meal ideas by type of protein for my big meeting tomorrow. I also added side notes when necessary because not everyone is culinary apt. I can’t wait for that!! My ideation session starts at 11am with the VP of Frozen, Robert Delaney, my Team Manager, Aaron, two food technologists including Biana and Keith(the developer of the first line of my new product), as well as Seth Spill and the other JWU Denver culinary intern, Stephanie. I hope they’re all happy and satisfied with my choices and concepts.

Tonight I am going to practice my introduction and reasoning for each menu item so that I am well versed and can speak eloquently. Maybe I’m putting to much into this, but I really make to make an impression.

Tues 12/11 Today was bustling. I finished cataloging all of the equilivent numbers through two systems for the entire Boston Market line. Promptly afterwards, I hosted my First ideation session. I presented my 55(or so) ideas to the frozen VP, the team manager, and the rest of my team. I was nerve racked at first, but overall I received excellent response. We went through every item one by one (which is customary) and discussed each section while they were fresh in our minds. The intention was to have at most 20 good ideas that fit with the concept, feasibility, ease of processing, and budget. The team unknowingly picked out 25; 20 of them coming from the team manager, Aaron Bennett. We had to cut them down further to those 20. Overall, I had huge success today. Afterwards, I started pulling my recipes for my gold standards and writing my schedule. My idea is that I’ll spend 3/5 days in the lab and make 3 of the recipes each week, practicing them twice so that they’re what I feel is ideal for presentation and cutting on the last time I prepare them. From there I’ll distribute cutting sheets to the team and compile the information for further review after I get through all 20 items. I haven’t even reached the best part yet…..remember that corporate account I have with the grocery store chain? They aren’t concerned with what I spend- they want the best, most complete representation (gold standard) for the products in question. This means I’ll get to cook like any chef would kill for a chance for- a (nearly) unlimited budget with choice of the best available ingredients!!! I am so, so giddy just thinking about it. Finally, I have a job that I am in love with and can’t wait to show up for every day. There will, of course, the the desk and paper work, but I think I can deal! I also participated in a cutting of the current Smart Ones pizza. Let me say, it sucks. Everyone knows it. Horrible. Its being worked on as we speak. The crust is the downfall, its….just…..bad, beyond bad. Other wise, couldn’t be happier.

Wed 12/12: I woke up to a lovely surprise this morning. My car was vandalized and ripped apart by some low lifes who did everything they could to get past my alarm (cutting EVERY wire under my dash and steering column- the car WILL NOT start because of this) and then proceeded to destroy my interior. To make it worse, they thought it’d be really cute to leave my doors open in the pouring rain all night. My car is ruined. I’ve put so much work and time into that thing for some jerks to take it away in an instant. I’m royally ticked and depressed. I was late to work because I spent two hours on the phone between the police and making insurance claims. Everyone understood and apologized at some point in the day when they heard what had happened. I apologized for being late, but everyone understood the circumstances. My landlord is kind enough to help me out and let me borrow a vehicle so I can continue my internship.

After being an hour late to work, I jumped right on my recipe writing. I should finish tomorrow, then I’ll being my first shopping list for production. At 11:30 I had a large bimonthly meeting for the frozen section. Since my division has new(er) employees such as myself and Stephanie, my manager introduced us in a power point presentation with likes, dislikes, and humor. It was a great way to get introduced to everyone in the room that I hadn’t already met. The meeting was about profit, commodities, coming up with landmark ideas vs smaller ones (again profitability) and also explained where my line stands when compared to other concepts. There was a luncheon in between because of the length of the conference. It was opened to Q&A and a “gripe” forum too. Turns out that we really need some development in the accelerated shelf life testing of frozen foods- lots of complaints about that; they don’t accelerate it at all in quality assurance. They wait the full 1,6,12,18,24 month interval. Insane. After that, we had a freezer clean out for products because the Associated Press is coming in to visit and see the IQ center and labs. Immediately after, I went to one of the most impressive presentations I have yet to see put on in this building. It came from McCain and JonLin. They were showcasing their patented and protected smokehouse and fire roasted vegetable variations. The corporate chef was incredible- made some amazing, amazing food- the best I have had in a long time. I hope they pay him well; he could open an extremely successful restaurant if he can run a business. The processes for the veggies are amazing, and they just got done with fine tuning and the product is extremely impressive. I may very well be using them for some sources for my development. The consensus in the room is that we’re bringing them on, and fast. Somehow the time slipped by and now I’ve got to go home and deal with the harsh reality of a car that won’t start because of some thieves and immerse myself in the world of insurance claims. Good day.

