R & R Creole-Flavored Produce takes stands to task

The name on the marquee reads “R & R Creole-Flavored Produce.” But in Anthony “Red” Gambino Jr.’s case, the “R & R” doesn’t stand for rest and relaxation.

The produce stand is named after Red and his close friend, Ricky Griffin.

R & R made its debut in the Tri-parish area two years ago, after a stint in New Orleans. Gas prices forced the Raceland resident to open a shop closer to home. The produce store sits at the corner of Louisiana Highways 1 and 182 in Raceland.

Gambino is no stranger to the produce industry. As a young boy, he traveled to out-of-state markets with his father, Anthony Gambino Sr., and mentor, Thomas “Redman” Reynolds.

“My father was a truck farmer and we would go to all types of places to get produce and come back and sell it at the French Market, or what they call now the flea market. When my father passed, Redman took me under his wing. That’s where I got the name ‘Red,'” Gambino said.

Eventually, Gambino followed in his father’s footsteps, somewhat. The entrepreneur was not a truck farmer – he didn’t grow fruits and vegetables. He was interested in selling produce. He and Griffin wanted to make extra cash over the summer in the mid-’90s.

The two established their produce market in Marrero during watermelon season.

One summer of selling watermelons was enough to make Griffin rethink his current job status.

“After the summer, he realized he didn’t need any extra cash,” Gambino joked.

Despite half the team’s departure, the name R & R remained.

Gambino said operating a produce shop takes as much patience as watering and seeding a garden. And just as a farmer watches for bad weather and other threats to his crop, produce shop owners are faced with their fair share of problems.

The move to Raceland put a strain on his wallet because extensive repairs were needed at the shop before the Louisiana Board of Health would give Gambino the go-ahead to open. The shop’s exterior was once a service station.

“We had to remove the gas tanks and put in a sewage treatment. Awnings had to be placed outside with roll up doors. We had to put a cooler in,” he said.

He estimates his expenses readying for opening to be somewhere near $140,000.

The transition into Lafourche Parish hasn’t been all peaches and cream, either.

Gambino believes that not everyone in the produce market is complying with the rules set by the parish and the state health board.

“My main concern is that roadside vendors don’t have to follow the rules I have to follow,” he said. “The Board of Health tells me that I have to have a cooler; vendors on the side of the road don’t have to have one.”

Some of the roadside vendors are legal establishments because they are truck farmers, and they do not need a permit. “If they grow it they can sell it,” one state official said.

However, according to Gambino, some of the vendors are not safe.

“Vendors on the side of the road put their racks out and leave them out in the weather and that’s not safe,” he said.

He pointed out one stand near Des Allemands he alleges violates the state rules.

“There is a man parked out there every day, and he had rugs from a renting company on the ground and people walking all around the produce,” Gambino said. “I am pointing the finger that way because the Board of Health would not let me get away with something like that.”

“Those roadside vendors don’t have restrooms nearby or a place to dump their waste. That’s unsanitary,”?Gambino said emphatically.

The produce storeowner said he pays $100 for dumpster service in the parish.

“What are the proper forms for roadside vendors to legally park along roadways?” Gambino asked. “Some of it is state property and some of it’s not. I want to know which is legal.”

Further agitating the issue, several of the roadside vendors frequent R & R to buy produce, Gambino said.

“I know they buy from me and go resell the items on the street. But I am not going to turn their business away. Nor am I going to ask what they are buying the produce for,” he said.

Before opening his shop in Raceland, Gambino attempted to obtain a permit from the parish to set up a roadside produce stand, but the parish said he had to have a storage depot for the produce at night.

“That is one of the principles for the cooler installment. I have to have a place to store the produce at night,” Gambino said. “I don’t see any of this stuff out there on side of the road. I don’t even see an ice chest sometimes.”

“I just want someone to look into this,” he added.

R & R Creole Flavored Produce owner Anthony Gambino Jr. (center) watches as his wife Bonnie Gambino checks out frequent customer Sherrill Orgeron. R & R has been in Raceland for the past two years selling all types of vegetables, fruits, pickled veggies and Creole seasonings. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN