Tell All - Keeping It Real

Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hot Cross Bun

Cross bun is a sweet, yeast – leveled bread made with currants or raisins or any other dried fruits and is marked with a cross on the top. The cross signifies the crucifixion of Jesus on the to cross and can be made making a cross with two pieces of the mixture, making two intersecting cuts on the top, using icing to make the cross and any creative idea one can come up with to have a cross on the top of the bun.

The dough is made from, flour, sugar, salt to taste, butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract (essence) egg, milk, raisin, water and dry yeast.

The slide show displays some of the process.

I trust you had some hot cross buns yesterday. What did you eat them with Cheese?

Have a blessed day

Hot, fresh fries

2011-04-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

It is such a turn off to show up with your hard earn cash at a fast food restaurant or any restaurant for that matter and is served cold fries. Having worked in the system for as long as I did, I am aware of what it is like, both as an employee and as a customer. My policy as a manager was to serve my customers fresh, quality food. Initially the employees did not buy into my style. However, as time went by, they recognize where I was coming from and complied. We used various strategies. Trial and error, and determination to improve our service and strange enough serving our customers fresh hot fries worked. Our work ultimately became less stressful and customers were happy.

My strategy as it relates to dropping fries, was to drop them in smaller amounts frequently depending on the traffic. This way we always had fresh hot fries for our customers. The hold time on fries at most fast food stores is five to seven minutes. These fries are held in holding bins under heating lamps, which keep them relatively hot for that period of time. Strange enough, most restaurants serve fries way beyond the hold time. I call those fries, "dead fries". Yes that is how I feel about them. Who wants cold fries! Yuck !!!

Now, I made references in previous posts about how you can be sure of getting some hot fries. However, in this post I want to suggest some tricks you can use to get them nice and hot.

I suggest that even before you place your order in a nice and courteous manner inform the order taker that you would like to have fresh hot fries, the amount and the size(s). This will give them an opportunity to have your fries cooking while you are placing you order. Also, requesting that the fries be no salt or requesting light salt may guarantee you fresh fries. I also mention in a earlier post that customers go on the inside and watch the fries cook. Last but not lease, if you are served some cold fries it is your right to return them to the store and request a fresh batch or your money back. Most of the time the managers of person in-charge will reimburse you your money and give you a fresh fry. The best place to conduct such a conversation to ensure you are getting them just out of the grease.  

What have been your experiences with fries? Which fast food restaurant serves the best fries?

I had these last night. They were so good. I had to tale a pic for you to see. 

              Whose fries are these, can you tell? 

Nickey

Blessings

Guyanese Sunday Breakfast - Bake and saltfish

2011-04-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

Breakfast in the Caribbean is very different compared to that in the North and the rest of the world. In Guyana, on Sunday mornings most families would have had what i prepared. Bakes or floats and saltfish.
Bakes or floats are made with flour, sugar, salt to taste, margarine, a dash of nutmeg, some essence (vanilla extract) yeast, baking powder and water.
Saltfish is actually fish preserved in salt. Most people here in the northern hemisphere may know it as cod. It is extremely salt and needs to be boiled at least three times to reduce the amount of salt. Tasting a piece of it prior to cooking it is always advised.
Fried saltfish is very tasty when sauteed with oil and a generous amount of onions, Garlic, celery, tomatoes, some lemon juice and peppers.
Yumm... I am sure the pic below tells the story

Fried Saltfish

Bakes or floats

Salt fish sandwiched between the two halves of the bake...Yum mm.

I wish everyone had the opportunity to taste this. I have a smile on my face as type this line. Yes it was that good.
Have you ever had this?

My burger

2011-04-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

So i visited my old place of work and this is what my sandwich looked like. Tasked good too. :)

Only what God thinks of you matters

2011-04-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

Earlier this morning I had my first dose of spiritual uplifting from Joel Osteen, an inspirational preacher, speaker, and teacher, man of God, who has a lot to share and does it in very unique ways. He captured my attention the very first time I listened to him years ago.

His topic today, "what people thinks of us is not what God thinks of us", is very pertinent to many of us and our current situation. We are discouraged directly or indirectly by our current situation or by people whose vision of us and our capabilities are so narrow, shallow and doubtful. These people recall who we were and are hung up on that, rather than rejoicing in the fact that we have grown. When God is in the midst, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. As time goes by, God molds, grows, guides and shapes us into the gem he wants us to be.

