We often lump “tourism and hospitality” together because they seem to go together, but like other conjunctive categories like “sales and marketing” or “chicken and waffles,”  “tourism and hospitality” is a vast umbrella under which there are a plethora of specialties. within these sub-groups, entrepreneurs have created businesses providing services in a multitude of innovative ways.

Take, for example, Patrick Healey. Patrick is owner of Premium Tours and Transportation, which, among other excursions, has a bus ride called Baton Rouge Blitz.

Patrick Healey, reversing the usual flow of interstate tourism by busing folks from New Orleans to Baton Rouge

Patrick Healey, reversing the usual flow of interstate tourism by busing folks from New Orleans to Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge Blitz is a direct luxury bus service that runs from New Orleans to Tiger Stadium on LSU Tigers game days. The company’s executive coaches depart from downtown New Orleans hotels and arrives at the game in plenty of time to allow for tailgating, then returns patrons later that night.

Patrick founded Premium Tours in 2015 and besides the football fan bus also runs other unique outings including a tour of local breweries and “Gators and Guns,” a tour that takes customers to a shooting range to shoot machine guns then brings them on a swamp tour.

Patrick originally moved to Louisiana from his native southern California in 2007 to help with the rebuilding effort after Hurricane Katrina and has apparently totally adapted to the Southeast lifestyle!

Tremaine Devine is better known as Chef Tre, the owner of Tres’ Street Kitchen, which provides high-end gourmet meals cooked in your home, catering, and a food truck.

Chef Tre, bringing together two ends of the culinary spectrum in a fine dining food truck

Chef Tre, bringing together two ends of the culinary spectrum in a fine dining food truck

Chef Tre grew up on the south side of Chicago and had to overcome a lot of the challenges facing many kinds in the inner city. But he found his passion in the culinary arts, which he originally learned from his grandparents and would go on to study, formally, at the Louisiana Culinary Institute.

Today, Chef Tre wants to give back and dedicate his life to building a legacy for his family, which is the north star behind Tres Street Kitchen.

Stephanie Riegel moderates business lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard

Stephanie Riegel moderates business lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. Photos by Erik Otts.