It's Acadiana: Out to Lunch

Ideas always sound good in theory. Especially business ideas. That’s the deception of entrepreneurship. Even the simple stuff gets complicated. Take my guests today. One started a business hauling junk. The other lends tools out for free. Simple, right? But as they’ll tell you, there’s a lot more to it once you pop the hood.

Anna Kojevnikov is co-founder of the Lafayette Tool Library, a nonprofit that lets members borrow tools for home, yard, or auto projects—at no cost. 

Anna moved to Lafayette in 2018 with her husband, a math professor at UL Lafayette. They bought a new home and realized they didn’t have enough tools for all that upkeep — or really enough space to keep them. Volunteering with disaster relief after Hurricane Laura showed her how widespread that need really was. Partnering with co-founder Alison Nederveld, she helped launch the Lafayette Tool Library to solve a community problem one tool at a time.

Anna is originally from Australia, where she worked in film and TV, but found her footing in Lafayette helping others create. She’s also the Community Engagement Director at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. 

Coty Bergeaux was working in law enforcement when he took a family vacation that changed his outlook. Watching people living the high life in vacation homes along the Florida coast, he realized he wanted to be his own boss. He looked into storage units and ran across another idea: junk removal. He filed for an LLC one month before his son was born and started small, hauling his first king-size mattress with a rented trailer.

Coty Bergeaux is now the owner and operator  of Acadian Haul Away & Junk Removal. 

Coty hauls everything from mattresses to hoarder houses—running lean with just his truck, his trailer, and a strong back. He does about 50 jobs a month. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Alisha Zachery Lazard at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These days, Facebook might be the last place you’d go for a taste of the sweet life. Social media is more likely to spike your blood pressure than your blood sugar. But it’s a pretty potent platform for launching a business or building a community. 

Foodies

Jason Stoner is one of the mods at Foodies of Lafayette, a massive online community with more than 100,000 members, operated by Jason and the group’s founder, Heidi Jacobs MacDonald. 

Jason is also the chef and host of Sunday Dinners, a monthly dinner party that blends fine dining with good old-fashioned hospitality. Invitations are hard to come by at Sunday Dinners. There are just six spots at his dining room table, so it’s not uncommon for reservations to be auctioned off at local fundraisers. 

Jason is largely self-taught in the kitchen, sparked by the challenge of learning to cook for his kids. He grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and moved to Lafayette 15 years ago to be with his partner, Stephan. 

Cheesecake

Seth Dahlen is owner of LA Cheesecake Bakery. Seth grew up in Perry and Abbeville and got his culinary start early, working in restaurants as a teenager.  He fell for cheesecake while working at Black’s Café, where a coworker roped him into helping with dessert prep. 

That spark led to a slow, deliberate build—he and his wife started by selling cakes from their home and building a reputation through Facebook. By 2022, they opened a storefront in Lafayette. Now, he’s running a full-time bakery with a cult following, offering more than sixty flavors and even stocking a cheesecake vending machine at the mall. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you think you know dirty jobs, you probably picture Mike Rowe knee-deep in some sewer or wrestling livestock. But let’s be real: there’s nothing heroic about coming in after the cameras are gone to mop up someone else’s mess—that’s the real work, and it can be a solid business proposition. 

That’s especially true in Louisiana, where the air is wet and the floods frequent. All of that environmental damage needs someone to clean it up. And many of them turn to Rinea Blanchard.

Rinea is the Owner and Operator of Superior Contract Cleaning, a Lafayette-based remediation and cleaning company that handles everything from mold and fire damage to hoarding cleanup and post-construction debris. 

Rinea started her business nearly three decades ago with a single account. Today, she operates a fleet that tackles big jobs across the country—and she still prefers restoring grout to taking on routine janitorial gigs. 

If Rinea is cleaning up life’s messes, Trey Boone is helping prevent a few of them—mostly the kind that come from bored, untrained, or anxious dogs. Trey owns the Lafayette franchise of The Dog Stop, a full-service pet care facility that boards, grooms, trains, and pampers hundreds of dogs a month. 

