Entree-preneur - Out to Lunch - It's Baton Rouge

South Louisiana is one of the true food capitals of the world,
known for both its Creole and Cajun fare, and, more recently, it s
contemporary twist on classic southern dishes. And though New
Orleans often gets top billing for its famous restaurants and
innovative chefs, Baton Rouge has a growing food scene that is
vibrant and exciting in its own right. In fact, Baton Rouge is home
to the school that trains many of the chefs that go on to top
restaurants around the state and, around the country. The Louisiana
Culinary Institute was founded in 2003 and in the 13 years since
has graduated more than 1 thousand students, awarding degrees in
culinary arts and culinary management, with concentrations in
advanced baking and pastry and advanced culinary arts. Charlie
Ruffolo is the public affairs manager for LCI a native of Chicago
who grew up working in the family s produce business and married
into a family who launched a cooking school. While a culinary
degree and a career in the restaurant or hospitality industry is
the path many foodies choose, others take a more entrepreneurial
approach, using multiple platforms to promote recipes and products.
Such is the case with Lili Courtney. Lili is the founder of
Delightful Palate, a Baton Rouge company whose salad dressings have
found their way onto the shelves of stores like Whole Foods across
the South. You can also find Lili teaching cooking classes and
leading character builder kitchen adventures for corporations under
the rubric Team Cooking. We often hear that one of the first rules
of entrepreneurship is to make sure your product solves a problem
for a consumer. At first glance Aquiem Coffee Water packaged water
treated specifically to enhance the taste of coffee or tea seems to
break this cardinal rule. It is hard to imagine too many people
have been sitting around dreaming of the day they could go out and
buy special water to make coffeeh. But rules are meant to be
broken. Co founder of Aquiem Coffee water, Mitzi Barber, reports
that 30 days into launching their new product business is already
booming in Baton Rouge. Photos at Mansurs on the Boulevard by Ken
Stewart.

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