Day 14: Schlotzsky's Pet Peeves

Today, I worked at Schlotzsky's, and did a lot of the usual, but I found out that it had already been done by the night staff. I was happy, but at the same time, I had to put back all of items that I took out. Some of these items were: cookies, chips, cans of soda, etc. After putting these back, I filled all of the ice teas. When I was making them this time, I made sure to stir them for twice the amount of time, making sure that none of the sugar settled in the bottom of the container and blocked the pipe. After this, I filled all of the soda machines with ice, but they each needed about 4 buckets because they were so empty. I was not sure why, but they were, so it took a little longer than usual. Anyways, after that I worked the register with Amy since I pretty much knew how to use it just as well as her or any other employee. It was very busy, so to make sure that I didn't make a mistake and the line kept moving quickly, I went out and ran the food to the tables. It was extremely busy, and on top of that, there were the fifteen usual people who came in as a church group making everything even more hectic. There was a kind gentleman eating lunch with his wife, and Chase and I went to deliver their food to their table. He sneezed, so like usual, I said, "Bless you" and Chase happened to say it at the same time. The man was joyed that we even bothered to say anything and ended up giving us both a $10 tip. This probably wasn't the only factor, it was probably that I was young and doing a ton of work. Chase on the other hand had a problem with his leg causing him to limp, but he was also running around as well. One thing that really slowed me down and makes me fairly mad is when I call out someone's order number for their food, but they are not at their table. They are either in the bathroom or doing something else, so I end up standing around calling out a number for someone who can't even hear it. Since we had so many people, it was busier longer than usual. The lunch rush didn't end until about 1:30 p.m.  At about 1:45 p.m., I went and ran the drive-thru with another employee. What happened next was rude. A man in a pickup truck drove up to the drive-thru, ordered and drove away before he payed. We had put the order in, but luckily we were able to let Mike, one of the employees making the food, know not to make it so it didn't go to waste.

Day 13: Finding Out Last Minute Necessities

Today at Schlotzsky's was basically the same as all of the others. Now that I have all of my goals done and learned all of the different parts of the restaurant business, I am just working here and practicing all of the skills that I learned. It satrted like usual, where Mr. Rukieh and I did the catering orders, then I put the ice in all of the soda machines and made sure that they were ready for use. After that I made all of the tea, sweet tea, unsweetened tea, and rasberry tea. The sweet tea and rasberry tea get sugar added to them, so I did that and stirred it. This is only the second time that I had dones this, and I found out later in the day that I did not stir it long enough. Amy, one of the employees went to make new tea and change the old one out, and when she looked into the container, there was a huge clump of sugar at the bottom. Luckily the sugar didn't clog the pipe the tea went through, but I am sure that the person who drank it first got a unpleasantly sweet taste. Even though I explained those things in a few sentences, they take longer than you think. It was 10:00 a.m. and time to make the sandwiches for the catering orders. Once we made the sandwiches, the lunch rush started around 11:30 a.m. I worked on this with all of the other employees to satisfy the customers, so they could get on their way. There was a little break inbetween the lunch rush, where I learned how to take orders on the drive-thru (this applies to all of the cash registers). I knew how to take the money and slide the credit cards, but I didn't know how to take the actual orders. Mr. Rukieh has new registers ordered, but they haven't arrived yet, so I learned on the current ones. There are a lot of buttons, and it is hard to learn unless you are working the register a lot, and then you just get used to it. Nikki, the manager helped me run the drive-thru register, and helped me out when I couldn't find the correct button that I was looking for. Along with the new registers, they are getting a new drive-thru microphone, which I am sure Nikki will be thankful, because the one right now doesn't use a head set and is so loud, it basically deafens you. After I learned how to use the register and the lunch rush was over, there wasn't much left for me to do for the day, so I sliced and packaged meats for the people working dinner shift could have them ready to use instead of having to cut and package it right before their shift starts.

