The One Constant is Change

The one constant in business (and in life), is change.


Like most platitudes, this one also is true.


You might not think things as already established and mundane as
breakfast cereal or everyday signage need to change. But they do.
Companies that are able to adapt to change, even if they’ve been
around a long time - or start ups that can come up with a better
way to deliver an old favorite - are the businesses that survive
and thrive.


Let's kick off the conversation by talking about something as
ubiquitous and seemingly plebeian as signage, with Steve
Perrett. 


Steve is President of Letterman’s, a longtime locally owned
company that started out in the 1940s as a print shop
specializing in blueprints for architects and contractors - back
when you actually had to walk into the store to pick up your
prints. Today, Letterman's has become the state’s largest,
privately owned full-service reprographics company, offering
signage and graphics printing, technical document printing, and
professional document management.


Letterman’s still does blueprints, but it also does those
large-format prints you see wrapping  buses and the
exteriors of public buildings, as well as wayfinding signage,
including ADA-compliant Way Finding signs.


Steve’s dad, Charles Perret, bought the company in the 1980s from
its original founders, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Letterman. Today, Steve
and his brother Chuck help their dad run the business and have
expanded its footprint beyond Baton Rouge, to New Orleans, and
Lake Charles.


Steve (technically,  "Dr. Steve" actually) has been with the
company since the 1990s. Among his several degrees from LSU are
and MBA and a doctorate in human resource management.


From Signs to Cereal


Moving on to something seemingly even more unremarkable than
signs: breakfast cereal! Does the world really need a new cereal?
Because the one constant is changes, yes we do.


Rich Simmerman is CEO and co-founder of Ceres Plant Protein
Cereal, a startup that has created a breakfast cereal for people
who subscribe to plant-based lifestyles. The cereal has 20 grams
of plant-based protein and no sugar! It's made from naturally
grown ingredients free of herbicides and chemicals. Its low-carb,
diabetic friendly, keto friendly, vegan, plant based and - get
this - it tastes good.


Rich grew up like a lot of American kids – eating a lot of highly
processed breakfast cereal loaded with sugar. He was overweight
and unmotivated and wanted better for the next generations of
kids, so he teamed up with his friend Branson Morgan and in the
first 12 months since launching, won local pitch competitions and
are scaling up manufacturing and distribution.


Rich is a recent graduate of Loyola University and is currently
working on a MBA at Tulane. 


Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the
Boulevard. You can see photos from this show by Erik Otts at
itsbatonrouge.la


 


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