Podcast appearances and mentions of stephanie riegel

A tentative settlement in the Archdiocese's abuse case has been reached. We'll get the details and what still has to happen from Stephanie Riegel, business writer for the Times Picayune/NOLA.com

Face-to-face talks are going on this week aimed at ending the long-running bankruptcy case for the Archdiocese. We'll get the details from Stephanie Riegel, a business writer for the Times Picayune/NOLA.com

"Hi, how are you? " It's amazing how often the word "hi" and the question “How are you?” go together. The latter is such a standard greeting it barely registers as a serious question. The standard answer is, “Good. How are you?” Now, if we were to stop there and have a real conversation about how we are, most of us would say we’re good, but we could be better. We’d like a better job, better car, bigger house, more money, less stress… But much of the time these kinds of life-improvements are out of our control – or they’re a more distant goal. So, if we can’t do better immediately, what we can do is feel better. One of the ways we do that is with food. There’s comfort food. And there’s food as medicine. One particular medicinal food that’s having a moment these days is mushrooms. Here in Baton Rouge, Jordan Gros is a Biological Engineer and CEO of a mushroom-as-medicine company called Mycocentrics. The use of mushrooms as medicine stretches back thousands of years and encompasses cultures as diverse as Chinese, Indian, and Native American. In searching for a cure for her own spinal injuries and chronic pain, Jordan applied her college education in biological engineering to the healing power of mushrooms, and when she found it worked, she founded her company. Different cultures have different definitions of “comfort food.” In India it’s typically Butter Chicken or samosas. Italian comfort food is lasagna, pizza and risotto. Here in the US, we in the South have a lock on comfort food with dishes like pancakes, chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy, and gumbo. If mom’s not cooking today, or you’re too busy to cook for yourself, you can get all these comfort foods, and much more, at Another Broken Egg Café. More than 26 years old, Another Broken Egg Café is currently one of the fastest-growing, daytime-only food franchises in the country. There are more than 100 locations in 16 states. Here in Baton Rouge, Devin Carls is the Territory Manager for Another Broken Egg Café. We’re all busy. We’re typically rushing between work and home, keeping it together with friends and family, trying to stay healthy and happy. In our daily zipping around, we can take things for granted. We might not think twice about mushrooms, for example. And if we do, it’s more likely to be in a cream sauce than in a tincture. And we might just drop into Another Broken Egg Café whenever we feel like it and expect to get a table and order anything off the menu without considering the massive amount of organization that’s going on behind the scenes to keep the doors open and the lights on. Oscar Tickle sits in for Stephanie Riegel on this episode of Out to Lunch, recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsbatonrouge.la.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans is selling properties and planning for a smaller church as their bankruptcy case drags on. We'll get the details from Stephanie Riegel, a business writer for the Times Picayune/NOLA.com

In the past few decades, technology has taken over the way we live our lives. From the books that we read to news we receive, the way we consume media has been changed forever. But recently, there’s been a movement to return to the analogue. Whether it’s vinyl records, DVDs, or even newspapers - the demand for physical media is growing. Creators and storytellers across the nation are meeting that growing need by making new and interesting physical content of their own. Christopher Payne is doing just that with his publication Fine Print. Christopher grew up in a small town in California named Cherry Valley near the Mojave Desert. While living there, he honed his skills as an artist, producing art that focuses on what he describes as, “nature viewed through a distorted lens”. After finding artistic success in exhibits, on magazine covers, and having artworks placed in movies and TV shows - and after living in LA and Austin - a new job search led Christopher to Baton Rouge four years ago. Now he leads his Fine Print team across the nation from here in the capital city. It goes without saying that the news has had one foot out the door of the physical medium for years now. This has caused magazines, newspapers and newsletters to have to make moves to stay alive. One of the main things you’ll see them doing is establishing a strong internet presence to make sure their readers can get their news anywhere and everywhere. Ivory Payne is no stranger to this evolution. Ivory is a graphic artist and the publisher of the Baton Rouge Weekly Press, a paper that started life 47 years ago and today has a significant internet presence - though Ivory still prints physical issues for those traditionalists who want it. Ivory says the paper has a circulation of around 60,000, which, per capita, makes it one of the most well-read local papers in the country. Ivory was born and raised here in Baton Rouge but spent much of his working career in Ohio. He came back home in 2016. Back here he wears many hats, including President of the Louisiana Black Publishers and Media Association, assistant pastor at the Greater New Birth Full Gospel Fellowship, and publisher of a bi-annual coffee table book about African American leaders who make a positive impact in their communities, called Leaders Publications. It’s clear to see that these two Paynes don’t just share the same name, they’re two sides of the same coin. On the heads side of the Payne coin, Ivory is keeping the public informed through one publication and highlighting innovators with another. On the tails side, Christopher is using his skills and talent to lift up others' work as well. Ivory and Christopher are both very passionate about what they do and that’s important: If it weren’t for organizations like theirs, physical mediums would surely phase out of existence. Oscar Tickle sits in for Stephanie Riegel on this episode of Out to Lunch, 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.

Baton Rouge has long been a city of tradition. People here can be a little resistant to change. This is true from centers of political, economic and even medical focus. But recently, the stage has been set for the capital city to become a place of innovation. We never know where life might take us. Something small that happens to us, or that we witness as children, may change the course of our lives. Andy Barth grew up in Baton Rouge and was in and out of the hospital. After his mom suffered a stroke, he watched her experience with rehabilitation and therapy. Andy also spent time in the hospital due to several knee injuries that led to surgery and physical therapy. Seeing how the physical therapists conducted themselves and how they interacted with their clients, Andy saw a future for himself doing that same thing. Now, he’s been a physical therapist for 21 years and has become an innovator in the field with his company, Gold Standard Therapy Solutions. Gold Standard Therapy Solutions is a therapist owned and operated referral agency that connects healthcare providers and healthcare agencies in Los Angeles. Here in Baton Rouge, Andy is developing a nationwide digital version of this service, called Care Connexion. There are two components to change: vision and courage. The vision to see how things could be done differently, and the courage to do them. Maybe it's because Andy lives and works between Baton Rouge and Los Angeles that gives him vision and fresh perspective. Whatever it is, he's inspiring others with his innovation. Oscar Tickle sits in for Stephanie Riegel on this episode of Out to Lunch which was 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 subscribe to an online news service, you're used to getting notifications about news stories the algorithm thinks might impact you. In Southeast Louisiana, you'll pretty regularly see variations on the headline, “Sea Level Rise Threatens Coastline” or “Louisiana Loses a Football Field of Wetlands Per Hour.” If you're like most people, you keep scrolling. Or, maybe you read the article, shake your head at the dire situation, but shrug it off because, well, what can you do?  The reason you can afford to take a laissez faire attitude toward our disappearing coastline and wetlands, is because there are people who don't. There are people working every day, here in Baton Rouge, to preserve our piece of Planet Earth. Darius Bonton is the founder, owner and principal of Bonton Associates. Bonton Associates are an engineering company focused on designing and implementing infrastructure and transportation systems that allows us to build what needs to be built, and get where we need to go, without destroying the environment in the process. To the contrary, Bonton is all about delivering solutions to water and transportation issues that do more than just comply with environmental regulations, they actually improve our existing way of life. If you're looking for an organization whose name doesn't pull any punches, how about the Coalition To Restore Coastal Louisiana. “The Coalition” the title refers to is a wide range of organizations and people who partner to do an even wider range of activities to save our coast - from planting grasses in marshlands to giving expert advice to local, state and federal organizations. The Coalition is Louisiana's first statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to coastal restoration. They started out in 1988, and since March 2024 Ethan Melancon has been their Advocacy Director. In 1789 the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge published a poem called The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. You might not be familiar with the poem, but you probably know a line or two from it. Namely, “water water everywhere / Nor any drop to drink.” The poem is about a sailor stranded at sea, ironically, dying from dehydration while being surrounded by water. The theme of the poem is nature's indifference to human suffering. Whether or not nature is indifferent to us, we humans continue to do our best to adapt to the elements, and even downright defy them. We owe our very existence in Southeast, and Southwest, Louisiana to past generations' willingness to drain swamps, build levees, and bounce back from hurricanes. In our current generations, it's the work of companies like Bonton Associates and organizations like Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana who are continuing to organize, design and execute strategies for containing the power of nature that allow us to remain here, and hopefully will for generations to come. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. Jim Engster sits in as host for Stephanie Riegel.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tommy talks to Stephanie Riegel, a business writer for the Times Picayune/NOLA.com

Tommy talks with Stephanie Riegel, a business writer for the Times Picayune/NOLA.com

Stephanie Riegel joins Tommy to talk about the Plaza Tower and the redevelopment of the Metairie Tower. 

