There are a lot of things to plan for when moving to a new city: renting a UHaul, forwarding personal mail, driving the most efficient route to a new job. But few people plan for or even consider what perhaps is the most important aspect to a successful transition to a new city: making friends.

Making new friends is hard in any city but especially so in small towns and cities where friends have known each other since grade school, raised children together, or gone to the same church for decades. In communities like Baton Rouge, friends are built-in to a rich life often centered around family.

Making friends is further complicated by our obsession with our digital devices. Go to most any place, including a restaurant or bar where you might expect to meet someone, and you’ll notice people’s heads bent towards their phones, scrolling past social media posts and videos. Today, “friends” are often people you’ve never met IRL. 

Still, there are reasons and even places where a newcomer can meet friends with whom to have an in-person conversation. Stephanie Hansen of Les Amis Bake Shoppe and James Hyfield of Red Stick Reads own two such businesses in Baton Rouge.  

Following in the footsteps of her aunt and grandmother and using family recipes, Stephanie Hansen opened Les Amis Bake Shoppe in August 2013 with the help and support of her mom. What started as a weekend operation baking and selling cupcakes has grown over the last ten years into a retail shop and a commercial supplier specializing in French macarons and made-to-order cakes, selling wholesale to restaurants, hotels and venues like L’Auberge Casino. 

Les Amis, which is French for "the friends" increases its own circle of friends and customers with a move from Coursey Boulevard to Downtown Baton Rouge where it welcomes locals, newcomers, and tourists alike with their slogan "Where Good Friends Meet."

If, by no fault of your own, you find yourself downtown at Les Amis without company but in need of companionship, then what goes better with a slice of cake than a good book?

After years of working in management in food service at Whole Foods, James Hyfield yearned for a different career. He had always enjoyed reading, so with his wife Tere, James started small with a pop-up at the Mid City Makers Market that combined his love for books and his experience in food service. Prior to Covid, James and Tere ran eight to nine pop-ups around the city before in 2019 they opened their Red Stick Reads brick and mortar store on Eugene St., now located in a renovated warehouse off Government Street, near the Baton Rouge Music Studios. 

Today, Red Stick Reads bills itself as a gift shop designed as a bookstore where you can meet book-loving friends at weekly storytime events, author talks, and poetry readings. 

Some of our most vivid childhood memories are of birthday parties with multi-tiered, frosted cake with candles, small gifts wrapped in bright paper, and a gaggle of our closest friends. If we’re lucky, those same friends have celebrated other, equally memorable milestones with us over many years. But, if not, businesses like Les Amis Bake Shoppe, Red Stick Reads, and even Out to Lunch offer opportunities to make new friends and create lasting memories.    

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.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you be surprised to learn that the top five degrees in demand in the US are in healthcare, technology, engineering, business, and mathematics? Probably not. 

But as AI is introduced into nearly every facet of the workplace, college admission managers and HR directors are increasingly pointing to the importance of soft skills, the personal attributes and interpersonal abilities that define how you interact with others in the workplace. In the workplace of the future, they say, employers will seek out employees who demonstrate superb communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. 

Yet, our nation’s best colleges and universities don’t offer degrees in active listening or collaboration, do they?  So what is an incoming freshman to do? 

My two lunch guests,Travis Noote of Boomerang Comedy Club, and Terence Delaine of NO Show Comedy, would say take a class in improv. Or explore stand up.

Travis Noote fell in love with comedy in 2013 and became a devotee to improv, a form of live theatre in which the plot, characters, and dialogue are made up spontaneously by the performers at the moment of performance. 

Travis took improv classes in South Carolina, Atlanta, and Savannah before moving to Baton Rouge to be closer to family. As he’d done in other cities, Travis signed up for and was taking classes at the Latco theatre, which he learned was going to dissolve soon. So, acting a bit on a whim and with a good deal of spontaneity, in 2022 Travis took the reins of the Latco venue and founded The  Boomerang Comedy Theater, effectively turning a hobby into a 9-5 job. 

If you are further in your comedic studies and perhaps pine for larger audiences on the West Coast, then Terence Delaine of NO Show Comedy is your man. No Show is a live production company operating in Los Angeles and Louisiana, hosting a monthly show at Squeaky Pete's in downtown Baton Rouge, as well as frequent shows at The Station.

A native of Lake Charles, Terence has degrees in political science and public administration and a full-time job at the United Way. He's been working as a stand up comic for more than a decade. Terence recorded a comedy special album that will soon be released on all streaming sites, including YouTube.  

Living in Louisiana, when it comes to entertainment we often think of Baton Rouge as playing second fiddle to New Orleans. Well, that's the role people put Chicago in for years, in relation to New York City. But it might be worth pointing out that some of the nation's most famous and memorable comics, like Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Steve Carell, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Catherine O’Hara, and Joan Rivers got their start at Chicago’s Second City, which recently celebrated 65 years of business. It will be interesting to see who comes out of the Baton Rouge comedy scene in the next 5 or 6 years.

