stephanie riegel

Wherever you live in Louisiana, or anywhere in the US for that matter, you might have noticed something has changed in your local supermarket, in offices, and even in airports and hotels. That something is, Plexiglass.

Those giant sheets of plexiglass that now stand between you and the person on the other side of a counter are called Sneeze Guards. Have you wondered where they suddenly all came from?

Peter Seltzer has laser cutters that he uses to make paper products at his company, Pete’s Papercrafts. When Covid came along, Peter switched from paper to plexiglass, and started making face shields and sneeze guards.

Peter started out by making over 13,000 face shields for members of the Ochsner Health System. That alone would be an extraordinary accomplishment, if it was the whole story. But it’s barely the beginning.

Peter has gone on to make thousands of plexiglass sneeze guards. And the reason that Peter knew about the initial PPE shortage is because, as well as being a successful entrepreneur, he's also a paramedic, and founder and Director of a paramedic training program for high school kids, called Gateway EMS Training.

Hotel

One of the local business sectors that has been hardest hit by the pandemic is tourism.

Jim Cook is uniquely familiar with all aspects of the leisure and convention tourist industry. Jim is General Manager of the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans. He’s also a commissioner of the Downtown Development District in New Orleans, a past Chairman of the Board of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, and past President of the Greater New Orleans Hotel & Lodging Association.

When the tourist and convention business came to a sudden halt in March, it brought into stark relief just how dependent New Orleans has become on tourism. At some point the city seems to have crossed an unseen boundary. New Orleans used to be a place that people came to, just to experience everyday life. For a few days a person from somewhere else could eat, shop, drink, and listen to music like a New Orleanian. Now we discover that some of New Orleans most revered institutions – from famous restaurants to the French Quarter itself – can’t survive without a steady stream of tourists.

There are, apparently, other tourism business models that target specific types of tourists, not just high volume. The question New Orleans faces now is, Is there a way to retain a tourist and convention sector that doesn’t rely on 19 million tourists a year?

Photos from this by Jill Lafleur are on our website. There's more conversation about tourism here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back when we first started making Out to Lunch in New Orleans, one of our earliest guests was a young woman by the name of Amy Chenevert. Amy had gone to a football game and realized that all the guys were wearing fan fashion, but there was nothing fashionable for women to wear on game day.

So Amy started up a company that made gameday apparel for women sports fans. That was back in 2007. During the 2019 football season, a new piece of women’s sports apparel started popping up. If you don’t have one yourself, you’ve probably seen someone wearing it. It’s a sparkly, sequined sports jacket, in appropriate Saints, Tigers, and other team colors.

That sparkly jacket marked Amy Chenevert’s return to sports fashion. After taking some time away from her business, Amy is back at the head of her company, Tru Colors Gameday. The company makes fashion items specifically for women to wear and take to the game on game day, centered on a very specific NFL women's fashion accessory, the clear bag. 

Game Day Every Day

the New Orleans Saints, the LSU Tigers, and every other successful sports team know how to go out on the field and win. Everybody knows their position. Everybody knows the rules. Everybody on the team knows exactly what to do. But they still have a coach. You can’t even imagine a football team without a coach.

When an organization with a lot of moving parts is dependent on communication and on-the-fly decision making, it makes sense to have someone who can stand back and see the big picture. Which is why businesses have coaches too. Like Julie Couret.

The companies Julie coaches are an impressive list that include GE, the Marriot, Sheraton, Entergy, Ochsner Health System, and many others.

Recently the question for a lot of businesses has gone from, “When will things get back to normal?” to “How do we survive if things never go back to normal?” Julie imparts a great deal of wisdom for businesses coping with Covid in this conversation.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the future of the NFL season with Saints CFO Ed Lang is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Everything is changing" is a phrase we don't get to use often about describing society. But living through 2020 we know it's pretty accurate right now. Things that were simple and fundamental, like going to the doctor and interacting with co-workers, are no longer so simple. On this edition of Out to Lunch we're looking at changes in how we visit doctors and digital distancing.

Digital Distancing

How’s the social distancing going? Are you managing to keep 6 feet away from everybody else? How do you figure out what 6 feet is? We’ve heard people describe it as the length of two supermarket shopping carts, or the same height as Drew Brees, if you can imagine Drew lying on the ground in front of you.

If you’re looking for a more reliable measure, a Baton Rouge company, Enginuity Global, has a digital solution. It’s called the Proxxi Halo. It's a wristband that buzzes when you’re within 6 feet of someone. If you’re saying, “Wait, what?” - they’ve already sold tens of thousands of these wristbands, at $100 each.

