Technology has created challenges and opportunities for businesses. Some companies have had to totally reinvent themselves to remain relevant. Others, well, just invent an app.

Patricia Brignac Talbot’s business would belong in the former category. When her dad started the business, now called Baton Rouge Digital Products, back in 1955, copying documents was a very big technological deal. It was called “duplicating.” Carbon paper was one of the high-demand products, and mimeograph machines that made wet, smelly, copies were considered cutting edge. Today, Patricia has transformed the company, focusing on digital duplication and tech support that involves real humans providing real solutions, including showing up at your business to take care whatever problem you might have. 

Laney King has taken tech and invented something new. She and her husband Ryan are the creators of a smartphone app that helps folks across the Gulf South find the best and cheapest crawfish. It’s called The Crawfish App and it features live and boiled crawfish prices from more than 1,000 vendors in the Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. The app launched early this year, right before the kickoff of crawfish season, and it quickly grew from zero to 50,000 users!

Photos at Mansurs on the Boulevard by Ken Stewart.