New Job at a sorority house...need menu advice!!

[jwsteele]

Starting January I will be working as a chef for a sorority house. Their previous chef is moving because her husband is relocating for his job. I was wondering if anybody had any ideas for menus...I want to impress and be as creative as possible!

Here are the basics of the job. The kitchen is large and industrial, it's quite nice. There is plenty of storage space and everything is clean and will be efficient. The budget is large enough to provide things like shrimp, chicken, steak, etc. There will be assistant chefs working with me. I am in charge of providing the following meals: Lunch and Dinner Monday-Thursday, and a "brunch" on Friday. There are 200 girls in the sorority, but the only night I have to cook for approximately that many is Monday Dinner. The rest of the nights they said to expect about 80 for dinner.

Here are some sample menus from the previous cook so you can see the type of food to be served, as well as the amount of entrees, sides, etc.

DINNER #1
Chicken and eggplant parmesan
Fettucini alfredo
Green beans
Garlic bread
Salad bar

DINNER #2
Flank steak
Baked potato bar
Broccoli
Salad bar

DINNER #3
Salmon
Roasted red potatoes
Peas & carrots
Dinner rolls
Salad bar

Occasionally fun "ethnic" nights like Burrito Bar, etc.

Lunches I'm supposed to provide a salad and sandwich bar, as well as an "entree" such as a soup, specialty sandwich, pasta, etc.

So my question is this. Given those parameters, does anybody have any ideas for menus? I am going to give the girls a survey about what they like/dislike, but I want to be a) creative as I get the idea that their previous chef was very basic b) address their health needs because apparently they try to make the meals very healthy and c) obviously have meals that can be cooked for that many people.

I'm very excited and want suggestions! Not only just for dinner menus, but also for sandwich/salad bar, the brunch on Friday, etc. This is going to be very challenging but a lot of fun and I'd love input.

[GhettoRacingKid]

Its jobs likethose that I wish I was single.

I would deifnitly go the servey route and just ask them. What do you want.

I wouldnt be to surpirsed if people ask for some comfort foods. like meatloaf with mashed potatos, or maybe like a chicken casserole.

[shroomgirl]

Southeast Asian is huge with college kids in the Midwest. Pho, springrolls ....labor intensive, vegetable makimotos.

Middle Eastern falalfel, hummos, baba ganoush, swarma salad, tabbouli, pitas...

[MuskyHopeful]

It's nice to know the girls can sit down to a quality meal. It's important they stay strong and healthy for all the pillow fights.

Kevin

[shroomgirl]

jw, there have been sorority house (and actually frat house) cooks posting on cheftalk for years. Seems like most had less than 200 girls to feed though. That would be one really big house.
I mentioned this as it's your first post and the archives have an awful lot of useful posts on just this subject. Several of the pros deal with mass daily feedings.
Posting how the food is out would be helpful. ie lunch is from 11-2 with buffet line or the ability to make dishes at the last minute.....flat top.....
How many kitchen staff do you have? Most that posted were solo. What part of the country are you located? is it southern Florida where it's warm 12 months out of the year with loads of fish or Minn. where the snow buries them for numerous months?
Can you buy from local sources or only source from certain wholesalers?
Do you wanna make your own baked goods or source um out?
Do you have to follow any USDA guidelines?

[kuan]

Here's a tip:

Bake some cookies every night and set them out.

I used to do one pasta every night, a protein, and an always fresh salad bar. The rest was made up as I went along.

[shroomgirl]

hot cookies....ok, you've found the way to a woman's heart.....
well actually guy's too.

[shipscook]

I have a survey sheet on the wall each time I get a new group of clients. It asks--favorite food, food you will not eat by preference, food allergies or special diets, how they like steaks, etc. done, which milk. It is so helpful. I do not remeber who likes their steak how, but have an idea how many rare, etc. to plan on.
You wil probably have some vegetarians and/or vegans. Like the poster above, I usually have a pasta at each dinner and it is usually vegetarian.
I have beans and rice available most days with no meat products. Also most of my soups are vegetarian and many vegan.
I almost always have a lactose intollerent person or two. They can of course eat the vegan dishes and pick from the others.
My first LI person was very, very sensitive, taught me that we put cheese on so many things where it is not necessary.
I also usually have some non pork people.
Sounds like a fun job. Maybe when my body gets tired of shipboard routine I would consider something like that.
Good luck and don't forget, fun at work is required!
Nan

[jwsteele]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

jw, there have been sorority house (and actually frat house) cooks posting on cheftalk for years. Seems like most had less than 200 girls to feed though. That would be one really big house.
I mentioned this as it's your first post and the archives have an awful lot of useful posts on just this subject. Several of the pros deal with mass daily feedings.

I used the search function...I didn't really find anything searching under "sorority", just occasional replies to topics from a user named pastachef where she mentioned cooking at a sorority house, but it was usually just in passing (ie "I used that sauce once when I cooked for the sorority," etc). Did I use a bad search term? If there are threads that are specific to my question I'd love to be able to find them!

[shroomgirl]

try fraternity breakfasts

[shroomgirl]

which does not address lunch nor dinner.......oops.
Just seems like we've dealt with this through the years, any of you that have been around for ions remember what the info would be under?

I've got a buddy who quit his high profile white linen gig and took on a temp consulting job for his uncle working on a jail/prison some institution....reworking their menu. they had nominal budget to say the least but had to have vegetarian options and watch the pork. It was facinating hearing how he was working through the hoops. No better puzzles out there.

recycling bread into bread pudding, stuffing, french toast, croutons.....etc....

[KYHeirloomer]

>Maybe when my body gets tired of shipboard routine I would consider something like that.<

Hey! What happened to the country inn we was gonna open?