Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Beyond the Turducken: Larry Avery's Path to Building a Louisiana Food Legacy | Manufacturing Series

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Beyond the Turducken: Larry Avery's Path to Building a Louisiana Food Legacy | Manufacturing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
• 0:08
  where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
• 0:11
  their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
• 0:14
  adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
• 0:17
  today's guest is Larry Avery, the managing partner at Big Easy
• 0:21
  Foods. Founded in Lake Charles, LA, Big
• 0:24
  Easy Foods provides authentic Louisiana flavor through stuffed
• 0:28
  meats, seafood and other traditional dishes.
• 0:31
  Aiming to bring hearty Southern meals to homes everywhere.
• 0:35
  Larry also serves on the Board of Directors for the Louisiana
• 0:38
  Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and Co founded Crying
• 0:43
  Eagle Brewing Company, highlighting his commitment to
• 0:46
  promoting local tastes and traditions.
• 0:48
  With years of experience in the food industry, Larry has helped
• 0:52
  Big Easy Foods grow its product line while staying true to its
• 0:55
  mission of delivering convenient and delicious meals.
• 0:58
  For nearly three decades, he has guided his company's expansion
• 1:02
  into online distribution of gourmet and frozen products.
• 1:06
  His leadership reflects a passion for celebrating the
• 1:09
  cuisine and culture of Louisiana, making him a true
• 1:12
  champion of Southern hospitality.
• 1:15
  Today, we'll hear about how Larry and his team have built a
• 1:18
  successful brand and how he's navigated challenges in a very
• 1:21
  competitive market. Now before we get into all that
• 1:24
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• 1:27
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  To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
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  AD back benefitsagency.com. All right, back to our guest
• 1:57
  today, CEO Co founder of Big Easy Foods, Larry Avery.
• 2:01
  I appreciate you making the time to Share your story today.
• 2:04
  Well, thank you. Glad too.
• 2:07
  OK, so Larry, maybe take us back a ways.
• 2:10
  Where did the idea to start Big Easy Foods first come from?
• 2:15
  Well, we have to go back a little further than that.
• 2:18
  We, my wife and I started a company, a company called Aqua
• 2:24
  Tech Engineering Supply that that grew out of our garage to 8
• 2:31
  offices around the country. OK.
• 2:32
  And then in 1995, we sold it to a public company in Chicago.
• 2:43
  And I stayed on a couple years and then that's the contract.
• 2:49
  So my contract was up. My wife and I moved back to this
• 2:53
  Lake Charles area and we began. Sorry, Larry, before we move on
• 2:58
  from that, say a little bit more about what that company did.
• 3:02
  The Aquatech engineering, yeah, OK.
• 3:04
  So we did flow through filtrations and we cleaned up
• 3:11
  our biggest claim to fame. We're the biggest in the country
• 3:14
  cleaning up UST underground storage tanks.
• 3:17
  That's where the service stations that had been business
• 3:20
  for 60 years, tanks began to leak, contaminating the
• 3:25
  groundwater underneath their fields.
• 3:27
  So they would, we would put up our equipment, remediate the
• 3:31
  ground, service the equipment and then bring the ground back
• 3:36
  to, to clean and, and where they could use it further.
• 3:42
  So we, we cleaned up, oh, probably 1000 sites, you know,
• 3:48
  but the other thing is we also built equipment for people like
• 3:52
  Coca-Cola and Pepsi cola and Coors and pharmaceutical
• 3:57
  companies and all that. So it's just kind of grew and
• 4:00
  grew and then and I guess in about 1994 three or four
• 4:09
  something like that, we approached by Shell Oil company
• 4:14
  to do some, some help them with their offshore division.
• 4:20
  So we they prior to those years, they were allowed to go in, shut
• 4:26
  a well in, acidize the formation, send it to acid down,
• 4:31
  then bring it up and put it overboard.
• 4:34
  Fish can detect pH change. What they can't detect is the
• 4:39
  hydrocarbons. So the government said, OK, you
• 4:42
  can throw the acid overboard, but you got to get all the
• 4:47
  hydrocarbons out of it. Well, that was very hard for
• 4:51
  anybody to do. And they asked me, of course,
• 4:56
  being a a young entrepreneur, we said, well, I'll tell you what,
• 5:02
  send us a sample, we'll run it through our labs.
• 5:05
  And I called back two days later and said we can't, we don't have
• 5:08
  any more time. What's the answer?
• 5:10
  And I said, the answer is, I don't know.
• 5:13
  But what I'll do is I'll send a crew out there with our
• 5:15
  equipment. If we clean it up, you pay me
• 5:17
  this. And if we don't, you pay me this
• 5:20
  much lesser. And I said, come on.
• 5:23
  Well, it worked. So we patent it and I figured
• 5:30
  that these big companies would would have a work around within
• 5:35
  1824 months. So that's not the case.
• 5:39
  It's still probably over close to 1/2 a billion dollars worth
• 5:43
  of the sales for the company that I sold to now.
• 5:47
  So. Are you the one who came up with
• 5:49
  the actual science, the tech behind it that was able to do
• 5:53
  this? Well, I, I suppose that would be
• 5:58
  right to say, but of course we all have teams.
• 6:00
  I, I don't do anything by myself, OK, we do, we, we
• 6:04
  contemplate, we do things. So we use that same technology,
• 6:09
  clean up some of the ground waters that were contaminated
• 6:13
  with heavy hydrocarbons and things like that.
• 6:16
  So we did, we did it on land. Now we're doing it offshore and
• 6:22
  it was very lucrative business and but also at that point in
• 6:28
  that they were doing a tremendous amount of roll ups in
• 6:31
  that environmental space. And at that point I had hired
• 6:36
  somebody just to handle the offers.
• 6:40
  You know you get a lot of offers for your company.
• 6:43
  And so we we just move forward growing the business and let
• 6:48
  somebody else do it. What's kind of the breakthrough
• 6:52
  in that tech? Is it something you can talk
• 6:54
  about? Was it that you were able to
• 6:57
  figure? Out that others weren't well we
• 6:58
  used the media that we that we had secured through the company
• 7:06
  that actually ended up buying us.
• 7:08
  That was their media. It's a clay based media that
• 7:16
  it's used in a lot of things, but we used it with anthracite
• 7:20
  coal and and it just worked. So anyway, the science behind
• 7:26
  it, you're probably going to have to ask somebody else, but.
• 7:29
  Fair enough. It worked.
• 7:31
  That's all it meant. OK.
• 7:32
  So you built this company up, you had this patent technology.
• 7:36
  Exit to Shell is the one who ultimately bought it.
• 7:40
  No, no, it's Amcal who's now been bought out by somebody
• 7:47
  else. You know, they were less than a
• 7:50
  billion dollar company and they were growing to a billion.
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  And so we became part of it. Eventually I had to move to
• 7:58
  Chicago for two years, run the company.
• 8:00
  They had bought two other companies they put under me and
• 8:06
  we grew it and until my contract was up and I just said it was
• 8:13
  time for us to go back South. I had built a self storage and
• 8:17
  and and that was going to make my retirement.
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  So I was 42 years old and sold my company.
• 8:25
  So we had some money and I put me a little tiny office in my
• 8:30
  self storage company we'd opened up here in the Lake Charles area
• 8:35
  and started playing golf and doing other things.
• 8:40
  Well after about 3 months that was, plus I'm at the Country
• 8:45
  Club where everybody at that point was 70 years old and there
• 8:48
  I was 40. I had nothing in common with
• 8:51
  them. So I said I was going to build a
• 8:54
  self storage company and that's where my partner comes in, Mark
• 8:58
  Abraham. So Mark and I got together and
• 9:04
  decided to build 10 self storage.
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  He had a small sausage and booty and company in the neighboring
• 9:15
  town that he he was. He was looking for somebody to
• 9:20
  come in and help him with that. It was very small, less than
• 9:25
  $1,000,000 a year in sales. Wasn't too profitable.
• 9:31
  So anyway I spent some time in his business at his request and
• 9:39
  found out he was he needed some tuning up and he asked if I
• 9:43
  would be part of it and after about 3 or 4 months of that I'm
• 9:49
  broke down and said sure I'll be a part of it but I don't want no
• 9:53
  part of what you got going on. I will build a nice new
• 9:57
  state-of-the-art facility, buy a few companies, put them together
• 10:03
  and flip it in about six years. That was the plan and 25 years
• 10:10
  later we're still buying companies and put them together.
