OUT TO LUNCH Business over lunch. Each week Christiaan invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him for sushi at Tsunami in downtown Lafayette. 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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"Your body is a temple." It's a scriptural metaphor we hear so often we almost stop listening to it. But think about what that actually means: maintenance. Upkeep. Care. It's hard work. Not everyone wants to do it, even if everyone ought to. And that's because it can be really inconvenient. You work an eight-hour shift that starts after you get the kids to school. And if you're lucky enough to…
We all know business, at least at the point of sale, has gotten pretty impersonal. Even at the grocery store, you can avoid other people altogether. Just pop in your earbuds and use the self-checkout line. The name of the game here is efficiency. Retailers and service companies are betting that most customers prefer speed and convenience at the cost of human contact and oversight. An age-old…
Even in the Zoom meetings, it's helpful to have a place to go and do your work. Mind you, today's employees want more than a cubicle, a desk and a red stapler. They want an environment they can thrive in. It's why some companies invest lots of money in designing welcoming, energetic spaces for their workforce. A good office space can help you build more than a book of business, it can create a…
A fast car and pressed shirt are two things that probably won't ever go out of style. Considering we live in an age of rapid economic disruption, those two facts present a potentially endless business opportunity. Everything breaks. It's a natural law. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong is how Murphy put it. Scientists call it entropy. In business terms, you'd call it a blue ocean. That…
People are looking for healing in places they didn't used to look. Acupuncture, sound baths, energy work - once dismissed as fringe, are now very much moving into the mainstream. That shift shows up in the numbers. Wellness is a trillion dollar industry in the U.S. Americans spend more than $6,000 per person each year on it. That's the broader current carrying a lot of what used to be considered…
Most of us spend a good portion of our lives looking for the right words. The ones that explain who we are. What we believe. What we're here for. Some people find them early. Others take a longer route - through careers that almost fit, through places that challenge everything they thought they knew, through questions that don't resolve so much as deepen. My guests today have both built businesses…
So, your family has a business. You grow up around it. You love it. It's the center of gravity for your family life. But…you swear you'll never do it. You leave. You build something of your own. And then one day you look up and… Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in. That's one version of the story anyway. There's another where you just never really left. Either way, you…
Megan Constantin sits in for Christiaan Mader on this edition of Out to Lunch Acadiana. When I say the name "Jourdan Thibodeaux…" You're thinking of a musician. He's hard to miss on stage at a festival as a fiddler and frontman for Jourdan Thibodeaux et les R dailleurs . But Jourdan is also a business owner. In Henderson Swamp outside Breaux Bridge, Jourdan and his partner Scott LaGrange own and…
There's a version of life in Acadiana that most of us only see from a car window. We live in something of a paradise, it's just sort of removed from your day-to-day reality. That's in part because Louisiana's natural beauty isn't always so easy to see. Louisiana is flat. Famously so. We don't have mountain vistas to behold. So, if you want to really drink in Acadiana's splendor, you probably need…
The advent of AI is either exhilarating or terrifying, depending on the day and maybe your last interaction with Siri. That's because the stakes of the technology, at least as it's promoted by its developers, is really really high. If what they say about it is true, it could upend human work as we know it. No wonder, then, that a crisis of trust has accompanied its rapid rise. What happens when…
Here's something most of us won't admit: we have too much stuff. It's human nature in the consumer age. You can't throw a rock in Lafayette without hitting a storage unit. And that's the stuff that doesn't fit in our homes. Clutter is the order of the day. In the business world, that translates into noise. We pile on messaging, saying too much when getting straight to the point is the best way to…
Maybe when you're in trouble, you have someone to call. A family member. A friend. Someone who knows the system, or knows someone who does. But a lot of people don't have that. They're navigating institutions - legal, civic, governmental - that weren't really built with them in mind. And when no one's paying attention, things get lost. They need an advocate. Someone to speak for them. Corrie…