Tommy talks with Stephanie Riegel, a business writer for the Times Picayune/NOLA.com who has been covering the Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy case

Gov.-elect Jeff Landry is preparing to take office, and his appointees and transition team include some familiar – and some surprising – faces. The Time- Picayune/The Advocate's editorial director and columnist Stephanie Grace joins us to break down who's who on the  team.  At Catholic Masses across the New Orleans metro area last month, parishioners heard in an announcement from Archbishop Gregory Aymond that multiple churches in the region are set to close or consolidate by next summer. New Orleans, one of the nation's oldest Catholic cities, will now close or merge roughly 10% of its 111 parishes. Many parishioners responded to the news with shock and sadness.  Stephanie Riegel has been covering the story of the consolidation for the Times-Picayune/The Advocate and joins us now for more on the timeline for these changes and what she's heard from church-goers.  In October, the Louisiana French news outlet Télé-Louisiane officially launched a French-language newspaper, Le Louisianais. But the paper, which offers print stories focused on the state's French and Creole communities, is just one of the media outlet's latest endeavors. It is also airing the second season of its weekly newsmagazine and animated TV show, and it recently hosted an assembly of Louisiana culture activists.  For more on all of Télé-Louisiane's projects, we talk with co-founders, CEO Will McGrew and Chief Creative Officer Drake LeBlanc.  Today's episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. Our assistant producer is Aubry Procell and our engineer is Garrett Pittman.  You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It's available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts.  Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you're at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you'd like to listen to. Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Louisiana continues to rank behind almost every other state in the country in terms of its educational outcomes across the board – from Pre-K through post secondary. But buried under those bad stats, are some bright spots – success stories of programs and schools that are finding ways to prepare students and train them for the jobs of the future. On this episode of Out to Lunch, meet two of the leading lights of the Baton Rouge education system. Tina Holland is President and CEO of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University in Baton Rouge, better known as Fran U. Tina came to Fran U in 2014 from Notre Dame, Indiana, where she had served as Executive Vice President and Provost of Holy Cross College. In the years since, she has overseen an aggressive and successful expansion of Fran U. Tina Holland, whose combination of military and education experience and vision has elevated Fran U to an accredited college Fran U started out nearly a century ago as Our Lady of the Lake, a nursing school. Today it is a fully accredited university with new undergraduate and graduate degree programs that Tina has created. Tina is overseeing the development of Fran U's first freestanding building which will give the university a new level of autonomy. Tina is a native of Los Angeles and a former officer in the U.S. Marine Corps., who brings an extraordinary knowledge and skillset to a position that requires navigating the turbulent waters of not only higher ed and Catholic Church but local politics as well. Christine Merchant is  World Language Coordinator with the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. If you're thinking, “I didn't know East Baton Rouge Schools had a world language coordinator,” you're not alone but you might be surprised to learn that not only is the school system's immersive language program highly successful, but also that Christine has been running it for 42 years! In fact, Christine is the first and only person to hold this position. Christine Merchant, the depth of her French accent is matched by the depth of her 42 years of dedication to foreign language education in Baton Rouge The most visible flagship of the East Baton Rouge School System's foreign language track is FLAIM, or more formally, the Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet, but world languages are offered at a large number of EBR public schools. Stephanie Riegel hosts a mostly English language edition of Out to Lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos by Erik Otts at itsbatonrouge.la. baton rouge business podcast christine merchant east baton rouge parish schools flaim fran u mansurs on the boulevard out to lunch stephanie riegel tina hollandSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're like a lot of people, you may never have completely gotten your head around crypto currency or believed that it is a viable and inevitable replacement for traditional bullion-based U.S. dollars. When the crypto market cratered in the summer of 2022, you might have felt a little bit vindicated and assumed that the whole thing was over. A flash in the pan, just like you've been saying all along. Right? Well, not so fast apparently. As crypto continues its fluctuations, here in Baton Rouge there are more than a few entrepreneurs betting on the continued adoption and growth of alternative currencies. Among them are Stephanie Riegel's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge. Jared Loftus was the poster child for entrepreneurism in Baton Rouge a decade ago. He had owned a popular T-shirt company near the LSU campus, then brought the food truck revolution to the capital region with Taco de Paco. He also took on the beleaguered bus system, CATS, at a pivotal moment and got himself appointed to its board, and then walked away from the spotlight to help grow the very successful startup Mastery Prep, an online test prep firm which was acquired by a huge national company. Moving more into the tech world - as you may remember from our pandemic-era Out to Lunch shows - Jared helped build RASA.io, an AI powered email newsletter platform, and theses days he's all-in on crypto! Jared's latest company, founded in early 2022, is Max Boring, which is focused on building out the infrastructure that makes decentralized blockchains possible. What exactly - or even approximately - does that mean? If you're wondering, "What the heck is the blockchain?" and "Where does crypto currency come from anyway?" Jared explains it all in this conversation. Charlie Davis is an entrepreneur and CEO of Moxey, a network of small businesses who have banded together to improve their sales and cash flow through a unique community currency. You may remember we talked about the original version of Moxey back in 2016 when it was called The Trade Authority. In the years since, the community currency has grown to include 3,000 small business owners and has created a mobile app that makes using Moxey as easy as Venmo or a credit card. In a small-world - or perhaps small-town - coincidence, Charlie Davis is also a co-founder of Mastery Prep. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Erik Otts at itsbatonrouge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an encore presentation of Stephanie Riegel's conversation with fast food impresario Ted Kergan. We decided to unearth this episode and run it again because Mr. Kergan is one fascinating guy. In 2018 when we recorded this conversation, Ted was the largest franchisee of Sonic drive in restaurants in the state of Louisiana. He owned 58 Sonic locations in the central and southern part of the state. When you think about how much can go wrong day-to-day in any single workplace - especially in a fast food restaurant where people unexpectedly don't show up for shifts, machinery breaks, and, by the very nature of the business, customers demand immediate service and almost always know exactly what the product is supposed to taste like - owning 57 of these establishments sounds like an impossible task. Well, how about owning 150? That's the total number of Sonic restaurants Ted developed in his more than 40 year career. Ted Kergan is originally from Detroit. When he made his way down South, Ted was in Alexandria in 1977 when his brother talked him into joining him in the fast food biz and began his career as a managing partner in a Sonic restaurant. Ted eventually became a partner in the operation with his brother, the late Gary Kergan, who was murdered in 1984. Anyone who has been around Baton Rouge for a number of years know that Ted played a key role in solving the high profile crime and bringing Gary's killers to justice, though not until nearly 30 years had passed. His tale of detective tenacity became a book, My Brother's Keeper, which Ted helped write along with Chris Russo Blackwood. While pursuing justice in this case and in the process "consuming a fortune" tracing his brother's killers from New Orleans' French Quarter across the country to Las Vegas, Ted was growing his company. Ted Kergan and his Sonic empire have been recognized as one of the top franchise outlets in the country. You'll see why we pulled this show out of the archives: it's frank look into the life and business of one of Louisiana s most successful businessmen. This conversation was recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard in Baton Rouge. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whether or not you have adopted it or invested in it, you've probably heard a lot in the past few years about cryptocurrency, like market-leader Bitcoin. More recently, you've probably heard a lot of buzz about NFTs: digital versions of artworks that are all the rage in sophisticated tech savvy circles and are sold online and can be purchased only with crypto. Are you able to wrap your mind around either of these concepts? Is it important to understand really what they are and how they work? Is it all just a passing fad or is it the future pathway to wealth as crypto advocates claim in which case should you get in the market now while the getting's good? Stephanie Riegel puts these questions to Will Haynie, founder and co-owner of Pelicoin.  Pelicoin is a network of secure cryptocurrency ATMs with more than 35 machines in five states in the South. Will and his brother founded Pelicoin in 2016, after playing around in the Bitcoin market for several years prior, and it has quickly grown to become the largest network of cryptocurrency ATMs in the Gulf South. Pelicion's ATMs enable users to quickly and securely turn cash into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum. Will is a native of Shreveport and a graduate of LSU, who has been involved with several business ventures and has lived and worked in Richmond, Nashville, Alaska and Zambia.  Mya Parker is a Baton Rouge NFT artist. She's 15 years old and a student at Zachary High School, where among other things, she is a self described "mature investor" who is building wealth through the sale of her digital art as NFTs. If you're not totally clear what an NFT actually is, it's simply a piece of art that is created digitally, on a computer, rather than on a canvas. You can think of it as something you'd do in Photoshop. Some NFTs are complex and kinetic while others are simple static line drawings. The biggest to date are a series of images called Bored Apes who have their own nautical-themed society called the Bored Ape Yacht Club.  Mya got into the NFT market in 2021 and already is selling her NFTs, which is actually a big deal. Most of the hundreds of thousands of NFTs on NFT marketplaces like Open Sea sit there forever and never sell. From the outside, Baton Rouge might seem like the capital city of the state that is  consumed by politics, the LSU Tigers, and complaints about gridlocked streets. But we're also on the cutting edge of technology, futuristic finance, and art. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Erik Otts at our website itsbatonrouge.la There's more lunchtime conversation about Baton Rouge's unique and perhaps surprising place in the worldwide NFT marketplace at https://itsbatonrouge.la/2022/03/16/token-travel/    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In every society on earth, for probably millions of years, humans have come up with communal methods of eating that reflect their particular human condition. In our world we've married eating with capitalism. We've devised a method of paying  other people to prepare meals for us in spaces we call restaurants. As our communities have gotten bigger and restaurants have proliferated, the competition among them has gotten more serious and – as it is when any market gets saturated with competitive choice -  prices come down to attract customers. Keeping a restaurant open requires more than just the ability to cook good food. For example, the biggest restaurant chains in the world, if you ask a food critic, have the worst food. In this kind of topsy-turvy business, what do you do to keep a restaurant profitable? Do you stick with quality and hope you find an appreciative market? Or do you turn to big data, AI and IT systems designed for the restaurant business? Stephanie Riegel puts this question to Gabe Piccoli, the Edward G. Schlieder Chair of Information Sciences and a member of the Cultural Computing group at the Center for Computation and Technology at LSU. Gabe has held tenured academic positions at Cornell, as well as universities in France and Italy. During his tenure at Cornell in the early 2000s, Gabe was on the faculty of the Hotel School, where he became interested in the hospitality industry. During his 25 year career, which started at LSU with a PhD in information systems, Gabe's work has focused on the value creation potential of new technology. His academic, teaching and consulting interest is in digital strategy and digital customer service systems. He watched and the studied the digital intermediation of the hotel industry in the 1990s and sees interesting parallels going on today in the Quick Service Restaurant industry – of which Baton Rouge not only has many but is actually home to popular chains like Raising Cane's.    