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Rouses Means Local Brands by David W. Brown

If you’re looking to wash down those tamales or some Spicy Cajun Crawtators while watching the game, you might reach for a beer — another area where Rouses has made local its heart and soul, and in the process, practically kick- started an entire industry.

Local products of every stripe, coffee to candy, dominate the shelves at Rouses — and it’s been that way for a long time. “I remember salesmen coming in with potato chips, and I remember asking, ‘What’s this? Zapp’s?’ Ron Zappe was a local guy from across the river, in Gramercy, Louisiana. We set him up and started selling his products. We said yes, we’ll give you an opportunity, and if it sells, that’s great. And if it doesn’t sell… we gave you an opportunity!” And boy howdy did they ever sell, becoming, by the end of Ron Zappe’s life, the second-largest-selling snack food in Louisiana and Texas — two states where the snack food competition has a lion-like ferocity. Mickey Brown’s, another beloved local company, makes some of the best fully cooked, frozen tamales in the world. But they weren’t always frozen on arrival. “He was making them right here in Houma,” says Tim, “and years and years ago, I remember these warm tamales coming in. They would bake them, pack them up in little brown bags and bring them to the store, and we would put them in the freezer. It’s a great local product and it’s still there today. They’ve expanded. They do burritos now, too.”

As Rouses Markets have expanded over the last 60 years, they’ve brought their local products with them, helping the smaller companies grow as the store chain grows. “When we move into an area,” says Ali Rouse Royster, “we like to bring the best of what we offer, which means all kinds of local products from all across the Gulf Coast. We also work hard to learn about the new community we’re going to serve, and meld them together.” It goes both ways. “We take the best local products from the rest of our network, and bring them to the new community. We also take their best local products and move them back to the rest of our network. It is a great opportunity for us to keep bringing new cool products for everyone, everywhere to discover. And it’s also great for the vendors, who can expand their footprints in a kind of organic way, because they know us, they know our systems. They can keep moving geographically with us.”

42 MARCH•APRIL 2020