The Jambalaya Girl, Kristin Preau, is a WBEC South WBE that got certified and dove into getting involved. She volunteered where ever she could and attended as many events as possible. Kristin is now the Chair of WBEC South’s new Champion Program.
Kristin Preau got her seasonings business off to a start in the days literally following Katrina. A recent college graduate, she was on the road working for the University of New Orleans sports department. The department heads asked her to try to raise some money for the school to get it up and going again after the storm. So she turned to what she knew best–cooking jambalaya, and raised $100,000 in three months at tail gating parties at other Southern universities. “I did what my family always does to help out,” Preau says. “My entire life growing up, we’d bust out the cast iron pot and cook jambalaya.”
And she comes by her business honestly. Her father was in the restaurant business, too, selling jambalaya pots and specially engineered outdoor cookers for regional specialties, including to famous chefs such as Paul Prudhomme. He just didn’t see that what went into the pots could be as big a business, Preau says, adding that her recipes had been cooked for generations by both her mother’s and father’s families.
It took a few years for her to get her seasonings company going. She started out by selling her blend to local grocery stores, one shelf at a time. And those would sell out pretty quickly, Preau recalls. Today she and five full-time employees sell online, and direct to regional grocery stores-;generating $250,000 in annual sales. She’s soon branching out to Gumbo. Source: Inc.com