People do not determine our destiny, God’s guidance and our determination does. What God thinks about us and what we think about ourselves are the only two opinions that matters.

Have a blessed and wonderful day.

What are you experiences and thoughts?

Nickey

Blessings

The quality of the food and service One receive is highly dependent on the time of the day.

2011-04-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

How, is everyone keeping?

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. I had that an opportunity to go to the park with my kindle. However, my friends did not let my BBM rest. I averted to putting it on silent until was finish reading. I guess that's the technological age for us and Blackberry did not disappoint. 

We are at number four on the list of observation I made as a manager at a fast food restaurant. 

4. The quality of the food and service One receive is highly dependent on the time of the day.

In my first post I made mention of how one should go about getting fresh food. I also mentioned what one should do during different times of the day. As such, this post will address the peak and off peek periods of most fast food restaurants. 

If it is a breakfast store, customers would be there as early as 6 am. I worked at a store and we did not serve breakfast. However, customers were there as early as 7 am during the summer time. So, it really did not matter whether it is a breakfast store or not. Showing up that early may guarantee fresh food. However, there is the likelihood that a customer may be served some cold or what I like to call "dead fries". The thing is, that customer might not have been the first customers for the morning who requested fries. Unfortunately, some employees are often caught up with how much they need to get done before the lunch rush and with the skeletal staff (sometimes 2 or 3 employees) they may tend to pass those dead fries off on you. Especially if the customer is ordering in the Drive Thru. 

As such, I suggest that you go on the inside and place your order. If your order includes fries, I suggest politely ask that you fries be freshly cooked, that is if you observe there were some sitting in the pib while you are placing your order. This way they person assisting you would be better able to coordinate their product drop. The wait time may be a bit longer that I mentioned in my first blog because of the time of the day. Customers may experience skeletal staff operating early in the morning, after the lunch rush, and at late night. These are call off peek periods. While the lunch and dinner periods are considered to be Peek periods.

It must be noted that the option to order on the inside is not always possible, since some stores close their dining rooms at 9 pm or 10 pm. However, in my first post I explains what one should do in the Drive-Thru at late night.

What has been your experiences during any of these off periods?

Tomorrow is Friday and I would be eating out at that restaurant I worked for. I will share my experience with you.  I will be sure to take pictures of my food.

Take care until

Nickey

Blessings

You reap what you sow

2011-04-06T22:30:00.000-07:00

There is a saying, “what you put in you usually get out”, or similarly, “you reap what you sow”! Generally, it is the order taker’s duty to engage the customer with a welcoming, friendly voice. It matters not whether he or she is in the Dining Room or on the speaker in the Drive Thru. This sets the tone for smooth, error free, referrals kind of service.

More than often one goes to a fast food restaurant, both the front register operator and the Drive-Thru order taker are flat and their tone somehow suggest they don’t want to be there. As such a managers’ job becomes more than simply running my shift. He or she has to become actors, motivational and speakers. I recall role playing what I was talking about and making a speech to explain the ripple effects this may have. It was definitely a challenge most of the time. Nevertheless, with practice and the noticeable difference with the team work, customer’s response, and the service time, one would think that the attitude would become contagious at the location. Wrong! There were some colleagues who seemed to have had other agendas. Unity was lacking and as such there was not strength.

Nevertheless, the friendly voice should not stop at the order taker. The cashier needs to greet the customer with a smile as he/she repeats the total and receives the payment. The final person, who is responsible for ensuring that the experience concludes on a positive note, is the coordinator or the person handing the food to the customer. He or she also needs to greet the customer with a friendly hi or hello, how you are doing today or something to that effect which builds rapport as he/she passes the order out. Customers love such an experience and more than often the employee feels great about the service, especially if the customer said thank you with a smile and was responsive to the brief chit.

Mind you, there were and there will be extreme cases when customers will simply not play the nice game. Each employee having contact with that customer is still requires to be calm and friendly.

I would say it is important for both the employees and the customers to be warm and friendly with each other.

What are your views?

Tomorrow I would look at the quality of the food and service you receive is highly dependent on the time of the day.

How to place an order

2011-04-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hi, how was your day? I am sorry about yesterday. I was overpowered all day by Excel and Math. It's called school work. I wish I could have gotten away from the stress by going to the park to read a book on my Kindle G3, but time did not permit me. The weather was gorgeous in Richmond VA. What was it like in your area? Nevertheless, I am focused on the prize not the size or volume of what I have to go through to get there. One day, really soon, I would be smiling to the bank. Do the best you can to learn as much as you can. Knowledge is power! Try to learn something new every day. Just thought I needed to mention that.

