Back Home In Baton Rouge

There’s an old saying about how you can never go home again.
Which means, actually, that once you’ve moved away from a place
and you come home, it’s different than it was when you left. But
sometimes, what has changed is for the better and creates new
opportunities for those who return. On this edition of Out to
Lunch, Stephanie meets two young entrepreneurs who left town but
are now back home in Baton Rouge with new companies and concepts
that a new Baton Rouge is ready to embrace.


Apps Land in Baton Rouge


Chris Boyd is the founder of Apptitude an IT firm that
specializes in app development, app repair, and web development.
Chris is young, like I said, but he does have 10 years experience
under his belt, which he got during his years as a student at LSU
and, then, in Houston, where he worked, first with Continental
Airlines and then with high-paced teams at Wordpress, Hearst
Corporation and Rice University.


In 2012, Chris participated in the NOLAbound project, which
encouraged people from key industries to start businesses in New
Orleans, and Apptitude was born. In the years since, Chris has
grown the firm and expanded into Houston, where he has built apps
for the Houston Zoo, Marriott, Lagunitas Beer, and most recently
the Virginia Department of Health to help people keep track of
their COVID exposures. 


The Millennial Behind Millennial Park


Cameron Jackson is a former college athlete who returned to his
native Baton Rouge after graduating and is currently working on a
plan to transform an undeveloped section of land across from
Baton Rouge General Medical Center's Mid City campus into an
outdoor food court. Cameron is calling his development Millennial
Park, and he is modeling it after outdoor food courts he has seen
in cities like Dallas and Houston, where food trucks are
clustered at parks where patrons can sit, eat and socialize.


Millennial Park has a unique twist: inspired by recent travels to
Jamaica, Cameron is using re-purposed industrial shipping
containers instead of food trucks. A recreational space built
from shipping containers has potential in an area that is in dire
need of redevelopment and fresh ideas.


You can see photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website.
And here's some more lunchtime conversation about the benefits of
being back home in Baton Rouge. 


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