• 10:13
  So anyway. What was it that you saw in sort
• 10:17
  of his seedling of an idea that you know, it was there, it was
• 10:22
  running along not making a lot of money.
• 10:24
  What? What did you see that you
• 10:26
  thought OK, let let this be my next thing.
• 10:29
  Wow, that's well, his plant manager was stealing from me.
• 10:34
  His bookkeeper was stealing from me.
• 10:36
  He had 14 employees doing the work of seven, six.
• 10:41
  And so I told him that and he goes, well, you, you, you got to
• 10:47
  come and take care of this. I said, I don't want no part of
• 10:49
  that. And like I just said, took three
• 10:52
  months to convince me. And so we did.
• 10:56
  We got together and started at that point it was called French
• 11:02
  Market Foods and then we bought a few companies, seasoning
• 11:07
  company, stuffed chicken company and things like that.
• 11:11
  And then and then we focused on Turducken, maybe with the dragon
• 11:19
  and John Madden and. Go ahead and tell for the
• 11:23
  audience. Well, it's a Turkey and that we
• 11:27
  debone. We leave the legs and the wings
• 11:30
  out there for shape, but we stuff it with a boneless duck,
• 11:34
  boneless chicken and various dressing.
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  It became very popular. We had a good ride right up in
• 11:41
  the Wall Street Journal and just tons of other newspapers and and
• 11:47
  things. So, so we became the biggest in
• 11:52
  the Turducken business, so. Why were you guys the biggest?
• 11:55
  Were you the 1st? We were.
• 11:57
  Well, we bought our company from Paul, one of our companies from
• 12:04
  Paul Perdone and he's the one kind of founded Turducken and
• 12:08
  and he had a good following. The only thing about chef Paul,
• 12:13
  he, he, he didn't want anything frozen, OK, he, he developed
• 12:17
  this product and and it was a great product, good for, you
• 12:22
  know, big events and things like that.
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  But the real market for that product is in the frozen, you
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  know, where you could put it in grocery stores around the
• 12:30
  country. And we did and we put it in
• 12:32
  grocery stores around the country and did bought the
• 12:38
  biggest turducken Internet company, directand.com.
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  So we had a good presence in the in the e-commerce business and
• 12:49
  that, you know, it became it's very labor intensive and it, you
• 12:56
  know, it started dwelling off John Madden passed away.
• 13:00
  He meant, you know, he brought every Thanksgiving, he had it at
• 13:03
  that football game. So it was but then after you
• 13:07
  passed, you know, it was a, a smaller end and by that time we
• 13:11
  had we're doing other stuff. So we we didn't mind stepping
• 13:17
  aside that moving to reckons to the side so.
• 13:21
  So Larry, is we're hearing about some of your experiences here.
• 13:24
  I'm trying to sort of weave the common thread because you know,
• 13:29
  you're, you know, sort of this well, wastewater cleanup and you
• 13:34
  know, patented tech there. And then, you know, you, you
• 13:37
  obviously very successful. You built that up and, and
• 13:40
  exited. And then, you know, you get into
• 13:43
  the food business, which you previously hadn't had a
• 13:45
  background in. But you know, you're very
• 13:47
  quickly acquiring companies and sounds like at least you planned
• 13:51
  on. I don't know if you move forward
• 13:52
  with the self storage companies. And so if I want to try to, you
• 13:57
  know, put Larry Avery in a box. Are you a great leader?
• 14:00
  Are you a great salesman? You know, great at spotting
• 14:04
  opportunities like Help us understand.
• 14:08
  What to me, I think businesses believe it or not, are about 90%
• 14:14
  transferable. So what you learn in this
• 14:16
  business, you transfer in the other what?
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  What does that mean? That means give a good quality
• 14:21
  product, give good customer service, customer relationships
• 14:25
  and and surround yourself with great people.
• 14:28
  Now the other 10%, there's a whole lot of difference between
• 14:35
  cleaning up wastewater tree plants to build in a food
• 14:39
  company. Those are things you got to
• 14:41
  learn. But again, it's all about
• 14:44
  surrounding yourself with just fantastic people and keeping
• 14:48
  them. You know, you spend a lot of
• 14:52
  time investing in new people, I believe, and not enough time
• 14:58
  with keeping the good people you have.
• 15:00
  So we've done that. So my chief operating officer,
• 15:05
  he's been with me out of 25 years, he'd been here 24 years.
• 15:08
  So he started once he got his MBA and came in and he was a
• 15:16
  good friend, my son, I knew him very well and you got his MBA
• 15:22
  wanted to come work. I said, tell you what a guy I, I
• 15:25
  got an inside sales job that pays 24,000 a year this 24 years
• 15:31
  ago buying you OK, he goes, I can't take that.
• 15:34
  I'm making 40 selling insurance. I said, well, if it's all about
• 15:39
  money, then you probably need to stay over there.
• 15:41
  But if you want to come help build something and, and, and
• 15:45
  we'll all succeed together. And I said go and think about
• 15:49
  it, talk to your wife. And he didn't, I think two days
• 15:53
  later signed up and he's been here ever since.
• 15:56
  But that's just one I've got the, the production manager,
• 16:01
  he's been here 20 something years, the logistics lady and
• 16:05
  she's been through everything, but now she's logistics 20
• 16:09
  something years. So we got a lot of people that's
• 16:11
  been here from 15 to 20 years and this we, we don't really
• 16:19
  train a lot of people because people don't leave.
• 16:23
  And so what's the secret to keeping them, you know?
• 16:27
  I always said our motto here is we're going to make money and
• 16:33
  have fun. OK?
• 16:34
  It has to be in that order. But you know, and if we could
• 16:39
  win that it would probably going to sell because I believe you
• 16:46
  should have a good time or this is a serious business and we
• 16:49
  take it very serious. But again, we'd like to laugh a
• 16:53
  little bit. I bring my little puppy to work
• 16:56
  and runs around and plays with people and an hour later it gets
• 17:01
  taken off. But that's just one of the
• 17:05
  things we do. But.
• 17:07
  I mean, say, say more about the the have fun part of it, right.
• 17:10
  I mean, every business, yeah. You've got to make money.
• 17:12
  You're not running a charity that that's table stakes to keep
• 17:15
  the doors open. But what's it look like sort of
• 17:18
  there behind the scenes? How are you guys having a good
• 17:20
  time? My job to me, if I now remember
• 17:24
  I've got great people in place. So my job is to be the biggest
• 17:28
  cheerleader, encourage them, be their listener, being the guy
• 17:34
  that does the providing the resources that I believe in
• 17:39
  them, support ideas they come to you with, not all of them, of
• 17:44
  course, but a lot of them they come to you with, with some
• 17:47
  really incredible ideas. And we, we just go together and
• 17:52
  we do work on it and make it success.
• 17:54
  So, but people like that, they like to be able to walk in at
• 18:00
  any time in my office and talk to me, you know, so and I'll
• 18:05
  walk in their office and talk to them.
• 18:07
  And you know, the other plants we have around Kendrew, we show
• 18:12
  up and have a good time and I'll feed everybody.
• 18:15
  And, and we've had Christmas bonus for 25 or 25 years.
• 18:24
  And even the years we lost money, we gave bonuses out
• 18:27
  because a lot of times it wasn't their fault that we were making
• 18:30
  money. It wasn't my fault either, you
• 18:32
  know, it just circumstances takes you.
• 18:35
  Sometimes things out of your control.
• 18:37
  Yeah, a lot of time. What were what were the COVID
• 18:40
  years like for you guys up down, big struggle?
• 18:44
  COVID well, you know, we own we own the self storage company and
• 18:51
  the brewery took it on the Chin food company.
• 18:55
  Our business went through the roof.
• 18:56
  We couldn't keep up. OK, prices went up.
• 19:00
  Everything. It was just, we made some good
• 19:03
  friends and we made some enemies in our business because, you
• 19:07
  know, these grocery stores were selling more they couldn't keep
• 19:11
  on the shelves because people couldn't go to the restaurants.
• 19:15
  And so we we sold a lot of product and a lot of times we
• 19:20
  wouldn't able to keep up with the orders.
