It's Baton Rouge: Out To Lunch

Ryan Grizzafi is the owner of The Cajun Spoon, a four year old company that makes healthful, easy to prepare box mixes of beloved Cajun dishes like gumbo, etouffe and shrimp and grits. The Cajun Spoon started out as a food truck in 2014, progressed to become a catering business, and more recently has ventured into retail. To stand out from other, established, Cajun dinner products, Grizzafi s company has adjusted its recipes to make them healthier, so they are low in sodium, use fresh, local ingredients and contain no MSG or artificial flavoring. The Cajun Spoon also has a higher mission for everyone box sold, the company donates one meal to the local food bank. It also donates part of its proceeds to a scholarship fund at the LSU Ag Center. Sean Rivera is a food entrepreneur, chef and partner in several restaurants. He s also an advocate for foodies and chefs in Baton Rouge. Sean has a social media brand, Foodie Patutie, which has some 150 thousand followers on Twitter and Instagram. He s also created a Chef

We know south Louisiana has a healthy number of budding entrepreneurs. We ve met many of them on this show over the past year. But one thing we hear over and over again is that south Louisiana doesn t have a very well developed entrepreneurial ecosystem. It s starting to change, but is it happening fast enough Arthur Cooper is on the frontlines of building that entrepreneurial ecosystem. He is the president and CEO of the LSU Research and Technology Foundation. The Foundation serves a vital purpose in the world of technology transfer by helping researchers at all the LSU campuses bring their inventions and discoveries to market more quickly by taking care of a lot of the paperwork and back office functions that are necessary when you file a patent and have a licensing agreement. It s the kind of stuff researchers aren t necessarily good at, but Arthur is. Chris Zavala is an example of a local entrepreneur who has successfully navigated the waters of bringing a great idea to market and now has a patent on his

Quality education is a challenge. It seems like many of our schools are losing ground, as public funding for education is being cut. At the same time, there s a greater emphasis on alternatives to the traditional school system and an increased interest in things that helps us think outside the box. Ashley Heard has spent a lot of time thinking about non traditional education and the charter school system. Her firm, Ashley Heard Consulting, specializes in helping nonprofit organizations that provide educational services, like charter schools, with fundraising, business development and strategic planning. Ashley s clients include The Emerge Center for autism, Greater Baton Rouge HOPE Academy and the Sothern University Alumni Association. Missy Couhig is owner of The Conundrum, an independent bookstore in the heart of St. Francisville that has become something of an intellectual and literary hub. The Conundum not only sells books but has become a meeting place for the community, hosting local and traveling autho

Some of us find relief for our stress through exercise or meditation. Others find their salvation after a long hard day in a good strong cocktail. Either way, local entrepreneurs have found a way to build businesses around our inherent need to unwind and escape. Stefan Boone, with his wife, Mercy Kitchen Boone, is owner of Preservation Yoga, a Bikram yoga studio on Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge. Bikram is performed in a super heated studio, sometimes upwards of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and though a lot of studios offer some variation of hot yoga, only Preservation Yoga does the real deal. Stefan is a Baton Rouge native who has taught in Nevada, Texas, California, and South Korea. Cliff Couvillion and his partner, Matthew Curtis have created the ultimate luxury for the cocktail connoisseur a line of portable powdered cocktails mixes that you can bring with you when you travel. Leisuremann s Cocktail Mixes are especially useful if you re heading to the great outdoors for an adventure that will take you far aw

As Americans have become more health conscious in recent years, they ve begun to pay more attention not only to what they eat but also what they drink. That s created opportunities for local entrepreneurs, who are building businesses around healthful beverages. Ash Shoukry is the owner of The Big Squeezy, a local chain of shops that sell cold press juices and smoothies made from fruit and vegetables grown on the company s farms in California and North Carolina. Ash and his then partner opened the first Big Squeezy in 2013 in the Perkins Road Overpass area, and in the years since what looked to be a risky concept in a conservative market has taken off. Jason Cheek is Manager of TruBlue Water, a new company that services businesses and residential customers in the Capital Region with water from the nearby Kentwood, Louisiana aquifer. TruBlue is owned in part by Jason s wife, Amy, who had long wanted to get into the water bottle because she saw a need in the market for competition. Jason calls himself the water

