UO's Business of Food Connects with Eugene Area Businesses

The Business of Food, an upper-division and graduate-level management class offered every spring at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business, returned to a beloved pre-pandemic tradition this year: touring local businesses to get a real-world look at how food and beverage firms operate and strength students' ties to Lane County companies.

Springfield Creamery (maker of Nancy’s Probiotic Foods), Hummingbird Wholesale, Glory Bee, SnoTemp Cold Storage, Phoenix Farms and the UO's Urban Farm hosted more than 30 students during the half-day tours. Beyond meeting leaders and seeing their facilities in action, students had the chance to taste-test products and offer their opinion, chat with microentrepreneurs stirring up food in community kitchens, feed goats and check out a May pole. Many took home samples as well as knowledge that reinforced classroom lessons.

Pro tem faculty member Sophia Bennett, who has taught the class for the past two years, said the tours were the highlight of the term. "One student talked about how he'd never heard of some of these businesses, but he now feels a powerful connection to the places he visits and plans to continue supporting them and recommending them to his friends," she said. "Another student mentioned that she wasn't very excited about the businesses she was assigned to visit, but they were much more interesting than she anticipated and she might consider a job in the industry. It's invaluable for students to get out into the 'real world' and see what these businesses actually do. It really helps them understand that a long-term career in hospitality might be for them."

Bennett plans to return to a full day of tours in spring 2023. She would like to take students as far as Corvallis to broaden their understanding of the food system in the Willamette Valley, which is a major focus of the class. She is also hoping to work with food and beverage businesses as part of the marketing classes she teaches, in order to bring the university's resources into the community on an ongoing basis.