It’s Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

Hosted ByStephanie Riegel

OUT TO LUNCH finds host Stephanie Riegel combining her hard news journalist skills and food writing background: conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansurs On The Boulevard. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansurs and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.

I Saw It On QVC – Out to Lunch – It’s Baton Rouge

Necessity is the mother of invention. If you’ve spent any time in the kitchen, you’ve no doubt thought, more than once, about building a better gizmo or gadget to help you cook, clean or organize your kitchen. Perhaps you’ve even done it. But have you been able to get your invention before 250 million eyes on the QVC shopping channel? Gaye Sandoz has.

gaye sandoz

If you don’t recognize Gaye’s face from QVC you might recognize her name from the LSU Ag Center Food Incubator, which she runs. In her spare time Gaye is the owner of The Clever Kitchen, a company that has created the Microwave Barbecue Roaster, a microwave roasting pan that turns out a perfect rotisserie-style chicken in 32 minutes flat. Whether the roaster will take the culinary world by storm just yet remains to be seen, but it’s making a big splash on the QVC network, QVC.com and all over the internet. 

michelle schroeder

Michelle Schroeder also knows a thing or two about selling an invention on QVC. Her product, the Easy Greasy, is a specially designed strainer that connects to a heat resistant container, making the disposal of messy grease from your frying pan  a cinch. Michelle designed the Easy Greasy, has it manufactured in Louisiana, and with her mellifluous Baton Rouge accent (take a listen) and a product name like Easy Greasy, well, how could she not be a natural on the home shopping channel?!

linda mcadams

Linda McAdams, together with her husband and sister, produces a snack food item called Pretzel Crunch that is finding its way onto dozens of supermarket shelves around the country. Pretzel Crunch was Linda’s sister’s special recipe and when Linda was laid off and couldn’t find a good job she decided to, as she describes it, “Take a leap of faith” and throw herself into snacks. The leap has been hugely successful, proving that sometimes getting laid off pays off.  

gaye sandoz, linda mcadams, michelle schroeder

 

Stephanie Riegel

Photos at Mansurs on the Boulevard by Ken Stewart.