Day 12: Back to Schlotzsky's & Figuring out Starting Costs

 I got back from my aunts yesterday, and went back to work at Schlotzsky's today. I have hit upon all of my goals, so it is mostly routine from now until the end of winterim. Doing catering orders, making food, running the drive-thru, and restocking inventory. Although I hit upon my goals, there was still one question that I had and got my answer to today. The question was, "How much does it cost to start a restaurant such as Schlotzsky's from the beginning with every cost?" I found out that the Schlotzsky's that I am currently working in is retrofitted, meaning that it was a different type of building that was refurbished into a Schlotzsky's. The price to start a retrofitted Schlotzsky's is around $300,000 and the price to build a Schlotzsky's from ground up with all of the equipment and other necessary items, including a drive-thru is about $1.2 million. These costs include the FFE (furniture, fixtures, and equipment) such as: an ice machine, a walk-in cooler, a walk-in freezer, soda machines, and cash registers. These cost are specifically for Schlotzsky's, but are similar with similar quick serve restaurants.

Day 11: First Day at Ramco-Gershenson, Inc.

Today was the first day working at Ramco-Gershenson, Inc. with my aunt. The hours were a bit different than usual and a bit longer. We got in at 8:30 a.m. and left at 5:30 p.m. A quick run down of what this company does is develop, manage, and lease shopping centers and the stores in them throughout the country. It started off by meeting all of the people that I was going to be working with and going to meetings with for today and tomorrow. We arrived, went up to her office, got the documents needed for the first meeting at 9:00 a.m. and grabbed a note pad and pen to take notes with. The first meeting was to talk about the new development in Lakeland, Florida called lakeland Park Center. We were discussing how well phase one(section one) of the shopping center was doing and the future of phase two and three. In-between the first meeting and the second meeting, which occurred about two hours later, we were trying to get companies within the shopping center to change their contracts a little bit to get more stores and new stores into the shopping center. For example, we were trying to get a couple of small stores out of the shopping center to add the space onto the main building, which we are trying to sell to Dicks Sporting Goods. At about 11:00 a.m. we headed to our second meeting. The second meeting that we went to was discussing the Target cooperation in Fox River in Wisconsin. Ramco wanted to add ten acres of land to the shopping center, to better it, but Target was a bit leery on giving their consent because it could hurt their business. This meeting ended at noon, then we left, ate lunch, and got back at 1:00 p.m. The rest of the day was spent working on getting different stores into different shopping centers. The issue with this is that the stores that Ramco wants to get rid of or relocate in the shopping center either want to be payed money based on how much they think it is worth or want a rent reduction for their future location. Ramco is obviously trying to rearrange stores so they fit like a puzzle in the end and work out perfectly, but to make these changes it comes with a price and the negotiation process is not something easy on either end. By working here, I am able to see multiple different shopping centers, with different types of restaurants and shops. By understanding which restaurants were successful and which were not successful, I was able to come to conclusions on where the best and worst places to put a restaurant are inside of a shopping center. I found out that a couple of places where you do not want to put a restaurant inside of a shopping center is next to a grocery store and next to a fitness center. This is because people who go to a grocery store or a fitness center usually go there for one reason and one reason only. They don't plan on walking around and they won't come to your restaurant. One place that I found that is good to put a restaurant near is near some form of a clothing store. This is because people who go clothes shopping are doing exactly that...shopping. They don't have anything that they want specifically in mind, so they are more likely to make another stop before or after they go shopping.

Plans for a Shopping Center in Progress

Development Meeting of a Shopping Center in Progress

Day 10: Winding Down & Recap

On the tenth day that I worked at Schlotzsky's, I did't learn anything new, but instead, I reviewed all of the things that I learned and just worked as a floater and did different tasks around the restaurant. There is one thing that I forgot to ask Mr. Rukieh, which I plan on doing on Wednesday. I forgot to ask him what the initial cost to open a restaurant, hire a staff, and all of the other fees that need to be payed. Surely, it is not the same price for each restaurant, because they all operate differently, but it will give me a general idea. I am staying at my aunt's house for day eleven and day twelve, learning about land contracting. The company that she works for and that I will be learning about is called Ramco-Gershenson, Inc. The reason that I am learning about this is because it is important that you find an affluent area to put your restaurant, where it will prosper and where you can maximize profit. Mr. Rukieh told me about the process which he had to go through to find a location for a restaurant, and this will certainly speed along the process.