• 19:22
  And that's where you get people upset.
• 19:24
  So, but All in all it was, it was good growing experience for
• 19:28
  us and we've made-up to all those people that got upset.
• 19:33
  So the people who are upset, they're just upset because you
• 19:36
  guys couldn't keep up with the demand.
• 19:37
  You couldn't supply enough product to them.
• 19:39
  Yeah, exactly. Tell us more about the products
• 19:43
  you've acquired multiple companies along the way.
• 19:45
  What? What are you guys producing now?
• 19:47
  What are your capabilities? Well, we do.
• 19:51
  OK. So we're the biggest in the
• 19:54
  domestic shrimp business, while domestic shrimp out of.
• 20:01
  Out the golf into grocery stores, OK, there's 2 dimensions
• 20:07
  of food and one's food service, which restaurants and things
• 20:14
  like schools and prisons that we, we do very, very little
• 20:17
  business there. We focused years ago on grocery
• 20:20
  stores and so we're mostly grocery driven companies.
• 20:25
  So we, we offer the shrimp all different ways, but P&D peeled
• 20:35
  into vein, cooked, all natural things like that.
• 20:41
  So that's shrimp and then catfish.
• 20:46
  We do domestic catfish in the retail space and we're the
• 20:49
  biggest guys in that business too.
• 20:53
  So and we're in a lot of the major chains, OK, a lot of them.
• 21:01
  And it's just grown. And then the other third is the
• 21:05
  Louisiana cuisines. So that's like boneless stuffed
• 21:11
  chickens. It's like sausage boudin.
• 21:16
  We do entrees which are he didn't eat entree, the small
• 21:22
  single serve gumbos, a toupees, creoles, all the things and we
• 21:27
  sell it all over. And then we make we make these
• 21:33
  little bacon poppers, which are jalapenos stuffed with either
• 21:39
  Creole sausage, cream cheese or anything like that.
• 21:42
  And then we put this the bacon wrap and we do about, we make
• 21:48
  about 50,000 dose a day and sell them out.
• 21:51
  So and when the price of bacon goes up cost inspected what or
• 21:58
  the case we're going with now is jalapenos.
• 22:03
  We we buy our jalapenos from a region in Mexico where they grow
• 22:06
  them to the BTU specs that we like OK, which means not too
• 22:12
  hot. We want a good jalapeno flavor,
• 22:15
  but we don't want anybody burning up with them.
• 22:17
  So there's a section in Mexico. We buy everything they grow and
• 22:21
  every year they're growing more and more because we buy more.
• 22:23
  So, so we've got a good name in that business and we sell a lot
• 22:30
  of those. And so they've got a specific
• 22:32
  strain of these Peppers that they grow and they know that the
• 22:37
  BTU rating is going to come out sort of in this range because of
• 22:42
  the soil conditions and what that variety, what that strain
• 22:45
  is like. And that's perfect for your
• 22:47
  client base, yeah. Yeah.
• 22:49
  And and we want to keep that relationship growing.
• 22:54
  So if they put a tariff on Mexico, that'll affect us.
• 22:58
  We figured that's something that of course we can work around
• 23:02
  anything so. So what would be the plan if, if
• 23:05
  those tariffs come through, I mean, you just have?
• 23:07
  To well we increase your price, it was 25% tariff, it would be
• 23:11
  around $0.02 per popper. OK, so 50,000 pops a day, $1000
• 23:18
  a day cost me so have to pass on the two cents.
• 23:22
  So it's just business. That's how that's how business
• 23:27
  works. That's how math works.
• 23:29
  If your costs increase, those get passed on down the chain.
• 23:32
  What happened here? There you go.
• 23:35
  Sorry. So what?
• 23:37
  What is it that has allowed you and these food companies to be
• 23:41
  so successful? Are you guys investing more in
• 23:46
  the production technology? Do you just have really great
• 23:51
  distributor relationships and fantastic salespeople that are,
• 23:55
  you know, opening up all these doors at the different
• 23:57
  retailers? What do you attribute this to?
• 24:00
  You know, I, I believe it's the, the quality of the product, the
• 24:04
  uniqueness of the product and of course the fact that we believe
• 24:09
  highly in the customer service aspect.
• 24:12
  My sales team is moderately, it's very modern.
• 24:17
  We've only got a few in the sales force.
• 24:20
  We work through a nationwide network of brokers, but my sales
• 24:26
  team do the headquarter call. So we keep the relationship with
• 24:30
  the customers. So if there's a problem, they
• 24:32
  call us directly and we deal with it.
• 24:35
  So, and we, we don't try to get ahead of our skis and try to
• 24:42
  oversell and, and things like that.
• 24:44
  We know we want to grow every year, but you know, we're not
• 24:49
  going to grow 30 percent, 40%. It's just, I mean, a lot of our
• 24:54
  products are, are man made. So we, we, we have to understand
• 25:01
  labor is, is, is an issue with everybody.
• 25:07
  But certainly in our business it's an issue.
• 25:10
  And we, we, we continually invest every year we invest a
• 25:15
  great deal of our revenues in new production equipment
• 25:19
  freezing somewhat, transportation, not so much.
• 25:25
  I just bought a truck yesterday, that's why it comes to mind.
• 25:27
  But anyway. You talked about, you know,
• 25:30
  making the sort of the office environment there fun and you
• 25:35
  know, have some really key folks that have been with you for a
• 25:38
  long time and production facilities.
• 25:42
  Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm going to presume there's a bit
• 25:43
  more turnover there Is, is traditional in those kinds of
• 25:47
  environments? Are are there things that you've
• 25:49
  tried and found success with that helps with sort of
• 25:53
  recruiting and retaining folks in that type of environment?
• 25:57
  Again, it is about the management in the production
• 26:01
  plants that they have to take the same type management style
• 26:07
  that they see in, in the office here and, and bring it to our
• 26:10
  production plants. OK.
• 26:12
  And, and they realize that we're, it's not a fun and game
• 26:16
  thing, but again, get your job done.
• 26:19
  You're, we are highly appreciated and well rewarded.
• 26:23
  So we, we don't try to hire people at minimum wage.
• 26:28
  You know, we we pay quite a bit more than minimum wage because
• 26:32
  it's just not worth the minimum wage.
• 26:35
  People tend to changed jobs quite a bit.
• 26:39
  So that's the last thing we want is people that's going to stay
• 26:44
  for a while. So and we promote with with the
• 26:48
  end. So if somebody's been working in
• 26:50
  a room for a long time, he's got a chance to move up to room
• 26:54
  supervisor and then maybe head this part of production plant.
• 26:59
  Eventually may end up running a wipe guy and runs our plant down
• 27:06
  one of our plants down east that yeah, he started just like that,
• 27:09
  came out of college, came to work, He was a QC guy.
• 27:14
  Now he's director of operations, managing a whole team of people.
• 27:21
  So, so your products, we can find them at most of the major
• 27:26
  grocery chains out there. Are they do they have the big
• 27:29
  easy name on them? Are they private labeled or are
• 27:32
  we going to find, you know, these under sort of different
• 27:35
  brand names? Several years ago, when, when
• 27:39
  the, when the European chains started coming in here, the the
• 27:48
  Lodi, the Trader Joe's, that they really focused on private
• 27:56
  label and, and of course the bigger chains started changing
• 28:01
  over to private label thinking that was the the wave of the
• 28:05
  future. And for the most part, a lot of
• 28:08
  the big chains, they take our shrimp, they take catfish or we
• 28:12
  take and, and put their brand on our product.
• 28:15
  So you'll find it great value in in Walmart, you'll find other
• 28:22
  chains have their own labels so but.
• 28:27
  Yeah. Are any of the products
• 28:28
  available for people to purchase direct online?
• 28:33
  Yeah, Oh yeah, yeah. We sell online products.
• 28:36
  It's not a big part of our business.
• 28:40
  We we really got into online when we had the Trodotkins years
• 28:44
  ago and and promote them. But you know, you get a lot of
• 28:47
  calls from your customer. My customer is one of the major
• 28:52
  chains, Sam's or Walmart and they go, Hey, you're competing.
• 28:56
  You're, you're cheaper than us and all that, which I wouldn't,
• 29:00
  but they, you know, I mean it. Sure we wouldn't that.
