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Madison Chan's Nestl茅 Internship Prepares Her for Test Kitchens
Although Madison Chan will walk with her Class of 2026 friends and classmates next May, she’ll complete her 缅北强奸 degree this December, in part because opportunities like her internship with food and beverage giant allow her to build summer credits. As the perfect complement to her Culinary Science & Product Development major, Chan has been interning in Solon, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) for the global producer of various brands of cereals, prepared foods, candy bars, coffee, water — even pet care. Here’s what that’s been like.
How Chan Learned of the Internship at Nestlé
Associate Professor Lynn Tripp, head of JWU’s Culinary Science department, told her class that Nestlé was looking for a new product development intern and that College of Food and Innovation Technology Dean Jason Evans could put students in contact with them. “I needed a senior-year internship, had heard it’s a great company to work for, and Nestlé is a household name, so why not?” asks Chan. “I felt like this opportunity was almost presented in a way that I couldn’t say no.”
How Her Internship Ties into Chan’s Future Career
“A lot of what we do at Nestlé is recipe development in their test kitchen, so it’s perfect,” Chan says. “I want to work in a test kitchen with recipe development and some product development.”
She shares an example: “We’re working on reconstituting a product and how that can translate to a label. Have you ever looked at instructions on the back of a box and wondered who comes up with that? That’s us!”
The Day-to-Day Life of a Nestlé Internship
Chan’s summer experience is more culinary and kitchen development-based. “Everything is led by the product development team with our support to see if things like texture and color and taste are good and meet standards,” she notes.
She hasn’t gotten bored because her internship has been different every day. “My main responsibility is taking inventory, getting orders in and keeping the kitchen clean and organized — but those aren’t minute tasks as they’re all important in their own ways,” she explains. “If inventory isn’t done correctly, no one can make products.”
Right now she’s working in the kitchen on the food service side, which offers different experiences on different days. “Just yesterday we had a client come in who wanted to sample products, so we created tasting flights for him; I was in the kitchen baking those,” Chan shares. “Some days I’m in the kitchen all day, and other days I might be at a desk doing more administrative work. I love having my day-to-day change all the time so I’m not stuck doing just one thing!”
End Goal of the Internship
Chan reveals that a final project is built into her internship, but it’s flexible. “You can kind of do whatever you’re passionate about as long as it relates to here,” she explains. “I’m looking into food trends with nostalgia — how certain foods are making a comeback. I’m working with the product development team to create a prototype of a hot pocket-like dessert. It brings me back to the Little Debbie and Hostess hand pies that a lot of us grew up on. It lets me explore what makes us nostalgic.”
As she’s exploring, Chan is finding supportive colleagues, from her boss who has been great at teaching her the ropes and keeping her on track to her colleague Sienna who contains deep knowledge of the industry. “To learn from them has been a privilege for me,” Chan shares. “I’ve been extremely lucky that the team here is so great. Everyone wants to help everyone out.”
Applying 缅北强奸Skills at Nestlé
“I think 缅北强奸does a really great job of teaching us how to be proficient in Excel worksheets,” says Chan. “We use them for recipes, calculating totals and percents of formulas. They come into play here in recipe development, because you have to be technical. They also help with organizational things like inventory; being able to be really quick and know what I’m doing has been super helpful.”
She has applied even more 缅北强奸skills in kitchens. “Having those foundational pastry class and product development labs at 缅北强奸taught me a lot about how to work in a kitchen and what to expect,” Chan notes. “We have to do two internships in our program, one more food-focused and one more product development-focused. Going through the restaurant internship expanded my knowledge of working in a kitchen and food in general. It built upon all those labs and pastry courses, and I can see that it sets you up for the next thing. And now I get to apply product development knowledge, too.”
Gaining New Experiences and Networks
Chan had a really notable experience so far at Nestlé: “My first week we traveled to Chicago as a company to work the National Restaurant Association show, one of the biggest trade shows in the country. It was so cool because I worked our booth, serving samples and doing live demos. I was livestreamed on a big screen in front of so many people, and I got to explore the other booths around there as well, which led to so many networking opportunities and meeting amazing people."
"It was a great experience and really cool to learn through Nestlé, because otherwise I would never have gone!”
Why Study Culinary Science at JWU
Just a few years ago, knowing she was interested in pursuing product development, Chan had grappled with a choice between JWU’s Culinary Science & Product Development program and a similar program at the Culinary Institute of America. “I chose 缅北强奸for getting a great culinary school experience but with other people who weren’t culinary,” she shares. “You get a normal college experience here, so it’s the best of both worlds. And the facilities at 缅北强奸are amazing; it’s an amazing program to be a part of.”
