Rooted in Eugene | Part 5: Hungry Ducks
Eugene, Oregon may not immediately land on your radar, but for those in food manufacturing, the region is known as a nearly perfect place for producing products and distributing across the west coast. Saddled on the southern edge of the fertile Willamette Valley, the metro area’s modest size, lack of traffic congestion, and inexpensive highly renewable hydropower supply pair wonderfully with its location less than 500 miles from both Seattle and The Bay area.
Eugene is also well known as the home of the Oregon Ducks. Certainly, anyone interested in collegiate athletics has some awareness of the university's substantial athletic prowess. Yet, the campus also houses more than a few well respected academic departments including the Lundquist College of Business, which regularly ranks near the top of the Princenton Review’s Green MBAs list.
Lundquist students are sometimes surprised to discover that they do not have to leave the Eugene area to fully explore their food and beverage dreams as many Eugene area companies are looking to the College as a source of top level talent.
Brianna Buckles enjoying settling into her Oregon life and career at Yogi Tea
Briana Buckles’ food industry career began after a chance meeting with Yogi Tea executives during Business Careers in Food, a food and beverage career day hosted by Lundquist College of Business in 2018. The event attracted more than 30 regional brands. At the time, Buckles was pursuing an MBA in Sustainable Business Practices to explore how she might help build sustainable and ethical supply chains for imported products. Yogi Tea attended the event and was in the process of expanding their sustainability programs.
Buckles recounts the first meeting, “To know that this company was right here next door the whole time I was studying this concept…. It all kinda fell together quite nicely.” She worked with Yogi to develop an internship that grew into a full time position as the brand’s first ever Sustainability Manager. Since starting full time in 2019, she’s taken on many ambitious projects including paying it forward by supporting student projects including three sustainability interns.
Levi Shock also created unexpected connections at Business Careers in Food. Straus was finishing up his undergraduate studies in business administration. He attended the event hoping to learn more about career opportunities in the craft beer industry and ended up meeting leadership from Snotemp, a family owned cold storage provider with 3 locations across Oregon. Shock learned that Snotemp worked closely with numerous breweries by providing cold storage, inventory management, and logistics. They also had recently been named a Top 100 Employer.
Ed Regnier is now the second ever CFO in the 60 year history of Springfield Creamery
Shock jumped in and accepted a position working in operations. He spent a few months learning the basic elements of warehousing, but after just 3 months on the job was promoted to Inventory Control, where he often coordinates special projects for customers including many well established breweries. Shock was never sure he’d find a career building job in Eugene, but just a few years out he’s already seeing the benefits of his decision. “I found a good job that paid me well and has great benefits. And I’ve learned a ton about operations.” He is also enjoying his life outside of work. “Eugene is a down to earth place. The community seems just the right size. I like the weather and the environment here. It’s just a cool place to live.”
Ed Regnier entered business school with little awareness of the local food manufacturing industry. He’d spent most of his career managing heavy civil construction projects and had enrolled in the MBA program with the goal of pivoting to another industry, he just didn’t know which one. After a mentor from the program connected him with executives from Springfield Creamery, it became clear where we wanted to go.
After graduating, Regnier became CFO at Springfield Creamery, makers of Nancy’s Probiotic Foods in Eugene, just the second person to hold that position in their entire 60 year history. Regnier never would have expected his career to shift from concrete to yogurt as rapidly as it did, but he’s certainly not looking back. “It's easy living in Eugene,” he says. “I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better place to raise a family. Things are close, there’s great parks… it’s just so conducive to a healthy lifestyle.”
Of course, students outside the business school are also finding their way to the industry. During his time in the Environmental Science program Lucas Ahlquist became interested in exploring ways to reduce environmental impact in agriculture. When he saw that a local startup founded by a University of Oregon alum, Young Mountain Tea, was seeking an intern to help coordinate the company’s organic certification, he applied immediately.
Lucas Ahlquist (center) has found a fulfilling career working directly with tea producers at the growing startup Young Mountain Tea
The certification went smoothly and Ahlquist also found a deeper connection to Young Mountain Tea’s mission to “develop a market that raises up emerging tea makers, creating vibrant mountain economies and healthy lands across the Indian subcontinent.” He’s since grown with the company, and after a few promotions is now the Chief Financial Officer. Ahlquist is grateful for the network he developed as a student at University of Oregon. “The intersection of business, environmental science and food studies at UO has made it a great place to find support.”
There’s been so much interest in food business careers that Lundquist began offering a new course in 2018 called The Business of Food at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The course connects students to the many facets of the food industry both regionally and nationally incorporating over a dozen guest speakers from Oregon food and beverage companies. The course is offered across the entire university as a part of the interdisciplinary Food Studies Program, which offers an undergraduate minor or graduate specialization.
Rooted in Eugene highlights stories of people who chose to live, work, and play in the greater Eugene area’s dynamic food and beverage manufacturing industry
Check out the rest of the series!
Part 1: Love and Natural Foods
Part 2: High Quality Ingredients
Part 3: On the Cusp of Something