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OUT TO LUNCH Business over lunch. Each week Christiaan invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.
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If you’re gonna be first, you’re gonna take a risk. All the more so if you’re going to market with a foreign concept. People are creatures of habit. We look to the world we know to understand new concepts. And if something we’re trying is unlike anything we’ve tried before…that can be a recipe for failure. Think of it this way: People who are remem…
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I had a journalism student approach me a while back for a story. I asked him, “what kind of a journalist do you want to be when you grow up?” He said, “A food writer. Because AI won’t take my job.” Won’t it though? I suppose if they create a neural simulation of what it’s like to eat boudin, they could. But the panic around AI is big; mostly becaus…
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America has had a complicated relationship with Downtowns. When we invented the suburbs in the mid-20th century, Downtowns were left behind, only to make a roaring comeback in the 21st century. That story should sound familiar for folks in Lafayette. Lafayette’s Downtown was left for dead in the 1980s and 1990s. It was practically a no-man’s land i…
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Fitness is a big industry. Over the last decade, the global market for fitness has nearly doubled to around $100 billion. You’ve probably seen the results of that boom around town. Think of the world of 24/7 gyms and fitness centers, smoothie shops and personal trainers. That world is expanding not just in size but in variety. And it’s drawing in i…
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Who doesn’t want a taste of the sweet life? Most folks are looking for a chance to indulge. Even when times are tough. Maybe especially when times are tough. When the economy goes down, ice cream sales go up: in the two years after the 2008 mortgage crisis, ice cream sales went up 25%. even when times aren't bad, there’s never really a bad time for…
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Ask any business owner in a small town: What’s the secret to success? And they’ll tell you: relationships. When everyone knows you, where you go to church and whether your mom can make a roux, you're trading on a reputation bigger than your own. Relationships drive business development and they can define success. That’s true if you’re selling barb…
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Kids hate math. You’ve probably heard that before. Except, it’s not exactly true. One survey commissioned by Texas Instruments found that kids were twice as likely to say they like math than hate it. Now, Texas Instruments sells calculators. Make of that what you will. That same survey found that about 70% of kids said they would like math more if …
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East to New York City. West to Los Angeles. Pick your poison as the saying goes. Out of one swamp. Into another. For the Louisiana diaspora, home is hard to quit. Home is where the heart is, after all. Many transplants become boomerangs, a demographic term of art for people who go away and come home. At least, that’s the hope if — like Louisiana — …
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There are few words in the english language that more poetic when strung together than "coffee" "weed" and "cobbler." Yes, this is another "only in Acadiana" episode of Out to Lunch. So let's dive in. For a lot of entrepreneurs, the dream of owning a business is about independence. The money helps, of course. But what they’re really after is a kind…
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Acadiana is famous for ingenuity. Look no further than a crawfish boat to see what I mean. You might say that innovation is in the water. And that’s because the peoples who settled here needed to be clever to survive. Of course, these days, necessity isn’t the only mother of invention. We live in the sportsman’s paradise, after all. Fishing is what…
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We all like to think of our businesses are unique. We come up with a value proposition or a mission statement designed to stick out in the market. But the reality is, pretty much every industry is crowded with competitors and copycats selling pretty much the same thing. That’s capitalism. Now throw in the internet and the number of competitors expl…
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Service businesses are tricky. For the most part, you’re selling assistance. And even when folks know they need help, things can get tense. Imagine making a living when your clientele is by definition struggling. When someone brings you a mess, you need to be able to clean up with confidence, compassion and clarity. Savings Clarity is where Sonya C…
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Follow your dreams. It’s what they tell you as soon as you learn to dance or play guitar. What they don’t tell you is — prepare for building maintenance and customer service. For entrepreneurs of any stripe, reality is coming and it’s a cold drink of water. It takes a lot of work and unglamorous work at that, once you get to the promised land. Real…
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Every business has an origin story: the moment where it all clicked and made sense. Most of the time, it’s the stuff of myth and legend. Successful businesses rarely fall from the sky and bonk you on the head. Unless, Sir Isaac Newton had it in his mind to bottle gravity and sell it. For most entrepreneurs, getting from the idea to success is more …
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You know the saying: They don’t build them like they used to. When it comes to homes and buildings, that’s usually said like it’s a bad thing. But with a changing climate and changing marketplace, building things like we used to — brick by brick, nail by nail — just doesn’t cut it any more. Enter modular construction. The idea isn’t totally unheard…
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Balance is everything. Greek philosophers thought of it as the key to happiness — the Golden Mean, the happy medium between extremes. When you’re out of balance —emotionally or physically — things can go wrong real fast. In the context of health, we often think of balance as a problem that primarily affects older patients. But there are a wide vari…
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Making a living in healthcare is a pain. Whatever side of it you work in, at some level you’re dealing with people. That’s the case if you’re a doctor, a researcher or even an entrepreneur. When people buy what you’re selling, theoretically at least, they’re hoping to improve their lives. And not just in the way a nespresso machine would. This can …
