Todd Delaune, owner of the Red, White & Brew, hopes to see the addition of a cigar shop join his list of successful business decisions. Zachary Araki/The Lion’s Roar
The Red, White & Brew celebrates five years of success and growth.
Todd Delaune purchased the brewery in June 2012 and has kept it running for the past five years. From the beginning, the business did well.
“We came in and made some changes to take advantage of the market’s demands, meaning craft beer was becoming very popular at that time,” said Delaune. “There were some grocery store brands of wines that we discontinued, clearanced out and brought in more smaller, boutique, less-known labels. As a result of that, we actually quadrupled our business in the last five years since we bought it.”
The most recent change is an extension of the business by opening a cigar shop at 206 E. Thomas. Construction is projected to finish within the next two months. The business is a response to the success of cigars at the Red, White & Brew.
“We’re gonna go with a full-scale cigar shop and have about 300 different varieties of cigars and products, accessories, pipes, tobacco, anything except for cigarettes,” said Delaune. “We’re not gonna sell cigarettes. Leave that up to the gas stations.”
Delaune implemented other changes over the past five years. Early growth encouraged him to continue building the business.
“First thing we added was draft beer,” said Delaune. “It doesn’t take a lot of talent for someone to pour beer, so that’s a very easy transition for our employees. Our employees were obviously just bottle openers at the time because all they had were bottles. We did that for about another year, and at the end of that year, I brought in a mixologist from New Orleans. Every Monday, we had mixed cocktails. What I would do is bring in my associates and have them train with this gentleman so they could learn how to do upscale cocktails. After about six months of him doing it, we rolled out cocktails full time, and we have poured cocktails ever since then. We’ve grown, but we’ve kind of controlled our growth so we can manage it effectively.”
Some customers decided to take a more active role at the brewery. Jarred Smith progressed from customer to general manager.
“When the previous owners had the place, I was coming in every once in a while,” said Smith. “I met Todd through my wife and my father-in-law, and this is before he bought the brew. We were friends beforehand. Todd’s like a big brother to me. When he bought the Red, White & Brew, he totally transformed the place, and it instantly became my favorite place to hang out and grab a drink..That’s why I work here.”
Delaune credits and prioritizes customer service for his success.
“Whatever the customer wants, do it,” said Delaune. “First customer that we met when we bought the brew wanted us to add televisions, so we added a couple televisions for Saints games, LSU games and things like that. The craft beer market started taking off, so people started telling us what they wanted to drink. We went out, found it and added the skews. As a result of that, people just kept bringing us their business. We did what they asked us, and they were faithful to us as a business owner. A good part about it is 99 percent of those customers are still doing business with us today.”
The Red, White and Brew has undergone changes over the past five years to bolster growth and best serve customers. Zachary Araki/The Lion's Roar
