Meghan Reiser, Crete, Ill.

I was drawn to this Business Fellows project because of its relevance to my internship this past summer and how it relates to my studies at school. I interned for a highly established restaurant enterprise in Chicago that focused all of their restaurants into having different, innovative concepts for each restaurant. I worked in the special events area of a French concept restaurant. Through my experience in this position, I was able to work with clients on choosing their menus, their wine, extra services and party room for their event. I became more familiar with the process of food ordering, preparation, pairings and the overall production of an event. When I read the plan for this project, I realized it encompasses most of the concepts I worked with this summer.            

Another important aspect of my internship this summer was the education I received. Once a week all of the interns were to report to the corporate office for a lecture based on different aspects of the restaurant and food industry. I had the opportunity to hear about the process of choosing a restaurant concept, menu production (including both the creative and food aspect of the menu), the accounting side of the food industry, marketing and food rating. Overall, the food rating portion was exciting because we were given money to go to different restaurants and rate their food and report back to the corporate office our findings.

I love the emphasis that our society is now putting toward food. I think that it is so interesting how something as simple as food has grown into a new activity for those looking to experience something different for a night out or even a vacation. Personally, I enjoy watching the Food Network, and my favorite shows are “Everyday Italian” because of my love for Italian food and “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” because of all of the interesting places they visit across this country.

I feel the biggest talents that I bring to this project are my abilities for written communication, creative thinking of event planning and overall management of particular projects. I am currently the president of an organization on campus that constantly is promoting and planning different events and performances on and off campus, and I believe that this has given me great experience for a project such as this.

I would love to help plan any of the promotional events that the Indiana Foodways Alliance is preparing for the new tourism development project. I think that my work this past summer and my studies at school have greatly prepared me for taking on this project.