Letter From Newest Northwest Chapter Member

First and foremost, let me say how excited I am to be a part of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. I look forward to connecting with the association on a statewide level, and I am hopeful we can continue to grow our Northwest Chapter by creating a vibrant and thriving restaurant scene. Shreveport is such an interesting community, and there are so many fantastic local farms and producers in the surrounding area - many who don’t know even exist. Over the last two years, I’ve had the best chicken, beef, and pork ever, and it has all been raised locally in or around the Shreveport area. I am excited for Shreveport and hopeful people will continue to recognize how great Northwest Louisiana foodways actually are. 
 
It also seems the pandemic has brought out a lot of creativity in Shreveport’s food scene. People are trying new concepts and pushing innovation in both food and beverage. It is exciting to see both local chefs and diners willing to try new flavors and experiences. We, as a city, have learned to embrace creative problem-solving.  Now is the time to test new concepts and push the industry forward. I also believe that we are a stronger and more vibrant community when we work to solve problems together and collaborate on big projects (or even small ‘guest chef’ or ‘guest bartender’ nights). 
 
Though we’ve been through the wringer over the past 14 months, struggling to navigate restrictions while keeping customers and employees safe, there were some positives that came out of enduring the restrictions of a pandemic. For us, it was a time to test new recipes and ideas. We actually came up with our second dining concept during some of these recipe testing sessions. Because our original concept was delayed due to the pandemic, we are now opening our second concept prior to the first. The pandemic also gave us time to develop better operating procedures and company structure. A large portion of our business during this time was private, in-home dining experiences, allowing us to connect with customers in a way we didn’t anticipate.
 
With summer around the corner and mandates being lifted, we are more than ready to see tourism back at 100 percent so we can finally fill up our restaurants and bars and start bringing back the local economy, better than it was before! Stay strong Northwest Chapter, I believe we are almost to the end.  

Brad Jones
COO, CFO 
Revenir Restaurant, Every Man A King Distillery