Stephen Hightower is on the front line of Baton Rouge's hospitality industry. Stephen is Managing Partner of the City Group Hospitality Restaurant Group, which does not own QSRs but does own and operate 11 operations with 7 unique concepts, including City Pork, Beausoleil, City Slice Pints and Pizza, Proverbial Wine and Bistro, Rouj Creole and Hub and Spoke, as well as Turning Point Food Services, which runs the cafeteria at Catholic High School. Stephen is steeped in Baton Rouge hospitality know-how. He began his restaurant career at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Baton Rouge and worked his way up the ladder. After launching a couple of his own ventures, he hit on just the right concept for Baton Rouge in 2012 with the launch of City Pork. In the decade since, he has become one of the most successful restauranteurs in the city. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photo from this show by Erik Otts at our website itsbatonrouge.la.  And check out this recent lunchtime conversation with Baton Rouge restaurateurs Misti and Brumby Broussard from BLDG 5. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you checked out what happens when you Google Cure For Cancer? You get a lot of information about cancer treatment, but there's not a lot of information about who is working on an actual cure for cancer. On this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge, Stephanie Riegel dives into a cure for cancer, and what's up with Google search. Cure for Cancer We often hear stories from successful entrepreneurs that contain the sentence, "Everybody told me I was crazy when I started out." The reason we only hear from a handful of successful entrepreneurs is because a lot of people's ideas for a new business are in fact crazy. If you're an entrepreneur with an idea that has no clear predecessor, when nobody knows what you're talking about, where there is no proven pathway to making money, how do you know if you're a genius, or just misguided? In the case of Paige Miller, if she's right about her crazy idea, she's going to change the world. She's going to cure cancer. From right here in Baton Rouge. Paige is President of Oleander Medical Technologies, a company based at LSU's Innovation Park that is truly a pioneer in developing a treatment for advanced stage cancer that not only appears to be effective, but it's quick, easy to administer and doesn't ravage the body in the process, like Chemo. The process is called Targeted Osmotic Lysis and it basically destroys cancer cells by causing them to explode while preserving the healthy cells in your body.  Google When he started out 28 years ago building websites - for a living! - everybody thought Bo White was crazy. Back then, "the internet" was at best too futuristic to be relevant, or regarded as a fun fad, like cassette tapes. Oh, and there wasn't a search engine that worked, so even if you could get on the internet, good luck finding what you're looking for. Today, as you don't need to be told seeing you are probably reading this on your phone and doing 13 other things online at the same time, the internet is integrated into our lives, and Bo White is one of those guys who can look back from the President's office of his successful digital marketing company, Click Here Digital, with the satisfaction of knowing he was right all along. Click Here Digital is one of the 100 most important Google partners worldwide and a part of Google product development.  So what's it like to be a pioneer in the middle of the fray, like Paige? Can Bo give her any sage advice? The biggest question of all though is, Is Paige crazy or is she going to cure cancer?  See photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website. Here's more talk over lunch about curing cancer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you checked out what happens when you Google Cure For Cancer? You get a lot of information about cancer treatment, but there's not a lot of information about who is working on an actual cure for cancer. On this edition of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge, Stephanie Riegel dives into a cure for cancer, and what's up with Google search. Cure for Cancer We often hear stories from successful entrepreneurs that contain the sentence, "Everybody told me I was crazy when I started out." The reason we only hear from a handful of successful entrepreneurs is because a lot of people's ideas for a new business are in fact crazy. If you're an entrepreneur with an idea that has no clear predecessor, when nobody knows what you're talking about, where there is no proven pathway to making money, how do you know if you're a genius, or just misguided? In the case of Paige Miller, if she's right about her crazy idea, she's going to change the world. She's going to cure cancer. From right here in Baton Rouge. Paige is President of Oleander Medical Technologies, a company based at LSU's Innovation Park that is truly a pioneer in developing a treatment for advanced stage cancer that not only appears to be effective, but it's quick, easy to administer and doesn't ravage the body in the process, like Chemo. The process is called Targeted Osmotic Lysis and it basically destroys cancer cells by causing them to explode while preserving the healthy cells in your body.  Google When he started out 27 years ago building websites - for a living! - everybody thought Bo White was crazy. Back then, "the internet" was at best too futuristic to be relevant, or regarded as a fun fad, like cassette tapes. Oh, and there wasn't a search engine that worked, so even if you could get on the internet, good luck finding what you're looking for. Today, as you don't need to be told seeing you are probably reading this on your phone and doing 13 other things online at the same time, the internet is integrated into our lives, and Bo White is one of those guys who can look back from the President's office of his successful digital marketing company, Click Here Digital, with the satisfaction of knowing he was right all along. Click Here Digital is one of the 100 most important Google partners worldwide and a part of Google product development.  So what's it like to be a pioneer in the middle of the fray, like Paige? Can Bo give her any sage advice? The biggest question of all though is, Is Paige crazy or is she going to cure cancer?  See photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website. Here's more talk over lunch about curing cancer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Out to Lunch prepares to go back to hosting live lunches, for inspiration we're taking a look at some of our pre-Covid shows. Here's an Out to Lunch Best of: Principle versus Profit. We talk a lot about business on this show, and what it takes to be successful in business. On this edition of Out to Lunch Stephanie focuses on an aspect of business that doesn't typically get so much attention: ethics. Aaron Beam is a former executive who travels around the country lecturing on ethics in business. It's a topic he knows well. In the late 1990s, Aaron participated in a 2 billion securities fraud scandal at Health South, the extremely successful Fortune 500 company he had co founded in the 1980s and helped lead as CFO. When the fraud was discovered, Aaron had opportunity in prison to reflect on what he had done. In the years since, he has taken those lessons learned and now tries to help others avoid making the same mistake. Tom Ryan is Professor of Theology and Ministry at Loyola University in New Orleans, and Director of the school s Institute for Ministry, which has an extension program in Baton Rouge. Tom is an expert on the Catholic Church and its teaching and has been nationally recognized for his research on the history of biblical interpretation, the history of spirituality and faith, and popular culture. Professor Ryan also speaks regularly on Pope Francis, who recently published a document on the Call to Holiness in Today's World. In that document, the pope makes a special point about the call to holiness in business and the marketplace. Stephanie Riegel takes an unorthodox but fascinating pause for reflection in this lunchtime conversation at Mansurs on the Boulevard. Photos by Karry Hosford and more information is at our website -https://link.chtbl.com/6MIjfVRb  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Out to Lunch prepares to go back to hosting live lunches, for inspiration we're taking a look at some of our pre-Covid shows. Here's an Out to Lunch Best of: Hoarding Disorder. We all have a pack rat in the family. Maybe, in fact, you're the one with the house that's always a little messy and disorganized. You might not diagnose yourself as having a hoarding disorder - or other mental disorders you wouldn't expect in a business podcast - but that's where we're going on this edition of Out to Lunch Over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Stephanie Riegel is joined by Alyssa Trosclair, owner of Emend, a professional organizing company that specializes in helping its clients organize their life. This is a new and emerging field; in fact, Alyssa is the only Certified Professional Organizer in Louisiana. As such, she does a lot more than just help you straighten your closet and de-clutter your bedroom, though she does that, too. Rather, as a professional organizer, Alyssa helps you understand why you're disorganized and messy – what the root causes are – and how you can learn to address those issues and learn new systems of organizing your stuff and your life and, as a result, perform better and feel happier and less stressed.  Dr. Charlie Frey is a licensed clinical psychologist, whose practice, Frey Psychology, specializes in psychoeducational testing for learning disorders and ADHD, evaluation and treatment of anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychologically complicated chronic pain conditions, among others.  For photos from this show and more, visit our website https://itsbatonrouge.la/show/its-baton-rouge-out-to-lunch/   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wherever you live in Louisiana, or anywhere in the US for that matter, you might have noticed something has changed in your local supermarket, in offices, and even in airports and hotels. That something is, Plexiglass. Those giant sheets of plexiglass that now stand between you and the person on the other side of a counter are called Sneeze Guards. Have you wondered where they suddenly all came from? Peter Seltzer has laser cutters that he uses to make paper products at his company, Pete's Papercrafts. When Covid came along, Peter switched from paper to plexiglass, and started making face shields and sneeze guards. Peter started out by making over 13,000 face shields for members of the Ochsner Health System. That alone would be an extraordinary accomplishment, if it was the whole story. But it's barely the beginning. Peter has gone on to make thousands of plexiglass sneeze guards. And the reason that Peter knew about the initial PPE shortage is because, as well as being a successful entrepreneur, he's also a paramedic, and founder and Director of a paramedic training program for high school kids, called Gateway EMS Training. Hotel One of the local business sectors that has been hardest hit by the pandemic is tourism. Jim Cook is uniquely familiar with all aspects of the leisure and convention tourist industry. Jim is General Manager of the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans. He's also a commissioner of the Downtown Development District in New Orleans, a past Chairman of the Board of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, and past President of the Greater New Orleans Hotel & Lodging Association. When the tourist and convention business came to a sudden halt in March, it brought into stark relief just how dependent New Orleans has become on tourism. At some point the city seems to have crossed an unseen boundary. New Orleans used to be a place that people came to, just to experience everyday life. For a few days a person from somewhere else could eat, shop, drink, and listen to music like a New Orleanian. Now we discover that some of New Orleans most revered institutions – from famous restaurants to the French Quarter itself – can't survive without a steady stream of tourists. There are, apparently, other tourism business models that target specific types of tourists, not just high volume. The question New Orleans faces now is, Is there a way to retain a tourist and convention sector that doesn't rely on 19 million tourists a year? Photos from this by Jill Lafleur are on our website. There's more conversation about tourism here.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back when we first started making Out to Lunch in New Orleans, one of our earliest guests was a young woman by the name of Amy Chenevert. Amy had gone to a football game and realized that all the guys were wearing fan fashion, but there was nothing fashionable for women to wear on game day. So Amy started up a company that made gameday apparel for women sports fans. That was back in 2007. During the 2019 football season, a new piece of women's sports apparel started popping up. If you don't have one yourself, you've probably seen someone wearing it. It's a sparkly, sequined sports jacket, in appropriate Saints, Tigers, and other team colors. That sparkly jacket marked Amy Chenevert's return to sports fashion. After taking some time away from her business, Amy is back at the head of her company, Tru Colors Gameday. The company makes fashion items specifically for women to wear and take to the game on game day, centered on a very specific NFL women's fashion accessory, the clear bag.  Game Day Every Day the New Orleans Saints, the LSU Tigers, and every other successful sports team know how to go out on the field and win. Everybody knows their position. Everybody knows the rules. Everybody on the team knows exactly what to do. But they still have a coach. You can't even imagine a football team without a coach. When an organization with a lot of moving parts is dependent on communication and on-the-fly decision making, it makes sense to have someone who can stand back and see the big picture. Which is why businesses have coaches too. Like Julie Couret. The companies Julie coaches are an impressive list that include GE, the Marriot, Sheraton, Entergy, Ochsner Health System, and many others. Recently the question for a lot of businesses has gone from, “When will things get back to normal?” to “How do we survive if things never go back to normal?” Julie imparts a great deal of wisdom for businesses coping with Covid in this conversation. