Louisiana

Kristen Preau turned her lifelong obsession with jambalaya into a business, launching Jambalaya Girl, pre-packaged Cajun food based on her family’s recipes, in 2010. To give a taste of the Bayou to customers from out-of-state, she turned to Amazon, using seller tools like Subscribe & Save to grow her business 40% year-over-year.

Mosquito magnets like Jennifer John know bug spray isn’t always enough. So she combined Insect Shield®—a technology developed for the U.S. military—with stylish, lightweight clothing made for the steamy New Orleans climate.

Her first product, an insect-repellent scarf, sold quickly in the Amazon store. That success became the foundation for Pang Wangle, a fashion brand that has grown by double digits every year with the help of Amazon’s seller tools.

With a family history of heart disease, diabetes, and celiac disease, Brass Roots founder Aaron Gailmor knew firsthand the importance of eating well. Guided by the philosophy that “food is medicine,” he began experimenting with the sacha inchi seed, a nutty-tasting superfood from South America, and discovered its potential as a nut-free alternative to peanut butter.

In 2019, he launched Brass Roots in the Amazon store, where the brand has grown more than 50% year over year. Gailmor credits Amazon seller tools with driving discovery, streamlining fulfillment, and building repeat sales.

“With Amazon, you start getting more exposure with tools like A+ Content, then more people subscribe to your products,” he said. “The benefit is you start doing well and then you keep doing better.”

Creole Foods has a unique specialty: bringing the flavors of Louisiana to customers nationwide. Today, the family-run distributor oversees more than 4,500 Amazon listings across about 2,000 products—from turducken and boudin sausages to jambalaya mixes, seafood boils, and even frozen alligator.

“Our goal is simple,” said Johnny Thomas, Creole Foods’ Chief Marketing Officer, “Spread Louisiana’s flavors and foods all over the United States.”

Christa Cotton founded the New Orleans Beverage Group and acquired the El Guapo trademark in 2017. El Guapo is a cocktail bitters, syrups and mixers business. At the time, Cotton was one of only a handful of women-owned food manufacturers in the South. While that number has since grown, it’s not by much.

According to Manufacturers’ News, Inc.’s 2023 report of the U.S. food manufacturing industry, just 2% of the 22,407 food manufacturers in the U.S. are owned by women. Of those, there’s only one in Louisiana that is women-owned—and has a pink warehouse floor.