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Friday, April 10, 2015

Chachere’s Creole Foods Spans Decades, Continents

Chachere’s Creole Foods Spans Decades, Continents

Tony Chachere' Creole Foods Founded in 1981

April 10, 2015

by Ken Stickney
The Daily World


A worker places empty seasoning cans onto a turntable into the packaging area of the production facility at Tony Chachere's Cajun Foods in Opelousas, La., Monday, March 23, 2015.
(Photo: Paul Kieu, The Daily Advertiser)
When Don Chachere joined his grandfather Tony’s Creole Foods company in 1981, it was a small operation with a big future. Who knew?

Thirty-four years later, Tony Chachere’s Creole Foods is some 40 times the size it was when Don arrived, not a decade after his grandfather launched the business with publication of Cajun Country Cookbook and sold the product from his International Scout with the words “Tony Chachere’s Famous Creole Seasoning” painting on the side of the vehicle. It wasn’t famous then, but it would be.

Nowadays, Tony Chachere is on the tongue’s tip of everyone who fashions himself or herself as a Cajun or Creole cook. The products are sold in 50 states and overseas. Tony Chachere is no longer the little company that could; now it is the big company that does — and it may become bigger still.

Tony Chachere’s Creole Foods has been named the Large Business of the Year by the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. The company will be honored May 6 at The Victorian at an event starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are available from Robb Landry, 337-344-8338; DeeDee Becquet, 337-344-6647; or June DeBaillon, 337-266-8231.

Don Chachere was a teenager when his grandfather, then 67 and retired for the second time, launched his company in Opelousas. He had published his Cajun Country Cookbook a month before he opened the business and sold 10,000 copies, generating the funds he needed to get the new business started. He had four employees at the start; the company now employs 85 full-time and about 15 seasonal workers.

“It’s about as big as we have been,” Don Chachere said. “We’ve continued to grow every year since inception.”

There’s no reason to slow down. Chachere said it’s a growing business as more people embrace spicy and ethnic foods. The popularity of Cajun and Creole cooks and other well-known Cajun and Creole food brands has lifted everyone’s boat in the food business pond.

“Everything that brought awareness to this type of product has helped us,” he said. “It was nice that this type of food was brought to a national level.

“Awareness of this type of food has grown because we think Louisiana has the best cooking in the world,” Chachere said.

But Tony Chachere’s is not just another Cajun company. The brand looks different than its competitors and has sold quality products for more than four decades. It aggressively markets itself and has dedicated employees, Chachere said.

But the link to the company founder remains strong. By the time Don Chachere moved to Opelousas and became plant manager, his grandfather had retired from the business and his uncle had become president; he would remain at the helm until 2000, when Don Chachere, who had served as vice president for 11 years, replaced him. Don Chachere’s father had worked there awhile, so had a brother and couple of cousins.

Retired or not, Tony Chachere continued to drop by the plant nearly every day to check on the company’s products and progress. He cooked and created new products.

“Anything he touched and cooked was great,” Don Chachere recalled. “He always put his flair into it: dirty rice, etouffee, crawfish bisque.”

Don Chachere took full advantage of the time he shared with his grandfather, hunting, fishing and talking food products. Early in the company’s history, sales and distribution were limited. Eventually, food products increased and the company began to push itself to new limits.

The sales history has shown great improvement. There are Tony’s employees in Ohio, California, Pennsylvana, the Gulf Coast.

“There is still a lot of market to tap into,” Chachere said. “Once people eat the product and get acclimated to it they become loyal users. That’s the history of the company.”

That’s the future of the company, too — loyal customers and family leadership. Chachere said he’s committed to continuing with the company; he has four children 27, 24, 16 and 14 — and that means graduations and weddings in the future. “I better work for a while,” he said.


The boss has his favorites

Here are Don Chachere’s favorite Tony Chachere products:


  • Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning. His grandfather put the recipe in his “Cajun Country Cookbook” and launched his business around it. “Great on Everything” it says on the shaker. Don Chachere said he uses it on everything.

  • Injectable Marinades. They come in 17-oz. bottles and the following flavors: Butter and Jalapeno, Creole Style Butter, Honey Bacon and BBQ and Praline Honey Ham. Yep, the boss uses ‘em.

  • Rice mixes: Jambalaya, Gumbo, Dirty Rice and Creole Red Beans and Rice.

  • Sandwich sauces: Don Chachere said he eats these every day. Options are Creole Sandwich Sauce, Spicy-Sweet and Zesty.


Source: Don Chachere, president, Tony Chachere Creole Foods
Chachere’s Creole Foods Spans Decades, Continents
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