Out to Lunch

It doesn't get more Monday in New Orleans than red beans and rice.

Connelly Hayward is the 4th generation of his family to make red beans, as president of L.H. Hayward and Company, who make Camellia-brand red beans. Nina Camacho is National Events Director at Jazzmen Rice.

When you’re looking to start a business you can choose between gearing up for a mass market product or staying small and going for a selective niche clientele. Peter’s guests on this edition of Out to Lunch exemplify these two divergent approaches to the restaurant business.

Jammer Orintas co-owns Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza, and Paco Robert is co-founder of the off-the-grid secret restaurant operation Dinner Lab. The party going on in the background is the Christmas crowd at Commanders!

One of the boldest, most controversial revolutions to occur in the New Orleans media landscape in 2012 was The Times-Picayune’s discontinuation of daily publication. Was the move to a three-day-a-week paper and focus on NOLA.com the news organization business model of the future?

Peter talks with David Francis, Business Manager of NOLA Media Group, and Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran T-P journalist and Director of State Content James O’Byrne.

In a city known for fine restaurants, Commander’s Palace is both a New Orleans legend and an ever-evolving enterprise, as revered behind the scenes among chefs and service industry workers as it is to the dining public.

On this edition of Out to Lunch owner/managers/cousins Lally Brennan and Ti Martin share the Commander's culture.

Did you know New Orleans now has a brand new, world-class car and motorcycle race track?

Wes Ratcliff, NOLA Motorsports Park Director of Business Development & Technology, along with Max Materne, GM of The Transportation Revolution New Orleans, are Peter’s guests on this week’s Out to Lunch.

The face of New Orleans business is changing. So is the face of New Orleans itself.

Peter’s guests on Out to Lunch this week are the prime movers of both. Kenneth Purcell’s iSeatz creates the software that runs online booking for American Express Travel, Delta, KLM, and Orbitz. Gary Solomon Jr.’s The Solomon Group lights up the Superdome.