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the future of the NFL season with Saints CFO Ed Lang is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Everything is changing" is a phrase we don't get to use often about describing society. But living through 2020 we know it's pretty accurate right now. Things that were simple and fundamental, like going to the doctor and interacting with co-workers, are no longer so simple. On this edition of Out to Lunch we're looking at changes in how we visit doctors and digital distancing. Digital Distancing How's the social distancing going? Are you managing to keep 6 feet away from everybody else? How do you figure out what 6 feet is? We've heard people describe it as the length of two supermarket shopping carts, or the same height as Drew Brees, if you can imagine Drew lying on the ground in front of you. If you're looking for a more reliable measure, a Baton Rouge company, Enginuity Global, has a digital solution. It's called the Proxxi Halo. It's a wristband that buzzes when you're within 6 feet of someone. If you're saying, “Wait, what?” - they've already sold tens of thousands of these wristbands, at $100 each. Dan Ducote is the owner and Managing Member of Enginuity Global.  if you're working with other people in industry, in construction, on a factory floor, or even in school, it's now become vitally important to know what six feet looks like. Getting within six feet of another person greatly increases the chances of catching or spreading Covid 19. Once someone in the workplace or at school tests positive for Covid 19, and you have no idea what parts of the building they've been in or who they've been in contact with, the whole place has to shut down while it's cleaned, and everybody has to get tested. So it's vital – not just for health, but for keeping businesses open – that we know what 6 feet looks like and have a contact-traceable record of where an infected person has been while contagious. And that's why the Proxxi Halo is taking the workplace market by storm. Doctors This has probably happened to you. You go to your doctor, and she refers you to another doctor. A specialist. Do you know how your doctor decides who to refer you to? You might be surprised to learn that there is no established method. It's more or less like recommending a restaurant. When someone recommends a restaurant to you, it's usually because they've been to the restaurant. But when your doctor recommends you go see a mental or behavioral health professional – like a psychiatrist or therapist - there's a very good chance your doctor has never actually seen this person professionally herself. So, what is your doctor basing this recommendation on? Maybe the therapist is someone your doctor knows personally. Or maybe she's heard good reports from other patients. Don't you think there ought to be a better way for medical professionals to find and refer each other? That's what Trevor Colhoun thought too. Trevor's company, Trusted Provider Network, transforms medical referrals and recommendations into a more medically sound and logical system. Trusted Provider Network is not for consumer recommendations. It's not like a medical Yelp. It's for medical professionals only. But it's not LinkedIn or Facebook for doctors.  There's more discussion about alternative healthcare models here. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition of Out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader meet at the nexus of the Latinx Hub City Pang Wangle. Okay, let's unpack that: LatinX There's no two ways about it – this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there's money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging. You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn't mean you have great – or even any – business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That's the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that's why there's an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs. Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There's a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that's not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it's El Centro. Pang Wangle Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John. Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle. The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they're also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant. Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list. Hub City Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers. How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on. But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof? To answer that question, we're not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we're turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette. You can also check out other bike related conversations. Photos by Jill Lafleur at our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition of Out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader meet at the nexus of the Latinx Hub City Pang Wangle. Okay, let's unpack that: LatinX There's no two ways about it – this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there's money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging. You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn't mean you have great – or even any – business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That's the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that's why there's an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs. Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There's a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that's not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it's El Centro. Pang Wangle Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John. Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle. The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they're also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant. Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list. Hub City Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers. How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on. But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof? To answer that question, we're not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we're turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette. You can also check out other bike related conversations. Photos by Jill Lafleur at our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition of Out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader meet at the nexus of the Latinx Hub City Pang Wangle. Okay, let's unpack that: LatinX There's no two ways about it – this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there's money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging. You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn't mean you have great – or even any – business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That's the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that's why there's an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs. Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There's a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that's not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it's El Centro. Pang Wangle Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John. Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle. The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they're also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant. Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list. Hub City Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers. How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on. But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof? To answer that question, we're not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we're turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette. You can also check out other bike related conversations. Photos by Jill Lafleur at our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti and Christiaan Mader discuss the daily ritual of deleting email, but not dog dating email. Email You Don't Want to Delete Opening this segment of Out to Lunch, Peter says, "I'm always wary of hosts of shows like this who start off a story with, “If you're like me…”  But I'm willing to go for it right now, because I bet there is one thing we have in common. "If you're like me, you checked your email today, and went down the list going delete, delete, delete, delete. The email from Amazon trying to sell you something you bought last week. The email from some company you can't remember – maybe they were the people you bought those flip flops from… It's like this every day, right?" Now picture this. A marketing email from a company that sends you information about something you're actually interested in. Maybe it's the flip flop company, but they're not sending you information about flip flops, they're telling you about an advance in Alzheimer's research, which you actually are interested in. Or a recipe for chocolate cake, which, strangely enough, you were just thinking about baking. This would brighten your whole email experience. And on the other side of the equation, if you're the company sending the email, your clients will actually open the email, read it, and appreciate you. That's how the A.I-driven email marketing company RASA.io works. If you're thinking, “Well, that's a great idea,” it's way past the idea stage. Rasa.io has 20 employees and they send out 15 million emails a month. Jared Loftus is Chief Operations Officer at Rasa.io. The secret to the success of these A.I-generated emails is their personalization. Peter says, "Suppose Christiaan and I bought the same flip flops, but I'm interested in brass bands and the oil business, and Christiaan is interested in progressive jazz and football. We both get email from the same flip flop company, but the emails we get are tailored to our specific interests." The obvious question is, “How does a flip flop company know all this about me?” Where is this information coming from that allows a company to target clients so specifically? It's a fascinating concept and a fascinating company. Almost as fascinating as dog dating. Dog Dating We're still feeling the effects of the lockdown. There are two segments of the population that the lockdown had a big effect on: dogs, and single people who like to go on dates. If you're a dog, the lockdown was awesome – you had company 24 hours a day. If you're human, single, and looking for somebody to date, well, the lockdown was challenging.  In the Venn Diagram of those two populations, dogs and daters, you can add Leigh Isaacson D'Angelo. Leigh is neither a dog, nor dating – she's a married human, with a business called DIG. DIG is a dating app for dog owners. The concept is, if you love your dog, and dogs in general, it's good to weed out - at the very beginning of the dating process - potential partners who don't like dogs. And DIG is big. It's on the ground in 15 cities across the country. The biggest DIG communities are in New York and Los Angeles, and they're about to break into Europe. And breaking news! DIG is expanding into animal loving world, with Tabby, the cat person's dating app! Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. For more conversations about dogs, check out this classic conversation about nutria dog treats, pampered pets, and prosthetics for pets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although most businesses in the US and around the world are hurting as a result of the global pandemic, some businesses are booming as a direct result of the lock-down. Yes, there is an upside to Covid 19. Pang Wangle Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John. Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle. The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they're also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant. Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list. Hub City Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers. How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on. But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof? To answer that question, we're not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we're turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette. You can also check out Meg's previous appearance on Out to Lunch Acadiana. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although most businesses in the US and around the world are hurting as a result of the global pandemic, some businesses are booming as a direct result of the lock-down. Yes, there is an upside to Covid 19. Pang Wangle Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John. Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle. The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they're also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant. Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list. Hub City Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers. How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on. But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof? To answer that question, we're not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we're turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette. You can also check out Meg's previous appearance on Out to Lunch Acadiana. