Not Your Average Donut Shop

Northside Business Owner Offers Fresh Donuts, Hot Takes

by Abby Meaux Conques

The Acadiana area is no stranger to donut shops. This story isn’t the back story of all the shops that have connections, family ties and name changes, or using the same recipe. That’s already been said. After all, doesn’t competition keep us on our toes?

"Taste the relish to be found in competition -- in having put forth the best within you." -- Henry Kaiser

What I want to bring to light is what THIS particular donut shop is doing in our area. Let me first preface this by saying that if my childhood were to be wrapped up into three area businesses, they would be Meche’s on Willow Street, Keller’s Bakery and Borden’s Ice Cream Shoppe. Am I biased? Probably.

Walking into that shop reminds me of frequent morning donut dates with my darling Dad, and I have a visceral reaction when I walk through those doors. But let me also tell you this, the things that I noticed that the current owner of Rickey Meche’s on Willow Street doing, Blaine Peltier, is something to be talked about. Some marquis messages include, “Put down your guns and pick up some donuts.” Also, “There is more to life than taking someone else’s, y’all.” What message dons the sign as of this writing? “Give and forgive, y’all. It’s that damn simple.” My personal view on the messages is that if there’s any time to be authentic, I think these weird, turbulent times when people are holed up in their homes, fearful, are the perfect times to do so. I encourage you to tap into your authenticity as well.

I first saw changes in the business when I noticed these (according to many facebook commenters) “controversial” marquis sign messages. Are they controversial to me? Personally, no. I think they’re a business owner expressing authentic thought.

Some marquis messages include, “Put down your guns and pick up some donuts.” Also, “There is more to life than taking someone else’s, y’all.” What message dons the sign as of this writing? “Give and forgive, y’all. It’s that damn simple.” My personal view on the messages is that if there’s any time to be authentic, I think these weird, turbulent times when people are holed up in their homes, fearful, are the perfect times to do so. I encourage you to tap into your authenticity as well.

The bottom line is that this is a business owner in a part of town that people desperately want to see thrive, but feels like it’s been long forgotten about with new builds both further south and further north as opposed to revitalization of an area that used to be bustling with activity just one generation ago. And what will things be like after we’re on the other side of this Coronavirus situation?

Blaine Peltier, Owner Rickey Meche's Donut King on Willow Street

Before Peltier owned the Meche's Willow location, he served as a guest artist in residence at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and worked at Meche's on Guilbeau Road. There was a point in time when Meche’s owners were looking for a buyer for the Willow Street location and approached Peltier to see if he was interested. “My first instinct was ‘do it’...I’m a believer in sometimes needing to listen to your own instincts,” Peltier said.

I sat at a table with Peltier in his Willow Street location on a Monday morning, Creedence Clearwater Revival playing over the speakers, employees dancing and singing jubilantly, customers walking in with smiles on their faces...yes... on a Monday. I asked him how he felt about the community at large during that moment. “There’s a definite shift going on right now...I’m just trying to be a catalyst for it,” he said. There are a few different ways Peltier wants to bring attention to the community that he’s dedicated to see positive change in. One notable change to his business are the wrap-around murals on his building. “About a year ago, Alex Johnson coordinated an artist to come and paint conversation-starting pieces on the building,” he said.

Johnson is a Spoken Word Poet and founder of Lyrically Inclined, a group that hosts a variety of spoken word events throughout the community. Johnson worked with teenagers from Lafayette Parish Juvenile Detention. They collectively wrote a poem about their view of life as it stood at the time of crafting the poem; Johnson performs the poem as spoken word in the area. Justin Robinson painted the poem along two sides of the building and painted other meaningful artistic imagery around the other sides. The drive thru side of the building has an image that pays homage to a beloved late Meche’s employee, Jeannine Robin, known as “the kolache lady.” On the front of the building there’s a lighter piece of a Herculean figure holding up a giant strawberry-glazed donut with sprinkles.

The back side of the building is frequently seen by people waiting in the drive thru. There, you can find various social media icons on devices held by different hands. “It’s to show how consumed we are with social media. Even in the drive thru, people tend to check social media instead of simply waiting for food prepared for them; we constantly have the want to be distracted - if they look up from their phones and see that mural, it’s to make them think, and it served its purpose,” Peltier mentioned.

His offer of his blank building as a space for artistic representation of voices in the area serves as a way for people in the community to communicate their raw feelings. Such an expression is paramount, especially in these times. As of this writing, our community is in shelter-in-place mode, schools cancelled until next academic year, and the future uncertain with this viral threat. When we’re on the other side of this situation, Peltier plans to partner with a University of Lafayette Student Action Organization group to collect paperback books for prisoners. He intends to trade a warm Meche’s donut per donated book. “I just want to infuse a different energy...an uplifting vibe here,” he said.

As of now, he’s just trying to incite a sense of normalcy, one donut at a time, as food businesses can operate from a drive thru window to serve the community. He’s committed; the latest Facebook post from Meche’s reading, “Machine's down so we cuttin' up old school. Come grab some hand-cut imperfect perfection. Here until noon or until our arms fall off #hereforyall.”

Here for us, indeed.