Pork and Shrimp

Food is such an important part of our culture in south Louisiana
and there’s no shortage of entrepreneurs who try their hand at
launching a food-related business. But just because you can make
magic in the kitchen, doesn’t mean you can run a successful
restaurant, catering operation, or packaged food company. In
fact, 80% of restaurants don’t make it five years. What makes it
so tough, and how do some people managed to pull it off?


Stephanie's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge
have a bunch of first hand experience to share.


Jarvis Green is owner of Oceans 97 Seafood, a Baton Rouge-based
seafood company that specializes in selling shrimp from the
waters of Jarvis’ native Louisiana. Jarvis got his start in the
shrimp business in 2010 shortly after retiring from the NFL.
That’s right, we’re talking about NFL two-time Superbowl Champion
Jarvis Green, who played as a defensive lineman for the New
England Patriots. When Jarvis was at the height of his career in
the NFL he never dreamed that a decade later he’d be a purveyor
of seafood. But then, there have been lots of twists and turns
and unexpected surprises in Jarvis’ career journey. 


Stephen Hightower is managing partner of City Group Hospitality,
a rapidly growing company that operates several restaurants and
food service businesses in Baton Rouge, including City Pork
Brasserie and Bar, City Pork Catering, two City Pork restaurants
on the LSU campus, City Slice Pints and Pizza, Beausoleil, and
Turning Point Food Services, which, among other things, provides
catering services to local schools.


Stephen also has a new Mid City restaurant on the way – The spoke
and Hub – that will open later this year on Government Street.
Stephen has worked his way up the ladder of the local restaurant
business. He started out as manager of Ruth’s Chris  in the
1990s and bounced around to several establishments, opening a
couple of failed ventures along the way but in 2013 he hit upon
the extremely successful City Pork concept and it’s been a
relatively straight trajectory since then.


This might sound like it's going to be a conversation about pork
and shrimp, but that doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the
unique stories that lead both of these entrepreneurs into the
businesses they're in today.


Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website. Here's
more conversation about the Baton Rouge food business.


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