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.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine if you had a few thousand dollars to spend however you wanted? What would you do? A few of my friends might put a down payment on a house. Others would take a long-dreamed about vacation. Or buy an expensive piece of art.  Most would give some money to their favorite charity. 

Yes, Americans certainly are generous with their money. In 2023, individuals gave $374 billion dollars, representing 67% of total giving, according to Giving USA.

Americans gave to organizations and grantmaking foundations working in human services, health, education, environment, and the arts, financially supporting an array of causes and programs essential to the social fabric of our communities.

But by far, Americans gave to religious institutions and organizations: the churches, synagogues, and mosques that offer spiritual guidance and solace – a community of the faithful.  

Chris Spencer knows something about the importance of supporting your parish church. As CEO and President of the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana, Chris manages nearly $250 million on behalf of churches and philanthropists in the state, using his background in banking to help Methodist churches manage their investments and help donors with planned and legacy giving.

The spiritual can be found in nature, too, and in different art movements, including Surrealism, Symbolism, and Spiritualism, a 19th-century movement that directly influenced modern art. 

Cana Brumfield began her exploration of art at a young age. Inspired by her mother, an art therapist and teacher, Cana grew up taking art classes and going to art camps.

In 2024, Cana began selling her art to the public under the brand name Luna Leaf Studio. Incorporating upcycled materials, Cana’s art evokes a childlike love and wonder for nature and the environment by incorporating whimsical aspects of design. Her work can be found at local art markets, including Brickyard South and The Magical Spring market at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge.

Art and religion have long shared an inseparable bond. From ancient cave paintings and illuminated medieval manuscripts to grand cathedrals and temple sculptures, art has historically functioned as a visual language of faith. And, all along, but perhaps today more than ever, art and religion both rely to some extent on a foundation of finance. Which is what brings Chris and Cana together over lunch on a show about business in Baton Rouge!

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.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've probably heard that public radio currently exists in an environment of less than zero public funding. "Less than zero" because when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was disbanded, monies that had already been promised to public radio stations like WRKF were clawed back.

Today, the only reason you're able to hear this conversation on Out to Lunch is because of the the actions of good corporate citizens who have stepped up to ensure that community conversations continue. One of those good corporate citizens here in Baton Rouge is a company called LUBA Workers Comp.

LUBA Workers' Comp is a regional casualty insurance company providing workers compensation coverage in 1/4 of the United states. That is significant market penetration for a company that was founded and continues to be headquartered right here in Baton Rouge.

Seeing LUBA Workers' Comp is a sponsor of Out to Lunch we're taking advantage of that relationship to invite an Executive Vice President of the company, Kelli Bondy Troutman, to talk about safety in the workplace.

Most of us have heard of OSHA, the federal agency responsible for workplace safety and health. The agency that sets and enforces standards and provides training and assistance to ensure safe working conditions. But how many of us have ever studied the poster issued by OSHA that typically hangs in nearly every workplace cafeteria? Or who among us really studies the section about safety in the employee handbook? Probably very few of us.

The reason is the same one most of us don’t pay any attention to the pre-flight safety announcement when we’re waiting for a plane to take off: there are so few plane crashes – or work accidents – that we feel we don’t need to care about it. But, of course, the very reason there are so few plane crashes and serious workplace incidents is because there are people working every single day to make air travel and our work places safe.

One of those people is Adam Beary of Bear Process Safety, whose mission is to simplify safety by creating lean, innovative solutions to help build an easily manageable program for companies. Bear Process Safety offers process hazard analysis, process safety auditing, process safety training, standard implementation, and operating procedures.

Since 2018, Bear Process Safety has been working primarily with larger chemical manufacturers and renewable energy companies but has recently branched towards smaller customers. 

Bear Process Safety was recognized as a BRAC Diversity Star award winner in the small business category for 2022, and CEO and President Adam Beary was a 2022 Business Report 40 Under 40 honoree.

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.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In years past, formal dining rooms were used for Sunday dinner or holiday get-togethers, opportunities to cook a traditional meal, served on fine china, leisurely eaten among family or friends over a glass of wine.

Today, estate sales are jam-packed with barely-used china no one wants because in most modern households meals are often fast-food or grabbed from the to-go counter and holiday meals are often catered and sometimes served on paper plates.

So, what do you do if you are a homeowner with an underutilized formal dining room?

Well, not so long ago Mauree Brooksher was in such a position when she and her husband bought a 50-year-old home with a traditional formal living room. Uncertain what to do with it, Mauree turned to social media for ideas. There, she found a blog showcasing a formal dining room converted into a mahjong room, with beautiful pictures of the tables and tiles. Mauree was hooked.

