It's New Orleans: Out To Lunch

In New Orleans when we talk about "going to the airport" we automatically assume we're talking about Louis Armstrong Airport in Kenner.

Everybody knows right from wrong. Everybody knows numbers don't lie. And nobody wants to spend time in prison. Why, then, would a person lie about corporate profits knowing there's a high probability they're going to get caught and end up behind bars Peter s guest on Out to Lunch wrote the book on business ethics, and it's not theoretical. Aaron Beam went to federal prison for his part in a multi billion dollar fraud, and now teaches others how to make better decisions. Peter s other guest, Dr Barbara Fleischer, comes at business ethics from a unique perspective. Barbara is forging a link between business and spirituality. Andrew Preble is locking people up, but not in prison. His new business, Escape My Room, is a game that s catching New Orleans up with a sweeping international trend. Hear a longer disscussion with Andrew about Escape My Room here.

If there s one thing we all like, it s being told we're attractive. No matter how rich or poor, powerful or powerless, beautiful or pedestrian we might be there is nobody who doesn't respond positively to, "You look great " You can spend a little or a lot of time and money on your appearance. And when you think you've done everything you can to make yourself look good, you discover there s more you could do.

If you re a certain age and you grew up in the South, there were things you were expected to do, under the banner of "etiquette."

Even with NOLA's roaring tourist biz, oil and gas, and renaissance boom, the Mississippi River is the heart of the city's economy. President and CEO of the [Port of New Orleans][link1] Gary LaGrange and CFO and Treasurer of [Canal Barge][link2] Doug Downing take us behind the floodwall and onto the water. [link1]: http://www.portno.com/ [link2]: http://www.canalbarge.com/

New Orleans is rising from the debris of 2005 in ways that could never have been predicted, even by the most optimistic of prognosticators. For the first few years of the post 2008 bounce back recovery, New Orleanians were taken by surprise. Accustomed to reading stories of disasters about the city, from natural to man made crime, corruption, shrinking population, disastrous education locals were unprepared for what to do with an onslaught of good news about populations growing, incomes rising, and businesses booming. And then along came organizations dedicated to optimizing the good news and making sure it didn t slip away. Melissa Ehlinger is the Interim CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance. The Alliance's goal is to make New Orleans an attractive place to do business. Given the reputation of where we've come from, that's no easy task. To make the magic work, Melissa and NOLABA are using a mix of lifestyle and tax credits to lure businesses to the city and Melissa tells Peter the magic is indeed working

Whether you believe global warming is caused by man or nature, according to NASA, 2014 was earth's hottest year on record.

When people talk about which parts of New Orleans are desirable, you often hear the phrase, "block by block." Meaning, in blighted parts of town there are bright spots. And in the nicer parts of town there are areas that are not so great. Two parts of town that have been commercially block by block are the mostly empty lots around Loyola Avenue near the Superdome, and the largely abandoned Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard. Today, that's all changing. Matt Schwarz's The Domain Companies is investing a quarter of a billion dollars into developing a downtown wasteland into a commercial and residential community called The South Market District. Linda Pompa is leading the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Merchants and Business Association on a rapidly rejuvenating central city commercial corridor. Linda Pompa and Matt Schwarz join Peter Ricchiuti on this edition of Out to Lunch with the lowdown on just how the back of town is coming back.

No matter which era of recent U.S. history we look back on, we seem to be constantly working on two issues healthcare and education. The debate at the center of these discussions is often financial. Where is Federal or state money for reform going to come from And if reform is privately funded, how are these fundamental requirements distributed equally In Louisiana and especially here in New Orleans healthcare and education are going down their own unique, and very different paths. New Orleans is the only city in the United States where one hundred percent of our public schools are charter schools. What started out as a post Katrina experiment has become a nationwide trendsetting model. The Executive Director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, Caroline Roemer Shirley, joins Peter on Out to Lunch to discuss the new education business model that s becoming a model for other cities. In healthcare, although here in New Orleans we are spending millions of dollars constructing hospitals, the Ka

If you live in New Orleans, you re a part of the music business. Even if you never go to Jazz Fest or Bourbon Street, the revenue generated by music makes up a chunk of our local economy. We re also tied into the empire of the world heavyweight champion of live music, Live Nation, through the local offices of Live Nation Festivals North America. Live Nation s

Every time a new mobile device comes out we can put more stuff on it. These days we don't need to carry a calendar, phone book, yellow pad, book, map, magazine, music player, camera, DVD player, laptop, or even a heart monitor.

When it comes to having a great idea in business, the difference between success and failure is hard to pin down till you're one or the other. Lisa Lloyd doesn't have the luxury of hindsight. Lisa is an inventor. She has invented products that have made millions. And she has had days that weren't so good. On today s Out to Lunch Peter Ricchiuti discusses the invention business with Lisa Lloyd from the Lloyd Marketing Group. Liz Shepherd is the founder of a business called Life City. Life City also deals in turning good ideas into reality. They help companies change from traditional ways of doing business to green and sustainable practices that are also profitable. For his third great idea of the day, Peter introduces Justin Bayer and his entrepreneurial startup, Welcome to College. Hear a longer conversation about Welcome to College with Peter, Justin, Liz, and Lisa here.