• 29:03
  But again, you get a little, you realize where you the real
• 29:09
  breads butter fried and then it comes from major chains, not
• 29:12
  individuals. So we, we backed away.
• 29:15
  Now some of our biggest accounts today are home delivery
• 29:21
  companies, you know, like I'm, I'm, I'm not going to mention
• 29:27
  those. Well, I guess I can butcher
• 29:28
  block is one of our great, wonderful accounts, very high
• 29:33
  end meat and products and we're glad to be part of it because
• 29:38
  they they're on cutting edge of quality and and things like
• 29:42
  that. And we're like that too.
• 29:43
  So we're we believe in the all natural chem free products and
• 29:48
  we support that. Are you handling order
• 29:51
  fulfillment for them? You shipping direct to the the
• 29:54
  client like a drop ship or they're holding their own
• 29:56
  inventory and then fulfilling. They're doing that.
• 30:00
  We we just send truckloads products to them and.
• 30:06
  They much easier for your model, especially because I would
• 30:08
  imagine a lot of these foods, you know, if they're being
• 30:10
  shipped through the mail, maybe not all of them, but most of
• 30:14
  them, you know, need some kind of refrigeration as as they're
• 30:17
  travelling. Yeah.
• 30:19
  All of them, all of them that we sell, you know, the shrimp and
• 30:22
  all that's all frozen. I didn't know if any of these
• 30:25
  sausages were maybe cured meats that didn't need to be
• 30:29
  refrigerated, but it sounds like they need to be as well.
• 30:34
  Well, we don't do too much sausage, but yeah.
• 30:37
  And the sausage and boudin oil that that that that gets frozen,
• 30:41
  too. And then you saw it out.
• 30:46
  So what is the future of Big Easy Foods look like?
• 30:49
  What what plans do you guys have for growth?
• 30:53
  We, we've got, we're continuing to build on all of the
• 30:57
  platforms. Entrees are doing very, very
• 31:01
  well for us as we take on new parts of the country, new
• 31:08
  chains, Grocer, Grocery Outlet on the West Coast just picked up
• 31:15
  all our entrees and shrimp. So all of our platforms are
• 31:21
  doing well. But we just opened a new
• 31:23
  platform where we put a big easy kiosk in convenience stores, you
• 31:30
  know, convenience stores focused on selling gasoline and
• 31:34
  cigarettes and beer. And as that as all tapered down,
• 31:40
  they're looking for new ways of making revenue and they realize
• 31:45
  quick and easy grab and go food is one way to make that.
• 31:50
  So we're setting big easy kiosks in C stores, convenience stores
• 31:55
  and it's going very well for us. We we see a lot of runway in
• 32:00
  that direction. So.
• 32:02
  And so that food is hot and ready to go or.
• 32:05
  Yeah, yeah. It's, it's, we, it's brought in
• 32:08
  frozen and we have a particular oven that we use to, we, we do a
• 32:15
  lot of the prep here. We, we par fry everything.
• 32:19
  So when it gets there frozen, they take it out, they put it in
• 32:22
  our, our oven for 7 minutes and it, it's ready for the
• 32:29
  customers. So it, it's a major big
• 32:31
  commercial oven, but it's, it's developed for our product line
• 32:35
  and it's just, it's wonderful. So there's no grease in the
• 32:39
  stores or anything like there's no frying like that.
• 32:42
  So but it's and, and we have breakfast out in Colacis with
• 32:46
  our sausage and boudins and we've got the rolls, which has
• 32:52
  our sausage and egg and things like that, all that.
• 32:55
  And then all the way up from the entrees for lunch.
• 32:59
  But you can also get an order of, of the shrimp fried shrimp
• 33:05
  with, with French fries and roll and, and catfish fries, rolls
• 33:11
  and the chicken chicken tenders with It's just a, it's just a
• 33:16
  great the, the we worked on the products for about a year now
• 33:20
  and it's just started rolling out since the first of the year.
• 33:25
  So we're excited about it. So Larry, when you when you call
• 33:28
  it a kiosk, is this like like I see a Subway store sometimes
• 33:33
  attached like, is it like an actual like food counter where
• 33:37
  somebody goes up in orders and they wait a couple of minutes
• 33:40
  and it's it's prepared hot for them right there?
• 33:44
  Yeah, it's a lot of times they prepare a little of in advance,
• 33:47
  OK, but but the neat things about ours, it's it's frozen to
• 33:52
  hot in just a few minutes. So, but yes, it, it's like a
• 33:56
  subway. It's behind the glass type
• 33:59
  thing. But we also have some where you
• 34:01
  just lift up and grab and go. You, you want to catfish dinner,
• 34:07
  you just grab it and go. We've prepared some of them and
• 34:10
  and it's just great. So we're really excited about
• 34:16
  that. And yeah, it it's and we've got
• 34:19
  the whole marketing scheme. I mean, in down here we have the
• 34:23
  Hutch pizza, we have crispy crunch.
• 34:26
  These are some kiosks that they put in the stores in the
• 34:31
  convenience stores. So we're alongside of them a lot
• 34:35
  of times and sometimes we're it's just our kiosk so and.
• 34:41
  And is it branded Big Easy or the each of the convenience
• 34:44
  stores branded there it is under the oh.
• 34:46
  It is Big Easy. It's all Big Easy branded and
• 34:49
  you know there's over 100,000 convenience stores in this in
• 34:52
  this country, so there's a lot of runway for you.
• 34:57
  So we're so. This is still pretty new.
• 34:59
  I'm up at you guys are in Louisiana?
• 35:00
  I'm up in Columbus, OH. I'm probably not seeing any of
• 35:03
  the Big Easy kiosks up here quite yet.
• 35:06
  Oh, no, no, you're only going to say it.
• 35:09
  Louisiana. Remember, we just started this
• 35:12
  the last couple of weeks. Oh, this is brand new.
• 35:15
  Brand new. OK.
• 35:17
  But we believe it's, you know, it's, it's, it's going to be a
• 35:21
  big part of our business in the days and months and years to
• 35:23
  come. So.
• 35:25
  Any other exciting growth opportunities there Big Easy
• 35:28
  that you want to give voice? To, you know, we, we, we do
• 35:32
  believe that this country is focusing more and more on their
• 35:36
  health and we believe to be, you know, we've got some great
• 35:39
  products that fall in there like our all natural shrimp, great
• 35:43
  protein and totally chem free, no preservatives and things like
• 35:48
  that. So we're, we're excited to, to
• 35:52
  be into that and then we've got some, some other things that are
• 35:57
  out there in that level, but it's just great flavors people
• 36:01
  love. A lot of people love Louisiana
• 36:04
  cuisine and, and we just like bringing Louisiana flavors to,
• 36:10
  you know, all over the country. So tell me about the work that
• 36:15
  you and your son Eric are doing with Crying Eagle Brewing
• 36:18
  Company. Well, it's, you know, we started
• 36:22
  that about eight years ago bringing craft beer.
• 36:27
  And there was there was only a few craft breweries in the state
• 36:32
  of Louisiana. They were lagging way behind.
• 36:35
  So we decided to do this. And Eric, who you know, he's got
• 36:43
  a master from LSU and things and he knows these these ideas we
• 36:48
  come up with like when I said I want to bring a craft brewery to
• 36:53
  Lake Charles area and he goes wow, OK, well how much is that
• 36:57
  going to cost? I said what's going to cost
• 36:58
  maidens? He goes OK, well let me go check
• 37:02
  it out. So he goes with his buddies and
• 37:04
  they go check out craft brewery and talk to him and comes back
• 37:09
  about 3 weeks later and said OK, I'm all in, let's do it.
• 37:13
  And so and pretty much he knows that he's going to have to run
• 37:19
  it and do everything because he does out.
• 37:22
  We haven't. Well, we had an archiving
• 37:26
  company which file storage like destruction, all that he ran
• 37:30
  that he ran the self storage. We just sold the self storage
• 37:34
  company in December after what 29 years.
• 37:40
  And then he runs the Crying Eagle.
• 37:45
  But you know, when we're building a new one, Lake
• 37:49
  Charles, like it says we have a lake here and it's, it's right
• 37:53
  on I-10, I10, the one that goes from Los Angeles to Florida goes
• 38:00
  right through Lake Charles. And we have we're building one
• 38:04
  of our crying eagle brewing over there.
