re: LSU Alum/TD Poster Opening a Nola/Cajun Restaurant in Liverpool in June update 6 pg 16

I’d be curious how much supply chain would be an issue for this kind of venture. What subs you’d have to make and what degrees of specificity you need to declare to ensure Cajun authenticity. And whatever linguistic and cultural barriers you might not expect due to speaking the same language.

For example (and not suggesting he didn’t already do it, I’m just emphasizing my point hypothetically) he meationed he found a butcher that can provide andouille sausage. Great.

But was that just asking about andouille, or did he go through all the steps of the process expected in Cajun andouille. Because if he just asked about availability of “andouille” the butcher probably would have been thinking of the French variety, which heavily deemphasizes smoke flavor and is primarily made with tripe and offal as opposed to meat. Given they seem to be doing “in house” smoking on their sausages, they might be better off just making their own andouille and just seeking a good source of bulk pork so they can do the more typical andouille smoking the meat before and after it goes in a casing.

A restaurant attempting this kind of branding niche will live or die on the quality and affordability of ingredients like andouille.

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I love the idea. Please don’t cut corners on the food. Real roux, real spices, real sausage, great ingredients make great food.

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I can personally comment that they have been working relentlessly on all this. I’m from Vermilion Parish and we/his partner he’s sending to Liverpool have been arguing relentlessly and remaking the color of the roux for months. It’s been fun picking them apart. I do get the bread pudding recipe but he has to call it toffee because pudding in England is gross.

We get at least two varietals of oysters here, one from around Huelva and the other up from the Galicia area. Both are fairly easy to open, and the ones from Huelva can be huge - equal to at least 3 decent size oysters from the US. If you buy from a seafood market to bring home, avg price is 1e an oyster, and you cannot purchase them opened.

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Volvagia

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Lot to unpack in your questions, but here goes:

As far as the "living wage" in the UK, do you know what it is?
It's like 12.60 pounds/hr, which is roughly $14.70.
The taxes are less for employers than in America, which we were surprised by.

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much supply chain would be an issue for this kind of venture. What subs you’d have to make and what degrees of specificity you need to declare to ensure Cajun authenticity.

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There are none. We are able to get Slap Ya Mama. All the other seasonings we need. The food will be authentic. We can get crawfish, soft shell crabs, shrimp, oysters, etc.

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And whatever linguistic and cultural barriers you might not expect due to speaking the same language.

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In the UK, it's English. Another version of English, esp after several pints, but it's English.

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But was that just asking about andouille, or did he go through all the steps of the process expected in Cajun andouille. Because if he just asked about availability of “andouille” the butcher probably would have been thinking of the French variety, which heavily deemphasizes smoke flavor and is primarily made with tripe and offal as opposed to meat. Given they seem to be doing “in house” smoking on their sausages, they might be better off just making their own andouille and just seeking a good source of bulk pork so they can do the more typical andouille smoking the meat before and after it goes in a casing.

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Actually hadn't put any thought into this. Will investigate.

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A restaurant attempting this kind of branding niche will live or die on the quality and affordability of ingredients like andouille.

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The Brits have no idea what authentic cajun food is, but we will be insluting our people if we do not provide quality.

Bring back the season long Everton thread

That’s awesome

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I mean, just because that's where the idea originated doesn't mean they didn't do their due diligence to get to this point.

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He doesn’t owe me shite, but I haven’t seen all that much indication of that. I hope he’s successful, like I said, but there seems to be rose colored glasses on for a restaurant 5k miles away. What if there’s employee problems? He’s getting sausage from a local butcher, what if there’s a problem with the butcher? There’s a million things that can go wrong in a restaurant and the margins are thin, and he’s half way across the world most of the time.

I’d be interested at what the OP does/did for a living before this

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I’ll say that those restaurants that do profit sharing with employees are MUCH BETTER places to eat! The staff aren’t constantly miserable about 

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I worked for a company that was half employee owned, much better experience than the shareholder owned company I worked for. Basically worked like any privately owned company but not beholden to shareholders. Employees got to vote on a few things and got a bonus check at the end of the year if the company performed well.

It's "socialism" if it's state owned. Just because some financier from New York who's never worked a day in his life doesn't own it, doesn't make it socialist.

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I’d be interested at what the OP does/did for a living before this

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Worked in restaurants (all positions) for 20 years, while in college and supplementing income in early/mid adulthood.

Opened and ran a successful insurance agency for 7.5 yrs before selling it in 2024.

Own an hvac co.

Own two territories (one in AL and one in FL) for a national franchise doing home design/remodeling.


We will have an American over there to run things, as he’s a partner in the venture. I think employee issues will be minimized due to our pay structure.

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can't imagine a world where you are not going to have some issues getting authentic ingredients, especially the raw ingredients,

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Specifically, which ingredients are you referring to when it comes to:
Jambalaya
Gumbo
Red beans

That we can’t get in the UK?

zydeco musica