4 minute read
Success: They started right here
They started right here
A sampling of Baton Rouge standouts that have made their way out of the Capital Region to new heights. BY DEANNA B. NARVESON
COLLIN RICHIE
WALK-ON’S SPORTS BISTREAUX
WALK-ON’S founders Brandon Landry (pictured) and Jack Warner became fast friends as a pair of walk-ons on the LSU basketball team. In 2003, the pair opened their first restaurant, near LSU on Burbank Drive. In 2014, Warner sold his stake in the company to a new partner, and the company began a large expansion push. In 2022, with 65 locations across the country and dozens more franchises in the works, the company announced plans for a new corporate office in Atlanta.
DAVID WOOD
RAISING CANE’S CHICKEN FINGERS
FOUNDERS TODD GRAVES (pictured) and Craig Silvey opened the first Raising Cane’s, now dubbed “The Mothership,” in 1996 near LSU’s North Gate. The fast-food chain now has more than 50,000 employees and more than 470 restaurants in 27 states and five countries.
SOUTHERN MARSH
CEO MATTHEW
VALIOLLAHI created the brand, which sells hats, fishing shirts and travel kits, in 2008. The first storefront opened in fall 2018, but the brand sells online to customers across the South.
COLLIN RICHIE
MARUCCI SPORTS
MARUCCI BAT Company was founded in 2004 by retired professional baseball players Kurt Ainsworth and Joe Lawrence along with LSU trainer Jack Marucci. In 2009, Ainsworth and Lawrence partnered with Reed Dickens to launch Marucci Sports, which then acquired the bat company. In 2020, the company, which supplies bats for Major League Baseball, was purchased for $200 million by Compass Diversified Holdings. Its headquarters remain here with Baton Rouge native Kurt Answorth (pictured) serving as CEO.
COLLIN RICHIE
LEE MICHAELS FINE JEWELRY
THE FAMILY-OWNED company, launched by Lee Michael Berg (pictured) and his wife, Brenda, began with one store in Baton Rouge at the Cortana Mall four decades ago. Today, it has grown to nine stores across Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and, most recently, New Mexico, with revenues of more than $56 million.
DON KADAIR
FERRARA FIRE APPARATUS
FOUNDER Chris Ferrara came up with the idea in the 1970s when he was a volunteer firefighter in Central. The manufacturer, located off of I-12 in rural Livingston Parish, produces tankers, platforms and other vehicles for fire departments from San Francisco to New York City. In 2017, the business was purchased by Milwaukee-based REV Group.
1922 2022
GENERAL INFORMATICS
HEADQUARTERED IN
Baton Rouge for 21 years, this company creates technology for businesses and organizations. It serves clients in 35 states, and has offices locally, in Lafayette, New Orleans and San Francisco. Dallas-based Rosewood Private Investments bought a majority stake in General Informatics in 2020 and developed an aggressive growth plan. Don Monistere (pictured) is the company’s CEO and president.
COLLIN RICHIE
COLLIN RICHIE
PRESONUS AUDIO ELECTRONICS
A LEADING designer and manufacturer of both recording and live-sound hardware and software solutions for the music industry, PreSonus was founded by LSU graduates Jim Odom and Brian Smith in 1995. In November 2021, the Baton Rouge company was acquired by Fender. (Pictured, from left: Eric Welch, product manager, and Ryan Roullard, documentation manager.)
LUCAS+MCKEARN
FORMERLY CALLED Flambeau Lighting, this company sells sconces, table lamps and chandeliers from its showroom on Perkins Road. In 2017, it merged with a British company and now sells its products worldwide, with partner Joe McKearn (pictured) managing operations in Baton Rouge.
COLLIN RICHIE
FILE PHOTO
ORION INSTRUMENTS
FOUNDED IN 2001 in Baton Rouge, Orion Instruments is a global magnetic-based instrumentation company with a 50,000-square-foot facility on Oak Villa Boulevard. The company serves chemical, refining, wastewater, power generation and oil and gas processing industries.
Downtown Southtown or
COURTESY BREEDLOVE BEAUTY CO.
BREEDLOVE BEAUTY CO.
KELLI PALMER created this skin and hair care line in 2016. The company went viral across the U.S. in late 2018 after it was featured in beauty magazines. Now, Breedlove has tens of thousands of devotees and is sold on national cosmetic websites and in boutiques as far away as Oakland, California.
LUBRICITY LABS
BATON ROUGE DAD and Ph.D. Boyce Clark (pictured), set out to make a hair product to tame his daughter’s frizzy hair, leading to the launch of Lubricity Labs in 2015. The brand is now used by more than 2,500 hair salons around the U.S., and the company, based in LSU’s Innovation Park, produces more than 1,500 bottles a day.
COLLIN RICHIE