Nevertheless, I promised that on Monday I would have continued with my tell all. Since I was unable to be with you yesterday, I would address that point today.

How to place and order

Most fast food restaurants have a Dining Room (DR) and or a Drive-Thru (DT). Placing an order at the DT of the DR requires one to consider some variables. However, I wish to list a few basics one should consider during or prior to placing an order. They are pretty much obvious, but somehow, many customers fail to comply.

1. Have your money or card ready to pay for your order.

2. Make up your mind as to what you want before you get to the speaker or register.

At the Drive - Thru

The DT at most fast food restaurants is known or should I say was designed to provide fast

food fast. These stores have a timer which records the time each customer spends from start

to finish in the DT. At the end of the day, the average time each car stayed in the lane (from the speaker until the car leaves the window), is generated by a timing system and analyzed by managers.

At the company I worked for, there were daily, weekly and monthly competitions, which allowed the winners to walk away with a trophy and a monitory prizes.

In order to make everyone happy throughout the experience, there are a few things customers can do. In addition to the two basic steps above, customers needs to state clearly what they would like to have. Most restaurants have Combos, saying what you would like for you drink and side all in one statement is perfect. For example be:

Order Taker: Hi, how may I take your order or would you like to try a combo? (either)

Customer: Hi, may I have a number 2, no pickles with a garden salad as my side and a sprite no ice.

OT: Thank you. Your total is….

C: Thank you.

Placing an order in this manner makes work light for the workers in the store listening in on

the headsets and it strengthens the chances of the customer being served accurately and

reduces the wait time.

Should a customer have a large order, the same approach is applicable. However, it would help if the customer states same to the OT from the outset. This approach may most likely have the same result as if it were a small order. Customers will have their order ready by the time they get to the window.

Now, once the order was placed, the customer would be told the total and asked to move to the window (first or second). Some stores have one window, while some have two. Depending on the time of the day, most stores with two windows would have a cashier at the first window to receive payments. After paying he/she is sent to the second window to pick up their food. Once one would have received his/her drink(s) and bag(s), the faster he/she moves away from the window the better it would be for the team that is working on that shift. However, it is the customer’s right to check his/her orders before moving from the window.

Adding to an order at the window is permitted. However, it is disruptive when there is a line of vehicles behind that customer. Nevertheless, adding at the first window is fine. Trying to add at the second window may be impossible if one is paying with a card. Otherwise the customer would be asked to rejoin the line.

Ordering in the dining room

The dining room service time is seldom recorded. However, providing fast accurate service is still the expectation. My advice is pretty much the same as for the DT. If a customer is unsure about what he/she wants, I suggest that he/she stand on the side and give way to the next customer. There is more leeway when placing an order in the dining room.

I trust that this advice was of some help. Later on in another post I would address the cashiers and what they need to do to make the customer’s experience welcoming.

What were some of your experiences when placing orders at fast food restaurants?

Tomorrow, we would take a look at what the experience is like when customers and order takers are nice and respectful.

Have a blessed night.

Nickey

2011-04-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Bible is one of my favorite books. I am a believer in the word of God and I respect all religious views.
Today, I would like to share a verse of scripture from the book of Philippians 4:13. It states, " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me".

My thought for today deals with the need for us to be supportive of each other. On our way to the top, we sometimes need a push. To the pusher, think of it this way, as I move higher with your push you are moving higher also. You may get exhausted after using all that energy to push me. It is then I would be in a better position to stretch my hand down and help to pull you up. The moral of this thought is that we need each other in this life and with God's help there is no limit as to what we can do.
Have a blessed day and be a blessing everyone.

Cricket & Basketball

2011-04-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

How is everyone this evening?

This is my second post and since it is Saturday, I am addressing sports. The day started with Cricket and ends with Basketball. These are two of my favorite sports. For those of you who have no idea what is Cricket, I suggest that you Google the word for now and later I will address the history and rules of the game.

Cricket

Earlier today, India won the ICC World Cup Cricket Championship after 28 years. They beat Sri Lanka by six wickets. Sri Lank batted first and made 274/6 (50). The champions in return made light work of the total and scored 277/4(48.2). India’s Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhonie was named player of the match for his sterling performance with the bat, hitting 91 not out off 79 balls. Yuvraj Singh was unanimously named player of the series. He was named player of the math four times in the series. Today, he scored 21 not out giving support to his captain in taking the team to victory.

