Specifically, students enrolled in the program are expected to complete the required food marketing courses.

Food Marketing Courses

Principles of Food Marketing
An introduction to the food industry and to the theory and practice of marketing. Discussion of the basic structure of distribution; of the fundamentals of marketing: consumer research, product planning, advertising and promotion, distribution channels, physical distribution, pricing, and retail merchandising.

Food Marketing Supply Chain
A descriptive and analytical course covering the food industry from farm to table. Topics include the structure of food channels of distribution, the functions performed, and the forces impacting management of food channels and institutions.

Food Retailing Management and Technology
The principles and practice of food retailing and merchandising: site location, store layout, product assortment, purchasing and inventory control, pricing, promotion and front-end operations. Discussion of the impact of technology and automation on food retailing.

Marketing Research
A study of the methodology of scientific investigation in marketing. Major topics studied include decision-making under varying degrees of certainty; theory of scale construction and use; attitude measurement; data analysis; business forecasting and test marketing.

Marketing Communication
Discussion of advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling as the means of communicating marketing information to intermediate and final customers. Topics covered include buyer behavior theory, advertising budgets, media planning, creative strategy, advertising research, sales promotion planning for new and existing products, selling strategy, and sales presentation.

Quality Food Product Development
A comprehensive study of the processes involved in conceiving, developing and marketing new products in the food and allied industries. The major emphasis of the course is on how to achieve overall quality in new product design and marketing. Differing strategies and approaches for new product planning, organizational structures to support product development, and topics such as quality function deployment, as well as significant new trends in the field will be explored. A multi-stage, cross-functional, integrative process for developing successful new products will serve as the core of the course. The course involves a major semester project, where student teams will create a new product marketing program.

International Marketing
The concepts, methods and problems of firms doing business in international markets are discussed. The specific economic, political, cultural and geographical factors affecting multinational marketers, including the need to adapt to diverse culture, foreign political and economic conditions, and diverse local market conditions will be highlighted.

Foodservice Marketing
A study of the principles and practices of marketing as applied in the foodservice business. Discussion of market segmentation, product positioning, product development, promotion, pricing, and distribution. For restaurants, institutional food-service, hotels and resorts, etc.

Seminar in Food Marketing
Analysis and discussion of cases and readings dealing with both strategic and social issues important to the food marketing manager in the contemporary environment.

Challenge Courses
Food Marketing students will compete in 2-3 challenge courses. These courses feature student team projects which address problems brought to the Food Marketing Department by firms within the food industry in a live case format.

Food Marketing Electives

Students may choose elective courses from any department. Food Marketing offers the following elective:

Personal Selling and Sales Management
Tools and techniques of making effective sales presentations. Behavioral and systems approaches to selling will be covered, along with the role of selling in the marketing mix and the importance of
selling in customer service.