Dan Ducote is the owner and Managing Member of Enginuity Global. 

if you’re working with other people in industry, in construction, on a factory floor, or even in school, it’s now become vitally important to know what six feet looks like. Getting within six feet of another person greatly increases the chances of catching or spreading Covid 19. Once someone in the workplace or at school tests positive for Covid 19, and you have no idea what parts of the building they’ve been in or who they’ve been in contact with, the whole place has to shut down while it’s cleaned, and everybody has to get tested. So it’s vital – not just for health, but for keeping businesses open – that we know what 6 feet looks like and have a contact-traceable record of where an infected person has been while contagious. And that's why the Proxxi Halo is taking the workplace market by storm.

Doctors

This has probably happened to you. You go to your doctor, and she refers you to another doctor. A specialist. Do you know how your doctor decides who to refer you to? You might be surprised to learn that there is no established method. It’s more or less like recommending a restaurant.

When someone recommends a restaurant to you, it’s usually because they’ve been to the restaurant. But when your doctor recommends you go see a mental or behavioral health professional – like a psychiatrist or therapist - there’s a very good chance your doctor has never actually seen this person professionally herself. So, what is your doctor basing this recommendation on? Maybe the therapist is someone your doctor knows personally. Or maybe she’s heard good reports from other patients.

Don’t you think there ought to be a better way for medical professionals to find and refer each other? That’s what Trevor Colhoun thought too.

Trevor’s company, Trusted Provider Network, transforms medical referrals and recommendations into a more medically sound and logical system. Trusted Provider Network is not for consumer recommendations. It’s not like a medical Yelp. It’s for medical professionals only. But it’s not LinkedIn or Facebook for doctors. 

There's more discussion about alternative healthcare models here.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti and Christiaan Mader discuss the daily ritual of deleting email, but not dog dating email.

Email You Don't Want to Delete

Opening this segment of Out to Lunch, Peter says, "I’m always wary of hosts of shows like this who start off a story with, “If you’re like me…”  But I’m willing to go for it right now, because I bet there is one thing we have in common.

"If you’re like me, you checked your email today, and went down the list going delete, delete, delete, delete. The email from Amazon trying to sell you something you bought last week. The email from some company you can’t remember – maybe they were the people you bought those flip flops from… It’s like this every day, right?"

Now picture this. A marketing email from a company that sends you information about something you’re actually interested in. Maybe it’s the flip flop company, but they’re not sending you information about flip flops, they’re telling you about an advance in Alzheimer’s research, which you actually are interested in. Or a recipe for chocolate cake, which, strangely enough, you were just thinking about baking.

This would brighten your whole email experience. And on the other side of the equation, if you’re the company sending the email, your clients will actually open the email, read it, and appreciate you. That’s how the A.I-driven email marketing company RASA.io works.

If you’re thinking, “Well, that’s a great idea,” it’s way past the idea stage. Rasa.io has 20 employees and they send out 15 million emails a month.

Jared Loftus is Chief Operations Officer at Rasa.io. The secret to the success of these A.I-generated emails is their personalization. Peter says, "Suppose Christiaan and I bought the same flip flops, but I’m interested in brass bands and the oil business, and Christiaan is interested in progressive jazz and football. We both get email from the same flip flop company, but the emails we get are tailored to our specific interests."

The obvious question is, “How does a flip flop company know all this about me?” Where is this information coming from that allows a company to target clients so specifically? It's a fascinating concept and a fascinating company. Almost as fascinating as dog dating.

Dog Dating

We’re still feeling the effects of the lockdown. There are two segments of the population that the lockdown had a big effect on: dogs, and single people who like to go on dates. If you’re a dog, the lockdown was awesome – you had company 24 hours a day. If you’re human, single, and looking for somebody to date, well, the lockdown was challenging. 

In the Venn Diagram of those two populations, dogs and daters, you can add Leigh Isaacson D’Angelo. Leigh is neither a dog, nor dating – she’s a married human, with a business called DIG.

DIG is a dating app for dog owners. The concept is, if you love your dog, and dogs in general, it’s good to weed out - at the very beginning of the dating process - potential partners who don’t like dogs. And DIG is big. It’s on the ground in 15 cities across the country. The biggest DIG communities are in New York and Los Angeles, and they're about to break into Europe.

And breaking news! DIG is expanding into animal loving world, with Tabby, the cat person's dating app!

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. For more conversations about dogs, check out this classic conversation about nutria dog treats, pampered pets, and prosthetics for pets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although most businesses in the US and around the world are hurting as a result of the global pandemic, some businesses are booming as a direct result of the lock-down. Yes, there is an upside to Covid 19.

Pang Wangle

Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John.

Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle.

The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they’re also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant.

Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list.

Hub City

Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers.

How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on.

But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof?

To answer that question, we’re not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we’re turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette.

You can also check out Meg's previous appearance on Out to Lunch Acadiana.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although most businesses in the US and around the world are hurting as a result of the global pandemic, some businesses are booming as a direct result of the lock-down. Yes, there is an upside to Covid 19.