Day 9: Working and Ordering

In the morning, I did the same thing that I usually do with Mr. Rukieh. We did all of the catering orders, restocked all of the materials to make food, wiped down the tables, cleaned the floors, and set up the cash registers. Everyone showed up around 10:45 a.m. like usual and we served them. I got my break at around 11:45 a.m. and went back to work at 12:15 p.m. We worked again until 1:30 p.m. until Mr. Rukieh pulled me aside. We were going to do the ordering of all the materials, but he wanted to show me what to do and the issue that was going on. There was not much for me to do but watch, because I am not the owner and I do not know the number of items that needed to be ordered, but I did understand how Mr. Rukieh does the ordering. Not to mention, when we did the ordering today it was a bit more than usual because Schlotzsky's is in the process of changing their supplier from Gordon Food Service to another food and material supplier based out of Cincinnati. The main reason for this, is they have a different system that makes it much easier to order supplies. When we ordered the food, we went off of a mandatory list supplied by Gordon Food Service and had to go find how much of each item we have left. The issue with the system is it is not in any order in the restaurant, and can not be organized in any specific order. The list makes you go into the walk-in fridge, the walk-in freezer, the back, the bakery, and the front of the store. What the company that he will be ordering from in the future does is allows you to make your own list of what you need and when you set up the list (if you are smart) you can set it up in the order you have your food arranged in the restaurant. For example, you can do everything in the freezer, then the fridge, then the back, then up front. This will make it so you don't have to go to each place five times, but once because it will be in the order that you want it in. Due to the changing of suppliers, Schlotzsky's will not get another order in for two weeks, instead of one week like they usually do. We had to double up on all of the ordering so we would definitely have enough.

Inputing order onto Gordon Food Service's Website

Making Box Lunches

Entering Items from Inventory Sheet

Inventory Sheet & what is Needed

Day 8: Laid back and Working

Today was a bit more laid back than usual, but still busy. There was nothing really that I focused on learning today due to the fact of continuous flows of customers. Although we had three orders for catering, they were all fairly small or fairly simple to due. For example, the first catering order consisted of eight people and all they wanted were eight sandwiches and eight bags of chips. The second catering order consisted of one large veggie tray, a side or ranch, and a tray with one dozen cookies and eight brownies for twenty people. The last catering order also consisted of a large veggie tray, and fifteen brownies, but was for thirty people. There were no surprise orders that we had to make at the last minute, so since all of the work that I could have done was done, I got a break until 11:00 a.m. when Schlotzsky's opened. I worked all around the restaurant doing various tasks from taking orders, serving food, making food, and running the drive-thru. There was a fairly large amount of people that came in for lunch, and at a steady pace. The rush stopped at about 1:30 p.m. when Mr. Rukieh gave me a quick briefing of what I was going to learn tomorrow, since it is only done on Thursdays. Schlotzsky's is changing their suppliers, so he is going to teach me how the ordering sheet works, how long in advance he needs to order the supplies, who he orders it from, and why it is a crucially important aspect of running a business.