There's a kind of person you've probably met before. Someone who, no matter what their job title says, is really just taking care of people. That's what they do. That's what they've always done. That's who they are. The title just took a while to catch up. Susan Titus is a Lafayette-area entertainer, nonprofit founder, and - by her own description - a woman whose life has had more than a few…
Here's a question every small business owner loses sleep over: how do people find out you exist? Word of mouth still works. Always will. But today you need more than that. The challenge is that most small business owners are already doing three jobs at once. Marketing is the thing that slides. The thing you mean to get to. You need a presence - online, in print, somewhere people are actually…
Hi, it's Christiaan Mader, host of Out to Lunch Acadiana. I love a dive bar. And I know I'm not alone. They attract a certain cult-like following among people looking for an unpretentious place to share a reasonably priced drink with an old friend or a new one. The appeal is fundamentally American. The drinks are cold, the music is loud, the bathrooms might be suspect - but you can be you and…
Some businesses don't just sell a product - they sell a feeling. They create an experience you can't fully describe on a website, because the magic is sensory. It's atmosphere. It's memory. It's the thing that makes you walk into a space and instantly feel like you belong there - or like you've been there before. From a business standpoint, that's a tricky thing to build. You can't ship "vibe" in…
There's an old saying you've probably heard before: Those who can't do, teach. Well, that's total BS. If you've ever tried to teach someone anything - how to play a guitar chord, how to dance a two-step, how to do just about anything - you know that saying has it exactly backwards. Teaching is hard. Being good at something and being able to teach it are two completely different skills. When it…
Hi, Christiaan here, host of Out to Lunch Acadiana. Everyone's got a story. It's why I got into journalism. People are just interesting. But having a story doesn't mean you're any good at telling it. That part takes skill. And a lot of discipline - Even if you're using a large language model to help. Everyone needs an editor. It's our motto at The Current . And it's generally true in the world of…
When we talk about running a business, we usually talk about revenue models, staffing, square footage, and growth plans. We talk about work. What we don't always talk about is emotional work. The phone calls you don't charge for. The time spent listening instead of billing. The moments when you're not really running a business so much as helping someone through a rough chapter. Running a business…
Some things you don't think about until they stop working. Then you get a trickle from your shower head. Suddenly, all you can think about is what's happening with the pipes underground. There's money to be made in invisible industries. That's true if you're pumping water from a well - a technology as old as civilization itself - or driving engineered fluids underground to drill for oil.…
When we talk about "growth," we usually mean population, jobs, or maybe cranes on the skyline. But growth isn't abstract - it's physical. It's steel. It's dirt. It's concrete. It's towers you don't notice and neighborhoods you drive past every day. Christiaan's guests on Out to Lunch are both in the business of building up - literally. One builds the infrastructure that keeps business connected.…
People in Acadiana love restaurants. They love talking about them, reviewing them, arguing about them. They always seem to think they could run one. Hey, if you can cook, why not? Here's the thing: Restaurants are famously unforgiving businesses. Margins are thin. Labor is hard to find and harder to keep. One bad weekend, one broken piece of equipment, one stretch of slow traffic - and suddenly…
Some people make a living building things. Others make a living making those things look good. There's more to decoration than meets the eye. Space has a tremendous impact on how we think and feel. Sometimes it really is all about appearances, and that's true whether you're picking out curtains for your living room or designing an arch of balloons for a wedding. Our own spaces can tell the world a…
Farming isn't what it used to be. Louisiana has lost thousands of small farms over the last few decades. The average farmer is over 58. Land prices keep going up, commodity prices keep wobbling, and modern farming techniques are about scale, not stewardship of the land. The small independent farmer - the icon of the American landscape - is by and large disappearing. But not everyone is signed up…
We often think of "doing good" as the business of nonprofits. You start a foundation, apply for grants, hold gumbo cook-offs, and hope the IRS sees things your way. But what if you didn't need tax-exempt status to make the world better? What if turning a profit and doing good weren't opposites - but the same business plan? Turns out, a lot of small business owners in Acadiana are already doing it.…