Trey bought the franchise in 2015 and now oversees operations across the state.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fashion is a $400 billion industry in the U.S. It includes household names with global reach and big-box scale. But in this massive market, there's room for the neighborhood shop — if you find the right niche. 

That’s right. If you want to get into the clothing industry, you don’t have to be afraid of fast fashion. Plenty of consumers are still out there looking for something curated, something custom — something that makes them feel unique. 

LaGina Bruno knows that first hand, she's the Owner of LAD Prints and More. 

LaGina is a graphic designer and vinyl printmaker based in North Lafayette. Her shop specializes in custom t-shirt design, vinyl printing, and personalized accessories — from mugs to umbrellas. 

LAD Prints began as a side hustle in 2017 while LaGina was still working full-time in insurance. In 2023, she took the leap into entrepreneurship, and in 2024, she opened a storefront just down the road from her home. 

Linda Solley Hurd is the Founder of Adeline Clothing. Linda started her online fashion brand in 2015 after realizing big changes were coming to the retail landscape. She turned her home-based business into a full-scale operation, eventually moving into a 14,000-square-foot warehouse in Lafayette.

Adeline Clothing is entirely online, selling curated and proprietary fashion lines to customers across the U.S. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you'll work until you die.” 

That’s a bit of advice from Warren Buffet, "The Oracle of Omaha" and perhaps the world’s most successful investor. 

For most, it’s a dream. But for Drake Bajat it’s a personal philosophy and throughline in his serial entrepreneurship. 

Today, Drake owns Restoration One, a Lafayette-based company specializing in water, mold, fire damage, and biohazard cleanup. But he’s also operated a successful tax and accounting firm, owned a paint contracting company, and spent years in the oil and gas industry as a landman. He did well enough but wanted a business of his own that would give him control over his own time and money. He bought a Restoration One franchise after doing some market research. The company has four employees and averages about five jobs each week. 

While Drake is focused on making money while he sleeps, Whitney Lange is busy making money where others sleep—designing bedrooms, kitchens, and entire interiors that clients dream of.

Whitney is the owner of DBR Designs, a full-service interior design firm in Lafayette.

Whitney grew up inspired by home décor shows on HGTV and turned that passion into a thriving career.  After earning her interior design degree from UL and working in local design and staging companies, Whitney purchased DBR Designs in 2023.

She also owns House Dressings, Lafayette’s only dedicated home staging company. 

Whitney and her team offer detailed and personalized designs, handling everything from initial consultations to the finishing touches that make spaces feel like home.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Giada Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Great products start with an idea, and a lot of tinkering. Edison and his lightbulb. Jobs and Wozniak in their garage. The image is familiar—a lone inventor, obsessing over details, experimenting, failing, learning, and eventually discovering something great.

South Louisiana has a pretty rich tradition of entrepreneurship and invention. Consider the crawfish boat, for instance. And, when you think about it, Cajun and Creole food in general can be likened to hare-brained contraptions. We’re constantly tinkering with ways to improve recipes to make them more efficient, cheaper or more flavorful — all without losing their essence. 

Gumbo

There’s nothing more essential in Cajun cooking than the trinity — onion, bell pepper and celery, known around here as the Trinity, and depending on your bent toward Catholicism or sacrelige, even "The Holy Trinity."

Dreux Barrah is Founder and Chief Chopping Officer at C’est Tout Dried Trinity Mix. 

Dreux’s path to business began in his home garden with an overabundance of bell peppers. He came up with drying vegetables as a way to preserve his surplus and created a dehydrated holy trinity.

Through experimentation, Dreux perfected his process, even crafting custom equipment like his flour-toasting "Rouxster." Now, C’est Tout sells not just dehydrated vegetable mixes but also fully dried dish starters for classics like gumbo, jambalaya, and etouffee. 

