Food Team Roles
This doc provides an overview of the various of roles for the Food Team who help plan and prepare everything food related for the Burn. It is also intended to act as a reference guide for what needs to get done by each role in a concise but comprehensive way.
The three buckets of roles for Food Team Turtles are: Food Shift Lead, Food Czar, and Reno Advance Team.
Some helpful reference docs are compiled here:
Standard Operating Procedures Guides (to come)
Food Shift Lead
The Food team prepares and serves 19 meals over the course of the Burn (from Friday dinner through to Strike Dinner on Sunday). Each meal is planned and led by 1 shift lead with the assistance of 2-3 Turtle chefs.
Food Shift Leads should plan to lead 2 or 3 meals.
Planning for a meal consists of:
- Choosing what will be served. Make it something you'd enjoy preparing and sharing with your fellow Turtles!
- You can choose to serve something of your own creation and new, or pull inspiration from the Turtles recipe book!
- Meal choices should be inclusive and accommodate dietary restrictions. Common dietary restrictions include vegetarian / vegan, shellfish / pork sensitivity, peanut or other food allergies, and others which are raised by Turtles at camp . A survey is sent to Turtles in the Spring to collect dietary restrictions and responses are collected prior to meals choices getting finalized. Many dietary restrictions can be accommodated by serving meal components separately, e.g. meat and vegetarian proteins served apart.
- Meals are typically served buffet style.
- Listing out required ingredients and order quantities ahead of Reno Build Week.
- Documenting the meal recipe in the Turtle recipe book, ensuring it is clear and up to date. Recipes are used to build Turtle tribal knowledge year to year as well as to hang in the Food Fort during meal shifts so shift members can prepare the meal correctly and successfully.
Leading a shift meal consists of:
- Ensuring the food shift team has what it needs ahead of service. If you need a frozen protein to be thawed, think ahead!
- Shift Leads will have 2-3 shift Turtles to help in the preparation, cooking and cleaning of the meal for 2 hours prior to service (10-12pm for lunch, 4-6pm for dinner).
- Shift Leads are welcome to spend more time preparing their meal before arriving to Playa or in the hours or days before the shift time for their meal, however this is your individual responsibility. Do not count on Shift Turtles for help outside the designated 2 hour shift.
- Food Fort is not accessible to any Turtles not assigned to that shift during shift times.
- Turtles get hungry. Hungry Turtles are Sad Turtles. It is important that meals are served on time. Lunch is served at noon and Dinner is served at 6pm.
- Dinner service: ensuring that "reserved for later" signups are prepared separately and bagged away for Turtles who signed up by 4pm that day.
- Ensuring Food Fort is cleaned and checklist procedures are completed for every shift. Do not leave leftover work for the next shift.
Meal choices will be coordinated during 2-3 Food team meetings in the Spring and early Summer before the Burn. We collaborate out of the Master Planning Spreadsheet.
Meetings serve to ensure meal choices are appropriate for the Camp and feasible within the constraints of the Playa. They are a helpful way to prevent any SNAFUs when we're miles from civilization :)
Food Czar
Food Czars lead a workstream, station or initiative. Food Czars do not necessarily do everything required for that division, but they are responsible for ensuring it is done.
Food Czar roles are tentative and may change in the lead up to the Burn and from year to year. Some Czar roles may be consolidated in the lead up to Burn.
| Czar Role | Description | Turtle |
| Facilities and Training Czar |
Final expert in all things Food Fort operations (equipment and facilities). Ensures Food Turtles are all trained on safety and SOPs. Ensures before (turning on gas, preparing dining room for service, how to lay out food in buffet, etc.) and after (cleaning griddle, turning off gas, etc.) shift checklists are ready for posting in Food Fort, as well as day before Shift Lead checklist (are meats out to thaw, etc.) |
Alejandro R |
| SOP and Recipes Czar |
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and documentation. Ensure food fort, fridge, kitchenette, snacks is organized and develop standard operating process for how food fort and food spaces are left between shifts. Lots of Signage. Ensures complete meal recipes (following last year’s template) are collected from shift leads, compile a recipe book with 4 copies of each recipe to bring to Playa.
