40
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2013
I
f you live aroundLafayette,Louisiana, you probably knowCollin
Cormier as one of the waffle truck guys. And you probably
know John Petersen as one of the guys with that cool men’s
shop downtown. But before Viva La Waffle and before Genterie
Supply Company, Collin and John were two cousins who grew up
like siblings, spending their childhood weekends and summers on
their grandparent’s farm in Scott, LA. It was your typical country
boy’s life ... climbing in barns, running
through fields, messing with cows, and
getting dirty. The two stayed close well into
their twenties. They graduated from the
same high school and they lived together
while attending college at UL Lafayette. It
wasn’t until two summers ago when Collin
(with his business partner Fred Nonato)
opened up Viva La Waffle and John (with
his business partner Ross Fontenot) opened
up Genterie Supply Company that they
found themselves spending a lot less time
together. It’s the classic tale of growing up.
The demands of running a business and
by
Katie Culbert +
photos by
Denny Culbert
Swamp Pop
adult life in general can find even the closest of friends drifting
apart. Fortunately, this separation and their nostalgia for that
blissful childhood propelled them into one simple, yet brilliant idea.
They thought, let’s make soda with Louisiana sugar cane and use
flavors and recipes that are totally indicative to Louisiana, and let’s
call it Swamp Pop. Boom.
And so began the last ten months. Collin and John figured that if
they were actually going to do this, they would need a signature
product to ground the line. A cola, but a Southern cola. Hence the
fig. They tested their idea with a jar of their grandmother’s preserves
and a Soda Stream. And while the combination of fig and cola flavors
worked, they realized that making soda involved a lot more than tiny
jars of preserves and a $100 gadget from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. But
it was all the verification they needed. They did their research and
found a lab that specialized in helping small, independent, craft soda
companies develop their product. It works like this: John and Collin
provide the flavor profile and testing goes back and forth until they
find the magic taste they are looking for. Once they understood this
process, everything else just kind of fell into place.
With an MBA and creative business sense, John handles the
numbers, sources packaging, and develops the design components.
Collin, a former executive chef at Blue Dog Cafe and current
purveyor of insanely innovative waffle sandwiches, has all of the
food world connections and comes up with the recipe and flavor
ideas. They also have the perfect balance of personalities. While
John describes himself as a little heady, Collin admits that he uses
mostly his own gut instincts. Either one of these tendencies can
steer you in the wrong direction, but the combination of the two
can be perfect.
With four flavors selling in restaurants and Rouses grocery stores
throughout Louisiana and Mississippi and two more flavors already
lined up, things are definitely headed in the right direction. Not
even a year in the making and somehow Swamp Pop already seems
nostalgic. Maybe it’s the label. Maybe it’s the glass bottle. Maybe it’s
those classic Southern flavors of fig, satsuma, pecan, and cucumber.
Or maybe it’s because Swamp Pop really started a quarter of a century
ago, out on a grandfather’s farm when two kids were just being kids.
Collin, John and Ambur at Rouses Atlanta game tailgate // photo by
Frank Aymami
Find it online!
For more information about Swamp Pop,
visit
.
And to learn more about Collin and John,
visit
and
.