Whiskey

One thing Cajuns aren’t famous for is whiskey — apart from drinking it, we don’t really make it. That is, until Philip Mestayer came along. 

Philip is Co-Owner and Head Distiller at Distillerie Acadian, a small-batch distillery based in New Iberia. 

Philip started as a weekend hobbyist, distilling whiskey with his dad and brother. Their goal was ambitious—create Louisiana’s first bourbon, a spirit more associated with Kentucky Bluegrass than Cajun prairies. What began as a passion evolved into a business, but not without a whole lot of elbow grease. Philip designed and welded much of their initial distilling equipment himself, navigating complicated federal regulations, supply chain issues, and tricky logistics. 

Today, Distillerie Acadian offers seven unique spirits, from bourbon to handcrafted gin.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Americans love their pizza. We eat around 3 billion pizzas a year—that’s about 350 slices per second. And we wash down a good portion of it with wine: the U.S. is the world’s largest wine-consuming country, drinking nearly 1 billion gallons annually.

Put that all together and you’ve got a complete meal. 

Pizza, of course, is ubiquitous in Lafayette. And it’s not hard to find a decent glass of wine. But it’s fair to say we’re not known for those delicacies. We’re more of a boudin and light beer crowd. And that’s why it might be hard to find a sommelier — a certified wine expert like Nick Dooley. 

Nick is a Level 2 Sommelier and founder of Nick Dooley Sommelier, a boutique wine education and tasting business based in Lafayette. 

Nick got his start in hospitality bussing tables at Ruffino’s, discovered a passion for wine, and steadily climbed the ranks of sommelier certification. 

After an impromptu Facebook gig turned into a hit, Nick launched his own business in 2024. Now, he organizes in-home wine events, curates pairings, and teaches clients how to savor the subtleties of the grape. 

He's also the wine manager at My Somm Wine Merchant in River Ranch. 

Red and whites aren’t just varietals, they’re sauces. And you can find both varieties on the pies at Jim Deggy’s Brick Oven Pizza. 

Paisley Turrubiartez is the co-owner and area manager of the Jim Deggy’s location in Downtown Lafayette.  She started as a staffer on the original Jim Deggy's food truck in Pineville, where the concept originated, and worked her way up over seven years. When the company expanded to Lafayette, she became part-owner and took the reins of the new location.

Jim Deggy’s serves craft beer and wood-fired pizzas with a dough that cold ferments for 96 hours and finishes in a 700-degree French oven. Their menu is built on traditional flavors with a local twist—and their brewery uses a water-saving Smart Brew system to make it all work.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Alisha Zachery Lazard at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Running a nonprofit might sound like a mission of the heart. But it’s also very much a business. 

These organizations have to pay staff, keep the lights on, and provide services. Yes, they rely on philanthropy. But they also need to generate revenue, build partnerships, and constantly make the case for their value—not just to donors, but to the community at large.

Acadiana has hundreds of nonprofits big and small. And to some extent they compete just like for-profit enterprises. There’s only so much money and attention in the world, even for a good cause. And what better cause is there than kids? 

Lore Linton is the Executive Director of the Children’s Museum of Acadiana, a nonprofit that blends play and learning for kids and their families. 

Lore has a long history with the museum, starting as a volunteer and working her way through nearly every role. She became Executive Director in 2023 and has since expanded programming, grown attendance, and taken on the everyday challenges of operating a museum inside a 100-year-old building. 

While half of CMA’s revenue comes from admissions and events like birthday parties, the other half comes from donations, grants, and sponsorships—the nonprofit hustle. 

Annie Spell has seen nonprofits from the other side of the ledger. A psychologist by training , Annie is also a longtime donor and board member of organizations like the American Cancer Society, Hearts of Hope, Miles Perret Cancer Services, and the Children’s Museum of Acadiana itself. 

Annie says she grew up in a family that modeled community involvement—her grandfathers included both a longtime judge and entrepreneur. Annie ran a small, focused clinical practice working with adolescents, and did pro bono work for children in the court system. In 2025, she was elected unopposed to the Louisiana Legislature. 

