Startup St. Bernard Winner Announced
40 ARPENT BREWING WINS STARTUP ST. BERNARD COMPETITION PRESENTED BY THE MERAUX FOUNDATION
Entrepreneur Takes Home $110K Prize Package
Judges announced 40 Arpent Brewing Co. the winner of the first annual Startup St. Bernard today. 40 Arpent Brewing Co. will take home a $110,000 prize package of cash and in-kind services designed to help propel their business to the next level. 40 Arpent Brewing Co. was one of five finalists to pitch their business at the live “Shark Tank” style public event at the Meraux Foundation’s Arlene Meraux River Observation Center at Docville Farm.
40 Arpent Brewing Co. is an eleven-month-old micro-brewery, located on the Mississippi River, in St. Bernard Parish’s historic Old Arabi neighborhood. 40 Arpent brings the “Craft of Brewing Quality Beer” to this thriving arts district and surrounding region through its two flagship brews: New Basin Stout and Duckweed IPA. It entered Startup St. Bernard to help create a new tap-room that will attract beer enthusiast and tourist alike to the river front of Old Arabi.
The other four finalists were Christie’s Dreams Seafood, Creole Tomato Project, Ruffstuff, and St. Bernard Syrups.
“I would like to congratulate 40 Arpent Brewing Co. is an eleven-month-old micro-brewery, located on the Mississippi River, in St. Bernard Parish’s historic Old Arabi neighborhood. 40 Arpent brings the “Craft of Brewing Quality Beer” to this thriving arts district and surrounding region through its two flagship brews: New Basin Stout and Duckweed IPA. It entered Startup St. Bernard to help create a new tap-room that will attract beer enthusiast and tourist alike to the river front of Old Arabi.
on winning Startup St. Bernard,” said Rita Gue, president of the Meraux Foundation, which created and hosted the event. “I am relieved that I was not a judge, because every one of the businesses was fantastic and I could not have chosen just one! The fine quality of all the entrepreneurs is proof that we have a lot of things to offer businesses here in St. Bernard Parish.”
Prior to today’s pitch event, the five finalists were selected out of a pool of more than 60 entries. Startup St. Bernard was open to any business that agreed to locate their base of operations to St.Bernard Parish, help improve St. Bernard Parish, and become part of the St. Bernard Parish entrepreneur ecosystem. Finalists were identified by an independent scoring committee based on the criteria published on the entry form, including the quality of their business plan and impact on St. Bernard Parish.
Startup St. Bernard was created by the Meraux Foundation to showcase the Parish as an ideal place for businesses, especially startups, to locate. The Meraux Foundation is joined by a deep bench of partners working together to make Startup St. Bernard possible, including The Idea Village™, St. Bernard Economic Development Foundation, The Entrepreneur Center at Nunez Community College, St. Bernard Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership St. Bernard.
Donors include the Meraux Foundation, Park Investments, Ltd., Mr. Wayne Landry, Palms Truck Stop, Sidney Torres, III, Mrs. Rita Gue, Mr. Floyd Gue, Palmisano Contactors, LLC, St Bernard BPW, St. Bernard Tourism Commission, Nunez Community College Foundation, Mr. Terry and Mrs. Daryl Tedesco, Ms. Adele Faust, Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company, John Brian White, Esq., InHouse Consultants, Inc., AdamsIP, LLC, Sherman Strategies, LLC, Ragusa Consulting, evanSchmidt Design, LLC, Person Huff CPA Group, Sidewise, Pel Hughes, Shine Productions, Outfront Media, St. Bernard Chamber of Commerce, Arc, Crave, Mr. Bill Haines, Printers Wholesale Group, and Arabi Food Store.
Startup St. Bernard is being held in conjunction with New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), the annual festival celebrating business, innovation, and advanced thinking in New Orleans. Produced by The Idea Village, NOEW engages a dynamic global network of entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, nonprofits, students, and professionals to support growing companies and elevate entrepreneurial success through eight days of discussion, debate, education, competition and celebration. This year, the event will take place March 20-27, 2015 and 10,000+ are expected to be engaged through over 75 different events.
STARTUP ST. BERNARD JUDGES (in alphabetical order):
Kerri Callais-Lubrano, Leadership St. Bernard
Michael Hecht, GNO, Inc.
Mark Romig, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp.
Carmen Sunda, Louisiana Small Business Development Center
Judge Robert Klees, retired St Bernard Judge
ABOUT THE ARLENE AND JOSEPH MERAUX FOUNDATION
The Meraux Foundation is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was established by Arlene Meraux to benefit the community of St. Bernard Parish by leveraging its landholdings. Today, the foundation’s board of directors is presided over by Arlene’s niece, Rita Gue, and members Floyd Gue, Bill Haines, Chris Haines, and Sidney Torres, III. Guided by Arlene’s vision, the board is implementing an innovative strategy to create lasting change and build a better St. Bernard.
More at merauxfoundation.org andwww.startupstbernard.com.