Winning this game was significant in many ways for both teams. India’s star batsman, Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lanka’s leading spin bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan both 38 years old, were playing in their final World Cup. Congrats to Sachin and the Indian team.

I have a question, what are your suggestions for a way forward for the West Indies Cricket Team?

Basketball

The final four teams in the 2011 NCAA Basketball tournament got on the way earlier this evening. The VCU Rams battled the Butler Bulldogs in the first game of the double header, while the Uconn Huskies battles the Kentucky Wildcats. Both games promise to be electrifying. These teams battle for the Naismith Trophy.

The Butler Bulldogs won a very good game 70 to 62. It was a very intense game for the most part. Nevertheless, the better team won. I am a resident of Virginia and was backing the Rams. The better team won. Congratulations to the Bulldogs.

Who is your favorite in the Uconn - Kentucky game?

Until tomorrow.

Nickey

Blessings

What you should know about fast food

2011-04-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 01, 2011

3:50 PM

This is not an April fools joke! This is my first post. Enjoy!

What you should know about Fast Food

So long as you are living in the USA, regard less of your age, color, or ethnic background, there are a few names which are associated with fast food that you can relate to. For some of us we are familiar with the food, the service and the experiences as a whole.

There are over 20 observations I made over the two years I was a manager with one of the largest fast food chains. I guess the question that you have after reading that line is, which one? I would prefer to not name the company at this time. However, I suggest that you read and make a guess. I promise you will be surprised at what you will learn.

One of my observations is: 

The food is tasty so long as the products are fresh.

Fresh, properly cooked products if served within the required hold times are tasty and irresistible. In order to maintain quality, health and safety, certain products such as chicken, fish and salads with tomatoes, eggs and cheese, should be discarded once the hold time would have expired. Is this being done? Since I am not in the system, if I felt like eating this kind of food, which I would do probably once every 10 days or so, I would make a mental note of the amount of people in the dining room and the number of vehicles in the Drive-Thur if any. If I do not see a total of at least seven customers my decision is easy. I would place my order and ask that it be made fresh. I would point out that I would not mind waiting. When I have to make such a decision I would consider the fact that I may have to wait a little longer than the time they give to me because of the likely hood that they may forget me. When such happens I would go on the inside to get my food. I will address this further in another post. The inside experience is interesting at times. This is so surreal as I type, it is as if I can hear the front register operator telling the team in the Drive-Thur a customer who was waiting is here for her food. It is as if they have some sort of competition among themselves. Well, the truth is, there is competition. However, the register operator's duty is listen to the complaint without interrupting apologize for the problem and communicate the situation to the manager. Mind you, such a situation is not a norm. Nevertheless, I promise you that you would enjoy every bite of your meal. 

A probable sign that your food may be fresh is more than three people in the dining room and three or more cars lined up in the Drive-Thur to place an order. I say this because it is more than likely that the call would have been made to drop products because there are x amount of guess.

As it relates to Salads, they should be trashed after 24 hours. Do they do this? You can tell if was during the lunch period by looking for the brown edges of the lettuce. I am sure you would know what to do if you were to have such an experience. I suggest you drain your salad before you add the dressing. There should be no water in your salad, however, because the proper procedures were not followed this problem exists at some stores. One customer's view was that the water in it is a sign that the lettuce was washed. Unfortunately others do not share her view. They simply wanted their money back or had their salad replaced.

I trust that you found my first post to be informative. I look forward to your comments. Any idea as to  which fast food giant I am referring to?

Oh before i go, be sure to read my sports and Inspirational posts Saturday and Sunday respectively. On Monday I will discuss, how to place an order.

Thank you 

Nickey

Blessings

WELCOME

2011-04-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hi All, 

Welcome to my Tell All- Keeping it Real Blog Spot. I am excited to share my experiences and thoughts with you. This is my first post and I trust that you would find this and the rest that follows interesting and informative. I look forward to reading your comments. I suspect we will be having a great time as we utilize the opportunities technology has blessed us with. Communicating these days is just unbelievable. Please note that as of today I would be addressing one or two of my topics on weekdays. On Saturdays I would be blogging about sports and on Sundays I will be posting  an inspirational thought.

Thank you for visiting and I look forward to our journey.

P.S. Immediately after this post I will post my first topic. Please feel free to let me know what you think.