• 38:06
  But it, it's more of a sit down food, but it's all on the lakes.
• 38:10
  Beautiful. It's like I said, and we're
• 38:15
  going to, we're going to bring all that to Lake Charles.
• 38:19
  So that that'll be our second one.
• 38:22
  And so both locations are a combination, like a restaurant,
• 38:25
  a bar and a brewing facility. Well, we we don't like the term
• 38:29
  bar because we close at 10:00 at night.
• 38:32
  We're we're more about a tap room and entertainment venues at
• 38:37
  one of them. That's the existing one.
• 38:40
  We have outdoor stages and beer gardens and all that, OK and
• 38:44
  live entertainment three or four days a week.
• 38:47
  We have a nice Bistro there. It's got upscale pub food we
• 38:51
  call it. And a lot of it's Big Easy,
• 38:54
  believe it or not, but and then the next one, it's going to be a
• 39:00
  more sit down venue. We're on table service so and
• 39:06
  we're in the process of hiring the general manager now or
• 39:09
  interviewing general managers and things like that.
• 39:12
  So it it, it's much bigger investment, much bigger place,
• 39:17
  16,000 square foot. So it's big.
• 39:19
  That's a large facility. Yeah.
• 39:21
  So are the the craft beers? Are they just available on
• 39:26
  premise? Are they being sold to other
• 39:28
  bars or grocery stores? Convenience stores where where
• 39:32
  people find the product. OK, so in Louisiana we have
• 39:37
  every state had its own craft beer laws.
• 39:39
  But in Louisiana we sell just on premise.
• 39:46
  But you can take our canned beer, we can beer and you can
• 39:48
  take it. We go but most of the things was
• 39:53
  consumed. But we sell everything.
• 39:55
  We spell wine and spirits and all that.
• 39:58
  So cocktails and. Things like that.
• 40:02
  So. Is the plan to kind of leverage
• 40:04
  some of the relationships you have with the big retailers
• 40:06
  around the country to get some distribution for Crying Eagle?
• 40:10
  Well, we did that. We started as a production
• 40:12
  brewery, OK. We had a big tap room, big
• 40:15
  production, you know, and we went in the grocery stores all
• 40:18
  over, OK, That model, it is an expensive way.
• 40:25
  I mean, you have to about that sales people, you know, you have
• 40:28
  to sell wholesale, you do all that kind of thing.
• 40:30
  So when COVID hit and we knew we were going to build the one on
• 40:35
  the lake and we knew we needed to have more than just beer
• 40:39
  because if you're a production brewery and you're selling to
• 40:42
  stores, you can only sell beer, your beer in your Tapper, OK?
• 40:48
  And that's what we did. We sold food, we sold our beer.
• 40:52
  And so we as we stand there in a empty tap room during COVID, we
• 41:02
  know we need to change our model.
• 41:04
  So we converted in June of 20 at the beginning of that to what
• 41:10
  they call the microbrewery where you can offer everything but you
• 41:14
  couldn't sell in the stores anymore.
• 41:18
  But our biggest market at that time and distribution was New
• 41:23
  Orleans. And we did very well in there.
• 41:26
  But we realized or we believed, OK, that it would take years for
• 41:32
  New Orleans to come back from a complete shutdown.
• 41:35
  And it really did. It took years before they were
• 41:39
  and they still probably aren't as busy as they were with
• 41:42
  conventions and stuff. So anyway, it it, it's been a
• 41:46
  good thing because you know, our sales and our tap room, you
• 41:50
  know, went up five times because now you'll be able to bring your
• 41:54
  wife if she likes wine or all the cocktails or anything like
• 41:58
  that, so. So you like the distribution
• 42:02
  model that you guys have now where you're not in the grocery
• 42:04
  stores, but you're able to have more of a full service, several
• 42:07
  options there available? To us, yeah, all the full
• 42:10
  service and and the the the model is to bring them to the
• 42:15
  provide really fantastic. We have a six month concert,
• 42:20
  summer concert series that goes for six months now that we bring
• 42:24
  in some nice bands and things like that.
• 42:30
  And I mean, we'll have sometimes 1000 people or more at our
• 42:36
  brewery over there, but we've got 6 1/2 acres, so we got a lot
• 42:40
  of room. That's a good plot of land, a
• 42:42
  lot of outdoor space. So tell us about the beers.
• 42:48
  Like what do we find there the the stuff that you guys are
• 42:50
  making? Well, we, you know, we have,
• 42:54
  it's all kind of Louisiana theme stuff now.
• 42:58
  We, we, we have a award-winning brewmaster.
• 43:03
  So this guy's won national honors and things like that.
• 43:07
  So he does great product, but he, we, we sell everything from
• 43:12
  loggers to sours to Ipas and all the things that it's a good
• 43:20
  product, great product. Let's shift gears for a moment,
• 43:25
  Larry, and would like to hear about a serious challenge that
• 43:28
  you've overcome in your life, either something personal or
• 43:31
  professional, Maybe it's a combination of the two.
• 43:35
  What was it like going through that and what have you learned
• 43:38
  coming out the other side? You know, it it twice in my 43
• 43:45
  years of running my own business that we, we've had major
• 43:48
  layoffs, OK, because of big downturn industry is usually and
• 43:55
  you know, it's very, very difficult to go in and lay off
• 44:01
  and a a, a lot of people you've had sure you know their
• 44:04
  families, you they've been working for you a long time.
• 44:07
  It's very hard to do. We try to take care of them and
• 44:11
  as then, but that's happened the last time it we, we, we idled a
• 44:18
  plant on the end of 23 shifted at production 200 miles north
• 44:29
  because it's, it's, we were on the coast in Louisiana and we
• 44:33
  just kept getting hit by hurricanes and, and insurance
• 44:38
  became almost impossible to get. And so as hard as it was to walk
• 44:46
  away from a plant we've owned for almost 20 years, it it was
• 44:53
  the best business decision because, you know, it is about
• 44:58
  continuing growing and, and making money and getting out of
• 45:04
  harm's way, I guess. And did many folks make that
• 45:09
  move with you? Up north, we we at that point
• 45:13
  they're planning that around 60 something employees and probably
• 45:18
  20 of them relocated. The rest of them took a
• 45:22
  severance and went and found other things to do.
• 45:28
  Larry, you strike me as the kind of guy with the, the track
• 45:31
  record and the success that you've had that probably have a
• 45:34
  lot of people coming to you for advice, valuing your opinion
• 45:39
  that, you know, that wealth of experience that you've, you've
• 45:42
  put together. Who in your career have you been
• 45:46
  able to go to and say, man, I I'm in a bad place.
• 45:50
  I'm I'm dealing with something tough like.
• 45:53
  I need to talk this through. I need some advice.
• 45:57
  Well, for one, my wife has been by my side the whole time and
• 46:01
  she's a very smart lady and I love being able to discuss
• 46:07
  business with her. She don't make it all about
• 46:11
  business, but our afternoon discussions is one.
• 46:15
  Again, a great banker, a great attorney and a great CPA.
• 46:19
  These are the people that are just imperative.
• 46:27
  You know, when I had the environmental company, my CPA,
• 46:33
  he, he, I mean, I knew very little about business at that
• 46:37
  time. You know, I, I, I went school
• 46:39
  and studied biology, thought I wanted to be a doctor, but I
• 46:45
  wasn't near the thing I wanted to do.
• 46:47
  So, so I had to learn all that stuff, the business stuff.
• 46:52
  And, and so you, you just get really good people around you
• 46:57
  and, and bankers, you know, they see, you know, really good
• 47:03
  bankers, you know, that manage decent sized portfolios.
• 47:08
  They, they, they see all kind of businesses.
• 47:10
  They see mistakes people make more than they see, you know,
• 47:14
  all the successes. So they'll kind of guide you in
• 47:17
  some of those ways. But my dad was, my dad was an
• 47:23
  entrepreneur. He started several companies and
• 47:28
  none of them got very big, but he was he was all about customer
• 47:35
  service and things like that, quality products, so.
• 47:40
  That's kind of where you learn some of your foundational
• 47:42
  things. I've heard you repeat over and
• 47:43
  over again, Customer service, quality product.
• 47:46
  Sounds like a lot of those lessons came from your father.
• 47:49
  Yeah, Yeah, you, you and he was a hard worker.