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although most businesses in the US and around the world are hurting as a result of the global pandemic, some businesses are booming as a direct result of the lock-down. Yes, there is an upside to Covid 19. Pang Wangle Before a previous disaster, Hurricane Katrina, blew Stephanie Riegel and her family to Baton Rouge, Stephanie was a journalist and news anchor at WWL TV in New Orleans. One of Stephanie's colleagues there was fellow journalist, Jennifer John. Stephanie is still a journalist but Jennifer John is not, she's the founder and CEO of  a company with an intriguing name, Pang Wangle. The story goes that while Jen was out in the field reporting, she was so sick of getting bitten up by mosquitoes and other bugs that she created a line of bug resistant clothing for women: scarves, wraps, pants, hats, and bags that are not only stylish and lightweight for life outdoors in the South, but they're also impregnated with a safe and long-lasting bug repellant. Things had been going pretty well since Jen launched Pang Wangle at the end of 2017. And then along came Covid 19. But, instead of decimating Jen's business like so many others, the pandemic got Pang Wangle coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, New York Lifestyles magazine, and on a coveted Buzzfeed list. Hub City Over the course of the last few months, journalists have found themselves asking what seems like an endless list of questions for which there are often no known answers. How long will this economic downturn last? What happens when your government assistance runs out? What is the future of education, of the tourist and convention business, the entertainment industry, air travel… The list goes on. But, in the midst of all this uncertainty, there is one economic question that we get a definite answer to on this edition of Out to Lunch Louisiana. And that question is – Why, during the course of this pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty and record unemployment – why are bicycle sales through the roof? To answer that question, we're not turning to an economist or financial pundit, we're turning to Meg Arcenaux, owner of Hub City Cycles in Lafayette. You can also check out Meg's previous appearance on Out to Lunch Acadiana. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 of The Advocate is Judi Terzotis. The last time Judi was on Out to Lunch, back in February - which now seems like a lifetime ago - she was talking about how The Advocate was bucking national newspaper trends. In the face of shrinking circulations and streamlined newsrooms in most other places, The Advocate was hiring reporters, it was growing newsrooms, it had recently acquired the New Orleans Times Picayune,  it was seeing new revenue streams from merchandising and live events… Everything seemed to be humming along. Then Covid 19 hit. Now, when you go to the Advocate's website there's an advertisement that says “Our Covid 19 news team needs your help,” and there's a “Donate” button. It's been reported that journalists at The Advocate have taken pay cuts, and that 10% of the New Orleans newsroom has been temporarily furloughed. What was it about the pandemic that turned The Advocate from an outlier media success story into a newspaper that's having a tough time? Latinx Entrepreneurs There's no two ways about it - this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there's money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging. You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn't mean you have great – or even any - business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That's the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that's why there's an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs. Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There's a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that's not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it's El Centro. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website. Judi Terzotis talks more about the business side of The Acadiana Advocate here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 of The Advocate is Judi Terzotis. The last time Judi was on Out to Lunch, back in February - which now seems like a lifetime ago - she was talking about how The Advocate was bucking national newspaper trends. In the face of shrinking circulations and streamlined newsrooms in most other places, The Advocate was hiring reporters, it was growing newsrooms, it had recently acquired the New Orleans Times Picayune,  it was seeing new revenue streams from merchandising and live events… Everything seemed to be humming along. Then Covid 19 hit. Now, when you go to the Advocate's website there's an advertisement that says “Our Covid 19 news team needs your help,” and there's a “Donate” button. It's been reported that journalists at The Advocate have taken pay cuts, and that 10% of the New Orleans newsroom has been temporarily furloughed. What was it about the pandemic that turned The Advocate from an outlier media success story into a newspaper that's having a tough time? Latinx Entrepreneurs There's no two ways about it - this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there's money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging. You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn't mean you have great – or even any - business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That's the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that's why there's an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs. Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There's a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that's not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it's El Centro. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 of The Advocate is Judi Terzotis. The last time Judi was on Out to Lunch, back in February - which now seems like a lifetime ago - she was talking about how The Advocate was bucking national newspaper trends. In the face of shrinking circulations and streamlined newsrooms in most other places, The Advocate was hiring reporters, it was growing newsrooms, it had recently acquired the New Orleans Times Picayune,  it was seeing new revenue streams from merchandising and live events… Everything seemed to be humming along. Then Covid 19 hit. Now, when you go to the Advocate's website there's an advertisement that says “Our Covid 19 news team needs your help,” and there's a “Donate” button. It's been reported that journalists at The Advocate have taken pay cuts, and that 10% of the New Orleans newsroom has been temporarily furloughed. What was it about the pandemic that turned The Advocate from an outlier media success story into a newspaper that's having a tough time? Latinx Entrepreneurs There's no two ways about it - this is a tough time to be in business. There is help available to get through this rough patch – in the form of business loans, and even grants. Some are through Federal agencies, some are from State agencies, and there's money available from city governments in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. Getting a hold of this money is not easy. Typically, businesses benefit by being a member of a business alliance to help them navigate the maze of regulation and bureaucracy.  But some businesses are too small to join alliances like the Chamber of Commerce. For those small owner-operator businesses, getting access to financial expertise of any kind is challenging. You might be a great hairdresser, house painter, or plumber, but that doesn't mean you have great – or even any - business skills. Now, imagine having the added problem of not being able to speak English. That's the position many Latinx self-employed people find themselves in, in Louisiana. And that's why there's an organization called El Centro. El Centro provides business assistance for Latinx entrepreneurs. Lindsey Navarro is Executive Director of El Centro. There's a local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that's not El Centro. If there was ever an organization that truly exists to help the little guy, it's El Centro. Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 loans to local ordinances – that most businesses are finding it essential to turn to business alliances for help. The Louisiana Alliance of Business and Industry - mostly known by its acronym, LABI - is Louisiana's official state chapter for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. It's the state's largest business organization. Stephen Waguespack, President and CEO of LABI, spends much of time lobbying the legislature in Baton Rouge, and Congress in Washington DC, with a focus mostly on keeping government out of business – to minimize government's influence on business. But now that businesses are struggling to survive this downturn, the landscape has changed and business is looking for cooperation and partnership from the State and Federal government. At the same time, LABI is managing to advance a business agenda through the legislature that includes changes they have been pushing for for a long time.  Now, Pork You may remember, at the end of April, President Trump signed an executive order compelling meat processors to remain open to head off shortages in the nation's food supply chain. The unintended consequence of this presidential decree was to make all of us aware – many for the first time – of just where our meat comes from. And most of the pictures we saw were not pretty. This has got a lot of people who don't want to go so far as turning Vegan, asking if there isn't a better way to get meat onto our table. The answer is, Yes, there is. Tim Melancon is a 4th generation Louisiana pig farmer. He farms pasture-raised Berkshire pork on T Moise Farms, in Sunset, Louisiana, specializing in raising an all-natural product. Tim's pigs are – perhaps ironically – totally vegetarian. Tim doesn't believe in additives, or preservatives. Given a choice, probably every person who enjoys eating pork would far prefer to eat this kind of product. But it's that kind of widespread massive demand that has brought about the kind of industrial scale farming and meatpacking plants we have today. So, is it possible to have a nationwide, large-scale meat industry and still observe the kind of care Tim Melancon lavishes on your farm-to-table product? See photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, at our website.  More conversation about Baton Rouge pork (meat, not politics) is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 loans to local ordinances – that most businesses are finding it essential to turn to business alliances for help. The Louisiana Alliance of Business and Industry - mostly known by its acronym, LABI - is Louisiana's official state chapter for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. It's the state's largest business organization. Stephen Waguespack, President and CEO of LABI, spends much of time lobbying the legislature in Baton Rouge, and Congress in Washington DC, with a focus mostly on keeping government out of business – to minimize government's influence on business. But now that businesses are struggling to survive this downturn, the landscape has changed and business is looking for cooperation and partnership from the State and Federal government. But governments have their own agendas. Are they using this change in the power structure to advance them?  Now, Pork You may remember, at the end of April, President Trump signed an executive order compelling meat processors to remain open to head off shortages in the nation's food supply chain. The unintended consequence of this presidential decree was to make all of us aware – many for the first time – of just where our meat comes from. And most of the pictures we saw were not pretty. This has got a lot of people who don't want to go so far as turning Vegan, asking if there isn't a better way to get meat onto our table. The answer is, Yes, there is. Tim Melancon is a 4th generation Louisiana pig farmer. He farms pasture-raised Berkshire pork on T Moise Farms, in Sunset, Louisiana, specializing in raising an all-natural product. Tim's pigs are – perhaps ironically – totally vegetarian. Tim doesn't believe in additives, or preservatives. Given a choice, probably every person who enjoys eating pork would far prefer to eat this kind of product. But it's that kind of widespread massive demand that has brought about the kind of industrial scale farming and meatpacking plants we have today. So, is it possible to have a nationwide, large-scale meat industry and still observe the kind of care Tim Melancon lavishes on your farm-to-table product? See photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, at our website.  More conversation about Acadiana meat is here.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 were living? Or could you use your period of suspended animation to reassess, and make some changes? These are questions Dr Stephen Barnes is asking. Except he's asking them about the State of Louisiana. Dr. Barnes is Director of The Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. And he's a member of a select group of economists and advisers on the Louisiana Revenue Estimating Conference – a government panel that determines income projections that create the state budget. Education If you're in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you've learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.” Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it's all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again? Out to Lunch puts that question to someone whose life is intimately bound up with its answer: Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans. In this conversation, Dr. Tetlow lays out the possibilities for the post-pandemic future of higher education in stark and sometimes alarming detail. Dr Tetlow's fear is that we are about to embark on an era that she describes as, "The GI Bill in reverse," in which a whole generation of kids suddenly does not go to college. Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info at our website. Further examination of the Louisiana economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 were living? Or could you use your period of suspended animation to reassess, and make some changes? These are questions Dr Stephen Barnes is asking. Except he's asking them about the State of Louisiana. Dr. Barnes is Director of The Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. And he's a member of a select group of economists and advisers on the Louisiana Revenue Estimating Conference – a government panel that determines income projections that create the state budget. Education If you're in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you've learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.” Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it's all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again? Out to Lunch puts that question to someone whose life is intimately bound up with its answer: Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans. In this conversation, Tania lays out the possibilities for the post-pandemic future of higher education in stark and sometimes alarming detail. Dr Tetlow's fear is that we are about to embark on an era that she describes as "The GI Bill in reverse," in which a whole generation of kids suddenly does not go to college. Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info at our website. Further examination of the Louisiana economy is here See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 were living? Or could you use your period of suspended animation to reassess, and make some changes? These are questions Dr Stephen Barnes is asking. Except he's asking them about the State of Louisiana. Dr. Barnes is Director of The Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. And he's a member of a select group of economists and advisers on the Louisiana Revenue Estimating Conference – a government panel that determines income projections that create the state budget. Education If you're in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you've learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.” Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it's all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again? Out to Lunch puts that question to someone whose life is intimately bound up with its answer: Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans. In this conversation, Tania lays out the possibilities for the post-pandemic future of higher education in stark and sometimes alarming detail. Dr Tetlow's fear is that we are about to embark on an era that she describes as "The GI Bill in reverse," in which a whole generation of kids suddenly does not go to college. Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info at our website. Further examination of the Louisiana economy is here.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 of new unknowns: The Saints, LSU, and back to the office. On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader run through those three current unknowns. The Saints It's no secret that not everybody in the state of Louisiana has warm feelings for New Orleans. In towns across Louisiana it's not unusual to find a certain amount of political and financial resentment about the amount of money and attention given to New Orleans. But all of that melts way when it comes to football. The name of the team is The New Orleans Saints. But it might as well be The Louisiana Saints. From Shreveport in the North, to the most Southern point of Barataria Bay, Saints fans are everywhere. And so, along with all of our individual problems that we're grappling with as we work our way through this pandemic, we have one question that unites us: What's going to happen to football? Whatever else happens during football season this year, one thing is becoming increasingly apparent. And that is, football stadiums are not going to be allowed to be packed to capacity. Ed Lang, Chief Financial Officer for The New Orleans Saints, and The Pelicans, discusses the question that I'm sure every team in the league is trying to answer: Is there a way to have an NFL season where football becomes a sport more like golf or tennis, where most of the audience is not in the stadium, and revenue comes from sources other than ticket sales? Is that model financially possible for the NFL? LSU There are a lot of unknowns in our future. One thing we do know for sure though is, the State of Louisiana is facing a massive financial shortfall. Whenever this has happened in the past, the first victims of cost-cutting out of Baton Rouge are healthcare and education.  This time, the Governor is proposing to cover the budget gap with Federal funds. However, as of today, that is far from a done deal. So it won't be surprising if we start to hear some of the familiar economic-crisis catch-cries coming from the capital. One of the old faithfuls is taking the ax to LSU – including proposals to close down whole departments. If this happens, one department that will not be on the chopping board is the department that might be the future of education itself – online learning. Dr Sasha Thackaberry is LSU's Vice President of Online and Continuing Education. The stay-at-home learning that colleges have had to suddenly adopt over the Covid lockdown is being talked about as possibly changing the nature of college education forever. As every single department is now looking at putting at least some of their curriculum online, Dr Thackaberry is suddenly a central figure in the future of LSU.  Back To The Office Over the past couple of months, if you have an office job… Well, we might have to come up with a different title for your occupation. We've traditionally called it “office work” because it was done at an office. But, as we have all discovered, you can do office work at home. Working from home has turned out to have all kinds of advantages.  Office workers can avoid commuting and enjoy a more integrated work/life balance. And employers can cut down on the expense of running an office. But what do these changes mean for people whose life and livelihoods revolve around the office? And there are plenty of them. Realtors. Food courts. Commercial cleaners. And almost every retail outlet in downtowns and CBD's everywhere that revolve around the foot traffic that clusters of offices generate. Possibly nobody is more affected by these changes - or more of an expert at being able to predict the future of office work - than Ashley Thibodeaux Herbert. Ashley is CEO of a New Orleans-based company called Bart's Office. Bart's Office is a full-service office moving company. But it does more than just move office furniture. Bart's does everything from making sure you buy the furniture you need, to setting up your internet network. One of the clients they worked with in 2019, for example, was setting up the new New Orleans International Airport. So Ashley is in a good position to look at the what might be the future of the office.  is this whole work-from-home period going to be something we look back on as just a temporary phase? Or are we looking at a permanent change to our relationship with the office? Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the Louisiana Covid economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 of new unknowns: The Saints, LSU, and back to the office. On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader run through those three current unknowns. The Saints It's no secret that not everybody in the state of Louisiana has warm feelings for New Orleans. In towns across Louisiana it's not unusual to find a certain amount of political and financial resentment about the amount of money and attention given to New Orleans. But all of that melts way when it comes to football. The name of the team is The New Orleans Saints. But it might as well be The Louisiana Saints. From Shreveport in the North, to the most Southern point of Barataria Bay, Saints fans are everywhere. And so, along with all of our individual problems that we're grappling with as we work our way through this pandemic, we have one question that unites us: What's going to happen to football? Whatever else happens during football season this year, one thing is becoming increasingly apparent. And that is, football stadiums are not going to be allowed to be packed to capacity. Ed Lang, Chief Financial Officer for The New Orleans Saints, and The Pelicans, discusses the question that I'm sure every team in the league is trying to answer: Is there a way to have an NFL season where football becomes a sport more like golf or tennis, where most of the audience is not in the stadium, and revenue comes from sources other than ticket sales? Is that model financially possible for the NFL? LSU There are a lot of unknowns in our future. One thing we do know for sure though is, the State of Louisiana is facing a massive financial shortfall. Whenever this has happened in the past, the first victims of cost-cutting out of Baton Rouge are healthcare and education.  This time, the Governor is proposing to cover the budget gap with Federal funds. However, as of today, that is far from a done deal. So it won't be surprising if we start to hear some of the familiar economic-crisis catch-cries coming from the capital. One of the old faithfuls is taking the ax to LSU – including proposals to close down whole departments. If this happens, one department that will not be on the chopping board is the department that might be the future of education itself – online learning. Dr Sasha Thackaberry is LSU's Vice President of Online and Continuing Education. The stay-at-home learning that colleges have had to suddenly adopt over the Covid lockdown is being talked about as possibly changing the nature of college education forever. As every single department is now looking at putting at least some of their curriculum online, Dr Thackaberry is suddenly a central figure in the future of LSU.  Back To The Office Over the past couple of months, if you have an office job… Well, we might have to come up with a different title for your occupation. We've traditionally called it “office work” because it was done at an office. But, as we have all discovered, you can do office work at home. Working from home has turned out to have all kinds of advantages.  Office workers can avoid commuting and enjoy a more integrated work/life balance. And employers can cut down on the expense of running an office. But what do these changes mean for people whose life and livelihoods revolve around the office? And there are plenty of them. Realtors. Food courts. Commercial cleaners. And almost every retail outlet in downtowns and CBD's everywhere that revolve around the foot traffic that clusters of offices generate. Possibly nobody is more affected by these changes - or more of an expert at being able to predict the future of office work - than Ashley Thibodeaux Herbert. Ashley is CEO of a New Orleans-based company called Bart's Office. Bart's Office is a full-service office moving company. But it does more than just move office furniture. Bart's does everything from making sure you buy the furniture you need, to setting up your internet network. One of the clients they worked with in 2019, for example, was setting up the new New Orleans International Airport. So Ashley is in a good position to look at the what might be the future of the office.  is this whole work-from-home period going to be something we look back on as just a temporary phase? Or are we looking at a permanent change to our relationship with the office? Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the Louisiana Covid economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 of new unknowns: The Saints, LSU, and back to the office. On this edition of out to Lunch, Peter Ricchiuti, Stephanie Riegel and Christiaan Mader run through those three current unknowns. The Saints It's no secret that not everybody in the state of Louisiana has warm feelings for New Orleans. In towns across Louisiana it's not unusual to find a certain amount of political and financial resentment about the amount of money and attention given to New Orleans. But all of that melts way when it comes to football. The name of the team is The New Orleans Saints. But it might as well be The Louisiana Saints. From Shreveport in the North, to the most Southern point of Barataria Bay, Saints fans are everywhere. And so, along with all of our individual problems that we're grappling with as we work our way through this pandemic, we have one question that unites us: What's going to happen to football? Whatever else happens during football season this year, one thing is becoming increasingly apparent. And that is, football stadiums are not going to be allowed to be packed to capacity. Ed Lang, Chief Financial Officer for The New Orleans Saints, and The Pelicans, discusses the question that I'm sure every team in the league is trying to answer: Is there a way to have an NFL season where football becomes a sport more like golf or tennis, where most of the audience is not in the stadium, and revenue comes from sources other than ticket sales? Is that model financially possible for the NFL? LSU There are a lot of unknowns in our future. One thing we do know for sure though is, the State of Louisiana is facing a massive financial shortfall. Whenever this has happened in the past, the first victims of cost-cutting out of Baton Rouge are healthcare and education.  This time, the Governor is proposing to cover the budget gap with Federal funds. However, as of today, that is far from a done deal. So it won't be surprising if we start to hear some of the familiar economic-crisis catch-cries coming from the capital. One of the old faithfuls is taking the ax to LSU – including proposals to close down whole departments. If this happens, one department that will not be on the chopping board is the department that might be the future of education itself – online learning. Dr Sasha Thackaberry is LSU's Vice President of Online and Continuing Education. The stay-at-home learning that colleges have had to suddenly adopt over the Covid lockdown is being talked about as possibly changing the nature of college education forever. As every single department is now looking at putting at least some of their curriculum online, Dr Thackaberry is suddenly a central figure in the future of LSU.  Back To The Office Over the past couple of months, if you have an office job… Well, we might have to come up with a different title for your occupation. We've traditionally called it “office work” because it was done at an office. But, as we have all discovered, you can do office work at home. Working from home has turned out to have all kinds of advantages.  Office workers can avoid commuting and enjoy a more integrated work/life balance. And employers can cut down on the expense of running an office. But what do these changes mean for people whose life and livelihoods revolve around the office? And there are plenty of them. Realtors. Food courts. Commercial cleaners. And almost every retail outlet in downtowns and CBD's everywhere that revolve around the foot traffic that clusters of offices generate. Possibly nobody is more affected by these changes - or more of an expert at being able to predict the future of office work - than Ashley Thibodeaux Herbert. Ashley is CEO of a New Orleans-based company called Bart's Office. Bart's Office is a full-service office moving company. But it does more than just move office furniture. Bart's does everything from making sure you buy the furniture you need, to setting up your internet network. One of the clients they worked with in 2019, for example, was setting up the new New Orleans International Airport. So Ashley is in a good position to look at the what might be the future of the office.  