Today, Mauree and her business partner Stephanie Politz, own and operate Mahjong Rouge, a club of sorts that offers mahjong classes and hosts tournaments to promote the game in the Capital Region.  Founded in 2024, Mahjong Rouge has taught 1,300 students the tile-based game that dates back to the mid-1800s in China. Now, the game has become so popular that Mauree and Stephanie recently launched Mahjong New Orleans.

What constitutes “fun” changes over time and is different in each culture, each community, and each family. Technology has greatly impacted the ways we entertain ourselves and interact with others. From radio to television to games played on our computers, technology is constantly evolving and therefore changing our lives in new and different ways.

What hasn’t changed is the simple pleasure and joy of being in the company of others. People with a strong sense of community just feel better, leading to greater emotional resilience and higher life satisfaction.

Mahjong is an old game with an enduring purpose of gathering family or friends around a table for an evening of fast-paced skill and cunning. By teaching mahjong classes in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Mauree and Stephanie are broadening people’s appreciation of Chinese culture and offering new opportunities for fun and community.    

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.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By all accounts, it’s difficult to land a job or even an interview right now. There’s all kinds of reasons for that, including a stagnant labor market and sluggish hiring by cautious employers. Recent college graduates are bearing the brunt of what is one of the most challenging markets in years, with entry-level white-collar jobs being especially hard to secure.

If you are unemployed and looking for inspiration, you’re in the right place. It took nearly 18 months for my lunch guest Nick Miner to be offered a job in design after graduating from LSU. After months of getting nowhere in his job search, Nick took a more aggressive approach to applying, made an e-portfolio, and started introducing himself to agencies. He ultimately landed a job at Mesh, a local ad agency where he was hired as the art director. 

Today, Nick Miner owns his own business Miner Design Company, specializing in logo design, branding, art direction, packaging design, illustration and graphic design.

Tony Zanders was born and raised in New Orleans but made his career in tech in Boston and Silicon Valley. Eleven years ago, he returned to Louisiana to be closer to family and, during the pandemic, launched his second tech startup, Skill Type. Leaning into an international network of venture capitalists, Tony fundraised a 4 million dollar investment for his company from contacts in London, Silicon Valley, New York, Miami and in Louisiana, proving the old adage “it pays to have friends in high places.”

While building his company in Baton Rouge, Tony became a coach and mentor at Nexus Louisiana. In 2024, Tony threw his hat in the ring for the role of president and CEO and was tapped for the position by the board. Today, he oversees 10 million dollars in annual revenue at Nexus Louisiana.

After 2020, for a year or two, our default conversation was the pandemic. No matter what we were talking about, everything came back to what was happening before or after Covid. Today, the default conversation, especially in business, is AI. Is AI coming for my job? If so, when? What should I best do to prevent it taking my job, or what should I do if it does take my job?

You might notice the use of "if." The fact is, right now, nobody really knows what the future of work will look like. But as it changes, Tony is in the forefront of that change, working with tech companies that are literally creating the future. On the other side of the coin, Nick is proving that no matter how creative technology can be, the source of all that creativity is, after all, a human being with the equivalent of a pen and piece of paper.

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.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle in 1971, coffee shops have become a staple in nearly every city. In Berkeley, California there are approximately 59 coffee shops, resulting in one coffee shop for every 2,000+ residents, which is a higher ratio than Seattle. New York City has more coffee shops per capita than any other American city.

When I read those numbers, I naturally thought to myself how do they all stay in business? How does each coffee shop or chain distinguish itself from its competitors?

Katie Jenkins, Owner and Executive Director of Grace Therapy Center and Stir, has taken a thoughtful approach to business competition and growth. Grace Therapy Center is a clinic for children with autism and other developmental differences that Katie started in 2021.

Now with three locations, Grace Therapy Clinic offers applied behavior analysis therapy (otherwise known as ABA) for indiividual children, children in social groups and at summer camps.

Of all the positioning possibilities you could imagine for opening a coffee shop, tieing it to a series of specialty autism clinics isn't something even the folks at Starbucks or coffee shops in California or New York have thought of. But that's exactly what Katie Jenkins is doing with Stir Cofffee House on Airline Highway here in Baton Rouge. Stir employs Katie's child clients who mature and are old enough to join the workforce.

The coffee industry is responsible for more than 2.2 million U.S. jobs and generates more than $100 billion in wages per year. 

Over the years, we’ve had several guests on Out to Lunch who have contributed to the coffee industry’s success locally. By providing job opportunities at Stir to those who might struggle to find traditional work because of their intellectual and developmental disabilities, Katie Jenkins is not only contributing to the coffee industry’s success in Baton Rouge but she's providing invaluable work and life experiences for her clients at Grace Therapy Center. 

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.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.