ROUSES_SeptOct2019_Magazine

third Generation by david w. brown Nick Acosta started working for Rouses Markets at 15 years of age, wrangling buggies in the parking lot at the North Canal Boulevard store in Thibodaux. It was an after-school job that also kept him busy on weekends, and tided him over until he could get a job in the Butcher Shop, where he really wanted to work. He did everything in those early years, from stocking shelves to working registers to helping customers in the store.

Nick Acosta, Meat Director at Rouses Markets, and his father, Tim Acosta, Director of Marketing and Advertising at Rouses Markets; photo: Channing Candies

Nick is an avid outdoorsman, so the Butcher Shop was where he felt he truly belonged. When he finally joined it, however, they didn’t just give him a giant, hanging slab of Kobe beef and tell him to make art with it. No, he had to pay his dues, and that meant, among other things, cleanup: At the end of each day, it fell to Nick to break down, scrub clean and sanitize every tool in the department. The next day depended on him doing a good job the night before, so there he was, filling cases and cleaning floors, tables and coolers. “It was definitely a big change going into meat — going from bagging groceries to scrubbing floors on your hands and knees to keep the place clean,” he laughs. Still, it was a natural fit. “I always knew I wanted to do this. I grew up skinning, cleaning, hunting, shooting — anything with four legs — so nothing in the Butcher Shop really phased me at all. There was never a moment when I wasn’t happy.” The hardest part, he says, was getting used to the cold. “The coolers and freezers — I mean, bundling up with a jacket in July to do your job just feels unusual.” GROWING UP IN THE BUSINESS He worked at Rouses through college, earning a degree in agricul- ture and a master of business administration — both of which would prepare him for a growing role in the company. “I was an assistant store manager in college. I worked until midnight, closed the store, got up early, went to school,” he says. “There were a lot of weekends where everybody else was off having fun and I was working — but looking back, it was all worth it.” “ I always listen to WWL on game day. I can remember all the way back to the days of Buddy D and Hap Glaudi’s Point After. Now it’s Deuce McAllister and Zach Strief calling the game, and my fellow Cajun, Bobby Hebert, doing the Point After. Rouses has been a sponsor of the game day broadcast since 2000.” - TIM ACOSTA ; MY SAINTS SUPERSTITION

Today he is the Meat Director for Rouses Markets. In his new role, he uses lessons taught by his grandfather, Anthony Rouse, Sr., Cindy Acosta's father, the founder of the company: “You have to earn every customer who walks through the door. That means having fresh products and keeping a clean store, and having what customers want when they want it. In this business, nothing is guaran- teed. You’ve got to earn it — you’ve got to keep doing what you know is right.” For Nick and all of the Rouses, it always comes back to family. “I’ve always liked what I did, and never had a desire to do anything else other than this. I saw my friends go work offshore for two or three weeks at a time and would never be around to see their families, and I always knew that I could come home every day and make a living enjoying what I’m doing,” says Nick. Nick is a third-generation member of the family business, says Tim Acosta, Nick’s father and the director of marketing and adver- tising for Rouses Markets. “Still, Nick had to find his own passion. Watching him grow up in the business, learn the business, lead the business and help the business grow has been incredible.” FOOTBALL MEANS GRILLING Rouses is known for its sausage, and this year, Nick is excited about two new flavors set to hit shelves in September: Buffalo blue cheese chicken sausage and Buffalo ranch chicken sausage. “Our fresh sausage program is something we really hang our hat on in the Meat Department,” says Nick. “We make all of our sausage in-house and use nothing but fresh ingredients, made as needed every day. They’re great on the grill, with fine, premium ingredients at a really good price — and they are a hit with our customers.” TheMeat Department is always working to develop new flavors for customers in order to keep the program fresh and exciting. Chicken and pineapple, pork jalapeño and green onion are particularly popular, and Cajun and Italian sausages work well in spaghetti dishes. With football season underway, in addition to sausage, Rouses offers tailgate packages: top items like stuffed jalapeño peppers and chicken thigh rolls — both wrapped in bacon, of course. “Football season kicks off, and that leads us right through the holidays,” says Nick, “And it always goes back to cooking: friends and family getting together and having a good time.”

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