Pang Wangle

Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John.

Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle.

The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they’re also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant.

Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list.

Hub City

Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers.

How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on.

But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof?

To answer that question, we’re not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we’re turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette.

You can also check out Meg's previous appearance on Out to Lunch Acadiana.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although most businesses in the US and around the world are hurting as a result of the global pandemic, some businesses are booming as a direct result of the lock-down. Yes, there is an upside to Covid 19.

Pang Wangle

Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John.

Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle.

The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they’re also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant.

Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list.

Hub City

Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers.

How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on.

But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof?

To answer that question, we’re not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we’re turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette.

You can also check out Meg's previous appearance on Out to Lunch Acadiana.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whatever else has happened to you over the past few months, you’ve more than likely been keeping up with everything that’s going on, by checking the news.

Along with NPR, some of Louisiana’s most reliable news sources are the local New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Acadiana editions of the daily newspaper, The Advocate. Both in print and online.

The Publisher of all of the editions of The Advocate is Judi Terzotis.

The last time Judi was on Out to Lunch, back in February - which now seems like a lifetime ago - she was talking about how The Advocate was bucking national newspaper trends. In the face of shrinking circulations and streamlined newsrooms in most other places, The Advocate was hiring reporters, it was growing newsrooms, it had recently acquired the New Orleans Times Picayune,  it was seeing new revenue streams from merchandising and live events… Everything seemed to be humming along.

Then Covid 19 hit. Now, when you go to the Advocate’s website there’s an advertisement that says “Our Covid 19 news team needs your help,” and there’s a “Donate” button. It’s been reported that journalists at The Advocate have taken pay cuts, and that 10% of the New Orleans newsroom has been temporarily furloughed. What was it about the pandemic that turned The Advocate from an outlier media success story into a newspaper that’s having a tough time?

Latinx Entrepreneurs

There’s no two ways about it - this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there’s money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette.

Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging.

You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn’t mean you have great – or even any - business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That’s the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that’s why there’s an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs.

Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There’s a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that’s not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it’s El Centro.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whatever else has happened to you over the past few months, you’ve more than likely been keeping up with everything that’s going on, by checking the news.

Along with NPR, some of Louisiana’s most reliable news sources are the local New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Acadiana editions of the daily newspaper, The Advocate. Both in print and online.

The Publisher of all of the editions of The Advocate is Judi Terzotis.

The last time Judi was on Out to Lunch, back in February - which now seems like a lifetime ago - she was talking about how The Advocate was bucking national newspaper trends. In the face of shrinking circulations and streamlined newsrooms in most other places, The Advocate was hiring reporters, it was growing newsrooms, it had recently acquired the New Orleans Times Picayune,  it was seeing new revenue streams from merchandising and live events… Everything seemed to be humming along.

Then Covid 19 hit. Now, when you go to the Advocate’s website there’s an advertisement that says “Our Covid 19 news team needs your help,” and there’s a “Donate” button. It’s been reported that journalists at The Advocate have taken pay cuts, and that 10% of the New Orleans newsroom has been temporarily furloughed. What was it about the pandemic that turned The Advocate from an outlier media success story into a newspaper that’s having a tough time?

Latinx Entrepreneurs

There’s no two ways about it - this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there’s money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette.

Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging.

You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn’t mean you have great – or even any - business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That’s the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that’s why there’s an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs.

Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There’s a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that’s not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it’s El Centro.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whatever else has happened to you over the past few months, you’ve more than likely been keeping up with everything that’s going on, by checking the news.

Along with NPR, some of Louisiana’s most reliable news sources are the local New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Acadiana editions of the daily newspaper, The Advocate. Both in print and online.

The Publisher of all of the editions of The Advocate is Judi Terzotis.

The last time Judi was on Out to Lunch, back in February - which now seems like a lifetime ago - she was talking about how The Advocate was bucking national newspaper trends. In the face of shrinking circulations and streamlined newsrooms in most other places, The Advocate was hiring reporters, it was growing newsrooms, it had recently acquired the New Orleans Times Picayune,  it was seeing new revenue streams from merchandising and live events… Everything seemed to be humming along.

Then Covid 19 hit. Now, when you go to the Advocate’s website there’s an advertisement that says “Our Covid 19 news team needs your help,” and there’s a “Donate” button. It’s been reported that journalists at The Advocate have taken pay cuts, and that 10% of the New Orleans newsroom has been temporarily furloughed. What was it about the pandemic that turned The Advocate from an outlier media success story into a newspaper that’s having a tough time?

Latinx Entrepreneurs

There’s no two ways about it - this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there’s money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette.

Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging.

You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn’t mean you have great – or even any - business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That’s the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that’s why there’s an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs.

Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There’s a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that’s not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it’s El Centro.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website. Judi Terzotis talks more about the business side of The Acadiana Advocate here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There was a time in what feels like the distant past – a few months ago – when it was more-or-less optional for a business to be a member of a business organization, like the Chamber of Commerce.

But since the arrival of the pandemic and the economic disaster that’s come with it, there’s now so much uncertainty and so much red tape to navigate through – from Federal loans to local ordinances – that most businesses are finding it essential to turn to business alliances for help.

The Louisiana Alliance of Business and Industry - mostly known by its acronym, LABI - is Louisiana's official state chapter for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. It’s the state’s largest business organization.

Stephen Waguespack, President and CEO of LABI, spends much of time lobbying the legislature in Baton Rouge, and Congress in Washington DC, with a focus mostly on keeping government out of business – to minimize government’s influence on business. But now that businesses are struggling to survive this downturn, the landscape has changed and business is looking for cooperation and partnership from the State and Federal government. At the same time, LABI is managing to advance a business agenda through the legislature that includes changes they have been pushing for for a long time. 

Now, Pork

You may remember, at the end of April, President Trump signed an executive order compelling meat processors to remain open to head off shortages in the nation’s food supply chain. The unintended consequence of this presidential decree was to make all of us aware – many for the first time – of just where our meat comes from. And most of the pictures we saw were not pretty.

This has got a lot of people who don’t want to go so far as turning Vegan, asking if there isn’t a better way to get meat onto our table. The answer is, Yes, there is.

Tim Melancon is a 4th generation Louisiana pig farmer. He farms pasture-raised Berkshire pork on T Moise Farms, in Sunset, Louisiana, specializing in raising an all-natural product. Tim's pigs are – perhaps ironically – totally vegetarian. Tim doesn't believe in additives, or preservatives.

Given a choice, probably every person who enjoys eating pork would far prefer to eat this kind of product. But it's that kind of widespread massive demand that has brought about the kind of industrial scale farming and meatpacking plants we have today. So, is it possible to have a nationwide, large-scale meat industry and still observe the kind of care Tim Melancon lavishes on your farm-to-table product?

See photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, at our website.  More conversation about Baton Rouge pork (meat, not politics) is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There was a time in what feels like the distant past – a few months ago – when it was more-or-less optional for a business to be a member of a business organization, like the Chamber of Commerce.

But since the arrival of the pandemic and the economic disaster that’s come with it, there’s now so much uncertainty and so much red tape to navigate through – from Federal loans to local ordinances – that most businesses are finding it essential to turn to business alliances for help.

The Louisiana Alliance of Business and Industry - mostly known by its acronym, LABI - is Louisiana's official state chapter for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. It’s the state’s largest business organization.

Stephen Waguespack, President and CEO of LABI, spends much of time lobbying the legislature in Baton Rouge, and Congress in Washington DC, with a focus mostly on keeping government out of business – to minimize government’s influence on business. But now that businesses are struggling to survive this downturn, the landscape has changed and business is looking for cooperation and partnership from the State and Federal government.

But governments have their own agendas. Are they using this change in the power structure to advance them? 

Now, Pork

You may remember, at the end of April, President Trump signed an executive order compelling meat processors to remain open to head off shortages in the nation’s food supply chain. The unintended consequence of this presidential decree was to make all of us aware – many for the first time – of just where our meat comes from. And most of the pictures we saw were not pretty.

This has got a lot of people who don’t want to go so far as turning Vegan, asking if there isn’t a better way to get meat onto our table. The answer is, Yes, there is.

Tim Melancon is a 4th generation Louisiana pig farmer. He farms pasture-raised Berkshire pork on T Moise Farms, in Sunset, Louisiana, specializing in raising an all-natural product. Tim's pigs are – perhaps ironically – totally vegetarian. Tim doesn't believe in additives, or preservatives.

Given a choice, probably every person who enjoys eating pork would far prefer to eat this kind of product. But it's that kind of widespread massive demand that has brought about the kind of industrial scale farming and meatpacking plants we have today. So, is it possible to have a nationwide, large-scale meat industry and still observe the kind of care Tim Melancon lavishes on your farm-to-table product?

See photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, at our website.  More conversation about Acadiana meat is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just a few weeks ago, the idea that we’d all stop our lives on the same day and be self-imprisoned in our homes might have seemed like the implausible plot of a dystopian series you’d see on Netflix.

But since it really happened, it provided us with an un-imagined opportunity. Self-reflection. Now that things are starting back up, do you want to jump back into the exact same life you were living? Or could you use your period of suspended animation to reassess, and make some changes?

These are questions Dr Stephen Barnes is asking. Except he’s asking them about the State of Louisiana.

Dr. Barnes is Director of The Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. And he’s a member of a select group of economists and advisers on the Louisiana Revenue Estimating Conference – a government panel that determines income projections that create the state budget.

