It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

The reasons people give for starting a business aren’t all that surprising. Financial independence, pursuing personal passions, requiring a flexible schedule, or making a positive impact on the community often top the list. What’s surprising is how many businesses start in garages. Many of America’s most successful companies, including tech giants Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft, started in humble garages.  Perhaps the most famous of which is Apple, founded by college dropout Steve Jobs in 1976. Today, Apple is a multinational corporation with annual revenue in 2024 of $391 billion. And the infamous garage on Crist Drive? It’s now listed on the city’s historic properties.   Blood Closer to home, David Slaughter stepped away from commercial real estate in 2017 to open Orion Laboratories with his wife Rachel in a 800-square-foot garage office at the back of their home. Today, Orion Laboratories is the largest independent laboratory in Louisiana, processing labs seven days a week for area health systems, independent clinics, urgent care clinics, nursing homes, physician groups and surgery centers, stretching all the way from Baton Rouge to Monroe, and in 2023, David was named Business Report’s Young Businessperson of the Year.  Oil Some businesses never get out of the garage. Like Vinnie Carollo’s for example. In Vinnie’s case, though, it’s not because the business failed. In fact, it’s a big success. And it’s still in a garage. Vinnie Carollo’s fascination with obscure, odd cars began with a Porsche 944 in need of a repair. As he tried to fix the vehicle, his dad joked that he should go to Porsche school to become a technician. Six months later, Vinnie left home to attend 23 weeks of instructor-led, hands-on training. Then, in 2015, after nine years of working at dealerships and servicing Porsches over the weekends in a friend’s car detailing and cleaning shop, Vinnie Carollo started Vex European and Exotic Auto Repair in a 900 square foot garage with one car lift.  Vinnie quickly outgrew that space and, over the next two years, moved three times, ultimately to his current location on Benefit Drive. This garage is around 20,000 square feet, has 13 car lifts and employs up to 25 people. The good news about most modern European cars is, when something's wrong you can hook them up to a diagnostic computer and find out pretty quickly what's probably going on. It's not that simple diagnosing human problems. Yet. There's all kinds of talk about futuristic body scanners, but as far as we know that's way off in the future, and till that day arrives diagnostic medical testing as we know it will probably continue. Vinnie and David are both following a well-worn path taken by generations of entrepreneurs who show ingenuity and perseverance building successful businesses in specialized and essential markets. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by  Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

95 percent of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky. But that doesn’t stop aficionados of the smooth amber-colored liquor from debating where the name bourbon originated. Among Louisianans, there’s no question that bourbon got its name from the infamous street in the French Quarter in New Orleans.  John Hampton has capitalized on both the proximity of Bourbon Street and our rich French Louisiana history to open Laissez Versez Distillery, a Baton Rouge-based bourbon distillery.   With four bourbon offerings, the distillery has garnered several awards since launching in 2019 and serves it fresh from the barrel in the tap room at its Airline Highway facility. One Coffee After a night out drinking bourbon, you might need a strong cup of coffee to get yourself to work. For many, the jingle “The best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup” still rings true, especially for at-home consumers. You would be forgiven for thinking "Starbucks" is synonymous with "coffee" these days but Folger’s still holds the leading market share in the U.S. ground coffee market, accounting for over 25%. But tastes and markets evolve, and if you have been paying any attention you know that the over 170 year-old brand faces stiff competition. Even here in Baton Rouge. Chris Nance says he and his partner didn’t know anything about coffee till 2023. Well, they knew a little about drinking it but not much about how its marketed. After 16 months of researcha nd development they came up with a plan to manufacture premium coffee in partnership with a roaster in Lafayette, called Reve, and to target blue collar workers with a brand they christened Backbone Coffee.  the oldest piece of advice in the history of manufacturing and marketing is, "Build a better mouse trap." In other words, take a product that everybody needs and make yours better than what's already out there. There is no shortage of coffee or bourbon in the US, and especially here in Louisiana. So, in the better mousetrap theory of evolution, you have to make yours stand out from all the others to succeed. Chris has found a way to differentiate Backbone Coffee from all the competitors by taking a marketing approach that, surprisingly, nobody has thought of: blue collar coffee. And John is already hauling in awards for bourbon, which is no easy feat in the first decade of making a product that traditionally can take over a decade just to age enough to get to market. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by  Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Depending on your disposition for integrating technology into your work day, you believe AI is either a tool for increased efficiency and productivity. Or it presents challenges such as job displacement, the potential for bias and misinformation, and other ethical concerns.  