El Paisano

Issue date: 5/16/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Contributed by Jennifer Marquis The winning team of Phi Beta Lambda at the marketing competion last month.

A team of 10 Rio Hondo College students took 2nd place in the 3rd annual Western Collegiate Food Marketing Competition held at the Anaheim Convention Center on March 7.

The Rio Hondo College chapter of the national student business club, Phi Beta Lambda, prepared and presented a twenty-minute PowerPoint presentation to a panel of industry expert judges. Their task was to create a fictitious food product and develop a regional advertising campaign to support their product. They were given a budget of $3 million and were asked to explain during their presentation how these funds were to be used for promotional efforts.

With the help of a local inventor and their team advisor, Rio Hondo College Business Instructor, Gene Blackmun III, the student team introduced to the world their new product, the DOZO. The DOZO is a corn, wheat, or flour cone-like shell that makes food more portable for adults and more fun to eat for children. Team leader and Phi Beta Lambda Club President, Brent Sanchez, explained to the panel of judges, "imagine a savory ice cream cone filled with all your favorite ingredients. The sky's the limit. Whether you like traditional taco ingredients, salad toppings, or fresh fruit, they all can be paired with a DOZO and be eaten on the go."

This year marks the second year-in-a-row that a team of students from Rio Hondo College has placed 2nd at this competition. Student judged awards were also presented at yesterday's competition and the Rio Hondo College team came away with additional hardware. Team Rio received a first place plaque for the Most Outstanding PowerPoint Presentation, a second place plaque for the Most Innovative Marketing Idea, and a third place plaque for the Product Most Likely to Succeed.

Rio Hondo College students who participated in the preparation and presentation of the DOZO included: Wendy Ayala, Matthew Cruz, Matthew Dorn, Pam Ghuman, Raquel Gutierrez, Scott Ngo, Brent Sanchez, Patricia Sopher, Peter Tang, and Stephanie Tang.

This food marketing competition brings together students from all over the Western United States with the opportunity to compete and learn from one another. This year's teams represented Cal Poly Pomona University, Colorado State University, Portland State University, CSU Chico, Arizona State University, University of Nevada, Reno, Great Basin College, Chaffey College, Cosumnes River College, and Rio Hondo College.

The days events were culminated with the annual Scifts Suppliers Night were 400-500 new food products are introduced to industry professionals. Rio students were invited to attend this event and sample these new food products that will eventually hit the grocery store shelves.

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