A major vehicle for Annie's philanthropy is the Tides Medical Foundation, a fund associated with the biomedical firm founded by her husband. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Alisha Zachery Lazard at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Email has been around since the 1970s. It’s quick, it’s convenient — and it consumes your life.  If you’ve got an office job, chances are you spend most of your working life in an inbox. 

Email may be the engine of modern commerce, but it might also be the slowest way to get things done—especially in industries where precision and timing are everything. That’s the pain point Chuck Perret set out to solve. Chuck is the founder of Centerline.Co, a cloud-based data management platform for the construction industry. 

Chuck started his tech journey as a teenager working in his family’s blueprint shop, and eventually launched Centerline in 2021 after seeing firsthand how digital communication was breaking down in the construction world.

Centerline helps architects and contractors collaborate more effectively by ditching the messy world of long email chains.  It offers project-specific communication tools, document sharing, and bid coordination—all in one place. Today, Centerline serves over 75 architecture firms, with 12,000 users and more than 800 projects managed through the platform. 

If you’re going to hang a shingle in the digital world, you’ll need a different kind of architect: a web designer. Brandy Arnett is the CEO of Vibrandt Websites, a Lafayette-based web development company.

Brandy's not competing with Squarespace or Wix on volume—she’s competing with them on care. Vibrandt builds custom websites with an emphasis on both technical precision and creative polish. 

Since founding the company in 2019, Brandy and her team of four have launched over 125 websites. And they’re not just building—they’re staying with their clients long after launch, offering same-day support and multiple redesigns over time. 

Eighty percent of their clients are local, ranging from SLEMCO to CASA to the City of Abbeville, but their reach is growing nationwide. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was once conventional wisdom in business that bigger was better.  Economies of scale weren’t just preferable, they were inevitable, like a law of nature. 

But, while big-box stores and corporate franchises do have advantages in cost and efficiency, small businesses are proving they can thrive by leaning into their niches. 

Take Le-Grenadier, a cocktail lounge in downtown Lafayette where quality and atmosphere reign supreme. Owner Mia Stanford doesn’t just serve drinks—she creates experiences, crafting cocktails with premium ingredients, fresh-squeezed juices, and handmade bitters. 

A St. Landry Parish native with a background in hotel and restaurant management, Mia spent years in the spirits industry before opening her own bar. She envisioned a cozy, intimate space where patrons savor their drinks, not just consume them. 

Open only four nights a week and serving around 300 guests weekly, Le-Grenadier is a far cry from a high-volume bar churning out quick mixed drinks. Instead, Mia crafts vibe—sometimes even locking the door when the space reaches the perfect crowd. 

Mia's approach aligns with broader industry trends— the U.S. craft spirits market was valued at over $14 billion in recent years and continues to grow as consumers seek more artisanal and high-quality drinking experiences. 

A cocktail may be a cure for what ails your spirit. For other maladies, you might need a prescription. And despite the rise of big drug stores, there’s still a lot to be gained from getting your meds at a neighborhood pharmacy, like Soileau’s Pharmacy in New Iberia.  

Neighborhood pharmacies buck the high-volume model and instead rely on customer satisfaction and loyalty. With that in mind, Tala Bui and her husband, Hai, bought Soileau’s in New Iberia in 2024, carrying on its tradition of exceptional service.

A pharmacist by trade, Tala had worked in large retail chains like Walmart before stepping into ownership. Unlike big-name pharmacies that process thousands of prescriptions daily with little patient interaction, Soileau’s prides itself on being a true community pharmacy. 

Independent pharmacies like Soileau’s account for about 30% of all retail pharmacy locations in the U.S., but their overall prescription sales market share is closer to 15%, compared to giants like CVS and Walgreens, which dominate the industry. CVS alone controls about 25% of the U.S. prescription drug market. Neighborhood pharmacies nevertheless remain vital, offering patient-centered care that stands out in the healthcare industry writ large. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.