Cooking up expansions

In a state mired in a political tug-of-war on how to fund the budget while its legislature is embroiled in a third special session, there is a city that ranks at or near the top of a list of the poorest towns in the United States. In the midst of this backdrop, two locally owned family businesses are doing their part to raise Ville Platte out of the economic doldrums.
Former owner of Ville Platte Iron Works David Manuel, who is still involved in the company after his son and daughter-in-law Nick and Felicia bought the business, said that the company is expanding its location inside the Evangeline Parish Industrial Park.
“We’re expanding our facilities to make it a little bit easier for production,” Manuel said. “We’re trying to open up and make more room to be able to have a safer environment and a better place to store parts than having to stack them up somewhere where they get in our way.”
“We are building another building for the paint department,” he continued. “We’re trying to move the paint department out of the machine shop area and into its own area. We’re also building a new shop for the welding department. We have to try to separate those entities so that they’ll function better in their own buildings.”
Manuel explained, because of the expansions, Ville Platte Iron Works will be hiring more employees on top of its current number of 77. According to Manuel, this is only part of the economic impact on the city.
“A lot of the supplies that we use are very specialized and can only be supplied by industrial suppliers,” he said. “But, we buy all that we can locally. We have several hardware stores that we buy a lot of the parts with.”
He added, “And, all of our employees spend their money here locally. That’s going to help the local economy.”
The current building projects at Ville Platte Iron Works are the latest in expansions since Ashland Manuel, David Manuel’s father, opened the company on April 1, 1949. “It started out as just a small welding shop with one machine tool, and it just ran like that for quite some time,” Manuel explained. “I came on in 1974 when I finished college and took over then. When my father was running it, he had two employees. When I had it, I had as many as 13 people.”
Since 1974, Ville Platte Iron Works has moved locations from Chataignier Street to the Industrial Park. Manuel said, “We wouldn’t have been able to do the volume of work we do right now if we had stayed on Chataignier Street. We had ran out of room.”
Following the change in locations, and following the change in ownership to Nick and Felicia Manuel about 10 years ago, the company has added more machinery to become more of a manufacturing business. “Our welding department is not as big as the machine department,” Manuel said. “The manufacturing department is where Nick and Felicia have gone, and the welding department mostly supports the manufacturing department by building fixtures, doing repairs on the machines, and making parts that they need for the machines.”
This change in business models serves as an example for other local businesses that are trying to survive or expand. “To stay in business, you have to keep moving into what niche works best for you,” expressed Manuel. “We’ve been lucky enough to do that and stay busy.”
While the expansion projects at Ville Platte Iron Works get started, similar work is nearing completion across town at Kary’s Roux to meet the storage demands of the increasing product lines.
“We’re having more containers with the added products and more inventory that we’re having to hold,” said Ross LaFleur.
The solution to the storage problem is building of a 40’ X 100’ building. LaFleur said, “Half of that is going to be air conditioned to where we can put flour and mixes to keep them at the temperature we want where it won’t get too hot, and then on the other side is going to be our oil. We buy oil and flour by the truckloads, and the new building will help us to have more room to store all of that.”
Much like Ville Platte Iron Works, Kary’s Roux is a third generation family run business that has continued to expand over the decades. “My grandfather Archange lived in L’Anse aux Pailles, and he was orphaned when he was six-years-old,” LaFleur said. “He moved into Ville Platte with his grandmother and then ended up living with one of his aunts. Then, whenever he was 16, he went work in the Pig Stand where his first cousin was running the restaurant.”
A year later, LaFleur’s grandfather went into the service. After World War II, he came back to Ville Platte and began leasing the Pig Stand. “At that time, they were making BBQ sauce without a label,” said LaFleur. “Once they put a label on it, they were selling it just on the restaurant shelf. Then, they started getting into stores.”
LaFleur continued, “In 1975, my grandfather said that he had an idea to make a roux and call it Kary’s Roux. So, my dad Kary started making the roux. Then, in 1980, my grandfather passed away. At that time, dad was already making the roux, and my grandfather had a partner in the restaurant. The partner took the restaurant, and my dad and grandmother bought out the rights to the BBQ sauce. So, from 1980 on, Kary’s Roux and Pig Stand BBQ sauce have been made in the same place.”
Following the merger of the roux and BBQ sauce, Kary’s Roux has continued to release new products which has necessitated the latest expansion project.
“Dad started out with the regular roux, then he made a light roux and a dry roux,” LaFleur said. “Then, he went into the gumbo mix, the bisque mix, and the jambalaya mix. Queen Bee Seasoning was also added which was my grandfather’s seasoning blend that he used on all his roasts and barbeque.”
The company also has added different basting sauces and a hot BBQ sauce.
The distribution side of the company has also expanded over the generations. “Right now, besides the retail jars, we also sell to restaurants in pales,” said LaFleur. “There are 35-pounds of roux in a pale.”
These pales will also be housed in the new storage building.
Currently, Kary’s Roux has six employees. With the current expansion project, that number is not expected to rise right now. As LaFleur said, “Hopefully, with having that extra room, we can start making even more products and can hire more people.”
One thing that the expansion at Kary’s Roux is doing is providing work for local contractors in Evangeline Parish. “The warehouse was built by someone from St. Landry,” said LaFleur. “The concrete came from the Devilles, Paul Adams is our electrician, and Shane Vallet is going to install our air conditioner.”
LaFleur concluded, “It’s not always a direct impact where we are employing that many more people, but, by expansion, we are giving other people work too. We hope to keep growing to be able to hire more people.”