ORAL HISTORY

Larry Avery

French Market Foods might not be a household name in Louisiana or beyond, but the brand under which most of the company’s products are marketed—Tony Chachere’s—most certainly is. Grocery store aisles and meat markets brim with Creole and Cajun seasoning mixes, but Tony Chachere’s seasoning in particular is as abundant in households across Louisiana as dark-roast coffee and cane syrup. The alliance between the two companies ensures that every French Market Foods product sold under the Tony Chachere’s label is seasoned with Tony Chachere’s blend (thereby feeding the co-dependence between so many Louisianians and the spice mix born in Opelousas). Among the Tony Chachere’s goods prepared and packaged at French Market Foods’ grand facility in Lake Charles are three styles of boudin (pork, crawfish, and shrimp), and two gumbos (seafood, and chicken and sausage). Larry Avery, the company’s president and CEO, and a native of Sulphur, sat down to discuss the ins and outs of production, as well as the heat-and-eat retail market.