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Bread pudding is frugal comfort food because
it is made from leftover, slightly stale
bread.
There are dozens of recipes for bread
pudding, and most restaurants have their own
signature versions of the popular dessert.
There is also a line of bread pudding mixes
available in the Baton Rouge and Lafayette
markets. The mixes are packaged by Southern
Seasonings in Broussard and sold under the
Blue Magnolia label.
Blue Magnolia Bread Puddings come in four
flavors: Original, Classic Cinnamon,
Lemon-Chiffon and Pumpkin-Spice. The mix
contains the correct proportion of sugar and
seasonings to make a 9-inch square pan or 2
1/2-quart casserole-size bread pudding.
Cooks add milk, eggs, bread and any desired
extras, such as nuts, dried cranberries,
coconut and raisins.
Requests from friends
Desiree Guillory, a pharmacist in Lafayette,
developed the Blue Magnolia Bread Pudding
Mix after a friend who was getting married
asked for her bread pudding recipe. For
years, friends had been asking her to come
up with a packaged version of her bread
pudding, so when the request for the recipe
came, Guillory said she thought she might
try developing a commercial bread pudding.
Also, true confession, Guillory admitted in
a note to the food section, "When my friend
asked me for my recipe as a gift for her
recipe file, I had to tell her I didn't have
a recipe. I just threw bread puddings
together without measuring anything. Since
she wanted it so badly, I decided to try to
measure everything the next time I made one.
Well, that didn't go so well. I messed the
bread pudding up so bad I had to throw it
away", Guillory said.
I worked on the recipe for over a month
until I finally came up with a recipe that
could be duplicated by anyone. It was then
that I took everyone's suggestion and looked
into marketing my bread pudding.
Doing the groundwork
From October 2003 until February 2004 I did
a lot of groundwork. I talked to business
people I knew, searched the Web for
information, looked into logo development,
label development, packaging, manufacturers,
UPC codes, nutritional labels, basically
everything it would take to get a food
product launched, Guillory continued.
"In February 2004, I met with the owner of
Southern Seasonings, Tom Riggs, in
Broussard. He loved the concept and the
product. He offered to manufacture it for me
even though I was just starting and only
needed a small order. By October 2004, I
sold my first four cases to Bayou Country in
New Orleans", Guillory said.
Now selling in 7 states
Since then she has sold the Blue Magnolia
Bread Pudding Mix line to customers in
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,
North and South Carolina and Texas.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita slowed down
sales, but 2006 was a good year with sales
doubling over the previous year, Guillory
reported.
In addition, she now has a Web site, http://www.BlueMagnoliaProducts.com.
Guillory admitted she is passionate about
her food company.
My small Blue Magnolia company is so much
fun! I feel like I am living the American
dream and definitely believe that if you
have a passion to make something happen, it
can happen with a little hard work,
dedication and faith.
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