PSU Magazine Winter 1998

OF THE FOOD CHAIN By Brian White From the field to the corporate office-it's all coming together in an industry-driven program at PSU. 12 PSU MAGAZINE WINTER 1998 I f your idea of food news means scanning the papers for grocery specials, coupons, or recipes, chances are you're missing the big picture in Oregon's food industry. Just this fall: • Portland-based Fred Meyer Inc. completed a $1.9 billion purchase of Smith's Food & Drug Centers of Salt Lake City. • Fred Meyer announced separate deals to acquire Quality Food competition, new technology, and increased consumer demand. No longer is the food industry a sleepy business set in its decades-old ways of doing business. Helping with these changes is a burgeoning program of PSU's School of Business Administration: the Food Industry Management Program. The program, begun in 1994, guides and educates food industry executives and Centers Inc. of Seattle and Ralphs ~ Grocery Co. of Compton, California, for a reported $2 billion.~ ,.r r:.J • Two of the Pacific Northwest's _r .......5 largest food distribution coopera– tives-Portland's United Grocers I! Inc. and Seattle's Associated Grocers-formed a joint partnership aimed at achieving greater efficiency in shared operations. T his is what's happening more frequently in the multibillion– dollar food industry: sweeping changes in the form of mergers, acquisitions, and operations. Underlying these changes are new business attitudes at all points along the food industry chain-from growers and processors to distributors, marketers, and retailers. The changes come at a time of global tLLUSTRATtON BY CHRISTOPHER STINE middle managers grappling with global and technological challenges, many for the first time. "The food industry is moving away from a supplier mentality to a customer mentality. Competition is forcing this," says Thomas Gillpatrick, PSU's Juan Young Professor in Food Management. "Companies are realiz– ing there needs to be better coopera– tion between manufacturer, distributor, and retailer." The Food Industry Management Program features everything from executive development and in-depth conferences to faculty research and student internships with food industry companies. The Univer ity hopes to offer a certificate in food industry management later this year.