• 47:51
  I mean, he just, he traveled and things like that, travelled for
• 47:56
  business. Has your wife been actively
• 47:58
  involved in the business ventures that you've been
• 48:01
  involved with? My wife, we all started the
• 48:04
  first company going back to the environmental company.
• 48:09
  I'll tell you the the genesis of that.
• 48:13
  We, we, she was going to school to be a nurse, OK, which cost
• 48:18
  money. I was a maintenance supervisor
• 48:22
  at one of the local oil refineries in this area.
• 48:27
  So I was to make extra money, I would install in home water
• 48:32
  softeners. OK, you can maybe water
• 48:34
  softeners and yeah, OK, so it's down here before they put in a
• 48:40
  lot of the municipal water they get by and water well, so they
• 48:43
  put water softeners on there because we have a lot of iron
• 48:45
  and things like that. So and then she graduated and we
• 48:51
  it switched rather rapidly from costing money to making money.
• 48:57
  And I said, I want to start my own water softening company.
• 49:00
  And that's where we brought in. And she goes, yeah, let's do it.
• 49:06
  And we brought in water softeners, bought them and put
• 49:10
  them together and I installed them.
• 49:13
  And six months after I got started, I realized scale was
• 49:16
  important in anything you do. And so I called the guy that I
• 49:20
  worked for who was the biggest water softener guy in this area.
• 49:24
  He said, I'd like to buy you out.
• 49:26
  And he goes, but I have no money so I need you to finance it for
• 49:31
  me. So he goes, OK, he was an old
• 49:35
  man. And so I went from being a very
• 49:38
  small potato to a decent sized guy in in the water softening
• 49:43
  business. And it just, and then, you know,
• 49:47
  one day I got a call from one of the chemical plants and I said,
• 49:52
  you put in water softeners, right?
• 49:53
  I said, Oh yeah. And he said, come take a look at
• 49:56
  this project. And it was a water softener
• 50:01
  which flow through filtration for one of his bowlers.
• 50:06
  So it's like 150 gallon a minute.
• 50:08
  Now I'm used to dealing with eight gallon a minute home units
• 50:12
  so. It's a different scale, yeah.
• 50:13
  And he said, can you? Can you make a water softener
• 50:17
  for me? And of course, young and dumb.
• 50:19
  And Larry said, Oh, yeah, knowing my older brother was a
• 50:24
  genius engineer, he was laid off.
• 50:28
  That was tough times for the oil industry back in those days when
• 50:32
  interest rates were extremely high and very difficult time.
• 50:36
  And so he'd moved back from Houston, was working out my
• 50:42
  little tiny office, sending out his resumes.
• 50:44
  And I went back to the oven and said, Billy, can you come up
• 50:47
  with a control package for water soft for 150?
• 50:51
  Oh, yeah, yeah, that's no problem.
• 50:53
  Oh, called my friend who had a welding shop.
• 50:56
  Hey, can we build these vessels that are now 8 foot in diameter
• 51:00
  instead of, you know, the small thing?
• 51:04
  Oh, yeah, we can do that. And then so we built it,
• 51:07
  installed it, put it in and then the next one come along and the
• 51:11
  next one pretty soon you're doing work for other float like
• 51:16
  again is flow through filtration and that includes air.
• 51:21
  So we got caused by a landfill that would take wastewater from
• 51:28
  different places stored and, and, and inject it down to
• 51:33
  injection wells. So that was a way back in the
• 51:37
  80s. So but when they when they took
• 51:40
  it in their tank, the exhaust out of the top of that tank was
• 51:45
  had a lot of DOCS about to go. So they filtered to activated
• 51:50
  carbon. So we they called us and said,
• 51:53
  can y'all do that? And we said, yeah.
• 51:55
  So we started building those. And then one day I got a call
• 51:59
  from Exxon and said, hey, can you do some remediation work for
• 52:05
  us? So we did.
• 52:07
  Then six months later, they called in, said, hey, we'd like
• 52:10
  you to do a nationwide program for us.
• 52:14
  There we are, little company here in the Lake Charles area,
• 52:17
  and Exxon wants us to do stuff for them all over the country.
• 52:22
  And I said, yeah, why not? So we put in a bid.
• 52:29
  We were competing against two big public companies.
• 52:33
  Well, we won the bid. So I went in on Saturday, called
• 52:37
  Mom managers around and I said, OK, we got, we got to open the
• 52:40
  office in Philadelphia. I want you to go take care of
• 52:43
  this. I want you to go down to
• 52:44
  Florida. I want you to go over to Lai
• 52:47
  want you to go up to Seattle. So we offered, we opened four
• 52:51
  offices in in two or three months, got them up and running,
• 52:56
  rented space, rented forklift, rented trucks, hired people,
• 53:00
  shipped the stuff up there and. That's that's a lot of cash
• 53:05
  outlay for a small company to be, you know, expanding into so
• 53:08
  many locations all at once. Was the customer fronting you
• 53:12
  any of this money? Were you just?
• 53:14
  No. In fact, when I asked the head
• 53:18
  of the environment with Exxon, I said how much business you're
• 53:22
  talking about. And he goes, well it's a lot,
• 53:25
  but we don't know, I said, so you can't explain what a lot is.
• 53:31
  He goes, no, he can't go. It's just so scattered out.
• 53:35
  Well, I calculated with we could do $250,000 with him first year,
• 53:41
  I could support those four offices.
• 53:44
  And the first year we did way over a million with just Exxon
• 53:49
  And and as soon as Exxon comes on BP and the breast, they start
• 53:57
  just calling you and then and pretty soon you're the biggest
• 54:01
  guy in the business doing it all over and so.
• 54:05
  So there's a couple of things that I, I, I hear you saying
• 54:08
  over and over again. One is, you know, you're asked,
• 54:12
  hey, can you do this? Sure.
• 54:14
  And then you go and you figure out how to do it, which I, I
• 54:16
  love sort of that gumption. And and the other thing you keep
• 54:18
  saying is, and then we got a call from this person and then
• 54:21
  we got a call from that person and then we got a call from this
• 54:24
  person. And are you getting these calls
• 54:27
  without sort of that outgoing like marketing and sales?
• 54:30
  This is just somebody heard through the Grapevine like
• 54:33
  you're doing this thing and you did good work.
• 54:36
  Well, yeah, I mean, you focused on a couple of industries. 1 was
• 54:40
  of course the oil industry, you know, and, and gasoline service
• 54:44
  station companies, Spall and, and of course they're engineers
• 54:47
  talk and all of them want to solve the problem that Exxon
• 54:52
  wanted, which means somebody to manage the whole program for
• 54:56
  them. And that's what we did.
• 54:58
  So I had an engineering department that designed the
• 55:00
  vessels and things and then we, we had our own manufacturing
• 55:04
  facility and when we put it in, we did all the right, right
• 55:08
  stuff. We built robotic welding
• 55:10
  machines and all the latest CAD for engineering.
• 55:15
  And, and then I travelled and, and met with a lot of people
• 55:20
  and, and then what, what really was that those two companies
• 55:27
  that were bidding against us at the first business, I called
• 55:33
  them up and said, Hey, I have this service center up there.
• 55:37
  Do you guys need some service on your equipment?
• 55:41
  So we became, I mean our competitors became some of our
• 55:45
  biggest customers. And, and to this day that's we,
• 55:49
  we do business with other shrimp processors and other catfish
• 55:53
  people because we find that because they're a competitor
• 55:59
  doesn't mean you can't do business with them.
• 56:00
  It just dictates the way you do business with them.
• 56:03
  So. So you may be able to provide
• 56:07
  some part of the the finished product that maybe they're not
• 56:11
  equipped to do very well. Yeah.
• 56:13
  Yeah, yeah. Other shrimp companies, they
• 56:15
  want to offer some of the products.
• 56:17
  The other products we had, we'll do it with them.
• 56:20
  And if we, if we outsell our shrimp capacity, we'll buy us
• 56:24
  from other quality manufacturers.
• 56:26
  So same with the cat food. So there's something else I want
• 56:31
  to go back to is, you know, you're starting out in the, the
• 56:35
  water softener business. You go out on your own for a few
• 56:39
  months, you, you know, you're doing all right.
• 56:40
  And but hey, I, I recognize now that scale is really important.