Day 7: Work Days & Applying Skills

Today was normal to start, but got very hectic as it started rolling. We started out by doing the catering orders, like we usually do. There were three to start, but right after we finished around 9:30 a.m. we received 4 more orders that people wanted all in the morning. One at 10:30, one a 11:30, one at 11:40, and one at 12:00. The original plan was for me to go with Sylvia, the main employee who does deliveries and help her, because we only delivered two orderers last time. With all of the new catering orders, Mr. Rukieh requested that I stayed at Schlotzsky's to help him and the other employees finish the orders because they were short on staff for the morning. It was crunch time the minute we started the orders. I got 20 mints for each order, one dozen cookies, soda and water, lemonade and ice tea, silverware, and chips. While I was doing this, we were also setting up boxed lunches to go, which are a box containing a sandwich, a bag of chips, a cookie, a mint, and a pickle spear. These are usually for people having a meeting who are on a time crunch, allowing them to serve food very fast. Once Sylvia got back, it was time to start the other sandwiches and wraps for the other catering orders. Not to mention that Schlotzsky's was now open so we also had to attend to regular customers. With hard work from me, Josh, Mr. Rukieh, Sylvia, and Amy, we were able to work through the unexpected hurricane of orders. Today was probably one of the busiest days that Schlotzsky's has had while I have been working there. This is due to the fact that there was no snow, cold temperatures, or high winds like all of the other days. With that being said, after the crazy rush we did to get the catering orders done, it continued until about 1:00 p.m. when lunch time was over. Since it was slow, Doug, the employee who does a lot of work at the drive-thru showed me how to restock everything and the benefits of doing it sooner than later. Since the day was so busy, we went through a lot of materials, such as straws, chips, cups, and napkins. Doug and I went to the back where all of the listed items are kept, and replaced them. This is not only beneficial for us due to the fact that we won't have to stay later to do it, but also for the next shift, so they aren't running around trying to do it themselves.

Boxed Lunches (there were 30 total)

It was about 1:45 p.m. and almost time for me to go home, which is at 2:30 p.m. The rush of people had slowed down, so Mr. Rukieh showed me the way he does all of his scheduling for his employees and all of the forms that they have to sign once they become an employee. The way it works, is when each employee started working at Schlotzsky's, they had to sign forms such as: a general safety Schlotzsky's handbook saying that they read it over and understand possible dangers and what not to do. The next form that they have to sign is a US eligibility form stating that they are a US citizen, providing their birth certificate. The next form that they have to sign is a cash handling agreement, which states that they will count all of the items that people payed for and account for the money that they made and make sure it matches up with how much money is in each register drawer. This makes sure that Mr. Rukieh and Schlotzsky's are not getting stolen from. Last, they sign a form in which they write what days they can work consistently and what times they can work at. This gives Mr. Rukieh a general idea of when each staff member will work. Surely, they can call in and say they can't work certain days, but that is why he always has someone as a backup staff member to come in just in case. The schedules are posted 10 days in advance from when they will work, giving employees time to tell Mr. Rukieh last minute issues of why they can't work, so he can get another employee to fill in. 

Work Schedule

Hours & Days you can Work Form

Cash Handling Form

General Safety Form

Secrecy Form

Slicer Safety Forum

Day 6: Putting Skills to Work & Mock Interview

Today, I had the chance to use everything that I learned so far at Schlotzsky's and put them to use. I worked from 8:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. doing all different types of tasks. First, it started with sweeping and mopping the floor, then to cleaning the tables. The second thing that I did was get the soups ready and put them in the heater. Third, we had to take care of three catering orders, so I got the chips, the soup, the mints, the silverware, the napkins, and prepared the sandwiches. While doing the catering orders I learned that it is important to make everything that you make look good, not like it was thrown on a plate. Unfortunately, the people who plow the lot do not shovel the sidewalk, so Mr. Rukieh and I put on our boots and coats and shoveled the sidewalks because they had about three inches of snow on them. After that, it was 11:00 and the restaurant was opened. I was down at the finish, putting the toppings and sauces on the sandwiches, then serving them to the customers.