We live in a media saturated world, dominated by 24 7 cable news networks and an ever growing list of social media platforms that keep us updated, informed, and inundated with more information than we could ever hope to process. How do you make sense of it all And how do you make money at it On this edition of Out to Lunch, Stephanie is joined by two Baton Rouge media experts. Cyril Vetter is a local industry veteran who got his start in a different era of telecommunications the early 1970s. In the intervening four decades he has owned radio and TV stations, a newspaper, a television production company, a recording and music publishing company, and a communications tower company. Cyril has served on the boards of numerous industry associations and has been active with numerous civic and community organizations. Since selling his businesses several years ago, Cyril has concentrated on creating books and film and television projects with a focus on Louisiana cultural preservation. He s alsp the interim General

Not so long ago, they used to roll up the sidewalks in downtown Baton Rouge at 5 p.m, or so the saying went. And it wasn t far from the truth. Today, however, downtown is a burgeoning district, home not only to state office buildings and law firms, but to apartment complexes, restaruatns, museums and galleries and, even, a distillery. Walter Tharp is the president and owner of that distillery Cane Land Distilling Company, which makes rum and other products from sugar cane grown right across the river from Baton Rouge on the Alma Plantation and Sugar Mill, owned by Walter s family. Walter hatched the idea of opening a distillery while attending a party at a wedding of the owners of the famed rum company, Ron Zacapa in Guatemala. Walter launched the company in 2013, but it would be more than four years before Cane Land opened for business. Rodneyna Hart is an artist and a facilitator of others art. She is the exhibitions manager at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum, which has been one of the key attractions

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Nonprofit organizations make a huge impact in the community. With decreased government funding for badly needed social services, nonprofits are more important than ever. But assessing need, figuring out how to make the most impact, and then raising money is a challenge. There are all sorts of ways to make it work, but you have to be creative and very determined. Jennifer Maggio founded The Life of a Single Mom in 2007. The organization is based in Baton Rouge and in 10 years has become one of the largest, single mom support groups in the nation. Life of a Single Mom not only offers support to single mothers in the Baton Rouge community, it works to launch other support groups in cities around the country. To date, Life of a single mom has launched 1,500 support groups and serves more than 50 thousand single parent families. Jennifer herself was once a single mom so she knows the need first hand and has quite an incredible story to share. Sam Trevathan is Education Director of Kids Orchestra, a nonprofit that

Baton Rouge is rife with talent. Not just entrepreneurial and tech talent, which we focus on a lot on this show, but creative talent. Artists, writers, musicians, and photographers. Nature photographer C.C. Lockwood s sublime images of Louisiana s lush swamps, moss laden oaks, endangered wildlife and fragile ecosystem have earned him international acclaim and a place in the hearts of so many Louisianans. C.C. has published a dozen books of photography, has done extensive work in the American west, and is best known for his local wildlife photography. Lately, his work and books have called attention to the crisis of vanishing Gulf Coast wetlands and efforts by organizations like The Nature Conservancy to restore them. Randy Roussel is one of the most respected real estate and corporate attorneys in the State and a partner at Phelps Dunbar. Randy has established a successful career over the past 30 years in Baton Rouge, a career many would envy, but Randy s true passion is photography. He has conveyed his love