Education

If you’re in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you’ve learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.”

Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it’s all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again?

Out to Lunch puts that question to someone whose life is intimately bound up with its answer: Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans.

In this conversation, Dr. Tetlow lays out the possibilities for the post-pandemic future of higher education in stark and sometimes alarming detail. Dr Tetlow's fear is that we are about to embark on an era that she describes as, "The GI Bill in reverse," in which a whole generation of kids suddenly does not go to college.

Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info at our website. Further examination of the Louisiana economy is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just a few weeks ago, the idea that we’d all stop our lives on the same day and be self-imprisoned in our homes might have seemed like the implausible plot of a dystopian series you’d see on Netflix.

But since it really happened, it provided us with an un-imagined opportunity. Self-reflection. Now that things are starting back up, do you want to jump back into the exact same life you were living? Or could you use your period of suspended animation to reassess, and make some changes?

These are questions Dr Stephen Barnes is asking. Except he’s asking them about the State of Louisiana.

Dr. Barnes is Director of The Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. And he’s a member of a select group of economists and advisers on the Louisiana Revenue Estimating Conference – a government panel that determines income projections that create the state budget.

Education

If you’re in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you’ve learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.”

Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it’s all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again?

Out to Lunch puts that question to someone whose life is intimately bound up with its answer: Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans.

In this conversation, Tania lays out the possibilities for the post-pandemic future of higher education in stark and sometimes alarming detail. Dr Tetlow's fear is that we are about to embark on an era that she describes as "The GI Bill in reverse," in which a whole generation of kids suddenly does not go to college.

Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info at our website. Further examination of the Louisiana economy is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just a few weeks ago, the idea that we’d all stop our lives on the same day and be self-imprisoned in our homes might have seemed like the implausible plot of a dystopian series you’d see on Netflix.

But since it really happened, it provided us with an un-imagined opportunity. Self-reflection. Now that things are starting back up, do you want to jump back into the exact same life you were living? Or could you use your period of suspended animation to reassess, and make some changes?

These are questions Dr Stephen Barnes is asking. Except he’s asking them about the State of Louisiana.

Dr. Barnes is Director of The Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. And he’s a member of a select group of economists and advisers on the Louisiana Revenue Estimating Conference – a government panel that determines income projections that create the state budget.

Education

If you’re in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you’ve learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.”

Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it’s all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again?

Out to Lunch puts that question to someone whose life is intimately bound up with its answer: Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans.

In this conversation, Tania lays out the possibilities for the post-pandemic future of higher education in stark and sometimes alarming detail. Dr Tetlow's fear is that we are about to embark on an era that she describes as "The GI Bill in reverse," in which a whole generation of kids suddenly does not go to college.

Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info at our website. Further examination of the Louisiana economy is here

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we head toward the beginning of real Summer here in South Louisiana - you know, the day you wake up and it's H-O-T - we might typically have vacation and hurricane season as top-of-mind issues. But this year things are different. Who knows if you'll be able to take a vacation? With all of our Covid anxieties do we have the capacity to worry about hurricanes as well? Plus we have a whole range of new unknowns: The Saints, LSU, and back to the office. On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader run through those three current unknowns.

The Saints

It’s no secret that not everybody in the state of Louisiana has warm feelings for New Orleans. In towns across Louisiana it's not unusual to find a certain amount of political and financial resentment about the amount of money and attention given to New Orleans.

But all of that melts way when it comes to football. The name of the team is The New Orleans Saints. But it might as well be The Louisiana Saints. From Shreveport in the North, to the most Southern point of Barataria Bay, Saints fans are everywhere. And so, along with all of our individual problems that we’re grappling with as we work our way through this pandemic, we have one question that unites us: What’s going to happen to football?

Whatever else happens during football season this year, one thing is becoming increasingly apparent. And that is, football stadiums are not going to be allowed to be packed to capacity.

Ed Lang, Chief Financial Officer for The New Orleans Saints, and The Pelicans, discusses the question that I’m sure every team in the league is trying to answer: Is there a way to have an NFL season where football becomes a sport more like golf or tennis, where most of the audience is not in the stadium, and revenue comes from sources other than ticket sales? Is that model financially possible for the NFL?

LSU

There are a lot of unknowns in our future. One thing we do know for sure though is, the State of Louisiana is facing a massive financial shortfall. Whenever this has happened in the past, the first victims of cost-cutting out of Baton Rouge are healthcare and education. 

This time, the Governor is proposing to cover the budget gap with Federal funds. However, as of today, that is far from a done deal. So it won’t be surprising if we start to hear some of the familiar economic-crisis catch-cries coming from the capital. One of the old faithfuls is taking the ax to LSU – including proposals to close down whole departments. If this happens, one department that will not be on the chopping board is the department that might be the future of education itself – online learning.

