Paul Prudhomme Magic Growth

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Congratulations are due to Paul Prudhomme, who recently won the Jefferson Parish Economic Commission (JEDCO) annual Business Retention Award for keeping business in New Orleans's first suburb. Online news source Bayoubuzz throws some light on this early pioneer into Super Chef product lines. It turns out that Prudhomme's company Magic Seasoning Blends, founded in 1982 and employing some 60 people, had bought land in a neighboring St. Charles Parish to accomodate a new facility, but in the nick of time a building down the street from Magic Seasoning went on the market and the company purchased the building for its expansion. Magic Seasoning Blends is not small potatoes: it supplies supermarkets, caterers, the military, all kinds of food manufacturers, hotel restaurants, and shoppers. It also exports to distributors in Australia, Chile, Finland, Holland, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. Although Wolfgang Puck's career is often cited as "the" super chef model (see Super Chef, chapter 1), Paul Prudhomme expanded his businesses earlier than Puck's 1983 launch of frozen foods under Dr. Robert Koblin (see paulprudhomme_72dpi200pxl256c.pngSuper Chef, p. 25). What kept me from defining Chef Paul as a super chef is that he only has one restaurant, K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen (compared, say, to Puck's dozens). (Check out Pableaux Johnson's article "On Being Chef Paul" in the December 2004 issue of Food Arts. Also, check out his blog Bayou Dog.) Previous articles: Coffee Puck: Heats in Your Hands Fly With Wolfgang Puck Express After the Hurricane, Norman Van Aken Breezes Gently In Paul Prudhomme Seasons US Troops at Gitmo Agassi's Star Palate: Celebrity Chefs Euro Puck Puck in a Box