Another food company leaves New Orleans

[FistFullaRoux]

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=4287605

Louisiana-based Diversified Foods and Seasonings makes products used by the restaurant industry, including Culinary Creations, New Orleans Chefs Creations, Culinary Collections and Casa San Louisa.

The company's plant in Metairie was destroyed. The company still has plants in Texas, Alabama, and another Louisiana plant in Madisonville/

They will be moving to McAlester, Oklahoma

[memesuze]

mcalester oklahoma - tornado alley

[HungryC]

Diversified is Al Copeland's seasoning company. I think the bulk of their sales is to the Popeyes' chain--he no longer owns the chain, but still provides all/most of the seasonings used in their products.

[Mayhaw Man]

Diversified is Al Copeland's seasoning company.  I think the bulk of their sales is to the Popeyes' chain--he no longer owns the chain, but still provides all/most of the seasonings used in their products.

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They are not moving away. He has a gazillion dollar plant on the Northshore that was a consolidation of his wet plant (Mobile) and his dry plant (New Orleans). This has been open for several years and is a welcome addition to the Northshore, which is a suburban hell where no one makes anything and people only go to Target and spend money that they earn elsewhere(sorry, it took me two hours to get home from work on Friday-life over there has gone from bucolic to suck). Hungry C is correct in that they make all of the spice mixes for Popey's and also for Church's Chicken. Whatever they were doing in New Orleans (I have made a few calls, but no one seems to even know that there was still anything over there off of Earhart) it wasn't much, I don't think. Diversified has a couple of hundred employees, is one of the largest employers in the parish, and they have really interesting work environment

[FistFullaRoux]

Diversified has a couple of hundred employees, is one of the largest employers in the parish, and they have really interesting work environment

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Hey, chefs can't have all the fun...

[FistFullaRoux]

Update:

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../512280306/1046

Diversified will keep it's headquarters in suburban New Orleans, according to Al Copeland. Turns out, they were looking for a western distribution point anyway, and the Oklahoma deal was already somewhat in the works.

So they aren't moving away, they are keeping their core business and headquarters in the New Orleans area, and they will simply replace the damaged facility with the new one in Soonerland, which will allow them to expand the business.

Kudos to Mr. Copeland for keeping those jobs local. I wonder if they would subsidise moving expenses for people who wanted to go west

[Timh]

...or needed rehab. Sounds like the same sorry state of affairs of for the area pre-Katrina. And what about Straya, is that monstrousity still going?