There's a temptation in business to want everything fast. Fast growth, fast profits, fast success. But the most durable things-the things that actually last-are often built slowly and with intention. My guests on this edition of Out to Lunch understand that patience is a strategy. Both came to their current work almost by accident. And both are choosing growth on their own terms. Allyson Romero is…
Some people discover their calling by accident. Literally. An injury or an illness or divine providence can lead to a vocation. You might call each of my guests today healers. But neither started out with the idea of becoming one. They were patients first - searching for relief when the medical system didn't always have the answers. That journey led them to very different paths. One through modern…
Sometimes the best businesses don't start with a big plan. They start with nothing: no money, no equipment, no idea what you're doing. Just a problem to solve, a skill in your back pocket, and the determination to figure it out. That's how Christiaan's two guests on this edition of Out to Lunch ended up where they are. One is making home furnishings from scraps. The other turned a pine tree into a…
If you're going to run a good business, you'll need to know the tools of your trade, literally and figuratively. Sometimes it's knowing how to find talent. Other times it's owning the crane nobody wants to buy. Because here's the thing: every project needs both muscle and machines. And neither comes cheap these days, especially in the world of construction. The U.S. construction industry needs…
Wellness isn't just kale smoothies and yoga classes anymore. It's mushrooms as brain boosters, IV drips for recovery, tinctures, biohacking, and more. These trends aren't fringe, they're big business, generating $1.8 trillion in U.S. sales alone in 2024. And they're on the move in Acadiana too. Christiaan's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch are building businesses in Acadiana riding these…
There's a reason you don't hear people bragging about shopping for a new bank. Most of us choose one when we're young and stick with it-even if we're frustrated, even if it means worse service or fewer benefits. We treat it like a utility, not a relationship. That's good news if you're running a big bank. Not so good if you're trying to build a bank here at home. Joe Zanco is doing exactly that.…
Here in Lafayette, comedy is growing up. The scene is expanding, more shows are popping up. It's become a draw for national touring acts. And comics are choosing to stay-or come back-because there's actually something to build here. That's pretty remarkable. Lafayette wasn't really on the map as a comedy town until the last decade or so. But comedy itself - how it works, how it's consumed - has…
Some things are so familiar we stop thinking about them. Bread, for example. Or curry. They show up in so many meals they're practically background noise. Staples. Comforts. Universals. So what happens when someone decides that's not good enough? On this edition of Out to Lunch we're talking about reimagining the familiar - turning the everyday into something exceptional. It takes a mix of…
For every entrepreneur, the fantasy of your own business is about being in control of your destiny. For a lucky few, that pays off with the job - and lifestyle - of your dreams. One way to get there is to help other folks fulfill their own fantasies. Or maybe even one - at least temporarily. That fantasy might be waltzing through an evening of elegance in the gown of your dreams. Or hobnobbing…
Ideas always sound good in theory. Especially business ideas. That's the deception of entrepreneurship. Even the simple stuff gets complicated. Take my guests today. One started a business hauling junk. The other lends tools out for free. Simple, right? But as they'll tell you, there's a lot more to it once you pop the hood. Anna Kojevnikov is co-founder of the Lafayette Tool Library , a nonprofit…
These days, Facebook might be the last place you'd go for a taste of the sweet life. Social media is more likely to spike your blood pressure than your blood sugar. But it's a pretty potent platform for launching a business or building a community. Foodies Jason Stoner is one of the mods at Foodies of Lafayette , a massive online community with more than 100,000 members, operated by Jason and the…
If you think you know dirty jobs, you probably picture Mike Rowe knee-deep in some sewer or wrestling livestock. But let's be real: there's nothing heroic about coming in after the cameras are gone to mop up someone else's mess-that's the real work, and it can be a solid business proposition. That's especially true in Louisiana, where the air is wet and the floods frequent. All of that…