Mr. Rukieh ran a mock interview with me, him as the owner, and me as the interviewee. In order to become an employee of the restaurant, you need to complete and interview with Mr. Rukieh, to help him decide if you are the right person to work at Schlotzsky's. When getting interviewed, there are a few key things that Mr. Rukieh goes over to help him know about the interviewee. The type of questions that Mr. Rukieh asks are questions that fall under behavioral interviewing, which is simply finding out about the interviewee's behavior. The first thing he does is have you run through your average day from when you wake up to when you go to sleep. What he is looking for while doing this is when you wake up and go to bed, telling him if you are good for working night shifts, or morning shifts. Depending on how much detail they explain about their day. Mr. Rukieh gives insight on how detail oriented the interviewee may be in his or her life. The next thing that Mr. Rukieh asks is if they have any prior restaurant experience, letting him know if there is a good spot to put the interviewee on or if he needs to work his way up the work chain. While asking questions, he told me it is important to look for eye contact and repetitive motions that people do to see if they are lying or thinking. Another important thing to do while asking questions is to ask in-depth questions, not cookie "cutter questions" so you can squeeze more information out of the interviewee's answers. Once you know a decent amount about the interviewee, you need to give them a potential awkward situation and ask them what they would do. Once they tell you, you know if they could handle situations correctly or not. The last thing that he asks the interviewee is, "Tell me something that you haven't said yet that would make me want to hire you instead of the next person." Last, once the interview is over he walks the interviewee to their car, and peeks inside to see if it is a pigsty, telling him if they lied or not during the interview, and making sure he doesn't hire someone who doesn't take care of items or lives like a pig. After all of these things are taken into consideration, he makes sure he is following his motto, "hire smart or manage tough," which means hire good employees instead of having to change all of their habits to fit your needs.

Making the Food Look Nice

Side 1 of Interview Sheet

Side 2 of Interview Sheet

Day 5: Deliveries and Charts

On Friday, I had to get in earlier than usual, but the same time as Mr. Rukieh does everyday. He is at Schlotzsky's every day to make charts of what needs to be done by the other employees. There are multiple different charts that he makes using a program that he designed specifically for his Schlotzsky's. The first chart that he uses allows him to calculate the amount of money that he made for the day, it is like a simple spreadsheet. The second type of chart that he makes is for the baker, Josh. Mr. Rukieh has charts made by experience of how many buns he will need for each day. He goes and accounts for all the buns that are made, and then checks the chart to write down how many more of each bun will need to be made. The third spread sheet is very similar, but it is for supplies to make sandwiches such as: tomatoes, lettuce, onions, avocados, and other materials. 

Finished Baked Items Chart

Unfinished Baked Items Chart

Sandwich Materials Chart

The second thing that I did for the rest of the day was deliver catering orders to the companies who ordered them. I did this with an employee who usually delivers, but unfortunately I forgot my phone so I have no pictures. The first delivery that we did was to St. Lukes hospital in the lab. It was for a meeting. The second delivery that we did was for a company, I wasn't really sure of the name, but I know that it was an industrial company on Dussel. Once we got done with the deliveries, we went back to Schlotzsky's, but the day was pretty slow due to the snow that fell, so I got to come home earlier than usual.

Day 4: Day Off

Due to the cold winds, MV closed. I asked Mr. Rukieh, and gave me permission to take the day off.

Day 3: Morning Baking and making Salads and Soups

I got in to Schlotzsky's at around 8:15 a.m., like usual. This time I was assigned a different task to learn about and a different employee to teach me. His name was Josh. Josh is the baker at Schlotzsky's. You don't see him much, because he is kind of sectioned off and is done by 1:00 p.m. Every morning it is Josh's job to come in and bake small, medium, and large buns. Not to mention he has to do that for wheat, sourdough, and rye as well as the orders for catering. It is also Josh's job to bake the pizza crusts for the pizza. I got to help and experience all of these things, but the way that it was done was definitely different than I expected. We baked the items in the same order that Josh usually does every morning, because it is the most efficient. We started out with making the pizza crusts, because it was the least time consuming and the least amount of work. Josh had already made the dough and placed it into pizza trays (he said it only took him about 30 minutes) and did a slapping motion with the backs of our hands to even it out and push the dough to the edges of the tray. Once we finished evening out all the pizza dough in the pans, they were put into a machine called a poofer which makes the dough rise about 75%. The pizza dough was in the poofer for about 20 minute while we made the next batch of dough for the buns then the pizza went in the oven for 20 minutes. The pizza finished and it was time to make the buns. Each pan for the buns was sprayed with a nonstick spray to make it easy to flip the buns out when done. Each bun's dough is weighed to a certain weight, keeping them similar in size. The dough is put into the pan using a scoop and cut method which is very had to explain, but luckily I have a video. We made the buns for sourdough, wheat, and rye and by the time they were all done baking, and put onto trays to cool and be cut it was about 12:15 p.m. also time for my break. Josh's job was done for the day, so it was time for me to learn about a different aspect of the business.