We hear a lot about the disruption economy how Amazon is changing the face of retail, or how Uber is changing the way we get around. But there are more subtle yet equally significant changes at work in a variety of sectors, including philanthropy and medicine. And it s not necessarily bearded, hipster millennials in skinny legged pants who are leading this change. In Baton Rouge, two very different types of doctor are changing the way we approach philanthropic giving and medicine. Dr. Beverly Brooks Thompson is a management consultant whose firm, Brooks Thompson Consulting, specializes in fundraising advising and philanthropic management consulting for corporate, nonprofit and individual clients. Beverly founded the firm in 2016, after more than 20 years of fundraising experience, which, most notably included directing the Forever LSU Campaign for Louisiana State University, which raised more than 798 million in excess of the campaign s 750 million goal. Dr. Gunjan Raina is a primary care doctor here in Baton

We spend a lot of time talking about the importance of the economy and of economic development to the health of a community like Baton Rouge. And certainly, jobs and opportunities are what keep a city growing and humming. But cultural and educational attractions like museums and galleries are increasingly key in attracting young people and what author Richard Florida has called "creative class professionals." Peter Olson is Executive Director of the Knock Knock Children s Museum, which opened in July after nearly a decade of planning and fundraising. The Knock Knock Children s Museum was the inspriration of a dedicated group of then young mothers in the city, who worked tirelessly to create a truly firsto rate educational and entertaining attraction for children in this market. Peter was recruited from his native Minnesota, where he was Executive Director of the Children s Museum of Southern Minnesota, which he helped establish over the course of seven years. Jason Andreasen is Executive Director of the Baton

Technology is taking over so many aspects of our lives, from basic accounting and word processing to retail, even to building custom cabinetry. It can be intimidating and hard to get your mind around, until you understand what computers and robots are all about and how to make them work for you. Logan Leger has such an understanding. He is a software engineer and entrepreneur in Baton Rouge, who founded the software development firm New Aperio back in 2010, after a few previous failed attempts at founding internet startups when he was still a student. Today, New Aperio creates and markets apps for the web and for smart phones. In the past seven years their clients have grown both locally and nationwide. New Aperio recently opened an office in Denver, Colorado. Mike Gennaro is another young entrepreneur, also using technology. Mike designs and builds custom cabinetry through his company, Barndog Mill, which he founded in 2011. Mike uses robotic technology with a CNC computer numerical control machine to help m

Life does not always unfold in a straight line. Sometimes we have to make turns that we didn t expect or that require major adjustments. One such turning point comes for military veterans when they leave the service and have to find their way in the civilan world. Another point comes when we realize we need to transiotion form an independent life to one that might require a little more TLC. Charlie D Agostino is executive director of LSU s Innovation Park, a dedicated complex for research commercialization that consists of five business incubators and a host of business and technological resources to help budding entrepreneurs get off the ground. Charlie is Stephanie s guest on Out to LUnch today to talk about a new program he recently launched with the Office of Veterans Affairs, Louisiana Economic Development, and Gov John Bel Edwards s office. It s a program to help military veterans learn how to start their own businesses, consisting of online training and a day and a half long bootcamp. Regina Hatcher is

Here in south Louisiana, water is as much a part of the local landscape as is solid ground. And with coastal erosion, the ratio is becoming more skewed every year. Fortunately, environmental entrepreneurs are figuring out ways to help us deal with our water and coastal issues while also building viable businesses. Take Tyler Ortego, an environmentalist, engineer and aentrepreneur, who got his start with the Shaw Group and went out on his own in 2006 to found Ora Estuaries. Ora Estuaries uses engineered oyster reefs for coastal shoreline protection. The company got its start in the LSU Business and Technology Center and uses a developing technology that Tyler developed, called oyster scaffolding. As its name suggests, it involves growing oyster reefs in strategic locations where the coastline is eroding. Lord knows, there are plenty such places along the Gulf Coast of south Louisiana and Ora Estuaries is partnering with local communities to help them grow their own oyster reefs into the building blocks of coas

