Sweetly Southern Hospitality : Life of a Private Dining Kitchen Intern

When I was a little girl one of my only jobs around the house was to peel potatoes for dinner. I was probably the world's worst potato peeler, no joke. I was so bad that I would have to bring my walkman(for those of you younger than me, that was a portable cd player before the times of the iPod and it was legit) in the kitchen with me and put on music so that I could find a rhythm to peel to. You might find that super nerdy but hey, the potatoes got peeled. In the past two weeks, the same girl that was a horrible potato peeler became a potato peeling master. This was probably my greatest accomplishment in the past two weeks haha.

I had a blast in the private dining kitchen. We were super busy the past two weeks so I really got a lot of hands on experience and insight into what it is like to work in that department when things are really going strong. This past week while I was there we had at least 4 over 100 person banquets. This was the first time in my life that I have actually worked over 40 hours in a week. I know that shows my inexperience but you have to start somewhere and going to school full time, I was only able to work about 20 hours a week. I can tell you this, I loved the fast pace of the kitchen. While I was there I worked with 3 chefs and 1 other kitchen helper. There was only 4 of us to handle everything including Steven's orders, hanger orders, employee dining room, and all the banquets. Sometimes you would have a banquet for 130 people at lunch and 180 people at dinner. That was the crazy part of the job. I have grown to respect the chefs I worked with because one in particular got there at 5 or 6 in the morning and sometimes didn't leave till 7 at night. That part was crazy to me because if I was tired and sore I know that she was.

While I was in the kitchen I mainly did prep work. I peeled 2 cases of potatoes, cut 4 1/2 boxes of finger-length potatoes in quarters, sliced too many tomatoes to count, made tortilla and potato chips and diced and minced more things than I can remember. I also worked on plating and mass production. One of the most nerve racking but coolest things I did was during a banquet I was sent out to cook shrimp scampi in front of guest for them to put over grits. It was fun getting to interact and talk to guests while I was cooking but man that first batch I was so worried I was doing it wrong. Luckily, I cooked them correctly and everyone loved it.

Overall, my time in the kitchen was awesome. I learned the importance of product consistency and working as a team no matter the size. I am so thankful for the opportunities I have been give so far.

-Rachel