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Sometimes the best business ideas are hereditary. And I don’t mean family businesses. Every family has a secret sauce or skill: maybe a green thumb or a gift for gab. Turning the family tradition into a business may not be so easy — unless you’ve inherited the entrepreneurial gene. That’s because everyone is trying to sell the family recipe these d…
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A good product doesn’t just solve problems, it makes a customer feel good. And that can start with the buying experience itself. Smart retailers know how to balance a hard sell with a soft touch, making customers believe that they are in control, and most importantly they are special. For a lot of retailers, that means cultivating an experience. Fo…
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Lafayette is home to two hospital systems and has a deep bench of medical providers. It’s the Hub City in a new kind of way. It’s Acadiana’s medical hub. So it might surprise you to learn that access to health care is still a problem. Every parish in Acadiana, except Lafayette, has a federally designated shortage of healthcare providers. Why? Well,…
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What’s new is new, but what’s old can be timeless. We can get obsessed with new ideas in business. An innovation. A technology. A new place to put cheese on pizza. But sometimes, a good business model is sourcing an old idea and bringing it back. As the salesman's famous closer goes, "Nobody ever regretted buying quality." That’s especially true in…
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There’s a well documented nursing shortage in the U.S. When Shelley Henry first started nursing, it was pretty common for one nurse to manage 10 patients. Today, it’s closer to 20. We tend to think of the nursing shortage as something impacting hospitals and primary care. But the shortage is impacting end of life care, too. Hospices need nurses, an…
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Leadership is a big deal in business. It’s actually a business all its own: Companies big and small operate executive training programs and the world’s most successful entrepreneurs write best-selling books about how they got to the top and what it means to be a real leader in business. But what about being a leader in your community? That takes a …
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You know the cliche: Knowledge is power. Even Alexander the Great had a tutor while he conquered the known world. It helped that it was Aristotle. A good education is a strong indicator of future success in business and in life generally. So it shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a vibrant industry out there in preparing people for getting ahead i…
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And Now For Something Completely Different
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Let’s say you’ve accomplished all of your professional goals. You’re at the top. Business is good. Life is good. What do you do? How about…something completely different? Success breeds success, but it can also stir up an appetite for new challenges. For high achievers, that can lead them to keep climbing after they’ve pushed that boulder all the w…
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Americans are going to get a lot older over the next 30 years. That’s not just an obvious statement about aging: the share of senior citizens in our country is projected to get much, much bigger. Researchers think seniors will account for 25% of Americans by 2060. It’s a population shift often referred to as the Silver Tsunami. The impact of that c…
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There’s plenty of demand for the good life. Who doesn’t want a taste of luxury or indulgence? And certainly, we indulge a lot in South Louisiana. "You only live once" could be easily the state motto. Why not? We’re blessed to have plenty of good life to indulge here. So much so, that we yearn for it when we’re gone. For all those expats out there —…
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Over the last few decades, we’ve come to understand the role of private enterprise differently. There’s a call to be corporate citizens, and responsible ones at that. Responsibility can be good business. It’s part of why big energy companies have begun to shift their marketing and their products toward sustainability. Think of it this way: You need…
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What does it mean to invest in a community? Big economic development projects are usually sold that way. And if you’re cynical, it can sound a bit like hot air. If a big company puts a new factory in your town, it might bring jobs, but the investment is for the company and its shareholders. Okay, but that’s not a bad thing. That’s capitalism. But c…
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Americans spend about 300 hours a year in a car. That translates roughly into about 14,263 miles annually, at least according to a few minutes of Google research. Take the specifics with a grain of salt but nobody would would dispute that we do a lot of driving. Yes, traffic is bad in Lafayette, but mostly compared to how we think we ought to be li…
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The more we learn about the human body, the less we seem to actually know. Medicine is always playing catch up with its own science. And more and more, the industry is moving toward individualized care, armed with metrics that help us stay on top of our wellness. What if we could catch a problem before it happens? If that’s the goal, we’re not talk…
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Dancing is a big part of our Acadiana culture. People in Acadiana dance like nobody’s watching; specially when everybody’s watching. But dance can be more than an expression of tradition or culture. It can be therapeutic. You can look at a couple dancing as a microcosm of their relationship or you can look at yourself dancing as a way of getting in…
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Acadiana is a culture obsessed with itself. That’s not unique, really. Regional pride is a thing in most places, wherever you go. A strong cultural identity — or more precisely, identities — can create a powerful market for artists who can tap into it. The ability to sell on social media or through e-commerce has only extended that reach. And that …