Dr Sasha Thackaberry is LSU’s Vice President of Online and Continuing Education. The stay-at-home learning that colleges have had to suddenly adopt over the Covid lockdown is being talked about as possibly changing the nature of college education forever. As every single department is now looking at putting at least some of their curriculum online, Dr Thackaberry is suddenly a central figure in the future of LSU. 

Back To The Office

Over the past couple of months, if you have an office job… Well, we might have to come up with a different title for your occupation.

We’ve traditionally called it “office work” because it was done at an office. But, as we have all discovered, you can do office work at home.

Working from home has turned out to have all kinds of advantages.  Office workers can avoid commuting and enjoy a more integrated work/life balance. And employers can cut down on the expense of running an office.

But what do these changes mean for people whose life and livelihoods revolve around the office? And there are plenty of them. Realtors. Food courts. Commercial cleaners. And almost every retail outlet in downtowns and CBD’s everywhere that revolve around the foot traffic that clusters of offices generate.

Possibly nobody is more affected by these changes - or more of an expert at being able to predict the future of office work - than Ashley Thibodeaux Herbert. Ashley is CEO of a New Orleans-based company called Bart’s Office.

Bart’s Office is a full-service office moving company. But it does more than just move office furniture. Bart’s does everything from making sure you buy the furniture you need, to setting up your internet network. One of the clients they worked with in 2019, for example, was setting up the new New Orleans International Airport.

So Ashley is in a good position to look at the what might be the future of the office.  is this whole work-from-home period going to be something we look back on as just a temporary phase? Or are we looking at a permanent change to our relationship with the office?

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the Louisiana Covid economy is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we head toward the beginning of real Summer here in South Louisiana - you know, the day you wake up and it's H-O-T - we might typically have vacation and hurricane season as top-of-mind issues. But this year things are different. Who knows if you'll be able to take a vacation? With all of our Covid anxieties do we have the capacity to worry about hurricanes as well? Plus we have a whole range of new unknowns: The Saints, LSU, and back to the office. On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader run through those three current unknowns.

The Saints

It’s no secret that not everybody in the state of Louisiana has warm feelings for New Orleans. In towns across Louisiana it's not unusual to find a certain amount of political and financial resentment about the amount of money and attention given to New Orleans.

But all of that melts way when it comes to football. The name of the team is The New Orleans Saints. But it might as well be The Louisiana Saints. From Shreveport in the North, to the most Southern point of Barataria Bay, Saints fans are everywhere. And so, along with all of our individual problems that we’re grappling with as we work our way through this pandemic, we have one question that unites us: What’s going to happen to football?

Whatever else happens during football season this year, one thing is becoming increasingly apparent. And that is, football stadiums are not going to be allowed to be packed to capacity.

Ed Lang, Chief Financial Officer for The New Orleans Saints, and The Pelicans, discusses the question that I’m sure every team in the league is trying to answer: Is there a way to have an NFL season where football becomes a sport more like golf or tennis, where most of the audience is not in the stadium, and revenue comes from sources other than ticket sales? Is that model financially possible for the NFL?

LSU

There are a lot of unknowns in our future. One thing we do know for sure though is, the State of Louisiana is facing a massive financial shortfall. Whenever this has happened in the past, the first victims of cost-cutting out of Baton Rouge are healthcare and education. 

This time, the Governor is proposing to cover the budget gap with Federal funds. However, as of today, that is far from a done deal. So it won’t be surprising if we start to hear some of the familiar economic-crisis catch-cries coming from the capital. One of the old faithfuls is taking the ax to LSU – including proposals to close down whole departments. If this happens, one department that will not be on the chopping board is the department that might be the future of education itself – online learning.

Dr Sasha Thackaberry is LSU’s Vice President of Online and Continuing Education. The stay-at-home learning that colleges have had to suddenly adopt over the Covid lockdown is being talked about as possibly changing the nature of college education forever. As every single department is now looking at putting at least some of their curriculum online, Dr Thackaberry is suddenly a central figure in the future of LSU. 

Back To The Office

Over the past couple of months, if you have an office job… Well, we might have to come up with a different title for your occupation.

We’ve traditionally called it “office work” because it was done at an office. But, as we have all discovered, you can do office work at home.

Working from home has turned out to have all kinds of advantages.  Office workers can avoid commuting and enjoy a more integrated work/life balance. And employers can cut down on the expense of running an office.

But what do these changes mean for people whose life and livelihoods revolve around the office? And there are plenty of them. Realtors. Food courts. Commercial cleaners. And almost every retail outlet in downtowns and CBD’s everywhere that revolve around the foot traffic that clusters of offices generate.

Possibly nobody is more affected by these changes - or more of an expert at being able to predict the future of office work - than Ashley Thibodeaux Herbert. Ashley is CEO of a New Orleans-based company called Bart’s Office.

