NIU Business students gained valuable business experience assisting Herby PoP, “The Other Chicago PoPcorn” company this school year. Through Business in Action (BIA), a unique course at the NIU College of Business, students acted as consultants, conducted research and made several recommendations to advance the startup, artesian-herbed popcorn company.
Led by instructor and Passport director Jacie Collum, students worked with Herby PoP, a Chicago-based popcorn company. Herby PoP specializes in artisan popcorn using natural spices from around the world. The students were tasked with assisting Herby PoP’s expansion efforts
in areas such as budgeting, product development, locating a site for manufacturing, and marketing strategy.
“We conducted research to plan and project new product ideas that would grow their company,” said Ajla Omerovic, an accountancy sophomore from Chicago. “Business in Action prepared me on my communication skills which is definitely useful in my future career of accounting. Working with the same team for a whole semester is how the future of working with a company would be. I also learned how to look at finances, products and marketing components of businesses, which definitely helps me down the career path in the business world.”
BIA teams examined financial sheets and made budgeting recommendations based on Herby PoP’s income and expenses; expanding Herby PoP’s product line to include making spices and seasonings for cooking; and locating suitable locations for manufacturing and storage that met Herby PoP’s requirements.
“They were spot-on. Where their ideas were, we were there. The product development teams’ ideas, those are the next products we’re working on developing,” said Melanie Cross, co-founder of Herby PoP. “A great idea they had — it’s not enough to just have a spice line be Herby PoP seasoning — we have to come up with a good name for that product so that it can both stand alone as its own product and work in conjunction with our popcorn line. And they had great suggestions for that product name.”
If your organization needs external perspectives, extra research horsepower, unbiased recommendations and/or general business knowledge, engage our NIU Business in Action students. Email business consulting director Jason Gorhman for details at jgorham@niu.edu.