By the way, AI wrote that, which might foretell the end of my career as a writer and radio host. My two lunch guests today potentially worry about the future of their jobs too. Taylor Bennett is the founder & CEO of Mesh, an integrated advertising agency specializing in brand strategy, creative, web and digital marketing. For more than 20 years, Mesh has worked with local businesses such as Baton Rouge General and Visit Baton Rouge, as well as providing pro bono work for the Manship Theatre, Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation, Ducks Unlimited and Jefferson United Methodist Church. In 2021, Mesh received the Best in Show Overall at the annual American Advertising Awards, also known as the Addy Awards. Max Zoghbi launched his career in cinematography with a daring adventure: together with his two best friends, Max traveled the entire 2,300 miles of the Mississippi River over 61 days in a kayak, documenting the journey through photos and video. After returning home, Max began picking up small video gigs—weddings, a commercial for a friend’s dad’s business—while working to break into the film and commercial industry.  In 2011, Max founded Loupe Theory, providing direct production and agency work for Tostitos, Keller Williams, Cisco, NBA, Smoothie King, Lamar, Abercrombie & Fitch among others. Not since the introduction of the personal computer has technology influenced the workplace like AI seems poised to do. Whether you believe AI is an existential threat to the creative class or makes design work more efficient, it’s fair to say AI is here to stay. Max Zoghbi and Taylor Bennett are business people working in creative fields, both navigating a rapidly changing workplace. Yet, as with any business, flexibility, adaptation, and innovation have and will be the markers of their continued success.   Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by  Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.la. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you read the bestseller “Bowling Alone” in 2000 or are taking notice of wellness stories offering advice on how to reconnect with others IRL, you know that Americans are facing a crisis of loneliness. According to an advisory issued in 2023 by then U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, about one-in-two adults in America report experiencing loneliness, a condition that impacts mortality at a similar rate as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. For entrepreneurs, business owners, or corporate executives who might be feeling “lonely at the top,” the isolation can have devastating effects, especially for men. Studies show that men experiencing social isolation or loneliness have a higher risk of premature death from all causes compared to those with strong social connections.  So, where do you turn to for positivity and community? Albert Pellisier of Man Up! and Meredith Waguespack of Sweet Baton Rouge have some ideas. Albert Pellissier of Man Up! developed a passion for entrepreneurship while attending LSU when he published and produced student coupon books distributed at registration, a sorority-fraternity phone book, and the class schedule booklets.  After college, Albert got into real estate, investing in multifamily units around the university and opening a salon suites concept, which is still operating.  But Albert’s success in real estate isn’t why we invited him to Out to Lunch.  He is also the founder of Man Up!, a business focused on offering secular, personal development retreats for men, and the author of “What’s on Your Back Burner?: Using Dormant Desire to Relight Your Fire.”  Published in 2024, “What’s on Your Back Burner” offers a simple three-step process to resolve inner conflicts that keep individuals and entrepreneurs from realizing their goals. Meredith Waguespack failed out of two colleges — Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State University – before she graduated from Southeastern University in Hammond.  While in college, Meredith worked full time at a Baton Rouge-based boutique, managing its two local stores until they closed, and then at Chico’s at Towne Center. In 2011, after working as an outside sales rep for a tech company and three years as a dental assistant, Meredith launched Sweet Baton Rouge—then called Southern Football Tees— as an online boutique.  Now, nearly 15 years later, Sweet Baton Rouge offers Louisiana lifestyle apparel online and at a brick-and-mortar shop in Perkins Rowe. 80% of retail stores fail before their 10th birthday. Sweet Baton Rouge approaching its Sweet 16 is a testament to Meredith's business acumen and her positioning the store in the Baton Rouge community. The store hosts an annual pop up market with over 40 vendors, called The Ultimate Tailgate, and funds a college scholarship. In an increasingly polarized world, both men and women are looking for solace, support, and inspiration. In our digital age, many of us turn to social media or online chat groups to find like-minded people and community. But we typically find online connections don’t quite satisfy us like real world relationships.  Even if that relationship is just friendship, or even casual conversation. Meredith and Albert are both in their own ways bridging the gap between the virtual and real worlds: using social media to create in-person events and experiences that foster community. Whether it’s comfortable t-shirts for game day or a secular retreat on a Louisiana farm, they’re building businesses while connecting people with their passions and goals.  Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ben Rabalais from Albaledo Media at itsbatonrouge.la. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.