Thursday 12/13: I ran late yet again because when the tow truck finally came today it was 8am. I stayed an hour late to make up for it, I really needed to do it anyway. Today I did another pasta cutting, we’ve decided which 4 (maybe 5) that I’m going to set up for bench top accelerated shelf life tests. Almost done! After that, it’ll be time to apply the methods in the mock plant. The Associated Press was supposed to come in and I’ve never seen to many people at their lab benches looking busy for photos. They barely touched the lab, they got stuck somewhere else I think. Another department let them participate in a cutting. After the cutting I started writing the rest of my recipes. I didn’t think I’d finish, but I did. I even had time to write my grocery lists for all 6 weeks of gold standards. I’m looking forwards to this with great enthusiasm. We had a freezer clean out again today where we took everything that was cluttering up space and set it free to the rest of the employees.

Tomorrow I have a review on the chicken, rice, and broccoli casserole I mentioned before. I was also invited to lasagna cutting of some kind. I think I participated before, but everything is such a blur here. I love it, always busy, always challenged. Before or after those cuttings I have to go shopping for more pasta for the shelf life test. Its killer- how much food we waste here. Gotta love capitalist America. I’ll be preparing 5 different pasta solutions and 5 of each of those for pulling, freezing, and thawing, at different intervals. I’ll receive a schedule very soon from Biana; I want to follow protocol with this one. Until tomorrow!

Fri 12/14: It’s been a long week, car is finally at the body shop awaiting appraisal. Cross your fingers for me. This morning I worked on finalizing my shopping lists and recipes. Never hurts to double check. I returned to the store for pasta, but didn’t do the process today because it would have intersected with 3 cuttings one after the other. Unfortunately for that project there isn’t any good stopping point. When I was in the lab today I ran into the research nutritionist. She was working (sorta) on developing a sundae for Smart Ones. She’s extremely smart, silly, and we get along well. We had an in depth conversation about Heinz suspending tomato paste in sugar. Its really neat to have both the culinary AND nutrition side of this industry. I can explain to her what she doesn’t understand, but she can communicate with me better than with a food technologist because even the technologist doesn’t know food. I’m a two way bridge- ITS AWESOME.

After speaking with her I was off to my cuttings. One for lasagna who’s differences were so hard to tell apart unless you took apart each component separately and the other for blending types of broccoli because of a shortage in supply on the new launch. The claim and standards of identity have to be changed last minute on the packaging. There is enough time, but just barely. I’ll be starting my freeze thaw pulls on Monday for the pasta project and probably go shopping for my first week of Gold Standards- I got the okay to get started this afternoon!! I can’t wait! I also organized my lab notebook and gave it the updating it desperately needed. Today is the company Christmas Party and its on “during” office hours because we’re okay to leave at 3 today anyway. I think I’ll make an appearance just to socialize with my co workers and get to know and make an impression on them. More than one of the lab assistants said that the party last year was awkward. I know that I’ll do fine because I’m used to being social no matter what (darned kitchen setting echoing in my head) its everyone else who is so used to clamming up and not communicating as often. They can all speak and write very well, but when they don’t know you they aren’t the best conversation starters. I understand now what is meant by the different college experiences and majors. Its so weird to watch it from the outside in. However, the lab assistants were (if not all of them) previous members of sororities and are more apt to communicate. We all get along pretty well.

Overall, I’m still loving it here.

Also, I've figured out my job here at Heinz. The dietitian can't cook, but has to deal with numbers and standards to make them fall into heath regulation- I understand and am fluent in this because of my degree basis. Next, I have the culinary and basic food technology background so I can bridge the gap between the numbers based developers and the chef based developer(ME) while still communicating both realms of the spectrum- nutrition and cooking- from one extreme to the other. I'm like a 2 way bridge spanning the river's width.

Week 2

Normally I write more eloquently, but I make this record at the end of every day. Sometimes I'm ready to run out that door. So, you'll have to work through it.


