Food vendors are always crowd-pleasers at a farmers market. But offering tastings is a sure-fire way to draw customers to a booth, evident by the number of people who gather around Grace Lancon’s table at the Delcambre Seafood & Farmers Market. For the past year, Grace has been drawing a growing number of customers to her booth waiting to taste samples of her line, Attitude Seasonings & Dips (named that because she says Cajuns have attitude with their seasoning.) “If I can get it in their mouths, they’re going to buy it,” she assures.
While the New Iberia native is not new to the market scene, it was her mosaic tile work that gained her notoriety for 20 years in large art shows at plantation homes like Southdown, Melrose, and Oak Alley. But when she grew tired of the traveling, she began making seasonings and dips that soon became her moneymaker.
Grace goes beyond just doling out samples, she enjoys teaching customers how to cook with the seasonings, and, as a result, they are more in demand. She’ll tell you her Herbed Splash goes well with vegetables and herbed bread; the Garlic Burst is great on Texas toast or with mashed potatoes; Crazy Cajun – as well as Crazy Cajun Cocktail – can be used with boiled or fried seafood, cold pasta salad or seasoned potato salad; and Dat Magic is recommended in chicken or tuna salad and deviled eggs. Grace also offers two warm dip mixes: Shrimp Pirogue and Crabby Attitude. Customers who purchase a gift pack of 4, get a pack of seasoning free.
The holidays are a busy time for Grace, as she explains, “I can’t breathe until the third week of December; there are arts and crafts shows every Saturday and some Sundays. I’ve been to over 22 markets this year alone.” On any given day, her kitchen counter is lined with solo cups containing different mixes of her seasonings – a simple but effective system. She packages each seasoning envelope separately.
In March, look for the return of her metal signs with uplifting and funny sayings. Using her commercial vinyl cutter, she makes the 11” x 18” signs that she describes as “positive and welcoming” and have been hung in homes and camps alike.
If you’d rather wear a saying on a t-shirt, there are 18 different designs for adults and 10 for children, all created by Grace on her own sublimation printer. “The t-shirts are on cool, performance material, and the designs do not crack or fade color,” she assures. “I make a lot of fishing shirts for guys and girls with sayings like “Wishin’ I was Fishin’,” or “It’s All About How You Wiggle Your Worm,” “Salty Girl,” and “No Crabby Attitude.”
The same sublimation transfer process is used on Grace’s pillows. Yes, she does that too. The 17” polyester linen pillows are a great addition to any home or camp décor with images of crabs, pelicans, New Orleans, fleur de lis, and horses – or customized. “I recently got an order for 10 shirts from a customer in Monroe for her bakery,” says Grace. “A guy with a lawncare company saw my t-shirts at the Delcambre market and liked the detail work so much that he ordered some. The same weekend, a market vendor requested a t-shirt that looked like his booth sign. It’s become his lucky shirt because he sold out of his merchandise the first month he wore it.”
A vendor at the Delcambre Market for only a year, Grace says her customers – who come from all over – know where to find her. “At this market, I’m blowing and going from 9 a.m. until just before it closes. It’s a very friendly market where it’s easy to unload and reload merchandise. The atmosphere is perfect; I love being there. The food choices – and smells – are unbelievable.”
Recent Comments