• 56:45
  So after being on your own for, I think it was just six months,
• 56:48
  you took the really bold move of calling up your employer and
• 56:53
  saying, Hey, I'd like to buy you, which I think is just like
• 56:59
  great gumption. But then the response back was
• 57:03
  sure and yeah, and it'll finance it.
• 57:05
  Like what was sort of the the dynamic there to to where that
• 57:09
  that happened so easily? Well, it it one his service guy
• 57:14
  left the guy that his head service guy me left OK, that
• 57:18
  left pretty big hole that I knew and he he was struggling 2 He he
• 57:25
  he was probably my age now. OK, so you know he he had been
• 57:30
  in. He was looking for exit.
• 57:32
  Yeah. And he was ready to go.
• 57:33
  And sometimes it's very difficult to monetize something
• 57:38
  as service oriented is water softening.
• 57:43
  So but that. Makes a lot of sense.
• 57:46
  You know, it's good for almost 10 years that we started that
• 57:51
  company. My wife is a nurse.
• 57:53
  I continued to work at the oil refinery.
• 57:58
  I were, but my job at the oil refineries was maintenance,
• 58:03
  oversea maintenance when all the big dogs were, were home.
• 58:09
  So nights and, and you know, so the evening shift and the
• 58:14
  midnight to seven shift, that's where my, my, where I bet there
• 58:22
  was four of us that did that job.
• 58:24
  We rotated through it. So I, it left me a lot of time
• 58:27
  during the day. So for about 10 years I was able
• 58:31
  to, you know, your body, it doesn't necessarily need 8 hours
• 58:37
  sleep it, you know, when you're younger.
• 58:41
  Now I need 8:00 to 9:00. But back then I, I did 4 hours
• 58:44
  and I was good. It's good quality hard sleep and
• 58:48
  just get up and keep, keep going.
• 58:50
  But so you do that, but I don't want to go back to that.
• 58:55
  But you do what you do. I mean, you had to keep your
• 59:01
  credit good. You couldn't let the business
• 59:03
  get ahead of the money. I mean, it just he just can't.
• 59:07
  So him finance it. The the business was an easy out
• 59:12
  for me. I could have never at that point
• 59:15
  gone to a bank and get them to finance that deal.
• 59:19
  So I learned to buy, to read balance sheets and operating in,
• 59:24
  in, you know, inventories very early on.
• 59:27
  And, and so as we were growing the environmental business and
• 59:33
  things like that, we just bought, we bought 8 to 10
• 59:36
  companies during that time anywhere from 2, three $400,000
• 59:43
  in revenue to a, a few $1,000,000 in revenue and, and
• 59:46
  we would just kind of roll and tuck them into what we did and.
• 59:51
  And mostly what you were requiring are their customers as
• 59:54
  well as their, their service pros, right?
• 59:56
  Or were you getting like additional skill sets that you
• 59:58
  didn't have? Oh.
• 59:59
  Always we, we had a particular way of what we what we believed
• 1:00:07
  how to buy. OK, so right here is what I do.
• 1:00:12
  This is what we did it it, my circle was this big and that's
• 1:00:15
  what we did. So I look for somebody.
• 1:00:19
  Right outside of my circle, OK, but some of what he did is what
• 1:00:24
  I do OK. So he, I knew their business
• 1:00:28
  well enough because business they hit.
• 1:00:30
  But when I bought him my circle became bigger because I got to
• 1:00:34
  pick up some of this other stuff.
• 1:00:36
  And that's how we got into doing business with Coors and and Coke
• 1:00:43
  and Pepsi and and, and even the pharmaceutical companies.
• 1:00:46
  We did a lot of work in Puerto Rico back.
• 1:00:49
  And now you can take that core service and offer it to to more
• 1:00:52
  clients and you get more clients that you know.
• 1:00:55
  Where you find your your existing clients need those
• 1:00:57
  services too. Now you can bring 2 so you know
• 1:01:00
  one call does it all. Larry, sometimes what appears to
• 1:01:05
  be a giant mistake in the moment, later on in life we look
• 1:01:11
  back on and you're like, wow, that's the best thing that
• 1:01:13
  happened because it taught me this or it steered me in a
• 1:01:16
  different direction. Can you think of a moment like
• 1:01:19
  that for yourself? Well, you know, I, I, I think
• 1:01:25
  when things don't go bad, it's not a failure.
• 1:01:28
  It's just a lesson to me. It's, I just learned a lesson.
• 1:01:33
  OK, it cost me a lot maybe, but cost me a lot to send my son to
• 1:01:38
  LSU. But hey, it's a lesson.
• 1:01:42
  But but I I'll tell you, let's dial the clock.
• 1:01:47
  Clock back 20 some years ago when when my son was young, you
• 1:01:54
  know, out of school, he's running self stories, but he he
• 1:01:57
  had friends get into rental properties, you know, and they
• 1:02:00
  were buying these trailers and fixing them up and renting them
• 1:02:03
  out because dad, I want to get in the rental properties.
• 1:02:08
  Really. OK, So what are you talking
• 1:02:10
  about? And he told me what he's doing
• 1:02:12
  what he's thinking about doing. I said, son, I said that didn't
• 1:02:16
  sound like something that's I don't think that's a great idea.
• 1:02:21
  Let those guys do that. Why don't we go getting a resort
• 1:02:24
  property. So Destin familiar with Destin,
• 1:02:28
  FL, you know, it's on the Panhandle, beautiful white
• 1:02:31
  beaches, blue water, all the things.
• 1:02:35
  Let's go and buy a condo in Destin.
• 1:02:38
  We'll be in the rim property. We'll get somebody to manage it,
• 1:02:41
  but when it's not it, when it's empty, we can go down there and
• 1:02:44
  try it. He said let's do it.
• 1:02:47
  And then my wife has this very artistic design quality batter
• 1:02:51
  too. So we'd bought our first
• 1:02:54
  property in Destin early 2000. We we put 10% down it's $380,000
• 1:03:04
  property for 38,000. We went in there, took a took a
• 1:03:08
  condo right on the beach and it was all white and all this cheap
• 1:03:12
  furniture while we we go and paint it and put mirrors and all
• 1:03:17
  the things that make it look brilliant and we rented out.
• 1:03:21
  We never had to put any more money in cash flow +13 months
• 1:03:24
  later we sold it for 589,000. So our $38,000 invested turned
• 1:03:30
  into 200. So we took the 200, rolled it
• 1:03:34
  into three more, OK and did the same thing over again.
• 1:03:38
  So that went on for a good while.
• 1:03:40
  We made some good money, kept rolling it into other properties
• 1:03:44
  and bigger properties, nicer and things like that.
• 1:03:48
  And then let's say 2006 seven, whatever it stopped and.
• 1:03:58
  Because of the economic downturn.
• 1:04:00
  Well, yeah, yeah, housing, I mean, it was just, and I mean it
• 1:04:05
  went from, let's say, you know, really nice properties were
• 1:04:11
  selling for around 800 square foot.
• 1:04:13
  This is a long time ago. They they went all the way down
• 1:04:17
  to like $400.00 square foot, things like that.
• 1:04:20
  So we had five properties, high end properties.
• 1:04:23
  And and so we held onto him for a while thinking we're going to
• 1:04:31
  see a recovery. And of course it didn't happen
• 1:04:35
  right away. I mean, it's it's back now, but
• 1:04:37
  it's been many, many years. And then I had to teach my son a
• 1:04:44
  little bit about learning how to use the write offs and things
• 1:04:50
  that go on and stuff. He goes, what are we going to
• 1:04:54
  do? I said we're going to sell them
• 1:04:57
  is selling. We can't lose all this money.
• 1:05:00
  I said you don't understand. We rolled all this stuff in
• 1:05:02
  there, but we captured all these losses, loss carry forwards
• 1:05:06
  because these were passive income.
• 1:05:09
  If you don't, you have to have passive losses passive.
• 1:05:13
  So the only way we could recover these losses is actually
• 1:05:17
  selling. So I called my really good CPA
• 1:05:21
  and asked him what the losses carry forward.
• 1:05:23
  And it was a lot. So we began selling our condos
• 1:05:29
  for a loss and took the right off and it became turn those
• 1:05:36
  losses into cash. So they used the money you had
• 1:05:40
  tucked away and and tax losses to recapture.
