CELEBRATING LOCAL BUSINESSES | BY KEELY DIEBOLD
FAMILY, FAMILY AT HEART S
AUGUST 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY
hrimping runs deep in the family for Cocodrie-based company Faith Family Shrimp, owned by Chad and Angela Portier. Though the company wasn’t founded until 2015, the Portiers possess a lifetime of experience in the seafood industry as multi-generational fishermen. Chad’s father, Russell Portier Sr., built over 150 boats in his lifetime, with roughly 80 percent of those boats being shrimping vessels. Today, Faith Family Shrimp unloads many of those boats at its dock. Growing tired of working in the shipyard, Chad went shrimping with his father on one of his vessels for the first time at age 15, and the rest was history. He and Angela went on to run several shrimp boats before accepting an offer
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from Angela’s father to own their own vessel: the Angela Marie, named after Angela herself. The couple would go on to own five boats in total, ultimately deciding to create Faith Family Shrimp as a parent company for their vessels. In March of 2018, the Portiers purchased their current location in Cocodrie and decided to operate with their five vessels, as well the boats unloading at that location.
Angela says it is a “blessing” to play a role in the seafood industry, which is such a vital part of Louisiana’s culture. “I see it as a legacy, a heritage. It’s a blessing to be able to provide Gulf shrimp—American shrimp. It’s an amazing product,” Angela says. What lies at the heart of Faith Family Shrimp are two important aspects of the Portiers’ life, which are listed in the name itself: faith and family. “That puts my life into perspective.
I want to always have my faith first, my family second and then my business. That is my goal. It’s hard to balance a lot, but when I see the name, I think...what are you putting first today?” Angela says. The most rewarding part of the Portiers’ business in the shrimp industry is their ability to work closely together as a family, Angela says. Both of her sons, her daughter, her brother-in-law and her daughter-in-law all work for Faith Family Shrimp, and her nephews pitch in during the summer. “It’s been a blessing to us because we’re together, and that’s what’s good about our culture, our shrimping industry. Families can work together and provide for their families and not have to be separated,” Angela says.
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We have FAITH your FAMILY will love our SHRIMP! (985) 637-0896 • (985) 594-2067
8167 Redfish St. Chauvin, LA 70344 (in Cocodrie)