Sometimes we fall into a career. Other times, we build one, doing something simple that we ve loved since childhood. Stephanie s guests in this edition of Out to Lunch fall into the latter category. Mark Cartwright is a sport fisherman from south Louisiana, who grew up enjoying the bounties of Sportsman s Paradise. But, as an adult and father of two boys, he often found himself spending weekends on the baseball field, instead of at the family fishing camp. Combining his penchant for baseball with his love of fishing, Mark created The Catcher s Mitt, a specially outfitted glove that keeps your hands clean and safe while you handle your catch. His company Reel Fun, has gone on to create a second product, the Tipster, which Mark describes as "21st Century jug fishing" basically, it s a horizontal floating fishing rod that tips upright to alert you when you ve caught something. Matt Callac is a native of Slidell who knew as early as his high school journalism classes where he learned to edit on old VCR machines t

It s a well known cliche that some of the most successful entrepreneurs started out in their parents garage. Actually there s more than a kernel of truth to the stereotype. Lots of small businesses start from home, including plenty here in Baton Rouge. Two local businesswomen are navigating the process. They are Joan Chastain and Shannon Countrymen, long time friends and moms, who decided in 2014, when the last of their litters had left home, to take what they d done every day for years make dinner for their families and turn it into a business Ingle Eats. The partners started small, cooking meals a couple of times a week for friends and neighbors in their Ingleside neighborhood. Ingle Eats has since grown into a sizeable operation with a number of moving parts and a pathway to getting even bigger. Melinda Gonzalez and her sister, Sarah Cullins, have also launched a small business from home. Like Joan and Shannon they re doing something they enjoy and already knew how to do well. And they actually do work out

Don t let anyone tell you south Louisiana s only about food and football. Startups in bio tech, high tech, and industry abound between Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the North Shore. And they re focused on some really cutting edge things. Will they succeed What are the hurdles they re encountering as they try to launch John Dowdle has answers. John is the coowner and founder, with his wife, Annette, of Insight GX. It s a start up that is planning to do genetic testing for large companies in order to help those organizations and their employees become healthier and more aware of their genetic makeup. The idea is to sell the service to employers, instead of providers, and help them find out things like what sorts of medicines their employees shouldn t take, and whether they re genetically predisposed to certain diseases. John has spent the past 25 years in the medical biotech industry. Annette was in employee benefits. Recently, they went out on their own. Rex Industrial is a Baton Rouge start up company that has

Some of us embark on a career path and we re set for life. But sometimes one career unexpectedly leads to another. Or prepares us for another in ways that we don t quite see at first. Take Dr. Meredith Warner. Dr warner is an orthopedist with a practice in Baton Rouge, Warner Orthopedics and Wellness, that she opened in 2013. Meredith s career dealing with bones and joints has led her to a second enterprise this one, entrepreneurial. Meredith has created a special shoe for people with plantar fasciitis. She calls it the Healing Sole. It s a flip flop that helps people suffering from the painful heel condition. Meredith spent five years designing her shoe and even went to business school to learn the business side of selling and marketing it. In 2015, it went on the market and today it s on store shelves and on the internet. Jamie Miller Carruth s career has also taken interesting twists and turns. Jamie spent more than two decades in education, and was principal at Highland Elementary here in Baton Rouge for

In historical Britain the three estates of the realm were the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. The Fourth Estate is a segment of society that wields an indirect but significant influence on society, even though it is not a formally recognized part of the political system. The most commonly recognized part of the fourth estate is the news media. However, these days, it s more difficult to ascertain just what kind of influence the news media exerts, between the competitive pressures posed by the internet, and the almost daily barrage of attacks from the most powerful seat in the country and arguably the world against the "fake news" media. Stephanie s guests on this edition of Out to Lunch have some unique insights on the subject. Rolfe McCollister is the owner of Louisiana Business Inc., a Baton Rouge based company that publishes the Baton Rouge Business Report, 225 magazine, and In Register, as well as dozens of special publications for contract clients. Rolfe is also the consummate entrepreneur he fo