Case Studies Region: Southeast

Imagine walking down New Orleans’ Magazine Street, the first five blocks of which were created in 1788. A stone’s throw from the Mississippi river, the street is now six miles long and lined with quaint shops occupying buildings constructed in the 1850s. Restaurants are abundant, but one serves up both culinary and musical delights: Juan’s […]

Erik Estrada apparently is cool with the concept of his circa-1970s TV show inspiring a burger at a slowly but steadily growing chain of very basic bars. Recently he chanced upon a Jack Brown’s in rural Tennessee and enjoyed a so-called Ponch burger named after his character in “CHiPs,” Patrolman Francis Poncherello. That’s a toasted […]

It’s that whiff of vanilla, that cherry tartness, or the pucker of lemon you remember from candy as a kid. Or it’s that taste of peanut butter you enjoy in your cocktail-hour whiskey. “We make memories through flavors,” says Al Murphy. “Our flavors are part of everyday life experience—think back to childhood and those impressions.” […]

There’s nothing like sinking your teeth into the perfect, mouth-watering Wagyu ribeye. The marbling of the cut; the soft, velvety texture; the unctuous flavor achieved by grilling over an open flame. As steaks go, these premium cuts are as good as it gets. Francois Leger, owner of FPL Food, LLC, has been selling high-quality Wagyu […]

When the oil industry in Morgan City, Louisiana collapsed in 1982, Greg Hamer quickly found himself out of work. He never thought his future would be in the taco business. After all, he hated Mexican food. What he noticed about his hometown, however, was its glaring lack of Mexican restaurants. After doing some research, Hamer […]

There’s a lot of sugar in Stephen Savoie’s blood. It’s been passed down through generations and flows through the family he works with at Lula-Westfield LLC. For 150 years, through price swings, increased production costs, industry consolidations and a 1997 merger, Lula-Westfield has been growing and processing sugar cane in Louisiana. Named CEO on March […]

Charles “Chuck” Obern discovered his passion for growing things as a high school student in the early 1970s, working in nurseries located north of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Now, as the founder of C&B Farms, his produce stocks the shelves of many grocery store chains around the country. His farms, located in Clewiston, Florida, and Cape Charles, […]

The size of the Lone Star State not withstanding, word can travel fast. Especially in the agricultural industry, where farmers learn early which contractors and builders they can rely upon for the equipment and services so necessary to enable their high-stakes, potentially high-reward operations. It’s a fact of Texas life that Brett Marek grew accustomed […]

The Braswell family has supplied Americans with eggs and animal feed products since 1943. Back then, everything took place in the family’s water-powered mill in Nashville, North Carolina. Over the past 70 years that operation grew into several more locations and companies. All of them fell under the umbrella of Braswell Foods, a vertically integrated […]

You probably didn’t give too much thought to those hanging flowers you bought at Lowe’s or another big-box store for $10 or $12. But someone did, and it’s very likely that someone was involved at a massive greenhouse and distribution operation in the north-central Kentucky city of Paris, or its second facility in Granville, Illinois. […]