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When you’re a designer, you’ve often got one customer: the one right in front of you. And you’ve got essentially one product: the one you’re making. With every job, you’re building both your reputation and your portfolio. But here’s the kicker. If you’re doing custom work, then your customer is also your boss. No pressure. But pressure — and lots o…
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How do you convince a customer to buy a service they don’t know they need? That’s often the steepest hill to climb for businesses that offer improvements on existing products. If solving a problem is the surest path to success, then satisfaction in the market can be a real hurdle. But if what you do works that much better than what’s available, you…
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Let’s say you want to own a business, but you’re not sure what kind. A clever idea is probably a good place to start, but believe it or not you don’t have to have your own concept or business model to own your own. You could own a franchise. Franchises are everywhere in the American marketplace — think of ubiquitous fast food brands like McDonalds …
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What’s the point of working yourself stiff if you can’t take it with you when you go? Younger folks in the American workforce get it. Maybe wealth and power aren’t what they’re cracked up to be if we’re all gonna give it up when we cross into the great beyond. If Baby Boomers were work-a-holics, and Gen-Ex’ers the slacker generation, then Millennia…
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There’s a lot more to retail than selling something a customer wants. More and more, customers want experience. They want to feel like they’re buying into something — a lifestyle, an ethos, a trend. Smart retailers, of course, know their customers. Really smart retailers know their customers better than they know themselves. Curation, then, is the …
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Variety is the spice of life. Right? Well, in Louisiana spice is the spice of life! Or maybe flavor. It’s beyond cliche that we like things spicy here. Although most cooks and chefs will tell you we like things well-seasoned. No surprise then, that seasoning is a big business in this area. There are no shortage of homegrown seasonings or seasoning …
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Let’s talk about space. Not outer space — although we might get to that later — but the spaces we live and play. On Earth, it’s a limited resource. Which makes it ideal for a business venture. You might find yourself standing in front of a strip of vacant land and say to yourself, "How do I turn this into something that makes money?" Or you might s…
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There’s a lot of business that happens in your home. More and more, it’s become the center of commerce. And that’s not just because of big delivery services. It takes a lot of products to run a home. The essence of American consumerism is convenience. We’re all thrilled to spend a buck to do it the easy way. Think about it: When was the last time y…
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Yoga is crazy popular in the United States. And over the last decade, it’s only gotten more popular. In 2021, 34 million Americans took a yoga class. That’s up 15 million from a decade earlier. And the industry has adapted to Western exercise habits. It’s not a strictly spiritual practice here. It’s a way to build muscle tone and balance. It’s also…
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The goal of pretty much every business is to grow. It’s the beating heart of capitalism. But scaling up is complicated. The bigger you get, the bigger the problems get. And it’s not a 1:1 ratio. The learning curve can get steeper and steeper as your operation adds new locations, new employees, new revenue streams. Growing pains, however, are a good…
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"Be yourself." It’s what we’re all taught from an early age. When you get a little older you find out the world around you doesn’t make that so easy. Taboos are stubborn. And even as we get more comfortable talking about sensitive or personal subjects — it can feel daunting to open up. That’s where the idea of “safe space” comes in. It’s maybe a mo…
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It’s beyond a cliche at this point to say that folks in Acadiana have a special relationship with food. Whole towns are defined by their food festivals. You’ve got your gumbo festival, your rice festival, your sweet potato festival, your crawfish festival - in the case of Delcambre - your shrimp and petroleum festival. Of course, that’s thinking ab…
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Selling or buying a house can be a slog. And that goes for both real estate agents and folks in the market. It’s an industry ripe for revolution. Many have tried. And the results have favored one side of the transaction over the other. The MLS — multiple listing service — added tremendous value to the role of the real estate agent. Then Zillow came…
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What do you actually want to be in your life? As a kid you can dream about being an astronaut or brain surgeon or sports superstar. As an adult it’s not so easy to answer that question, and it's especially difficult if life has thrown you a curveball and if you’re navigating trauma or hardship. In that case, when you're struggling to put one foot i…
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Diamonds Are Forever (or until you sell them)
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Most customers are looking for value. They want the best product they can get at the best price. And the best price usually means the cheapest. No one haggles up. In the jewelry business it kind of works the other way. Diamonds aren’t just precious; they’re priceless. "Priceless" is another word for "expensive." Consider the tradition of spending t…
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Don’t believe what they tell you. Life has a second act. In fact, some lives have three acts or four or five or maybe nine if you’re a serial entrepreneur. The heart of business is creativity: the desire to make something new. The twist is that you want to make money on it. But for some entrepreneurs, the goal is bigger than that. Noble pursuits ar…
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Here’s a not-so-fun fact: A family of four wastes $2,200 worth of groceries every year. Fortunately, there’s a tasty way to solve that problem. Leftovers. Leftovers put the Thanksgiving turkey in your turkey sandwich, or the Chinese takeout in your fried rice. Well, how about making a burger out of yesterday’s gumbo? Wait, what? Susanne Duplantis d…
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