Lillien Bennett

Responsibilities

Over the summer, I worked as a cook under the supervision of a head chef. My responsibilities included prepping every ingredient for our restaurant kitchen, reading recipes and making them in larger quantities, cooking orders during lunch and dinner, and, last but not least, learning every station for lunch, dinner, and banquets.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishments at Whistling Straits were creating close relationships with my coworkers, perfecting a piping technique for our mashed potatoes, and attaining my professional objectives. When I first arrived in Sheboygan, WI, I did not know anyone besides the people I had been connecting with through interviews. So, I was very happy about this accomplishment of getting to know my coworkers well enough to hang out with them outside of work and consider them friends rather than coworkers. My second accomplishment is a small part of my experience that made everything run easier in the kitchen. As this may seem like an easy accomplishment, this was something that took me a while to master and something I mastered before several other cooks who had been there significantly longer than I had been. It was the best feeling for the head chef to compliment me on how well I made each plate uniform. Lastly, attaining my objectives was a great accomplishment as I had successfully completed my first internship.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I learned through my experience was how important strong communication is in every job. Every day I worked, I had to ensure I communicated with everyone in the kitchen. I would be sure to communicate with our dishwashers to ensure the machine was working and to make sure we had enough plates to successfully get through a full day of service. I would communicate with the kitchen managers to see how many people we had seated so we could get each plate out at a reasonable time. As I was working in the middle of the hotline, I would make sure every order went out altogether, hot and cold. Lastly, I learned that asking for help was okay.

What advice would you give?

Advice that I would give to future students in the Culinary Food Science major is that communication is everything. There is no room to be shy and quiet in a kitchen or while cooking/baking. It is okay to ask for help and to ask to see examples of how things need to be completed. Not only does communication help while you are in a kitchen setting, but it also helps you go out and seek other opportunities. By holding yourself to higher communication standards, you will be able to go and find jobs everywhere.