It's Acadiana: Out to Lunch

Whatever else has happened to you over the past few months, you’ve more than likely been keeping up with everything that’s going on, by checking the news. Along with NPR, some of Louisiana’s most reliable news sources are the local New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Acadiana editions of the daily newspaper, The Advocate . Both in print and online. The Publisher of all of the editions...

There was a time in what feels like the distant past – a few months ago – when it was more-or-less optional for a business to be a member of a business organization, like the Chamber of Commerce. But since the arrival of the pandemic and the economic disaster that’s come with it, there’s now so much uncertainty and so much red tape to navigate through – from Federal l...

Just a few weeks ago, the idea that we’d all stop our lives on the same day and be self-imprisoned in our homes might have seemed like the implausible plot of a dystopian series you’d see on Netflix. But since it really happened, it provided us with an un-imagined opportunity. Self-reflection. Now that things are starting back up, do you want to jump back into the exact same life you w...

As we head toward the beginning of real Summer here in South Louisiana - you know, the day you wake up and it's H-O-T - we might typically have vacation and hurricane season as top-of-mind issues. But this year things are different. Who knows if you'll be able to take a vacation? With all of our Covid anxieties do we have the capacity to worry about hurricanes as well? Plus we have a whole range o...

If you're a certain age or a fan of British comedy, you might remember the standard introduction to any number of bizarre sketches on the 1970's TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus was, "And now for something completely different." On this edition of Out to Lunch we're taking a break from unrelenting weeks of disturbing or just downright bad economic news to look at three businesses who are conti...

From the US perspective, there are two predictable economic pillars we have always relied on: Oil and The Fed. We look at the price and supply of oil to calibrate our economic position in the global economy, and we rely on The Fed to insure our economic security. In the past 2 months we have had the pillar of oil completely yanked away from the foundation of our financial institution. Is another p...

As Louisiana and parts of the rest of the country begin to re-open, there's a question about the economy that everyone is asking: What's going to happen to education, real estate, and retail? On this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana we're asking local experts in each of these areas to tell us. Retail With apologies for the medical metaphor, retail was already on life support before Covid-19 shut...

The journey we are on is leading us down a path that none of us have been on before. As individuals, as family members, as bosses or as employees, none of us know with any certainty what we're doing or where we're going. As a state we're in the same position. On this edition of out to Lunch, we're asking, Where To Now, Louisiana? The Covid-19 pandemic has changed so much about our lives, it’...

As this pandemic unfolds, we’re hearing about how it’s affecting the global economy. That might sound like an oxymoron because “the global economy” might feel far removed from our daily lives. But for all three of our guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana, it’s an integral part of their lives. As the state’s second-highest ranking elected official, Li...

Remember the days before the Covid Economy? When you could go out to a restaurant? Or a bar? Or a music festival? In Louisiana, we have over 400 festivals every year. From the internationally renowned – like Jazz Fest in New Orleans and Festival International here in Lafayette – to unique local favorites like the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City, or the Rice festival in Cro...

It's the second week of Out to Lunch Acadiana's host Christiaan Mader's link-up with Out to Lunch New Olreans host Peter Ricchiuti and Out to Lunch Baton Rouge host Stephanie Riegel for a state-wide look at our business and financial life in Louisiana, in what has become this unprecedented Covid Economy. In Acadiana, Lafayette is often referred to as “Hub City.” The reason for that is,...

Out to Lunch Acadiana is linking up with Out to Lunch New Orleans and Out to Lunch Baton Rouge for a statewide examination of our businesses and personal finances as we deal with the national public health crisis that is Coronavirus in Louisiana and life in the Covid Economy. Isolated in their respective homes, Christiaan Mader co-hosts the show along with New Orleans host Peter Ricchiuti and Bato...

Normally on Out to Lunch we're talking about for-profit businesses. But here in Acadiana - maybe more than anywhere else in the country - there are organisations and people dedicated to making a difference rather than a profit. On this edition of Out to Lunch Christiaan Mader is talking with folks who run nonprofit organizations that fill an important gap in community services, saving birds and sa...

If you're in the music business and you can get a dollar for every time somebody says "The music business is changing," you'll probably make more money than however you're making it now in the music business.  Yes, Acadiana is rich with music, but music makes hardly anybody rich. And getting rich is besides the point. For the most part, the people who play the music that makes South Louisiana...

Maybe you think Boudoir Photography - intimate, seductive portraits taken for romance or personal empowerment - is something that happens in other places. After all, we're pretty conservative around here. Aren't we? Well, apparently not.  April Courville got a masters in marketing in college and wound up in Minnesota where she fell into boudoir photography. When April moved back to Lafayette...

The term "Silicon Bayou" has been around for some time. It’s the promise of a new economy for Louisiana, sometimes thought of in New Orleans. Beyond the confines of the Crescent City, the Louisiana Silicon Bayou stretches well into Acadiana. When you think about it, this area has always been the frontier when it comes to business, and that attitude was put on the map by oil speculators who c...

Writers are hustlers. When you get paid cents per word, you’ve got to write a lot of words to make ends meet. And that’s getting harder to do in a crowded market. Anyone can blog. We all learn to string a few sentences together in high school. What’s the point in paying a professional?  In journalism, there’s actually a crisis because of that dynamic. There are as many...

In Acadiana, business is a tradition and tradition is a business - often the family business. There’s a long heritage of musical families around here, dynasties of fiddlers and accordion players handing down the tools and tricks of the family trade to generation after generation.  It’s one of our greatest exports. Lafayette practically pumps out ranks of acclaimed Zydeco and Cajun...

There can be a lot of pressure to take on the family business, especially when the family name becomes synonymous with the industry they work in. Imagine what it must be like to be a Hilton or a Disney or a Manning. Everybody copes with it differently. Some embrace it. Some make their own mark on it. Some leave it all behind and do something else entirely. Christiaan's guests on this edition of Ou...

We've always been told that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. In 21st Century America you can add one certainty: the ever changing face of healthcare. Apparently, back in the dim distant past, people used to get sick, go to a doctor, get cured, and go home. We’d pay the doctor for his or her services, and everybody would walk away happy. That was a long time ago. Now y...

One of the things we’re proudest of in Acadiana is our culture. And our family. We even talk about the family relationships between our cultures as being first cousins: Cajun and Zydeco. There are similarities and notable differences between Cajun music and dance, and Zydeco music and dance. Leaving aside for the moment the intertwined Acadian and African influences, one major musical d...

If you're like most people, you found out very early on, probably in pre-school, that things go a lot better when people like you. Nothing has much has changed since you were 4.  From the factory floor, to the boardroom, to the halls of regulatory government, to million dollar marketing campaigns, being successful in commerce is very often nothing more than trying to figure out how to win the...

How many thousand times have you heard someone talk about working remotely, saying, "The great thing about the internet is you can work anywhere."  Well, working in the oil field brings a whole new meaning to working "remotely." It's remote alright, and it's still tech, but it's of necessity, tech Acadiana style.  If you started out in the oil field before the internet, before apps, befo...

If you had a dollar for every time someone on radio or TV said, “Here in Acadiana we’re known for our food,”  you probably would have made about a hundred dollars this month already. You wouldn’t be as wealthy, though, if you were collecting a dollar on the sentence, “Here in Acadiana there is a sizeable segment of the population open to a medically holistic...

History is a messy business. It’s full of mixed and conflicting perspectives. It’s subject to revision — for the right or wrong reasons  And while it’s tempting to think of it as a collection of facts, history is really a collection of perspectives.  This holds especially true for histories of people. Think about it: there are competing biographies, or authorized...