Pizza Hut Connect Holiday Party ON A BOAT!


Andrew

Samantha

This year our Pizza Hut Connect Holiday party was on a river boat. But not just any boat, this boat had glass walls and a glass ceiling so you could take in all of the views as you floated around the Chicago River. I heard it was so new that it had been on less than two dozen voyages so far! Dallas went to the Cowboys vs. Bears game, so Kristin came along as my +1.

Chris, Esther

A bunch of the leadership team flew in from Plano and spoke briefly. Artie is the CEO of Pizza Hut and Carol is the CTO of Pizza Hut.

A lot of recognition awards were given out by different leaders. This is Laura, our HR Director, recognizing someone.

To my surprise, I was recognized by my boss’s boss, Chuck. I was literally taking a bite of my salmon, when I looked up and was like “uh, he’s talking about my team.” A few seconds later he called out my name to come to the front.

Steve, Chad, Jatan, Jerry, Mayur

Jatan, Sampath

Chris, Esther

Jeremiah and his wife, Emily

Umesh, Kishore, Vinay, Elric, Tanya, Tanya’s husband, Kishore

Samantha and her husband

Janet and her husband

Savannah and Carol

Marc and Jeremiah

Madhan and his wife


Madhan and his wife

LaShunda and Umesh

Jess’s friend, Casey, Allison, Jess

After dinner there was a lot of dancing! Members of my team, especially Kishore, pulled me out onto the dance floor! Jim, the owner of Quikorder, attended the party and he even got pulled out onto the dance floor!

 Umesh, Jessica

 Umesh, Vinay

Back: Jeremiah, Madhan, Kishore, Chris, Fred, Sampath, Peter, Sheena, Harish, Jatan, Tanya
Front: Vinay, Umesh, Kishore, Mayur, Esther
Back: Jeremiah, Madhan, Kishore, Chris, Fred, Sampath, Peter, Mayur, Harish, Jatan, Tanya
Front: Vinay, Umesh, Kishore, Esther

 Savannah, Andrew, Carol, Umesh

 Susan, Jerry, Carlos

Casey and her husband


Allison, Carlos, Jessica, Susan

Susan, Me, Esther, Guadalupe

Catherine, Casey, Susan

Jeff, Samantha, Tom

Fred and his wife, Kerri, and Peter

Erin, LaShunda, Chuck, Sampath, Kishore

Fred, Kerri, Baby #3

Vinay, Jatan, Sampath, Kishore, and Kishore

After our 3-hour boat ride, everyone got off the boat and walked into River North to go out some more. I walked with them for a bit, but then got a ride home to relieve the babysitter (Ms. Lauren). Great time. So much fun hanging out with everyone outside of work. I wished I could have stayed out longer.. but then the next day I heard some people were out until the sun came up, so I was actually kind of glad for an excuse to go home!

Women’s Foodservice Forum Leadership Development Workshop


Earlier this year, my coworkers, Susan and Samantha, told me about a Women’s Foodservice Forum Conference they went to in Dallas. They said it was amazing and empowering and went on about how great it was. When I was doing my mid-year review I was doing some training research and saw that they were having a workshop in a Chicago suburbs, so I got approval and signed up.
I was not sure what to expect, but there were hundreds of people in attendance. 95% women, but a few men too. I saw nametags from Kellogg’s, Pepsico, Longhorn Steak, Hormel, Red Lobster, US Foods, among others. Two women at my table did marketing for a catering company that does school lunches across the country. Some of the women were actually working in restaurants.

I’m proud to point out that YUM is a sponsor of this organization.
 The first speaker was Anne Grady, who spoke a lot about resilience. She was very inspiring and made me feel like I could do ANYTHING!
Our afternoon speaker was Colette Carlson. She was super funny and spoke a lot about effective communication.
Overall, it was a great day and time well spent. There were a few other speakers and some networking opportunities. I liked how we were actively using the workbook, instead of just taking notes, or not taking notes, or letting our minds wander. It kept us engaged. The programming was not really ABOUT food or the food service industry, but since everyone in the room was in the same industry, you had a baseline when you met people. And even the lunch was good!
If they do this next year, I’d love to get a group of women from work to go!

Bring Your Kid to Work Day

 Since our acquisition Pizza Hut has been trying to bring some of the cool culture into our office. One thing they did was host a Bring Your Kid to Work Day. It was so much fun to hang out with the kids and get to know our coworkers a bit more by meeting their families.

 Makai was really surprised about how many toys people had on their desks! He liked Chris’s toys!

 Grace is boss!

 Video games!

 Pizza-themed art!

Big ups to Casey, who had just started working here on Monday and who planned and executed the whole day without a hitch! She planned activities, treat bags, and food for all of the kids!

After our office activities, we all got on a trolly and went to Navy Pier! Everyone took a spin on the ferris wheel. Afterwards, Makai and I also went on a boat ride. Fun fun day!

Update: The next day my coworkers noticed that Makai “tagged” at least 3 whiteboards with his name!

My First Trip to the Motherland

You know you’re in Dallas, when…… [DFW Airport]

 Kaunish was our driver. He took Mayur, Matt, Mike, Jeremiah and I all around the Plano area.

 I stayed at Aloft Plano. It was pretty inexpensive [$135/night] and was close to the office. They provided free breakfast and a free shuttle to the office. I took many photos of my new Allbirds shoes.

 After working on PizzaHut.com for more than 2 years it was fun to see the YUM headquarters and to meet a lot of people face to face.
 We had an after hours team building activity at a kind of bowling alley/arcade place. They had bumper cars, so we all had to get on!
 Dinner at Whiskey Cake. L: Mike, Mayur, Jeremiah, Matt, Me, Jim. R: Janet, Jeremiah, Sara, Kaunish, Susan, Robyn.

My headboard at Aloft.