The first thing people ask Peter Sclafani about the reopening of Juban’s is always, “are you changing the name?”
The answer is no; the iconic restaurant that became a staple of the Baton Rouge fine-dining scene about 40 years ago will not change its name, nor a number of other aspects that make the restaurant stand out.
“Why would we change the name?” Sclafani asks. “Juban’s is an iconic brand.”
But after asking about a potential name change and whether we’re keeping the Hallelujah Crab, “then they tell me, ‘you know, I proposed to my wife at Juban’s,’ or, ‘my parents did this here.’ It’s such an important restaurant. There’s so many memories.”
Many parts of the restaurant, however, are changing, leaving Sclafani and the other two members of Making Raving Fans Hospitality Group, Michael Boudreaux and Kiva Guidroz, to figure out how to reimagine the establishment in a way that preserves the old but embraces the new.
Making Raving Fans, which assumed operations of Juban’s during summer 2021, is working hard to honor the restaurant’s legacy while at the same time changing things up a bit, Sclafani says.
Read the full story about the future of Juban’s from the latest edition of Business Report. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com.
