Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to BYRON BRADLEY. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi BYRON, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

We are currently taking a big risk with our most recent investments. For the past two years, we have been investing into agricultural product production in New Orleans and Clarendon Jamacia. Products we have invested into so far include ginger, coffee, chocolate and sugarcane. In New Orleans we have access to land intended to grow sugarcane and build a warehouse for production. In Jamacia we have access to over one hundred thousand acres of each product ready to be cultivated for processing and export. We are currently building a warehouse in Jamacia to house, fabricate and export our products.
Outside of this endeavor we are opening a new restaurant in New Orleans where we can utilize some of our products. The restaurant is a coffee to cocktail concept and also home to a new supper club we’ve started. The coffee to cocktail concept is called Carre’ Coffee & Cocktails and the supper club is called Fon. The products we are using in conjunction with this project are our coffee and sugarcane. The coffee is named Carre’ Coffee and the sugarcane is made into a rum called Kay Grandi. Basically we will be featuring our own in house coffee and rum made from our products grown on our lands. Within this concept we will also be canning our own cold brew coffee and craft cocktails with an onsite canning operation.
We are taking several risk in this project based off the simple fact that several of the levels to this operation I am a beginning student. I, Byron Bradley owner and visionary of these endeavors am a trained chef and business owner. I have no background in farming any of these products and no expert at distilling rum. The reasoning behind me still making the investments needed to get these projects going is the belief in not only the products and my dream but also in the team of people that I work with that I intentionally hire because they specialize in what I do not. For example, the farmers I’m working with in Jamacia come from the areas they farm and have over 30 years of experience in there fields. We are currently partnering with a local rum brand called Rouliasion Rum to consult and produce our rum until our warehouse is complete and we feel comfortable distilling on our own. The risk in this is trusting the passion of another in order to accomplish our own dream.
Taking the risk to invest in a country that I am not from and not fully familiar came from not only opportunity but from inspiration.
Its common for people to move to a country that has a higher currency rate then there home to build businesses. Some then send there money to there home country to support or build for there families.
This concept inspired me in more then one way. I could do this in reverse in a cense. Importing specialty products from this country gives me the opportunity to invest into building better infrastructure for this community where my currency stretches further. And now having a higher quality product I can export helps me to build better infrastructure for my community in the states.
So far we are now finalizing the funds needed to build both warehouses needed to sustain these projects! For the restaurant we start our buildout in October. I find that we as African Americans find hard times trusting in others to do something we know nothing about, so the safe route is to not pursue anything we can’t do ourselves. In my opinion this is and will continue to keep us from not only growing in business individually but also continue the perpetuation of individualism that is killing our cultures progress.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Native New Orleanian and Classic French trained chef, Byron Bradley, Jr., has a passion for food that is deeply rooted in the culture and spirit of New Orleans.  Specializing in the fusion of Creole and Caribbean dishes, Chef Byron hosts private dinner parties that incorporate food, art, live music, silent auctions and more. As a Chef Instructor at the Mardi Gras School of Cooking and the historical Southern Food & Beverage Museum, Byron hosts a variety of cooking classes and demonstrations that appeal greatly to adults and children alike.
Under the mentorship of some of the most successful and widely recognized chefs in the country, Chef Byron has worked to perfect his craft alongside celebrity chefs such as Aaron Sanchez and the Queen of Creole Cuisine, Leah Chase.  Working directly with these legendary chefs has afforded Byron invaluable wisdom that has perfected his cooking genius while simultaneously creating opportunities for him to develop and excel professionally.  Chef Byron has been a featured chef in promotional campaigns for major television and business corporations including the Food Network, Coca Cola and the John Besh Foundation.
Chef Byron is the co-founder of the New Orleans-based “2brothers1love” catering company and is the CEO of a private food club, Haute Empire, specializing in the curation of a one of a kind dining experience at residences in the French Quarter and for film production crews throughout New Orleans.  Also under the Haute label, Chef Byron is working internationally to develop various agricultural products like sugar cane and ginger that you might one day find in a store near you to enhance home cooking.
Meet Chef Byron Bradly, Jr. and fall in love with a most memorable dining experience the Haute way!

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

What I think keeps the morale high between my staff and whom I work with is based in the simplicity of meeting people where they are. I build my businesses not based on what I can get my staff to do but how my staff can grow within my business. With this frame of thinking I am able to focus on my staffs needs, abilities and wants. Why would I as a business owner want to focus on my staff over my clients, because we hire people we believe can do a job. If that person doing the job is happy and comfortable in what they are doing they will make my clientele happy. In regards to the individuals growth, it has proven more beneficial to stay connected with my staffs goals within there job as well as beyond. Knowing my staffs goals helps in regards to knowing how to place staff for advancement within our business as well as in there individual goals. Simple example, in my restaurant I had a server that wanted to become a bartender so we started to give him bar back shifts so he could start to learn, eventually becoming a bartender. One our chefs had a background in front of house managing and wanted to get back to that so when the opportunity presented itself she was chosen to be trained for the job. These simple circumstances are examples of us being aware of our staffs wants and putting them in positions they feel comfortable. In that they are able to perform at there best knowing that we seek to advance them as humans in general. I think this also contributes to the aspect of family that grows within my businesses. We all feel a part of something that we all can grow from and not just in the position your in.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think the reputation we are building within this market is because we are investing into avenues that have long been exploiting the black and brown communities and most of us building businesses would rather “safer” investment routes. The stories behind our investments are intentionally made to inspire growth with our community as a community not promote individualism. I believe African Americans as a whole are hungry for exploration into fields we are most often intentionally kept out of, so we stand to be an example that we can take back ANYTHING taken from us and build a new. Within that I think our reputation represents a platform for some of the change we need as a people.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @FonTheDeepEnd