I started shadowing Robyn around 12:45 p.m. when my break was over until the end of the day. Since one of the employees who usually gets all of the soups, makes the salads, and runs the cash register, Robyn was next in line to fill in. Every salad has it's own ingredients and every soup has it's own toppings. Luckily there were pre-made reminder cards which were laminated and in front of me, allowing me to make some of the salads on my own and get the correct soup with the correct toppings. This gave me a little freedom and allowed me to play a bigger role of working in Schlotzsky's. The day was slower than usual due to the snowy roads and the freezing temperature. Most people probably chose to stay in their house. With this being said, I had a bit of extra free time. With this extra free time, I kind of got a general idea of certain health codes pertaining to food. These being a clean work station, getting ready for your next order, as well as helping others clean their work stations. Free time is not meant to take a big long break, but to help others and saving time later by doing the work in your spare time. I was cleaning up counters, washing dishes, as well as changing the soup and items to make salads. Overall I found the day to be very productive because I filled my free time by doing work for others and keeping the restaurant clean.

Moving the pizza dough evenly around the pan

Scooping and cutting the dough

Flipping the pizza crust out of the oven to cool

Day 2: The Importance of not Wasting, Running the Drive Thru, and having a Clean Restaurant

This was my second day working at Schlotzsky's and also time for me to understand something new about the restaurant. I showed up around 8:15 a.m. like I am supposed to do everyday. Before other workers arrive as well as customers, it is important to make sure that every nook and cranny of the restaurant is clean. Sylvia, one of the employees showed me all of the different things that are needed to be cleaned from wiping down the toilets and sinks, mopping the floor, dusting the lights, and cleaning the tables. All of these make for a clean and inviting restaurant. This did not take up the majority of the day, because it is meant to be fast because there is also another cleanup that happens at night before employees go home.

The second thing that I was learning how to do was using the cash register correctly while working the drive thru window. The employee that was teaching me was the manager, Nicki. She taught me the importance of the system that is set in place and that if you follow it, even though it may require extra work in the beginning, it will save you a bunch of time in the end. A few examples of this are first, filling drinks when the customer orders them and putting them in order from when they were first ordered to last ordered, so you don't have to go back and check the receipt to find what drink belonged to what person. Secondly, I learned that the simplicity of turning a ticket upside down can let me know that the order is done and ready to be given to the customer.

The third thing that I learned was reaching out to help a customer, because it will lead them to come back. At about 11:00 a.m., a lady called asking if she could place an order of 90 sandwiches. She said that nobody would make them, because it was on such a late notice. This really was going to throw a curveball at the crew, because they were going to have to work extra efficiently to get things done now that Mr. Rukieh accepted the order. By doing this, he not only made a profit, but pleased a new customer who had been desperately trying to get someone to cater her order, hopefully leading her back in the future.

Lastly, I learned the importance of not wasting or over packaging meat that was to be used. While running a business, it is important not to gouge customers on each item they buy, but make a small profit that will add up, making them want to return to Schlotzsky's to eat again. As Sylvia cut a tray full of meat, it was my job to wrap them into the appropriate sizes needed, small or regular. For a small, I weighed out 85kg of meat and wrapped it in parchment paper. Once I did six of these, I could wrap them all into a piece of saran wrap. I did the same for a regular size, but measured each amount of meat into 125kg portions, being careful to not steal from the customer by not giving them enough, but also not putting more than the designated amount of meat in a wrap, so we are not losing profit. While wrapping the meat, it is important to have labels, because other employees will be using the meat, so they need to know what it is. By doing this, you need to write the type of meat, then the size, then the expiration date, then your initials on the saran wrap. This tells the person using all of the above information including who packaged it.