Fashion is a $400 billion industry in the U.S. It includes household names with global reach and big-box scale. But in this massive market, there's room for the neighborhood shop - if you find the right niche. That's right. If you want to get into the clothing industry, you don't have to be afraid of fast fashion. Plenty of consumers are still out there looking for something curated, something…
"If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you'll work until you die." That's a bit of advice from Warren Buffet, "The Oracle of Omaha" and perhaps the world's most successful investor. For most, it's a dream. But for Drake Bajat it's a personal philosophy and throughline in his serial entrepreneurship. Today, Drake owns Restoration One , a Lafayette-based company specializing in…
Great products start with an idea, and a lot of tinkering. Edison and his lightbulb. Jobs and Wozniak in their garage. The image is familiar-a lone inventor, obsessing over details, experimenting, failing, learning, and eventually discovering something great. South Louisiana has a pretty rich tradition of entrepreneurship and invention. Consider the crawfish boat, for instance. And, when you think…
Americans love their pizza. We eat around 3 billion pizzas a year-that's about 350 slices per second. And we wash down a good portion of it with wine: the U.S. is the world's largest wine-consuming country, drinking nearly 1 billion gallons annually. Put that all together and you've got a complete meal. Pizza, of course, is ubiquitous in Lafayette. And it's not hard to find a decent glass of wine.…
Running a nonprofit might sound like a mission of the heart. But it's also very much a business. These organizations have to pay staff, keep the lights on, and provide services. Yes, they rely on philanthropy. But they also need to generate revenue, build partnerships, and constantly make the case for their value-not just to donors, but to the community at large. Acadiana has hundreds of…
Email has been around since the 1970s. It's quick, it's convenient - and it consumes your life. If you've got an office job, chances are you spend most of your working life in an inbox. Email may be the engine of modern commerce, but it might also be the slowest way to get things done-especially in industries where precision and timing are everything. That's the pain point Chuck Perret set out to…
It was once conventional wisdom in business that bigger was better. Economies of scale weren't just preferable, they were inevitable, like a law of nature. But, while big-box stores and corporate franchises do have advantages in cost and efficiency, small businesses are proving they can thrive by leaning into their niches. Take Le-Grenadier , a cocktail lounge in downtown Lafayette where quality…
Frontiers aren't just about the Wild West or outer space. They're about discovery-whether it's navigating a bayou or reshaping industry. Some frontiers lead us into nature, others to the grocery store aisle. For Janeene DeClouet, she seeks out frontiers for peace. She is the owner of Duc in Altum Kayaking , a kayaking adventure business with a spiritual twist. What started as a personal search for…
In Acadiana, food has a way of carrying history with it-whether it's a family recipe passed down for generations or a classic technique reinvented for today's tastes. For Ryan Jannise, keeping a family tradition alive meant growing and scaling it. Ryan owns Lena's Cajun Seafood Dishes, a company built on his grandmother's beloved recipes. His grandmother, Lena Saltzman, was well-known for her…
Architecture is more than just buildings-it's about creating spaces that inspire, connect, and serve communities. That's something Wes Thiele understands well. Originally from Atlanta, Wes moved to Lafayette in 2009, drawn by the steady opportunities in construction. Career prospects took Wes to Dallas, but Lafayette left an impression on him. When he got the chance to move back to Lafayette, he…
In 1992 during Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, LSU grad and Clinton Chief Strategist James Carville came up with two slogans for Clinton to focus on: "The economy, stupid" and "Don't forget about healthcare." Today, politicians and citizens alike are very aware of both of these issues, which are more or less now combined in what is called The Care Economy. Even if you haven't heard of The…
Some people build businesses on big ideas-others on big hearts. Sometimes, the best business plan is just knowing how to help people. Music might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to helping people, but for Vanessa Lomas, it's her love language…or maybe help language. Vanessa is the owner of TheraCare Music Therapy . Ninety percent of TheraCare's clients are autistic, have down…
When you hear the word "franchise" you probably think golden arches or a pepperoni pizza. But franchises can be as creative and personal as any small business. Today we're diving into two different ways of running a business. On one side, you've got a franchisee - a business owner who taps into an established brand and system. On the other, a self-starter - someone who builds a business from…