Ben S: Recipes printing and bring to playa (need 4 copies of each) Ben B, Christophe: signage while at food build week |
Ben S Christophe |
| Operation Kitchenette Czar |
Defines the new Health Snacks and self-serve Turtle Kitchenette in the Dining Area. Define and roll out process for Operation Dinner Freedom. Signage and instructions for Kitchenette (what equipment goes to kitchenette, how to clean and maintain, how to manage |
Ben B |
| Dry Snacks Czar |
Plan the dry snacks ordering list. Organize and prepare Turtle self-serve dry snacks station. Ensure hot snacks: frozen burritos, sandwiches, etc (figure out w Kitchenette) |
Ben B |
| Master Planning Spreadsheet Czar |
Ensure spreadsheet linking and formulas work, especially ingredients. Ensure ingredients for meals are correctly formatted and compile into a master order list for Reno Build Team. Update supplies list based on Reno Work Week inventory and collate additional equipment and supplies required for ordering. |
Christophe |
| Operation Advance Prep Czar | Defines and leads the effort to pre-prepare ingredients and meal components prior to the Burn to minimize Food Shift labor once the Burn begins. Work with ingredients and Reno Build Week team to implement ideas. Will likely require being at Reno Build Week. |
Christophe |
| Procurement Czar | Ensures all the ingredients, equipment and stuff that Planning scopes are ordered and loaded for entry to Playa. Requires being at Reno Build Week. |
? Christophe |
| Food Fort Driving and Testing Czar | Test all key components of Food Fort and ensures it arrives to Playa on time and in one piece! Requires being at Reno Build Week. | Sean E |
Reno Advance Team
There are two group Turtle occasions in the Spring and Summer where a few Turtles are on the ground to audit, verify and prepare the Food Team for success on Playa: Reno Work Week and Reno Build Week.
Advance Teams have one designated lead and Turtles supporting the effort.
Reno Work Week (May 9th-11th)
Reno Work Weekend is our first opportunity to get eyes on the Food Fort, gather intel for the Food Team that plans, and perform testing and maintenance to get ahead of any issues ahead of the Burn.
Key Tasks:
- Inventory
- Empty Food Fort of all equipment and leftover dry goods (if any).
- Audit equipment and supplies. Throw out stuff which is broken, unnecessarily duplicative, or not useful.
- Basic cleaning and maintenance of equipment, as appropriate and necessary.
- Organize and group remaining equipment, align to numbered and labeled boxes.
- List equipment in master inventory sheet by box (location) and photograph the contents of boxes. Save photos to Wiki
- Pack and put away boxes
- Cleaning
- Wipe down and clean Food Fort, Walk In Fridge, Freezer, as necessary and appropriate
- Test Equipment
- Test major equipment and ensure operational, so that repair orders can be placed ahead of time, if necessary, to the extent this is feasible. Testing will require hooking up to a generator / power source
- Log testing results
- Testing checklist. Priority Items designated with (*):
- With power generator:
- Lights and power to Truck
- Freezer* (high propensity to have issues)
- Walk in fridge*
- Microwave
- With propane
- Griddle
- Stove
- With water hooked up
- Ice maker
- Water system and sinks
- Drainage
- With power generator:
Reno Build Week (August 18th-23rd)
Simultaneously to Build Week team arriving on Playa and building camp, a Food Advance Team goes to Reno to prepare the Food Fort, acquire supplies, and make any last preparation and
On Friday some of the Reno Build Week team head to Playa along with the Food Fort to join Build Team and prepare Food Fort for all Turtles arrival Saturday.
Key tasks:
- Ensure the Food Fort is operational, all equipment is tested and, if needed, repaired (see above)
- Receive, unpack and prepare supplies and equipment
- Purchase, acquire and load ingredients
- Execute Operation Advance Prep, as scoped
- Set up Food Fort on Playa and Food stations
- Organize walk in, freezer and dry ingredients
- Snacks Station
- Kitchenette