• 1:05:45
  And we were able to get out of kind of, but it, it taught me to
• 1:05:49
  not to get ahead of your skis on, on some of these
• 1:05:53
  opportunities. And so So anyway, that wasn't
• 1:06:00
  too much fun. Sorry, go ahead.
• 1:06:05
  Just a lesson learned. Yeah, a powerful 1.
• 1:06:09
  The best lessons are ones learned, as I like to put it, on
• 1:06:11
  the job. It's one thing to learn about it
• 1:06:13
  in a textbook, but when you learn it with your real, your
• 1:06:16
  own money in real life, those lessons you don't have to try to
• 1:06:20
  recall. They're just sort of baked into
• 1:06:22
  you at a cellular level. Do you know what?
• 1:06:25
  I'll, I'll tell you The thing is, we are very blessed.
• 1:06:30
  We're a Christian company. I I keep it very Christian
• 1:06:36
  company. And we believe that God has
• 1:06:38
  guided our steps all along the way.
• 1:06:41
  When you bring a problem to him and say, God, can you help me
• 1:06:45
  with this? Because this is bigger than me
• 1:06:47
  and and yeah, it just comes to you how to solve a problem.
• 1:06:55
  And but you got to realize that it wasn't anything I thought of.
• 1:06:59
  He just put it in there so. So say, say more about that,
• 1:07:03
  what it means to be a Christian company.
• 1:07:05
  And I'm particularly intrigued by, you know, when you've got
• 1:07:09
  this big problem, you go to prayer, you, you have a
• 1:07:13
  conversation with God, you ask for help and how's, how's that
• 1:07:17
  work? I'm going to give you another
• 1:07:19
  example. Early on in the shrimp business
• 1:07:23
  we were, we were scaling up, but shrimp business is one of the
• 1:07:28
  worst cash flow business there is.
• 1:07:30
  OK, picture this, the boats come in, you unload your shrimp, you
• 1:07:36
  pay them that. The float on that check is 20
• 1:07:40
  minutes until then get to the bank and cash it.
• 1:07:43
  That's how much float so it's got.
• 1:07:47
  And then I have to take the that shrimp, process it, freeze it,
• 1:07:52
  sell it, wait 7 to 30 days on my money.
• 1:07:56
  So I'm I'm out about 45 days on cash.
• 1:08:01
  Well, what there's a really, really.
• 1:08:02
  And, and look, I had to early on, I had a relatively small
• 1:08:07
  line of credit and it was just, and the shrimp was coming in and
• 1:08:13
  we were buying everything we could get and selling it and,
• 1:08:19
  and, and, and the float. And first thing you know, you go
• 1:08:22
  into this, this is not allowed today, but it was allowed 20
• 1:08:27
  years ago was you go into overdraft the bank and you just
• 1:08:31
  paid an overdraft fee. I'll get $30 or whatever,
• 1:08:34
  probably steal the case. We just don't have to.
• 1:08:37
  I, I, you know, I don't dissipate in overdrafts anymore,
• 1:08:40
  but it became such a big thing for our company that it became
• 1:08:44
  the line item on my PNL statements, overdraft fees and
• 1:08:50
  65,000. I remember the last line item
• 1:08:54
  over it. So my banker cost me, he goes
• 1:08:57
  Larry and it was huge. I mean, shrimp was huge.
• 1:09:01
  And he goes Larry, you're in overdraft almost 3/4 of
• 1:09:06
  $1,000,000. He said it can't go to
• 1:09:08
  $1,000,000, you've got to stop it.
• 1:09:12
  I said, all right, all right, Jim, we can do it.
• 1:09:14
  And this was like on a Tuesday. And so I said, God, you're going
• 1:09:21
  to have to help me with this. I've got to raise 1,000,000
• 1:09:23
  bucks here in the next couple of days.
• 1:09:26
  And so I went and told our sales guys, I said, you call all these
• 1:09:33
  customers and tell them we we will sell them the shrimp
• 1:09:38
  they're looking for at $0.25 a pound, but they need to wire the
• 1:09:42
  money in. That didn't come from me.
• 1:09:44
  OK, All of them. They started calling their
• 1:09:48
  customers. And Friday comes along, my
• 1:09:52
  banker calls me. Larry, what are you doing about
• 1:09:54
  the overdraft? I said, Jim, yeah.
• 1:09:57
  Have you pulled up our account? No, I said pull it up.
• 1:10:03
  Hey, goes Larry, you got a Corp $1,000,000 in it.
• 1:10:05
  How did that happen? I said wouldn't meet you.
• 1:10:09
  I said, well, I did tell you you can always sell shrimp.
• 1:10:13
  Everybody will buy shrimp at the right price.
• 1:10:16
  I said, so this is what we did. But it was a good thing.
• 1:10:22
  Learned a good lesson, Never got that deep and dead deep
• 1:10:26
  overdraft again. But.
• 1:10:29
  And that idea came to you through prayer.
• 1:10:32
  Yeah, it was just God help me out of this thing.
• 1:10:36
  And he did believe me. You you asked and at some point
• 1:10:41
  the the idea just appeared in your head.
• 1:10:43
  It felt right and this is what we're going to do.
• 1:10:45
  And it worked. And it worked.
• 1:10:48
  But see what God did was was put it on our customers heart to
• 1:10:54
  take the deal, OK. So you said $0.25 a pound.
• 1:10:58
  How much of A reduction was that?
• 1:11:01
  Well, depa you, you made a dollar a pound, OK, So you're
• 1:11:05
  giving up 25% of your profit. So which is, you know, hey,
• 1:11:12
  shrimp commodity products are nickels and Dimes and quarters
• 1:11:16
  and things like that. So that guy knew he's going to
• 1:11:20
  sell it and he's going to pick up another quarter.
• 1:11:23
  So if he buys 4 truckloads of shrimp and that's 100 and
• 1:11:27
  something $1000, he's going to pick up $25,000.
• 1:11:31
  So he just pulls on his line of credit and pays me and.
• 1:11:35
  You know your cash flow situation there.
• 1:11:37
  Yeah. Larry, I've just got one more
• 1:11:40
  question for you, but before I ask it, I want to do 2 things.
• 1:11:43
  Everyone listening today, I know that you love this show.
• 1:11:46
  Larry's been a great guest. Go ahead and hit the follow or
• 1:11:49
  subscribe button on your favorite podcast app so you
• 1:11:52
  continue to get great content like this.
• 1:11:54
  Larry, I also want to let people know the best way either to get
• 1:11:56
  in touch with you directly or to continue to follow your story or
• 1:12:00
  that of the companies that you're involved with.
• 1:12:02
  What would that be? Well, we, I, I mean, we have big
• 1:12:06
  easy foods. Bigecfoods.com.
• 1:12:10
  Dot com yeah. And you want to call us?
• 1:12:15
  Give us a call. We'll get some great people
• 1:12:16
  that'll answer your calls and talk to you about what we do.
• 1:12:21
  I'm here almost all the time. I've got very few hobbies other
• 1:12:27
  than work, so, you know, I like to play a little golf, do a
• 1:12:30
  little fishing stuff, skiing and stuff like that.
• 1:12:32
  But I also like to come to the office, talk to these great
• 1:12:37
  people that work here. There we go.
• 1:12:39
  So bigeasyfoods.com folks. And last question for you,
• 1:12:42
  Larry, as you look to the future, what exciting changes do
• 1:12:46
  you see coming to your industry? Yeah, I, I think people are
• 1:12:53
  really starting to look at the foods to eat, OK.
• 1:12:58
  And they, they, they're looking for where they come from.
• 1:13:03
  OK, So it, it, they're looking for more Buy American.
• 1:13:08
  And I couldn't be more excited about that because that's what
• 1:13:11
  we sell. So and I think the government
• 1:13:17
  that we're operating on today believes the same thing.
• 1:13:21
  So we're excited about it. All right.
• 1:13:23
  Well, Larry, I want to be the first one to thank you for
• 1:13:25
  sharing both your time and your story with us today.
• 1:13:28
  I really appreciate it. Well.
• 1:13:29
  I appreciate it. All right, quicker than I
• 1:13:32
  thought so. That's a good sign, folks.
• 1:13:36
  That's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
• 1:13:39
  Thanks for learning with us today.