Tyler Clemens notices everything when he sits down to a meal oncampus. He watches how the employees behave, notices how clean thearea is and judges the quality of the food.
If things aren't up to par, he'll take note and make sure LoriChechi knows about it.
Chechi is the manager of menu development and test kitchen atBall State. Clemens is a member of what Chechi calls the qualityassurance team.
"I go and eat meals and then I write a little summary over whatwas good and bad about it, or what I didn't like," Clemenssaid.
He gets paid for an hour of work, or $5.50, for each meal heevaluates and for the mandatory meeting he attends everyWednesday.
The quality assurance team, which works for the test kitchen,meets every Wednesday at 11 a.m. to discuss their experiences atthe various dining areas. A representative from each campusbuilding that houses a dining area attends the meetings to takenotes on what things need improvement.
"What they see is sometimes hard for us to notice," Chechi said."It's been a long time since we were students." Last year, thequality assurance team noticed that the Sara Lee wraps employeeswere being rude, so the faculty worked with them, Chechi said.
The students are allowed to evaluate up to nine meals a week buthave to do at least four. However, what Chechi calls the easiestjob on campus can become quite confusing, Clemens said.
"My brother did this his freshman year and he said it was aneasy way to make money ... but I didn't really expect it to be sochallenging because you have to plan out your day more," Clemenssaid. This is especially true if someone signs up for nine meals aweek because it's hard to remember when to eat and where, hesaid.
Clemens and his fellow quality control members decide where theyare going to eat and when during their Wednesday meetings, but noneof them can go to the same place at the same time to completeevaluations. Everyone could eat together, but only one person couldhave signed up to evaluate the area, Chechi said.
The quality control team doesn't just get paid to eat food, theyget paid to test food as well.
Jerri Richardson, test kitchen specialist, prepares a new menuof food for the student employees to taste at the meetings.
"I call myself the little red hen because I find all theingredients, cook the stuff and put it in the system," Richardson,test kitchen specialist, said. While she sometimes creates her owndishes, most of the time different companies will send food for herto prepare and have the employees taste. They then fill out anevaluation of what they thought of it.
The university will occasionally put a bid out to differentcompanies requesting a specific item, such as chicken fingers, andthe companies will send their chicken fingers to the test kitchenfor the students to try out, Chechi said.
Clemens isn't sure the school has started serving any of thefood he has tried in the test kitchen, but he said he likes most ofwhat they taste. His favorite taste-test was a plate of smallquesadilla nuggets.
"I went to culinary school and there was one menu in the entireschool," Cechi said. "[Here], you go to Noyer and there's wraps andCardinal Crossing now has the World Market. We have four and fiveweek cycles on our menus."
Students interested in joining the quality assurance team can goto the career center and apply for the job.
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