is this whole work-from-home period going to be something we look back on as just a temporary phase? Or are we looking at a permanent change to our relationship with the office? Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are at our website. More conversation about the Louisiana Covid economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 continuing to exist in a parallel universe, beyond Covid 19. Coffee Coffee is the 2nd largest traded commodity in the world. Behind oil. After what's been happening in the oil market over the last few weeks, it's probably safe to say that, as of right now, coffee is the biggest commodity in international trade. Drew Cambre is a professional coffee taster. It wouldn't be surprising if you didn't know "coffee taster" was an actual job. With the popularity of coffee drinking at a generational high and unemployment running at record levels, you might be thinking this is the kind of job you could do. Is it as fun and easy as it sounds? Take a listen to this conversation and see what you think. Technically, Drew is Coffee Quality Manager at The Dupuy Group, a global logistics company headquartered in New Orleans. Grass Whenever somebody has a brilliant new idea for a business that's going to make everybody rich, they pitch it as a version of another brilliant idea that is supposed to make everybody rich. Like, say, Uber. The fact is, that even before this current economic downturn, Uber was losing billions of dollars a year. But that doesn't stop entrepreneurs coming up with concepts based on Uber's gig-economy model. There's Hampr, an app that's “the Uber of laundry.” Bambino is “the Uber of baby sitting.” And now, from Baton Rouge, there's Block Lawncare – the Uber of grass cutting. The co-founder of Block Lawncare is Matthew Armstrong.  What started out as “the Uber of grass cutting” is poised to be more than just a grass hook-up. Block Lawncare has its sights firmly set on world domestic services domination.A Better You Whatever you do, however successful you are, it seems to be human nature to want to do better. To have a better job, a better house, a better car…   At the same time, even the most materialistic among us would probably say, we'd also like to be a better person. To better ourselves in a non-material sense, we normally make a choice. We either go the secular route – go to therapy - or we go the spiritual route and join a church, or follow some other spiritual self-development philosophy. Mary Margaret Camalo doesn't believe you have to make that choice. Mary Margaret is a Transpersonal Psychotherapist who practices an approach to mental and spiritual health, called Psychosynthesis. We typically think of mental health as having short term goals - like getting over depression – and spiritual growth as being a lifetime journey. Mary Margaret's Psychosynthesis balances these two seemingly opposed approaches to self-improvement. As we look toward returning to some sort of normalcy, it's good to remind ourselves that there's life beyond the virus. And now for something completely different... Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, are at our website. If you're looking for more "And now for something completely different" business distractions from Covid 19, try this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 continuing to exist in a parallel universe, beyond Covid 19. Coffee Coffee is the 2nd largest traded commodity in the world. Behind oil. After what's been happening in the oil market over the last few weeks, it's probably safe to say that, as of right now, coffee is the biggest commodity in international trade. Drew Cambre is a professional coffee taster. It wouldn't be surprising if you didn't know "coffee taster" was an actual job. With the popularity of coffee drinking at a generational high and unemployment running at record levels, you might be thinking this is the kind of job you could do. Is it as fun and easy as it sounds? Take a listen to this conversation and see what you think. Technically, Drew is Coffee Quality Manager at The Dupuy Group, a global logistics company headquartered in New Orleans. Grass Whenever somebody has a brilliant new idea for a business that's going to make everybody rich, they pitch it as a version of another brilliant idea that is supposed to make everybody rich. Like, say, Uber. The fact is, that even before this current economic downturn, Uber was losing billions of dollars a year. But that doesn't stop entrepreneurs coming up with concepts based on Uber's gig-economy model. There's Hampr, an app that's “the Uber of laundry.” Bambino is “the Uber of baby sitting.” And now, from Baton Rouge, there's Block Lawncare – the Uber of grass cutting. The co-founder of Block Lawncare is Matthew Armstrong. What started out as “the Uber of grass cutting” is poised to be more than just a grass hook-up. Block Lawncare has its sights firmly set on world domestic services domination. A Better You Whatever you do, however successful you are, it seems to be human nature to want to do better. To have a better job, a better house, a better car…   At the same time, even the most materialistic among us would probably say, we'd also like to be a better person. To better ourselves in a non-material sense, we normally make a choice. We either go the secular route – go to therapy - or we go the spiritual route and join a church, or follow some other spiritual self-development philosophy. Mary Margaret Camalo doesn't believe you have to make that choice. Mary Margaret is a Transpersonal Psychotherapist who practices an approach to mental and spiritual health, called Psychosynthesis. We typically think of mental health as having short term goals - like getting over depression – and spiritual growth as being a lifetime journey. Mary Margaret's Psychosynthesis balances these two seemingly opposed approaches to self-improvement. As we look toward returning to some sort of normalcy, it's good to remind ourselves that there's life beyond the virus.  Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, are at our website. If you're looking for more "And now for something completely different" business distractions from Covid 19, try this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 continuing to exist in a parallel universe, beyond Covid 19. Coffee Coffee is the 2nd largest traded commodity in the world. Behind oil. After what's been happening in the oil market over the last few weeks, it's probably safe to say that, as of right now, coffee is the biggest commodity in international trade. Drew Cambre is a professional coffee taster. It wouldn't be surprising if you didn't know "coffee taster" was an actual job. With the popularity of coffee drinking at a generational high and unemployment running at record levels, you might be thinking this is the kind of job you could do. Is it as fun and easy as it sounds? Take a listen to this conversation and see what you think. Technically, Drew is Coffee Quality Manager at The Dupuy Group, a global logistics company headquartered in New Orleans. Grass Whenever somebody has a brilliant new idea for a business that's going to make everybody rich, they pitch it as a version of another brilliant idea that is supposed to make everybody rich. Like, say, Uber. The fact is, that even before this current economic downturn, Uber was losing billions of dollars a year. But that doesn't stop entrepreneurs coming up with concepts based on Uber's gig-economy model. There's Hampr, an app that's “the Uber of laundry.” Bambino is “the Uber of baby sitting.” And now, from Baton Rouge, there's Block Lawncare – the Uber of grass cutting. The co-founder of Block Lawncare is Matthew Armstrong.  What started out as “the Uber of grass cutting” is poised to be more than just a grass hook-up. Block Lawncare has its sights firmly set on world domestic services domination. A Better You Whatever you do, however successful you are, it seems to be human nature to want to do better. To have a better job, a better house, a better car…   At the same time, even the most materialistic among us would probably say, we'd also like to be a better person. To better ourselves in a non-material sense, we normally make a choice. We either go the secular route – go to therapy - or we go the spiritual route and join a church, or follow some other spiritual self-development philosophy. Mary Margaret Camalo doesn't believe you have to make that choice. Mary Margaret is a Transpersonal Psychotherapist who practices an approach to mental and spiritual health, called Psychosynthesis. We typically think of mental health as having short term goals - like getting over depression – and spiritual growth as being a lifetime journey. Mary Margaret's Psychosynthesis balances these two seemingly opposed approaches to self-improvement. As we look toward returning to some sort of normalcy, it's good to remind ourselves that there's life beyond the virus. And now for something completely different... Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur, and more, are at our website. If you're looking for more "And now for something completely different" business distractions from Covid 19, try this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 pillar, even more central to the US economy, The Fed really immutable? Starkly, is Doomsday possible?      The Fed Whenever we get into any kind of real serious financial trouble – like the recession in 2008, or the economic slow-down we're in now – we're confident that the world is not coming to an end. The reason we're so certain that the financial system is not going to crash, is because we believe The Fed is not going to let it. The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It's actually a series of 12 Federal Reserve banks. Here in Louisiana we're in the Federal Reserve's 6th District, anchored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The Vice President & Regional Executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is Adrienne Slack. In this conversation Peter Ricchiuti takes Adrienne back to a statement by the Chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell, on April 9th. Powell said, "The Fed will provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy. This funding will assist households and employers of all sizes, and bolster the ability of state and local governments to deliver critical services during the coronavirus pandemic.” In other words, on April 9th The Fed gave the United States $2.3 trillion. The Fed is not actually printing money, but on April 9th it did in fact create $2.3 trillion that didn't exist on April 8th. Adrienne explains how this works, and discusses the bigger question: could gthere be a day when it stops working? Oil Nothing sums up the strange and unprecedented economic times we're living in more than a simple, three-letter word: Oil. Maybe there's a fiction writer somewhere who imagined the day oil became a worthless commodity that you had to pay someone to haul away, like garbage. But it's doubtful there is an economist on earth who saw that day coming. Or even the days we're living in now, where we're discussing what's called “$20 oil.” That is, oil that sells for $20 a barrel. What does it cost to produce a barrel of oil? In Louisiana the common wisdom has always been, around $60. Over the last couple of years though, the oil field seems to have been staying alive with prices of around $35 a barrel. Is $20 oil finally going to kill off the energy business in Louisiana? Keep in mind that the reason this matters is, the energy industry in Louisiana employs over a quarter of a million people. And it pays over $2billion in annual state taxes. So whatever happens to the oil business in Louisiana affects all of us. One good thing about a business that is continually in a cycle of boom or bust, is predictability. A bust is always followed at some point by a boom. Or it has been. This time, though, it looks like we're going to need a more robust survival strategy than “Wait for better times to come around.” Do we have that strategy? Gifford Briggs is the lucky person who gets to answer that question. Gifford is President of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Crisis Leadership No matter which part of Louisiana you live in, you've survived disasters. From catastrophic downturns in the oil business, to biblical floods, and storms. One of the most cataclysmic of these in our lifetime was Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was brought to its knees in a way that, till it happened, had only existed as a theoretical “worst case scenario.” Beyond the threat to life itself, hardship like that - and the crisis we're going through now - creates enormous suffering. It also creates heroes. After Katrina, one of those New Orleans heroes was Blake Haney. Blake is the owner of a business called Dirty Coast. Dirty Coast makes hip T-shirts with a New Orleans flavor. After Katrina, they also made a sticker. The sticker said, “Be A New Orleanian wherever you are.” Dirty Coast was then a small store. But demand was so great for those stickers that Blake gave away around one million of them. That slogan united a far-flung diaspora of New Orleanians and captured the resilience that directly led to the rebuilding of New Orleans. Today, Dirty Coast has 4 outlets and a significant e-commerce component. Blake Haney still runs the company. He's also the co-founder of locally.com, a nationwide e-commerce site that drives consumers to brick and mortar stores, and Bayou Brands, an e-commerce and product development consultancy.  There are very few thought-leaders who have actually been on the front-line of rebuilding a shattered economy. Blake is one of them. Can the lessons he learned  last time be applied now to rebuild the local, state and national economy? Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info is at our website. More examination of the current Louisiana economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 pillar, even more central to the US economy, The Fed really immutable? Starkly, is Doomsday possible?      