New Orleans neighborhoods aren t like the rest of the country. Where else can you live on an expensive street that has potholes that can swallow a 5 year old. Where the streetlights are out but the traffic cameras work perfectly. And there s a street you're never quite sure what the name is because it's never had a sign. Stepping into this rich tapestry of communities is Neighborlynx, a company that puts all the information about your neighborhood online in one convenient location. Neighborlynx CEO Kelly Conatser is Peter Ricchiuti s guest today on this edition of Out to Lunch. One thing we're not big on in New Orleans is change. So this might not be the obvious place for a company called Commit Change. But Commit Change seems to be committed to being here. And changing the world. Chief Marketing Officer Jason Nicosia joins Peter to explain his plan for global domination. And he's pretty convincing.

When you go to Jazz Fest do you have stuff you have to do Is there one band you have to see or one food item you have to eat For many people that annual treat is Crawfish Monica. It s one of Jazz Fest's most popular dishes. On this edition of Out to Lunch we have crawfish, and Monica. Monica Davidson, the Monica from Crawfish Monica and co owner of Kajun Kettle Foods, joins Peter for lunch. Frank Relle is also Peter s guest today. If you don't know Frank's name you probably know his iconic New Orleans and Louisiana photos. If you've been to Jazz Fest in the last eleven years you've seen Frank out there selling them. You might also have seen Frank's photos in the New York Times, or at Kanye West's house the last time you were over there. In the You Heard It Here First segment of the show, Peter indtroduces Ellio Blox, co founder of Acrodisiac. Hear a longer conversation with Peter, Blox, Monica and Frank, here.

There are a lot of people these days claiming how well New Orleans is doing and that in business terms we're now competitive with almost any city in the country. If you'd like proof that this is fact, and not just feel good boosterism, this edition of Out to Lunch might convince you. GE is the 6th largest company in the Fortune 500. They've been quoted as saying New Orleans is becoming the hub of the South. And they're putting their money where their mouth is. In downtown New Orleans, in the Place St Charles building, GE Capital Technology Center has 70,000 square feet of office space. They're hiring 300 IT experts in all kinds of fields of advanced technology. And they've put Chief Information Officer Mike de Boer in charge of the entire operation. A company the size of GE doesn't just stick a pin in the map and hope things work out down in New Orleans. The groundwork for this massive of an investment involves interactions with all kinds of people who benefit from GE's investment among them the State of Loui

If you do your own laundry, you probably think you ve got a small mountain of it if you have four or five loads to throw in the washing machine. There s a family firm in Kenner called Pellerin Milnor who have been making washing machines for nearly 80 years, but you wouldn't buy one for your house. Their machines wash around 7,000 pounds of laundry. An hour. Pellerin Milnor washing machines and dryers are in hospitals, cruise ships, and other industrial laundry facilities around the world. The President of Pellerin Milnor , James Pellerin, joins Peter on this edition of

Back in the twentieth century when you wanted to fly somewhere you had two choices you could call the airline and buy a ticket, or you could call a travel agent, who for some magical reason could get you the same ticket for less money. Then along came the online travel site revolution. Now, instead of making a two minute phone call we can spend hours, even days, comparing prices and airline schedules before buying a plane ticket. Although we feel like we're our own travel agents today, it's not quite that simple. Behind the scenes, online travel giant Expedia employs around 15,000 people in 20 countries. One of those folks is Expedia's Area Manager, Ted Bogan, based here in New Orleans. One of the down sides of flying is, unlike driving, you can't just leave any old time you want. Unless you start up your own airline and set your own flight schedule. That's what Stan Little did. Stan started Southern Airways Express in 2013 so he could help others like himself get around the South. His airline flies out of Ne

A normally functioning human body is something most of us take for granted, until we have personal experience that challenges us. It might be the birth of a child, an accident, or just staying alive long enough to have bits of ourselves wear out. Two of our senses that are susceptible to impairment are hearing and sight.

Most people who start a new business build on what has come before them. Every now and again there are revolutionary game changers, like

When you launch a new business, you have no way of knowing whether you're going to make a billion dollars, or make a bunch of decisions that add up to little more than a valuable lesson. When a small group of New Orleans guys started hosting pop up foodie dinners in deserted buildings, few could have predicted Dinner Lab would turn out to be a multi million dollar nationwide business. Dinner Lab Co founder Paco Robert joins Peter on this edition of Out to Lunch today, along with Jason Navarro. Jason's business is at the other end of the dietary spectrum he's created a new line of sports supplements, called 4D. Taking on every product in GNC, and setting up dinners in bombed out buildings across America could be the subjects of two reality TV shows. Peter tackles both of those topics today on Out to Lunch.