Cannata’s Continues to Evolve Now 80 Years and Counting
July 17, 2019
Southland Mall Evolves With the Times
July 17, 2019
The Chauvin family is well-known and trusted in the south Louisiana seafood industry. Husband and wife, David and Kim Chauvin built a multi-business operation that captures, processes, distributes, serves and showcases fresh, high-grade Louisiana seafood and has become a “one-stop shop” for those in the industry and the general public. The Chauvins have been in business in the industry for 33 years.
Kim and David established David Chauvin Seafood Company in 2010, going off the tremendous success of their business Mariah Jade Shrimp Company — which today is a brand trusted by many regional retail shops, restaurants and bait shops to deliver high-quality shrimp.
The David Chauvin Seafood Company’s center of operations is its site in Dulac, which is a fuel and ice port, receiving dock, loading center, retail location, business office and where they also wholesale fresh shrimp. The dock is home to the company’s four double-rigged trawlers, equipped with advanced technology that keeps their catches fresh and ready for distribution. Several other vessels of various sizes, not owned by the company, choose their port as well — and for good reason.
A mile down the road from the port is their Bluewater plant, which quickly and proficiently freezes shrimp that they then wholesale to clients.
At the dock’s location is Kim’s Shuga Shack – the restaurant that prides itself on serving fresh food. The food truck, which is open 7 days a week, offers the best in Cajun cuisine, such as their shrimp po’boys that are made with hand-peeled, fresh Louisiana shrimp. Kim’s Shuga Shack doesn’t just serve Cajun dishes, however, as it has a wide variety of options on the menu that includes freshly-prepared burgers, salads, wraps, tacos and more. Their dessert trailer serves delicious snowballs, ice cream, milkshakes, real fruit, smoothies and parfaits, among other mouthwatering treats.
“My passion is using fresh ingredients for our patrons,” said Kim. “So, we keep it local. We understand the importance of buying local and supporting local.”
With authentic Louisiana cooking made with local, fresh catches and ingredients, Kim’s Shuga Shack has become a tourist attraction – just like another business owned by the Chauvin family that is at their Dulac location as well.
Their business, Down the Bayou Shrimp Tours, showcases the Louisiana shrimping industry to patrons that visit from not only Louisiana but across the country and internationally as well. The group tours take only one and a half hours, although it explores the intricacies of the shrimping industry. Tour attendees learn the ins and outs of the skimmer vessels versus the trawler, how many pounds a boat can catch, the industry’s sustainability, the importance of choosing domestic shrimp over imports, how ice plants function, how a vessel works in placing nets in the water and much more.
It’s another way the Chauvin family is able shed some positive light on the shrimping industry that they have so much passion for.
“I stand behind all my products. Whether it’s a tour, whether it’s food, whether it’s selling shrimp, I have a passion for what I do. So, it matters to me that people enjoy the tours and enjoy the food,” Kim shared. “It’s a family atmosphere, and we keep it that way because we have a lot of families that work with us. I believe that makes us stand out — the passion that we have for our industry, the culture of family here and being a one-stop shop.”
The Chauvins’ love for their community doesn’t stop at buying local products. The David Chauvin Seafood Company sponsors the annual Down the Bayou Christmas, where children of all ages enjoy an old-fashioned south Louisiana celebration that includes a visit from Santa Claus. They donate their products to other charitable events, too, and cooked gumbo for victims of Baton Rouge flooding.
In 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, three of the company’s vessels joined the fleet that traveled through the Gulf’s waters and assisted in containing the spill.
They are avid supporters of recently-signed House Bill 335 — the law that requires Louisiana restaurants to notify their customers of the place of origin of their shrimp and/or crawfish if said seafood is imported from another country. The law is good for restaurant customers’ health, as they can chose not to eat imported shrimp and/or crawfish that doesn’t pass the same quality testing as Louisiana seafood, and is acknowledged by shrimp industry experts as a potential economic stimulant.
“Our biggest challenge in recent years has been imports, when restaurants did not have to label what they were serving. Now, that has changed. I don’t think Americans realize how bad it is, with the foods that are coming into our country that are full of antibiotics, — just stuff that you should not be eating,” Kim said in a recent Bayou Business Monthly article. “There are laws that have hindered us, but now there are laws that are about to help in a secondary way.”•
BY DREW MILLER