The Fed Whenever we get into any kind of real serious financial trouble – like the recession in 2008, or the economic slow-down we're in now – we're confident that the world is not coming to an end. The reason we're so certain that the financial system is not going to crash, is because we believe The Fed is not going to let it. The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It's actually a series of 12 Federal Reserve banks. Here in Louisiana we're in the Federal Reserve's 6th District, anchored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The Vice President & Regional Executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is Adrienne Slack. In this conversation Peter Ricchiuti takes Adrienne back to a statement by the Chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell, on April 9th. Powell said, "The Fed will provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy. This funding will assist households and employers of all sizes, and bolster the ability of state and local governments to deliver critical services during the coronavirus pandemic.” In other words, on April 9th The Fed gave the United States $2.3 trillion. The Fed is not actually printing money, but on April 9th it did in fact create $2.3 trillion that didn't exist on April 8th. Adrienne explains how this works, and discusses the bigger question: could gthere be a day when it stops working? Oil Nothing sums up the strange and unprecedented economic times we're living in more than a simple, three-letter word: Oil. Maybe there's a fiction writer somewhere who imagined the day oil became a worthless commodity that you had to pay someone to haul away, like garbage. But it's doubtful there is an economist on earth who saw that day coming. Or even the days we're living in now, where we're discussing what's called “$20 oil.” That is, oil that sells for $20 a barrel. What does it cost to produce a barrel of oil? In Louisiana the common wisdom has always been, around $60. Over the last couple of years though, the oil field seems to have been staying alive with prices of around $35 a barrel. Is $20 oil finally going to kill off the energy business in Louisiana? Keep in mind that the reason this matters is, the energy industry in Louisiana employs over a quarter of a million people. And it pays over $2billion in annual state taxes. So whatever happens to the oil business in Louisiana affects all of us. One good thing about a business that is continually in a cycle of boom or bust, is predictability. A bust is always followed at some point by a boom. Or it has been. This time, though, it looks like we're going to need a more robust survival strategy than “Wait for better times to come around.” Do we have that strategy? Gifford Briggs is the lucky person who gets to answer that question. Gifford is President of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Crisis Leadership No matter which part of Louisiana you live in, you've survived disasters. From catastrophic downturns in the oil business, to biblical floods, and storms. One of the most cataclysmic of these in our lifetime was Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was brought to its knees in a way that, till it happened, had only existed as a theoretical “worst case scenario.” Beyond the threat to life itself, hardship like that - and the crisis we're going through now - creates enormous suffering. It also creates heroes. After Katrina, one of those New Orleans heroes was Blake Haney. Blake is the owner of a business called Dirty Coast. Dirty Coast makes hip T-shirts with a New Orleans flavor. After Katrina, they also made a sticker. The sticker said, “Be A New Orleanian wherever you are.” Dirty Coast was then a small store. But demand was so great for those stickers that Blake gave away around one million of them. That slogan united a far-flung diaspora of New Orleanians and captured the resilience that directly led to the rebuilding of New Orleans. Today, Dirty Coast has 4 outlets and a significant e-commerce component. Blake Haney still runs the company. He's also the co-founder of locally.com, a nationwide e-commerce site that drives consumers to brick and mortar stores, and Bayou Brands, an e-commerce and product development consultancy.  There are very few thought-leaders who have actually been on the front-line of rebuilding a shattered economy. Blake is one of them. Can the lessons he learned  last time be applied now to rebuild the local, state and national economy? Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info is at our website. More examination of the current Louisiana economy is here.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 pillar, even more central to the US economy, The Fed really immutable? Starkly, is Doomsday possible?      The Fed Whenever we get into any kind of real serious financial trouble – like the recession in 2008, or the economic slow-down we're in now – we're confident that the world is not coming to an end. The reason we're so certain that the financial system is not going to crash, is because we believe The Fed is not going to let it. The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It's actually a series of 12 Federal Reserve banks. Here in Louisiana we're in the Federal Reserve's 6th District, anchored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The Vice President & Regional Executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is Adrienne Slack. In this conversation Peter Ricchiuti takes Adrienne back to a statement by the Chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell, on April 9th. Powell said, "The Fed will provide up to $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy. This funding will assist households and employers of all sizes, and bolster the ability of state and local governments to deliver critical services during the coronavirus pandemic.” In other words, on April 9th The Fed gave the United States $2.3 trillion. The Fed is not actually printing money, but on April 9th it did in fact create $2.3 trillion that didn't exist on April 8th. Adrienne explains how this works, and discusses the bigger question: could gthere be a day when it stops working? Oil Nothing sums up the strange and unprecedented economic times we're living in more than a simple, three-letter word: Oil. Maybe there's a fiction writer somewhere who imagined the day oil became a worthless commodity that you had to pay someone to haul away, like garbage. But it's doubtful there is an economist on earth who saw that day coming. Or even the days we're living in now, where we're discussing what's called “$20 oil.” That is, oil that sells for $20 a barrel. What does it cost to produce a barrel of oil? In Louisiana the common wisdom has always been, around $60. Over the last couple of years though, the oil field seems to have been staying alive with prices of around $35 a barrel. Is $20 oil finally going to kill off the energy business in Louisiana? Keep in mind that the reason this matters is, the energy industry in Louisiana employs over a quarter of a million people. And it pays over $2billion in annual state taxes. So whatever happens to the oil business in Louisiana affects all of us. One good thing about a business that is continually in a cycle of boom or bust, is predictability. A bust is always followed at some point by a boom. Or it has been. This time, though, it looks like we're going to need a more robust survival strategy than “Wait for better times to come around.” Do we have that strategy? Gifford Briggs is the lucky person who gets to answer that question. Gifford is President of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. Crisis Leadership No matter which part of Louisiana you live in, you've survived disasters. From catastrophic downturns in the oil business, to biblical floods, and storms. One of the most cataclysmic of these in our lifetime was Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was brought to its knees in a way that, till it happened, had only existed as a theoretical “worst case scenario.” Beyond the threat to life itself, hardship like that - and the crisis we're going through now - creates enormous suffering. It also creates heroes. After Katrina, one of those New Orleans heroes was Blake Haney. Blake is the owner of a business called Dirty Coast. Dirty Coast makes hip T-shirts with a New Orleans flavor. After Katrina, they also made a sticker. The sticker said, “Be A New Orleanian wherever you are.” Dirty Coast was then a small store. But demand was so great for those stickers that Blake gave away around one million of them. That slogan united a far-flung diaspora of New Orleanians and captured the resilience that directly led to the rebuilding of New Orleans. Today, Dirty Coast has 4 outlets and a significant e-commerce component. Blake Haney still runs the company. He's also the co-founder of locally.com, a nationwide e-commerce site that drives consumers to brick and mortar stores, and Bayou Brands, an e-commerce and product development consultancy.  There are very few thought-leaders who have actually been on the front-line of rebuilding a shattered economy. Blake is one of them. Can the lessons he learned  last time be applied now to rebuild the local, state and national economy? Photos by Jill Lafleur and more info is at our website. More examination of the current Louisiana economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 down practically every store in the country. If you weren't an online shopper before all of this, you probably are now. So, now that we've all discovered how easy it is to order online and have everything show up at our door two days later, what happens to our mom and pop stores, our art galleries, and everything else that has typically relied on foot traffic? In Lafayette, we're in the process of finding out the answer to this question, as stores are beginning to re-open. Anita Begnaud is CEO of the Lafayette Downtown Development Authority. Anita, with Lafayette being one of the earliest parts of the state and the country to open back up, you're a witness to history. What are you seeing in Downtown Lafayette? Real Estate One of the changes that has come with this health crisis, is the discovery many of us have made about working from home. At first it was something of a novelty. It felt like a long weekend. But now that we've mastered video meetings and found strategies for balancing work and family, we've discovered that not commuting has distinct advantages. As businesses open up, many people who have unshackled themselves from the office are looking to continue the work-from-home habit. And from the employer side, if productivity stays the same and you don't need office space, well, that's a significant saving. This might all sound great, but if even just 20% of us stayed home, and office space and everything that goes with it shrinks by 20% – like attendance at the food court and the nearby gym – what does that knock-on effect do to the economy? Let's start with what it might do to the commercial real estate market... Matthew Laborde, commercial real estate broker at Elifin Realty in Baton Rouge, looks into the future of working from home and has some insightful, evidence-based predictions. Education If you're in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you've learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.” Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it's all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again? Peter Ricchiuti puts this question to Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans. Is the Zoom classroom revolution going to have a permanent effect on education? Or is it just a Covid convenience? Find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website  More analysis of the future of the Louisiana economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 down practically every store in the country. If you weren't an online shopper before all of this, you probably are now. So, now that we've all discovered how easy it is to order online and have everything show up at our door two days later, what happens to our mom and pop stores, our art galleries, and everything else that has typically relied on foot traffic? In Lafayette, we're in the process of finding out the answer to this question, as stores are beginning to re-open. Anita Begnaud is CEO of the Lafayette Downtown Development Authority. Anita, with Lafayette being one of the earliest parts of the state and the country to open back up, you're a witness to history. What are you seeing in Downtown Lafayette? Real Estate One of the changes that has come with this health crisis, is the discovery many of us have made about working from home. At first it was something of a novelty. It felt like a long weekend. But now that we've mastered video meetings and found strategies for balancing work and family, we've discovered that not commuting has distinct advantages. As businesses open up, many people who have unshackled themselves from the office are looking to continue the work-from-home habit. And from the employer side, if productivity stays the same and you don't need office space, well, that's a significant saving. This might all sound great, but if even just 20% of us stayed home, and office space and everything that goes with it shrinks by 20% – like attendance at the food court and the nearby gym – what does that knock-on effect do to the economy? Let's start with what it might do to the commercial real estate market... Matthew Laborde, commercial real estate broker at Elifin Realty in Baton Rouge, looks into the future of working from home and has some insightful, evidence-based predictions. Education If you're in college or you have kids in school, over the past couple of months you've learned a new word. And a new skill. The word is, “Zoom.” And the skill is, “Distance Learning.” Up until sometime in March 2020, if you wanted to get an education you had to get out of your house and go to a classroom. Now you just have to go to your computer - or even your phone – and click on “Join Zoom Meeting.” And there you are, with the same teacher, the same lesson, even the same kids in your class. And it's all going on in the comfort of your own home. Why would you ever go back to a classroom again? Peter Ricchiuti puts this question to Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University in New Orleans. Is the Zoom classroom revolution going to have a permanent effect on education? Or is it just a Covid convenience? Find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website. More analysis of the future of the Louisiana economy is here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.