BusinessReport.com

Talk about fresh fish. Michael Boudreaux doesn’t just deal with the catch of the day at Juban’s Restaurant on Perkins Road, he sometimes heads out into the Gulf of Mexico to snare his own pesce.

“I can’t say that I do it a lot,” he says of trips with his father to the Florida Panhandle for deep-sea outings. “It’s Baton Rouge’s home away from home.”

More often, he’s managing affairs for Juban’s and for the corporation’s recent purchase, The Silver Spoon, whose menu he describes as “very creative” and which could be replicated in a second location, still to be determined.

Boudreaux worked his way up in the industry, starting as a line cook at Godfather’s Pizza in high school and doing the same for Outback Steakhouse in college, making his way into management. He’s been with Juban’s for 13 years, and he’s helping with the next generation of restaurateurs as a volunteer for ProStart, a two-year program in several local schools that provides cooking lessons for 11th- and 12th-graders.

“If you decide you want to go straight into the restaurant industry, you have the skills and ability to work as a line cook,” Boudreaux says of the program, which also preps chefs to apply for scholarships to culinary school.

The program replaces home economics in many school districts, but Boudreaux says he fondly recalls the original offering in cooking in high school. “All the football players took home ec to—you know, you’ve got to eat,” he says with a laugh.

He also is president of the Baton Rouge chapter of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, and he just joined the group’s state board in order to meet quarterly and coordinate ProStart, discuss legislative matters that affect the culinary industry and more.

Further, he is on the board of directors for the nonprofit Baton Rouge Epicurean Society, formed about three years ago by local restaurateurs and now providing scholarships for the John Folse Culinary Institute, ProStart, 4-H and LSU’s nutritional division.

Outside work, he likes to play golf and spend time with his wife, Laura Juban Boudreaux, son Ryan and daughter Rae, barbecuing, swimming and hanging out with the in-laws.

Age: 39

What is Baton Rouge’s biggest strength 
in the quest to attract young professionals? “Baton Rouge is kind of like a small town. It has a lot to offer: 
fishing, hunting, sports, LSU football and good, fine cuisine.”

Click here for the complete list of 2009's Forty Under 40 winners.