Alyssa Nishijima

Responsibilities

This summer, I was the Corporate Culinary Intern at OSI Group. I spent this summer supporting the Culinary Team with various tasks. I had the opportunity to work on food product development projects. They also allowed me to work on my own product, which I developed on the bench top. At the end of my internship, I presented a prototype of the product. In addition to the product development experiences, I assisted the team during customer presentations. For the presentations, I helped prepare food samples and menu items, and I served our guests. Other responsibilities include inputing data, preparing samples for shipment, and completing analytical tests.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during the internship was being able to develop a prototype of a food product. It was rewarding to work on this project for the summer and present my findings at the end. This project taught me about the product development process. It allowed me to get support and insights from others on the Culinary and Research and Development Teams.

Learning experience

I expanded my knowledge of food product development. One summer is not enough time to see a product be developed from ideation to commercialization. Still, I was able to see different parts of the process for various products.

What advice would you give?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and to ask for more opportunities. The purpose of internships is to learn. I had the chance to see/shadow other parts of the company because I wanted to know more about the food industry, and I asked my supervisors to support me in achieving that goal.