Bart’s Office is a full-service office moving company. But it does more than just move office furniture. Bart’s does everything from making sure you buy the furniture you need, to setting up your internet network. One of the clients they worked with in 2019, for example, was setting up the new New Orleans International Airport.

So Ashley is in a good position to look at the what might be the future of the office.  is this whole work-from-home period going to be something we look back on as just a temporary phase? Or are we looking at a permanent change to our relationship with the office?

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the Louisiana Covid economy is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we head toward the beginning of real Summer here in South Louisiana - you know, the day you wake up and it's H-O-T - we might typically have vacation and hurricane season as top-of-mind issues. But this year things are different. Who knows if you'll be able to take a vacation? With all of our Covid anxieties do we have the capacity to worry about hurricanes as well? Plus we have a whole range of new unknowns: The Saints, LSU, and back to the office. On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader run through those three current unknowns.

The Saints

It’s no secret that not everybody in the state of Louisiana has warm feelings for New Orleans. In towns across Louisiana it's not unusual to find a certain amount of political and financial resentment about the amount of money and attention given to New Orleans.

But all of that melts way when it comes to football. The name of the team is The New Orleans Saints. But it might as well be The Louisiana Saints. From Shreveport in the North, to the most Southern point of Barataria Bay, Saints fans are everywhere. And so, along with all of our individual problems that we’re grappling with as we work our way through this pandemic, we have one question that unites us: What’s going to happen to football?

Whatever else happens during football season this year, one thing is becoming increasingly apparent. And that is, football stadiums are not going to be allowed to be packed to capacity.

Ed Lang, Chief Financial Officer for The New Orleans Saints, and The Pelicans, discusses the question that I’m sure every team in the league is trying to answer: Is there a way to have an NFL season where football becomes a sport more like golf or tennis, where most of the audience is not in the stadium, and revenue comes from sources other than ticket sales? Is that model financially possible for the NFL?

LSU

There are a lot of unknowns in our future. One thing we do know for sure though is, the State of Louisiana is facing a massive financial shortfall. Whenever this has happened in the past, the first victims of cost-cutting out of Baton Rouge are healthcare and education. 

This time, the Governor is proposing to cover the budget gap with Federal funds. However, as of today, that is far from a done deal. So it won’t be surprising if we start to hear some of the familiar economic-crisis catch-cries coming from the capital. One of the old faithfuls is taking the ax to LSU – including proposals to close down whole departments. If this happens, one department that will not be on the chopping board is the department that might be the future of education itself – online learning.

Dr Sasha Thackaberry is LSU’s Vice President of Online and Continuing Education. The stay-at-home learning that colleges have had to suddenly adopt over the Covid lockdown is being talked about as possibly changing the nature of college education forever. As every single department is now looking at putting at least some of their curriculum online, Dr Thackaberry is suddenly a central figure in the future of LSU. 

Back To The Office

Over the past couple of months, if you have an office job… Well, we might have to come up with a different title for your occupation.

We’ve traditionally called it “office work” because it was done at an office. But, as we have all discovered, you can do office work at home.

Working from home has turned out to have all kinds of advantages.  Office workers can avoid commuting and enjoy a more integrated work/life balance. And employers can cut down on the expense of running an office.

But what do these changes mean for people whose life and livelihoods revolve around the office? And there are plenty of them. Realtors. Food courts. Commercial cleaners. And almost every retail outlet in downtowns and CBD’s everywhere that revolve around the foot traffic that clusters of offices generate.

Possibly nobody is more affected by these changes - or more of an expert at being able to predict the future of office work - than Ashley Thibodeaux Herbert. Ashley is CEO of a New Orleans-based company called Bart’s Office.

Bart’s Office is a full-service office moving company. But it does more than just move office furniture. Bart’s does everything from making sure you buy the furniture you need, to setting up your internet network. One of the clients they worked with in 2019, for example, was setting up the new New Orleans International Airport.

So Ashley is in a good position to look at the what might be the future of the office.  is this whole work-from-home period going to be something we look back on as just a temporary phase? Or are we looking at a permanent change to our relationship with the office?

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the Louisiana Covid economy is here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're a certain age or a fan of British comedy, you might remember the standard introduction to any number of bizarre sketches on the 1970's TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus was, "And now for something completely different." On this edition of Out to Lunch we're taking a break from unrelenting weeks of disturbing or just downright bad economic news to look at three businesses who are continuing to exist in a parallel universe, beyond Covid 19.

Coffee

Coffee is the 2nd largest traded commodity in the world. Behind oil. After what’s been happening in the oil market over the last few weeks, it’s probably safe to say that, as of right now, coffee is the biggest commodity in international trade.

