It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

About It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

OUT TO LUNCH finds Baton Rouge Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel combining her hard news journalist skills and food background: conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.

Publisher

ItsBatonRouge.la

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Aug 2015

Latest episode

18 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

397 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Oct 2026

   It's A Girls' World

   I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase, “win-win.” People often use it to try and convince you that something that’s good for them is actually good for you too. In business, it’s rare to find a true win-win business model, where everybody in the supply chain, from manufacturer to distributor to customer, actually wins. But there is one business in America that has perfected the win-win. It’s not Walmart. Or Apple. Or Uber. It’s The Girl Scouts. They’ve come up with a product everybody loves: cookies. They create demand for the product using what’s called “the scarcity principle.” The cookies are not available in stores. You basically have to know somebody to buy them. The distribution, sales and marketing of the cookies are all done by people who are legally too young to employ. So all of those usual business expenses are free! There are never any labor issues: All of the young girls who are working for free are delighted to do so. And while they’re marketing and selling cookies, the members of the sales force are getting a free education in entrepreneurship and business. Oh, and one more thing. Every single expenditure, in every direction, at every level, is tax exempt or, even better, tax deductible. Here in Louisiana, the mastermind of this operation, and a whole lot more, is the CEO of Girl Scouts of Louisiana East (https://www.gsle.org/), Dr. Rebecca Pennington. There are a whole other bunch of girls, or, rather, women, in Baton Rouge who are decidedly not interested in win-win. They’re interested in win-lose. And if they have to use a certain level of raw violence to get a win, well, that’s just the way it goes. This group of women are called Red Stick Roller Derby. (https://redstickrollerderby.wordpress.com/) If you’re not familiar with what exactly roller derby is, well, it’s basically rugby on roller skates. Two teams circle a track, one skater on each side tries to fight their way through the pack to score, and everyone else is trying to stop them or help them. It’s super physical. And it’s almost always a women-only sport. Red Stick Roller Derby, if you’ll pardon the expression, punches way above its weight. It consistently ranks in the top 25 teams in North America and has reached the top 3 in the South. One of the people responsible for this success is the team’s trainer, Cynthia Speer Sanders, whose Roller Derby name is Original Cyn. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard (https://www.mansursontheboulevard.com/main/home). You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez (http://albaledomedia.com/) at itsbatonrouge.com. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

2. 

   10 Oct 2026

   Aerial Backpack

   There’s a lot of talk about staying healthy these days. Mostly, it breaks down into two areas: eating and exercise. Okay, I can already hear you groaning. But the good news is, we’re not going to talk about eating healthy today. And the even better news is, we’re not going to talk about working out, or running, or biking, or any of that. There are other ways you can keep fit, healthy, alert and even improve your mental health – that are fun and don’t require a traditional gym membership. My lunch guests - Michael Matthews of The Backpacker, an outdoors specialty store (https://backpackeroutdoors.com/), and Alaina Ray of Refuge Aerial, an aerial arts studio (https://www.refugeaerial.com/) – are both in the business of keeping you fit, mentally and physically, in novel ways, right here in Baton Rouge. Backpack Michael’s father started The Backpacker in the early 1970s, beginning as a ski travel company before expanding into retail. While attending LSU, Michael became interested in learning how businesses operate, and was already helping sell ski trips when his father decided to sell the business. Michael saw an opportunity to follow in his father’s footsteps and continue the family business, so he bought The Backpacker from his father in 2006. Over the last 20 years, Michael has opened two more locations, in Lafayette and in Mandeville. Michael says that The Backpacker is more than a place where customers simply come to buy gear. His larger goal is to build an ecosystem around outdoor recreation: inspire someone to take an adventure, help them plan it, provide information about what they’ll encounter, and then outfit them with the gear they’ll need. Aerial When it comes to learning a new hobby, maybe your interests lean towards indoor activities, things like yoga, pole, and circus arts. Alaina Ray discovered aerial arts almost 10 years ago, when a friend invited her to take a class in Baton Rouge. She was immediately drawn to both the physical challenge and the combination of strength and grace. Alaina had always dreamed of owning a business, though her career initially took her into corporate work. Then, an opportunity to take over the ownership of Above Ground Aerial, where Alaina and her eventual co-founder were teaching, presented itself. They created Refuge Aerial and, within roughly two weeks, were renting space at CheerForce. Refuge Aerial opened in 2021. A few things have changed since then — Alaina bought her business partner out, and she’s added additional classes and performances. What has never changed is a sense of community. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard (https://www.mansursontheboulevard.com/main/home). You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez (http://albaledomedia.com/) at itsbatonrouge.com. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

3. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Dr. Feelgood

   The self-help industry is a multi-billion-dollar global market encompassing books, digital courses, personal coaching, seminars, and wellness apps aimed at personal optimization. Scottish author Samuel Smiles introduced the concept in 1859 with his publication Self Help, which emphasized thrift, discipline, and individual perseverance over societal change. Today, we can turn to Oprah Winfrey’s self help bestsellers, life coach Tony Robbins, and apps like Headspace, Noom, and Calm to help us meditate, diet, and sleep. My two lunch guests today — Katherine Wilks and Margaret Wilkinson — are building their own self-help empires right here in Baton Rouge. Katherine Wilks’ path to becoming a self-help author began first as a nurse. The profession runs in her family, she says: her grandmother served as chief nursing officer at Bogalusa Medical Center and became one of Katherine’s biggest inspirations. Katherine has been a nurse for 20 years. She began her career in quality control and spent about eight years on the business side before eventually finding her way back to clinical work. Today, Katherine runs an urgent care center serving children and adults. But, wait! There’s more! Katherine is also the author of some 30 books, spanning family history, children’s literature, and self-help. She’s written extensively on narcissism, self-publishing a series of books informed by her experience in a difficult marriage to someone she says was clinically diagnosed. Two titles that caught my attention are Meeting the Narcissist: Love at First Lie (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GMDDTLK5?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_sirpi) and Leaving the Narcissist: The Most Dangerous Moment. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GMDDTLK5?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_sirpi) Self-help isn’t limited to books or apps. If you need more immediate relief, why not turn to alternative medicines? One option here in Baton Rouge is Rad Dad Alternative Wellness (https://raddadalt.com/). The casual, customer-friendly store specializes in functional mushroom, kava, non-alcoholic, and alternative wellness products. Margaret Wilkinson and her husband Paul opened Rad Dad on Government Street in their Mid City neighborhood in 2023. Neighbors embraced it wholeheartedly, and now three years later, they’ve added a second location on Jefferson Highway. We’re all striving to be our best selves each and every day. Yet, the discipline and individual perseverance required to fully succeed at self help is often in short supply. Our Baton Rouge community is fortunate that Katherine and Margaret are doing their best at their respective businesses to offer guidance and services that make the job of self help a bit easier. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard (https://www.mansursontheboulevard.com/main/home). You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez (http://albaledomedia.com/) at itsbatonrouge.com (https://pod.fo/e/682666). See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

Who has been a guest on It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Albert Pellisier
• Meredith Waguespack
• NaQuellar "Nikki" Thompson
• Dr Lynn Duhe
• Chef Barret Meeks

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

9 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 61 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

90

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

81

Contact It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.