Day 1: My Goals and how it Starts

During my independent study, I chose to work at Schlotzsky's Deli. The first week of working there, I shadowed  multiple different people so I could understand the various view points of running a successful quick serve restaurant. A quick serve restaurant is a type of restaurant that is above the standards of fast food, but not quite an elegant place to have a fancy meal. It is a place to have a fast, semi-cheap, quality meal. For this independent study that I am doing, I had a few specific goals in mind while working at the restaurant. My SMART goals are learning the importance of: health standards as it pertains to food, food prep, ordering of supplies, the importance of not wasting food to increase profit, and the management/roles of employees. At the end of my independent study, the way I will have learned what it takes to keep your health standards up to code for cooking food, will be able to fully understand what the health standards are. I know a major example is expiration dates, so it is important to serve the older food first before it expires and has to be thrown away. To understand food preparation  I am simply going to have to experience it. Mr. Rukieh, the owner of Schlotzsky's has a schedule that he has been slowly developing over the years. This is based on his sales by  days of the week. This allows him to get a fairly accurate idea of what food needs to be prepared in the morning. This obviously is trial and error, so it will take time to figure out. The ordering of the supplies is similar to the food preparation. You always want to have enough material, but not waste any because it cuts into profit. This is something that will needs to be learned based on volume when opening a restaurant. Not wasting food is just simply going be putting a lot of effort into your job and weighing/measuring proper amounts of material being used. Lastly, the management of the employees is going to take up the whole independent study time, for a part of every day. This is because I will be shadowing someone new and understanding their role in the business and what may happen without it. My goals are all an important key to the success of opening a quick server restaurant to the public. I really wanted to work with Mr. Rukieh, because he is a owner that takes pride in his business and his customers. He shows up to work every day and performs all of the jobs the employees complete on a daily basis. By listening to his customers, you can easily see that he forms close relationships with them, making his restaurant a destination at sometime in their day.

On my first day, I shadowed the owner of a chain of Schlotzsky's Deli, Tony Rukieh. Mr. Rukieh went over my goals with me so he could help me achieve them, explained the important aspects that are necessary to run a successful quick serve restaurant, and showed me the ins and outs of Schlotzsky's Deli. When running any kind of restaurant, it is important to have dedicated workers who want to be part of a team. I learned that most people have their own position in Schlotzsky's, and they are very good at it, but Mr.Rukieh showed me the importance of making sure any employee can do any job that needs to be preformed at Schlotzsky's. In the morning when I arrived and finished reviewing my goals with Mr. Rukieh, we first made all of the catering orders that we had for the day. That included salads, sandwiches, getting drinks, dressing, silverware, and napkins. After the catering orders were finished, I started to help with the morning preparation of the food that would be needed throughout the day. People don't always come at the same time to eat, nor do the same number of people come to eat everyday. We had to make sure we had enough fresh food cut and ready to be made for the day. The baker had gotten in early, (like he does every morning), to bake fresh buns. When Mr. Rukieh and I arrived, we were then able to cut the rolls. We cut the different sizes of buns in half so they were ready for use. Next, we tool the fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions and sliced them accordingly for making a sandwich. Next was cutting the fresh meat, there is a slicer that is used to cut the meat (you have to be 18 years or older to use it, so I did other work) and I then helped separate it into sizes. Once the prep work was done at around 11:00 a.m., other employees arrived and the doors were open for business. I was introduced to Nicki, the manager of Schlotzsky's, where she showed me the finishing process of sandwich making. With this knowledge, by the end of the day, I was able to put the correct portions, condiments, and toppings on all of the different sandwiches correctly so they could be served to customers. At the end of the day, I had taken in a lot of information and was happy that I chose to do this independent study, because I found it to be something that I look forward to getting up and doing every morning.

One thing that is done every Monday at Schlotzsky's is bringing in and putting away the weekly order of food products and items that are delivered. An order of all new food from meats to vegetables to cookie mix, to cups and lids arrive. Each item is checked off of a checklist of what was ordered one by one until there are none left. Each item is put away as it is checked, but is especially important to check food products. This is important, because you need to make sure that your supplier is giving you the correct amount (determined by weight) of food that you payed for and keeping a sharp eye out for expiration dates.