Patrice Doucet has proudly worked for the Delcambre Seafood and Farmers Market for 5 years. As Marketing Agent for the market, she writes copy for TV, radio and newspaper ads and also works in the food trailer serving up delicious food orders on market days.
Patrice has made a career working in advertising for 40 years as a copywriter and had dealings with the media and transfers that experience to the market. She began her career in advertising as a media buyer, a little later a position opened, and she was the ideal candidate to move into copywriting with her journalism degree. She explains that what is really special to her is being exposed to people of all ages and talents, interviewing them, and hearing the stories that people will just open up and share.
When asked about her experience with the market, she likes “that it brings a positive spotlight to a small town and helps the economy.” She loves working with vendors and getting to know people.
Reflecting on the growth of the market she explained that when she started in 2017 the market wasn’t as organized and efficient as it is today. The market has grown exponentially, and is in a position to look professional with a food trailer and concession stand. Initially she was selling seafood with multiple people scrambling to share one price sheet. There wasn’t a full roof yet and she would cook seafood samples from a booth under the sun.
She fondly shares a memory pan-searing black drum on a griddle, not knowing how she would accommodate 100 plus customers, but utilized multi-tasking skills and pulled it off. She is proud of herself for being able to become a short-order cook able to dish out orders for many people in a fast, high-paced atmosphere, and explains that she has a new respect for people in this vocation. Fortunately now, she can continue to fulfill food orders from the commercial food trailer with cooling and heat.
Patrice cheerfully tells that being in the trailer is her favorite part of being in the market, as she has a different view because it’s a little bit higher up. She loves looking out the trailer window “watching the market and grow and grow through the day.” Patrice is looking forward to the growth of the market with the new Acadiana Regional Seafood Hub, where fishermen, farmers, and vendors can commercially and professionally produce their products for retail sales.
When Patrice is not working for Delcambre Seafood Farmers Market, you will find her working hard on Sugarcane Farm with her sister and brother-in-law. Sugarcane Farm is a cattle farm; they have 12 cows for raising their own meat and lots of pasture including Rye in Bahia. She explains that she is responsible for the change of grounds, her sister is the bookkeeper, and that her brother-in-law does the “heavy lifting.” Working on the farm has really instilled in her an appreciation for the food chain, as she references the wonderful Alice Waters and her farm-to-table movement, and how you have such more of an appreciation for food when you personally have a hand in producing, cultivating, and growing it. In fact, it was in her early teens when she had her first fast food: a Burger King hamburger; she never ate like that before, growing up with the farm-to-table lifestyle was all she knew.
It’s not all work and no play for Patrice. She thoroughly enjoys gardening, and charmingly tells how she picked sweet pea flowers that morning. She loves growing basil and making fresh pesto, and has plans to plant tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and sugar snap peas. It’s obvious that Patrice stays extremely active, yet she just started another new hobby and is learning to play pickleball.
Patrice continues to look forward to every farmers market and loves working down on the bayou in Delcambre.
Recent Comments