Rouses Magazine - Summer 2023

Helping the Gulf Coast Grow Since 1923

My very first job at Rouses Markets — at least, the first job I got paid for in anything other than candy — was in the Produce department at our store on Audubon Drive in Thibodaux.

I cleaned and stocked the shelves. I unloaded the trucks. I washed and crisped (crisping is “produce speak” for misting) spinach, kale and other greens, which are on the wet wall. That’s what we call our fresh greens section.

Not many things were prepacked back then. I cut up ripe watermelons and cantaloupes. You can tell if a watermelon is ripe if it is symmetrical for the shape, heavy for the size, and has a yellowish spot where the melon was lying on the ground. Cantaloupes will have smooth, somewhat sunken, and rounded stems and a sweet, musky aroma. They will smell…like cantaloupe. The grapes came in bulk so we had to overwrap them, which means we picked out a perfect bunch, placed them on a tray, wrapped them, and weighed them. Nowadays they come in baggies or clamshells. We also overwrapped the strawberries, which came in little green pint containers.

I loved working in the Produce department, learning all of the different varieties of fruits and vegetables — plus, it wasn’t as cold as the Meat department.

My boss was Kerry Adams, who is now one of our top produce buyers. Kerry started out as a Produce Clerk at Rouses #1, our very first supermarket, which was in Thibodaux. It was also the first store to carry the Rouses name. Kerry became a Produce Manager and then, in 2013, he came to work in our office with, among other people, Mr. Larry Daigle, who was our Local Produce Buyer at the time. Larry literally grew up in the produce business. He started growing and selling mustard and turnip greens when he was just 13. He sold to my grandfather at our first store, Ciro’s.

Kerry loves to tell people that he was my first boss, and also that, when I came to work for him, my dad said, “Do not give him any special treatment, or you’ll hear about it. I want him to learn.” I was the one who cleaned all of the produce cases that summer, so I guess you could say he didn’t give me any special treatment….

We had the idea for the cover of this issue on a Tuesday at 4:57pm. It was Kerry who jumped into action and got our partner Capital City Produce to deliver all of the fresh fruits and vegetables on the truck to our office first thing the very next day for the photoshoot.

Donny Rouse, CEO, 3rd Generation