Cost of Dining/Derby Dining Center an Inside Look
Sitting in the corner of the Derby Dining center a band plays instruments during a special event at the Derby Dining Center (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
A worker cuts flat bread on a stone at the Derby Dining Center during a special event (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
Students eat at the Derby Dining Center. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
A display of Pita bread spilling from a basket at the Derby Dining center. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
Two workers at the Derby Dining Center smile and laugh as I take a picture of a Pizza being baked. For everyone working at the "Derb" my presence was unusual, but they tried to continue with their work. During an average dinner the Derby Dining center feeds around 1,100-1,300 people. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
Cook Dwayne Summers organizes Pepperoni loaves in a baking pan. When asked what he feels students don't understand about working in a dining center he responded "All the love that goes into this. They don't understand that, but its ok. They can come taste it." Hard work and team unity is one of the core values of the operation. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
Sugar flies over over apple slices getting ready to be baked by dinner cook Alex "Big Dog" Handspike. Over his two years at the Derb Alex has found there was a real sense of family among his co-workers. "We all try to fill in where another is weak...We all are a family here." Alex said. For him one of the hardest things for students to understand was simply the amount of food needed to serve them. Mentioning that on any given day when they serve chicken tenders they could easily go through 150 pounds of them. "I just hope that they know we work hard back here to make sure they have something to eat." (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
One of the concepts for the classic line is breakfast for dinner. Concepts are repeated from previous years but altered based on student reception. Changing the amount of food produced, or even removing items from the menu if needed.
Miss Elaine goes over meal prep with Junior Akayla Calhoun an Animal Science/Pre-Vet Major. Akayla is a production student supervisor at the Derby Dining center and is working there for her 3rd year. "When I first started working here, because I tend to be a very shy and quiet person, I didnt talk to anyone but just how everyone is ... they had me open right up." Akayla described her relationship with Miss Elaine similar to her grandmother. "Shes like the person who got me to open up here" (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
![Posing for a picture, Head Dinner Chef Manfred Aulich and Chef Alex Handspike both smile at the camera. Both remarked on the sense of community and family there is at the dining center. "[We] are kind of a family...This community, this family thinking is amazing at Derby Dining Center" Aulich said. Because of that family thinking the center is able to handle the capacity that the Derby complex brings even during shortages in staffing. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)](https://photos.smugmug.com/CollegianPhotos/Cost-of-DiningDerby-Dining-Center-an-Inside-Look/i-83QSHHf/0/98df467e/XL/09.23.18.DerbyDining-RealCostofDining.RJ%20%2810%20of%2012%29-XL.jpg)
Posing for a picture, Head Dinner Chef Manfred Aulich and Chef Alex Handspike both smile at the camera. Both remarked on the sense of community and family there is at the dining center. "[We] are kind of a family...This community, this family thinking is amazing at Derby Dining Center" Aulich said. Because of that family thinking the center is able to handle the capacity that the Derby complex brings even during shortages in staffing. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
Head Chef Manfred Aulich holds open the door into the walk-in freezer at the Derby Dining Center. Unlike the other dining centers Manfred claims that around 95% of the ingredients are fresh. With very little of it being canned or already processed. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)
A winged heart drawn into a corked board is lettered with "Derb" in on of the notice boards at the Derby Dining center. Throughout my short period exploring and chatting with workers in the dining center everyone of them remarked on how much they loved their job because of the co-workers. This made that sentiment even more apparent. (Rowan Jones|Collegian Media Group)