Monday 12/3: After a horrible nights rest from worrying about whether or not I’d be able to get to work in the morning and a smashed front door because of the high winds and violent storm, I managed to get to work in the snow. Note that I’ve never driven in snow with rwd- regardless of how little has fallen. I left with a lot of extra time and wound up being at work about 15 minutes earlier than intended and without complications. This morning I set up my office and multimedia. I now have faxes that are scanned and sent to my email when they are received, a phone, and more access to Outlook and a ton of Heinz confidential sites and databases.Today was my first cutting for one of my side projects; freezing pasta for reheating in the microwave. I had 9 different products to try on egg based and semolina based pastas. They were tested with spraying and tossing. 5 showed promise, 3 of which held a much greater promise. The next step is to narrow down those 5 to the best two or three and decrease the percentage of the solution in an attempt to make the product the most cost effective while still having desirable results. It’s very, very neat, but I really don’t like that I throw away so much food. It goes against what we’ve learned in school- sacrilegious almost. Today’s tests were successful and I’ll continue them through out the week.
I also set up a meeting with the team next week (literally everyone is booked or traveling this week) and we’re going to evaluate the 50+ ideas I have for the line extension. With any luck we can bring it down to ~20 and then send the results to a consumer panel to decide which names they like most. From there I’ll begin creating Gold Standard examples which will be subjected to more cutting and finally begin the process to commercialization.
The rest of my day will be spent learning to write my lab notebook in proper form and researching more ideas and trends congruent with my assignment.
Tuesday 12/4: I preformed 40 trials of high and low tests from the 5 acceptable results on Monday. I preformed the tests on two types of pasta at two different dilutions. Because I had the time, I also did 50% tests of those highs and lows too. It probably wasn’t necessary, but more knowledge is good knowledge. Some look promising, others not so much; however that is the point.
I didn’t realize how much time I spent in the lab until I sat down just now. Somehow I managed to work right on through lunch. I’d be taking care of that but the cafeteria is closed now, HA! For the remainder of the day I’ll be drawing up a results table to my test and making a note to myself to stash a pair of tennis shoes in my filing cabinet for long days in the lab.
Wednesday 12/5: Driving in 4 inches of snow for a half hour is extremely nerve racking. None-the-less, I made it without incident. During the morning I had an assignment to determine which current Boston Market consumer products could be claimed as "gluten free." I had to go through every ingredient in the ingredient lists and find one that would disprove the thought. After a massive amount of searching, three out of twenty-nine items have the capability of being produced as gluten free. After I finished that assignment I participated in a discrimination test. The first was for the Deli Mex Taquitos. The variable was unknown, but one of them was much more smoky and had more savory bottom notes that the other. The non flavorful one was noticeably drier too. The second test was for Basil Tossed Green Beans. Honestly, I didn’t taste any hint of basil in either sample, but I think (from tasting) that the variable was the sauce was cut with either butter or oil. One smelled and tasted noticeably sweeter and had a better mouth feel.(EDIT just found out that I was right, they were trying to reove PHO's, partially hydrogenated oils, from the product) I finished my tests and took a lunch break while watching the snow continually fall. After lunch, a very loud and intruding noise started coming from the air vents. Finally, the gentleman right below it got extremely peeved and called maintenance who "knew noise happened, but not like this." The sound is ‘normal’ but it got so bad that at least 4 other employees have noise canceling headphones that they use when they’re in their cubicles. They’ve been trying to fix it for a while. I plug my ears with a cheapie MP3 Player.
After lunch I was assigned to go through all of the Boston Market meals (yet again) and "identify the red listed, yellow listed, partially hydrogenated oils, and trans fat ingredients." Yet again, I went through every ingredient list for each SKU identifying whether each had these ingredients:
Red List:
Yellow List:
1. Level 1 or 2 allergen (Peanuts / Tree nuts)
1. Butylated Hydroxtoluene (BHT)
2. Monosodium Glutamate
2. Mono-tert-butyhydroquinone (TBHQ)
3. Sulfites (wines excluded)
3. Partially Hydrogenated Oils
4. Nitrites (meats excluded)
4. Chemical Preservatives
5. Red # 40
5. Level 3, 4 and 5 Allergens
6. Yellow #5 & #6
6. HFCS
7. Blue #1
7. Artificial flavor or color
8. Bromated flour
8. Artificial ingredient of any kind
9. Butylated Hydroxiyanisole (BHA)
9. Disodium inosinate / guanalate


I recorded and compiled them on a very extensive filed for a revamping of Boston Market meals for Health and Wellness. A large amount of time went into the production of the matrix- the other members of the group as well as mine.
Tomorrow is a very busy day consisting of meetings and presentations. One of the biggest coming in is Butterball who put together a demonstration of how we could further utilize turkey in our operations (must have killed and froze to many this Thanksgiving). Before that I also have the second cutting for my frozen pastas- I hope that goes well. There is also a cutting for some Giant Eagle- a large grocery store chain here- products that we produce. I was surprised to find that we made anything for them, but I guess its not out of the scope of practice.

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.