Welcoming our new student intern!

Hi everyone! My name is Saige Traise, and I will be this years intern for the University of Guelph Sustainable Restaurant Project. As I head into my second year in the Hospitality & Tourism
Management program here in Guelph, I can’t wait for the opportunity to dive in and get a deeper understanding of our industry. Coming from a small town near Kingston, Ontario, I decided to join this program because of a passion for traveling and learning about new cultures, especially in terms of food, language, and traditions. During my time here, this love for the industry has grown into a fascination with learning how to go about tourism, food service, and sharing our cultures in a more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable way.
Along my journey here, I’ve had two jobs that really sparked my interest in the food service industry. In the first, I was a banquet server at an event venue back home in Kingston. As my first job in food service, I found it fascinating to see the behind-the-scenes dynamics of places that we as the general public often take for granted when we decide to go out for dinner. While here I also began to understand the food waste that is generated in this industry and how different businesses choose to deal with it.
The second job that helped me understand restaurants’ inner workings in the modern landscape was my position as the Tourism Development Officer with the County of Lennox and Addington. Here I got to speak with local small business owners who really helped me to understand the initiative the modern entrepreneur needs to take in order to keep themselves both well-marketed and relevant with the times in terms of sustainable and socially conscious business practices. The only issue is that when I started unpacking the complexities of our current hospitality sector, I couldn’t help but want to know more.
This background is what makes me so very excited about the opportunities involved in being the UGSRP intern this semester. As we move forward I can’t wait to speak with those in the industry and explore some of the topics that really do question the current state of sustainability in Ontario’s foodservice system and the direction that we are headed in moving forward.