July_Aug_2015_FINAL_62215_bleedless REV

EXPANSION • ROUSES HISTORY

Donald Rouse It was the most exciting food store in the area. Dad was really proud that a local business had opened a store that size and could employ that many people. I remember him saying, “If a local doesn’t do it, a chain will.” Dad agreed with Huey Long, who famously said, “I’d rather have thieves and gangsters than chain stores in Louisiana.” SCHWEGMANN’S Tim Acosta We wound up in Morgan City when Winn Dixie pulled out after Hurricane Andrew.That was 1992. In 1996, we had our first big growth spurt. Schwegmann’s took over National Supermarkets and had to get rid of a few new stores to avoid competing against existing Schwegmman locations. We picked up That Stanleys in Thibodaux and Houma, and Canal Villeres in Lockport and Metairie, on Veterans by Transcontinental. Metairie was a whole new market for us. Sherriff Harry Lee, IrmaThomas and Chef Andre Apuzo starred in our commercials and WDSU’s Margaret Orr bagged groceries on opening day. Suddenly Rouses was one of the largest independent grocers in Louisiana. EPICUREAN-STYLE MARKETS Donald Rouse

Where The Chefs Shop Growing up in Thibodaux, Ali Rouse Royster and I went to school together from kindergarten through high school graduation.The Rouse Family and their grocery stores were always a part of my life. Rouses was the only place I knew you could shop, especially for the good stuff. Before I became a chef, the good stuff consisted of apple fritters and doughnuts from the bakery, ice to fill up my ice chest before a fishing trip, crawfish for family get-togethers, beef tongue for crab bait and all of the “day old” food to feed the hogs my grandfather raised. When I left Thibodaux to pursue my career as a chef, the good stuff at Rouses never really left me. I’d order king cakes to send to friends in Italy and the Caribbean — to give them a taste of home. Today as a chef, I still eat doughnuts from the bakery and shop for that same taste of home to share with international friends. I shop for produce, meat and game from local farmers. I can get ingredients indigenous to Louisiana: Steen’s cane syrup from Abbeville for cane vinegar, Hola Nola tortillas from Gonzales for my redfish tacos, sunflower flour from Folsom and hogshead cheese and store-made

The epicurean-style markets in Houma and Thibodaux were a completely different concept for us. We try to bring something new to every store we open, but this was more than just adding the latest features.We dramatically expanded the deli and bakery, moved fresh food to the front of the store, put in our first completely organic section in produce and had our first international section in grocery. Clint Adams Rouses #16 in Thibodaux opened in 1999, Rouses #15 in Houma open in 2001. I was a manager at #16, then #15 (#15 is numbered first, but we opened it second). People travelled from all over Louisiana just to see these stores. Donald Rouse When Delchamps left the market, we bought a few of their stores in Thibodaux, Cut Off and Metairie. In 2003, we opened the first Rouses Market in St. Tammany, a 54,000-square-foot store in Covington. We were mid-build on our Mandeville store when Katrina hit in 2005.

boudin ... still getting all my good stuff from Rouses. —Chef Nathan Richard, Kingfish, New Orleans

11

ROUSES.COM