Drew Cambre is a professional coffee taster. It wouldn't be surprising if you didn't know "coffee taster" was an actual job. With the popularity of coffee drinking at a generational high and unemployment running at record levels, you might be thinking this is the kind of job you could do. Is it as fun and easy as it sounds?

Take a listen to this conversation and see what you think. Technically, Drew is Coffee Quality Manager at The Dupuy Group, a global logistics company headquartered in New Orleans.

Grass

Whenever somebody has a brilliant new idea for a business that’s going to make everybody rich, they pitch it as a version of another brilliant idea that is supposed to make everybody rich. Like, say, Uber.

The fact is, that even before this current economic downturn, Uber was losing billions of dollars a year. But that doesn’t stop entrepreneurs coming up with concepts based on Uber’s gig-economy model.

There’s Hampr, an app that’s “the Uber of laundry.” Bambino is “the Uber of baby sitting.” And now, from Baton Rouge, there’s Block Lawncare – the Uber of grass cutting.

The co-founder of Block Lawncare is Matthew Armstrong. What started out as “the Uber of grass cutting” is poised to be more than just a grass hook-up. Block Lawncare has its sights firmly set on world domestic services domination.

A Better You

Whatever you do, however successful you are, it seems to be human nature to want to do better. To have a better job, a better house, a better car…  

At the same time, even the most materialistic among us would probably say, we’d also like to be a better person.

To better ourselves in a non-material sense, we normally make a choice. We either go the secular route – go to therapy - or we go the spiritual route and join a church, or follow some other spiritual self-development philosophy.

Mary Margaret Camalo doesn’t believe you have to make that choice. Mary Margaret is a Transpersonal Psychotherapist who practices an approach to mental and spiritual health, called Psychosynthesis.

We typically think of mental health as having short term goals - like getting over depression – and spiritual growth as being a lifetime journey. Mary Margaret's Psychosynthesis balances these two seemingly opposed approaches to self-improvement.

As we look toward returning to some sort of normalcy, it’s good to remind ourselves that there’s life beyond the virus. 

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, are at our website.

If you're looking for more "And now for something completely different" business distractions from Covid 19, try this.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're a certain age or a fan of British comedy, you might remember the standard introduction to any number of bizarre sketches on the 1970's TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus was, "And now for something completely different." On this edition of Out to Lunch we're taking a break from unrelenting weeks of disturbing or just downright bad economic news to look at three businesses who are continuing to exist in a parallel universe, beyond Covid 19.

Coffee

Coffee is the 2nd largest traded commodity in the world. Behind oil. After what’s been happening in the oil market over the last few weeks, it’s probably safe to say that, as of right now, coffee is the biggest commodity in international trade.

Drew Cambre is a professional coffee taster. It wouldn't be surprising if you didn't know "coffee taster" was an actual job. With the popularity of coffee drinking at a generational high and unemployment running at record levels, you might be thinking this is the kind of job you could do. Is it as fun and easy as it sounds?

Take a listen to this conversation and see what you think. Technically, Drew is Coffee Quality Manager at The Dupuy Group, a global logistics company headquartered in New Orleans.

Grass

Whenever somebody has a brilliant new idea for a business that’s going to make everybody rich, they pitch it as a version of another brilliant idea that is supposed to make everybody rich. Like, say, Uber.

The fact is, that even before this current economic downturn, Uber was losing billions of dollars a year. But that doesn’t stop entrepreneurs coming up with concepts based on Uber’s gig-economy model.

There’s Hampr, an app that’s “the Uber of laundry.” Bambino is “the Uber of baby sitting.” And now, from Baton Rouge, there’s Block Lawncare – the Uber of grass cutting.

The co-founder of Block Lawncare is Matthew Armstrong.  What started out as “the Uber of grass cutting” is poised to be more than just a grass hook-up. Block Lawncare has its sights firmly set on world domestic services domination.A Better You

Whatever you do, however successful you are, it seems to be human nature to want to do better. To have a better job, a better house, a better car…  

At the same time, even the most materialistic among us would probably say, we’d also like to be a better person.

To better ourselves in a non-material sense, we normally make a choice. We either go the secular route – go to therapy - or we go the spiritual route and join a church, or follow some other spiritual self-development philosophy.

Mary Margaret Camalo doesn’t believe you have to make that choice. Mary Margaret is a Transpersonal Psychotherapist who practices an approach to mental and spiritual health, called Psychosynthesis.

We typically think of mental health as having short term goals - like getting over depression – and spiritual growth as being a lifetime journey. Mary Margaret's Psychosynthesis balances these two seemingly opposed approaches to self-improvement.

As we look toward returning to some sort of normalcy, it’s good to remind ourselves that there’s life beyond the virus. And now for something completely different...

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, are at our website.

If you're looking for more "And now for something completely different" business distractions from Covid 19, try this.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.