It’s finals time for Food Science 497A, and all the students have their game face on. But these aren’t casually dressed undergraduates—they look like account executives in their business suits, and they’ve brought pie charts and varicolored handouts instead of number 2 pencils and blue books.

The final takes place in a wood-paneled videoconference room. Angela Davenport, a senior majoring in Agricultural Business Management, walks confidently to the podium and stares into TV cameras as she and a team of fellow students start taking a unique final examination. They must pitch a radically new snack food idea to food processing company decision makers and grocery chain managers visiting both the University Park campus and a similar classroom on the campus of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Her team’s idea: Pringles’ “Snack Attack” crackers, a new product in a soft-sided, resealable pouch that actually reduces consumers’ blood cholesterol levels while they eat, thanks to psyllium additives.

It’s a daring suggestion for Pringles—the company’s first venture beyond chips—and everything indicates that it will be a tough sell. But the team arrived well armed with market analysis data. Jargon fills the air as they explain market structure, trade program deals, and behavior scan testing results. One team member offers market research figures on public acceptance of nutraceuticals, and another presents recommendations for reapportioning grocery store shelf space, complete with talking coupon dispensers. When a visiting manufacturer wonders if the public will buy a functional food in the snack section, the team responds with demographic consumption trends and the results of focus groups and market testing.

It’s a tough sell, and the team sells it hard, using everything from slick packaging mock-ups to aggressive, multimillion-dollar marketing plans. The visitors raise questions and voice objections about everything from shelf space to product price. They are direct and unapologetic: these aren’t kindly professors making suggestions, but business allies shooting holes in a product proposal

Above: Students taking the final exam in Food Science 497A face business executives and satellite video cameras instead of blue books.