Foodservice Minor students renew Limburg's agri-food scene

40 strictly selected young food professionals, 26 guest speakers seasoned in the world of food service and 1 entrepreneur with a complex problem. Twice a year, a group of students from the Hotel Management School Maastricht embark on a ten-week rollercoaster ride that focuses on the entire chain of primeval producers, manufacturers, wholesalers and buyers in the at and out of home markets. From an enormous amount of international information, perspectives, models and scenarios, students in small groups, or tribes, distill a solution to a problem and then pitch it to seven industrial, differently minded entrepreneurs.

Innovation is a must

Jan Klerken of Scelta Mushrooms, Rob Baan of Koppert Cress, Laurens Trebes of UrbanPonics and Ruud Zanders of Kipster have one thing in common. They are all looking for new product-market combinations and are open to the ideas and proposals of the Foodservice students. Their confidence is rewarded: time and again, the entrepreneurs are impressed by the level that the students deliver.
At the last edition, the honor was given to Kipster to challenge the students. The core of the question: come up with a solution for adding value to the meat of laying hens and cockerels. I spoke with the initiator of the innovative minor and two groups of students who took part in the last edition of the minor.

Everything must be thought through

Initiator and coordinator Paul van Oers: "The time is extremely short and we have high demands. We challenge students to critically analyze opportunities and to think outside the box. Earning models, product-market combinations, alliances: it can all be different. But substantiated in all aspects of the business: from HR to sales, from finance to marketing. The entire Route to Market must be well thought-out. We notice that entrepreneurs actually take action based on the proposals. At Scelta Mushrooms, an account manager in America was even hired to work the world cruise market with their Ecopouch product. "Market potential made visible thanks to students."

Practically applicable

Students' initial plans often receive a failing grade. Substantiation is essential, there is no airy-fairy here. After all, the entrepreneur must be able to put the proposals into practice. The 26 guest speakers therefore not only talk about their own market approach and experiences, they also think along with the students about the presented case. Ringo Joannes, Director of Operations at Domino's Pizza, ethicist and philosopher Luca Consoli, Michiel Meier Mattern, financial expert in the world of food and drink: these are just a few examples of the top professionals who contribute to the minor. It sometimes results in conflicting views and opinions. This, too, is no different than in practice: you will have to make choices in a complex and constantly changing market. In this ten-week pressure cooker, students learn to make critical analyses based on international facts, figures and insights from the international foodservice market.

Student in the lead

Van Oers: "As much as we demand from the students, we also ask a lot from the speakers. After each guest lecture, students assess the guest speakers and an average score of less than an 8 means that we will address the guest speaker and replace him if necessary. It shows how dead serious we are about teaching and the student. The student takes the lead and determines the route, we as instructors take a coaching role and facilitate the learning process 24/7. By working with real cases where something is really done with the results, we create an inspiring learning environment where in a short time you really see students transform. They take more responsibility, challenge themselves and each other, know how to argue critically and present their plan in a convincing and structured way. In short: such a different approach to education pays off." Partly because of the quality of the guest speakers and because of the educational approach, the popularity of the minor among students is enormous. Within hours of opening, the maximum number of applications for the next Foodservice minor had already been reached.

Paul van Oers: "We give students the lead. Such a different approach to education pays off."

I speak to 2 tribes that have been working on the Kipster case. The first group I speak to proposed a snack line, where the different parts of the animal were made into different snacks. Fitting well within Kipster's sustainability principle and well thought out for commercial viability. What is striking is that the guest speakers have inspired the students enormously. Wessel: "There was a guest speaker from Victoria Trading, they do the purchasing for Albron Catering, for example. They wanted to work more sustainably, but without this leading to higher consumer prices. They discovered that they were only buying the expensive parts and not the whole chicken. By starting to use the whole chicken, they were able to switch to chickens with a 1 or 2 star Beter Leven quality mark. It's nice to see that such a party is using its power in the chain to make improvements."

Critical and open

The group has not only learned a lot in terms of subject matter, but something has also changed on a personal level. Marlijn: "It's strange to find out that just as many people are obese as there are people living in poverty. It makes you think about what we eat and our responsibility in this. You also take that critical view into a future job."
The second group I speak to had come up with a concept whereby Kipster enters into an alliance with two other parties in the chain to be able to offer consumers their own Pulled Kipster sandwich. The students noticed during the course that mentioning the minor opened doors. Dian: "Normally we might have only done online research. But now we were pushed to be bold and call parties proactively. We were surprised ourselves at how far you get and how open people are at companies to think along and even participate."

Breathing Mother Earth Excursion: for three days, students visit about thirty small-scale entrepreneurs in the primary sector. All this -220 kilometers- by bicycle and with overnight stays in an old cow shed and pigsty. The purpose of this excursion is to intensively acquaint young entrepreneurs in training with the concerns and challenges in the primary sector.

Begin with the consumer

When I ask if the students also have any tips for agrofood entrepreneurs, they don't have to think long. "Find other parties and start sharing, only then will you see solutions instead of problems. Form a group of chain partners and dare to think outside existing contracts and earning models. In this day and age, so much is changing so fast, it offers more opportunities than you think." They have also noticed that entrepreneurs tend to think from their own wishes and needs. "Start with the consumer and their needs, even if you find that difficult. It's the only way you can develop a product or service that resonates with consumers."

Last questions welcome

Both the students and Paul van Oers and colleague Claire Souren are eager to see more of these kinds of complex questions coming. After the Foodservice minors phase, students go to work on a paid Foodservice research assignment from industry. This research often runs under embargo & confidentiality and lasts as long as 20 weeks. Whether you are a farmer or in the processed food industry, any business owner can submit their research question, as long as you are open to a consumer-oriented approach, exploring a new product-market combination.

Students Foodservice Minor:
"Don't start with your own desire, but with the consumer and their needs."

Recommended

Ruud Zanders of Kipster can recommend it to everyone: "I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the proposals. The open-minded attitude of the students combined with the solid input from knowledge institutes and guest speakers resulted in ideas that we will definitely use in the future."
Would you like to know more about the possibilities of engaging students for research assignments and management internships? Please contact
Paul van Oers (06-14782265, paul.vanoers@zuyd.nl) or Claire Souren (06-40220382, claire.souren@zuyd.nl)