Editor’s note: This story has been updated since original publication. An earlier version stated Alvin Ray is producing his pickles at the Louisiana Business & Technology Center at LSU. He is producing them at the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator. Daily Report regrets the error.
What started out as a homemade recipe made a few years ago has blossomed into a flourishing business for Alvin Ray and his pickles.
The 52-year-old Ray, a former plumbing and electric maintenance worker, says he had to quit his day job because of the more than 6,000-jar-a-month demand for his Alvin Ray’s Bayou Best Pickles. They’re now turning up on store shelves at Ralph’s Markets, Alexander’s Highland Market, Carter’s Supermarkets and, as of this week, stores supplied by Associated Grocers.
“I did not plan on this,” says Ray, who is producing and packaging his pickles at the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator after initially selling them at farmer’s markets for about a year. “I created the recipe about three years ago, and the response was overwhelming.”
Ray says 16-ounce jars of his pickles sell at grocery stores for about $6 each, a slightly higher price than most pickles. But, as Ray says, “they say it’s like pickle crack.”
Alvin Ray’s Bayou Best Pickles come in three types with varying spice levels, which Ray says all come from his Cajun background.
“It’s not a dill pickle, and it’s not a bread and butter,” he explains of his flavors. “I’ve created a new pickle in the pickle family. It retains the crisp, too.”
A friend told Ray about the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator a little over a year ago, and now Bayou Best Pickles has a location for production. Student workers to help get the job done.
Since formally starting Alvin Ray’s Bayou Pickles a few months ago and completing the legal paperwork to sell them in grocery stores, Ray says he has had trouble keeping up with demand. He was rising at 3:30 a.m. to get to his former job, then working past midnight to produce the pickles, the ingredients for which he sources from around the state.
Ray appeared on the Cajun Livin’ & Cookin’ TV show last month, and he says he is still overwhelmed with the success of his pickles.
“I just did it to bless people; at that time I had no idea of marketing it,” Ray says. “Somebody called me yesterday from Tennessee and wanted to order four gallons. I want my product to go in every household.”
—Deanna Narveson
