There are people who leave high school with their whole lives mapped out in front of them. They have a career plan, and they set about executing it. Then there’s the rest of us. Today, more than ever, many of us regularly find ourselves embarking on new jobs, and, in some cases, whole new careers.

Take Shane Mutter for example. Shane is a member of the 4th generation of New Orleans family owned business, Doerr Furniture.

Shane Mutter - turned his back on the family furniture biz to start up a family CBD biz

Shane Mutter – turned his back on the family furniture biz to start up a family CBD biz

Things went much as planned for Shane and Doerr Furniture. Shane went to work in the family business, learned all aspects of it, and took over as President of the company in 2014.Then, in February 2019, things took an unforeseen turn. Shane left Doerr Furniture to go work with his dad and his dad’s best friend in their second careers. As hemp farmers.

That’s the short version of how Shane Mutter gets to be National Sales and Marketing Director of Seed2System. It’s a farm-to-consumer operation that grows hemp, processes it, and sells their own brand of what is being hailed as the wonder drug of the 21st Century, CBD

Barrie Schwartz believes that even if you're only one person in a multi-thousand throng at a convention you still deserve great New Orleans food

Barrie Schwartz believes that even if you’re only one person in a multi-thousand throng at a convention you still deserve great New Orleans food

Barrie Schwartz never intended the dinner parties she threw at her house to lead to one of the most unique careers in catering. But that’s what’s happened.

Barrie started out calling her home-based dinner events, My House Social. Today, My House Social has evolved into My House Events and bridges the gap between large groups who need to be fed, like conventions, and high-end creative chefs.

Normally these two things never come together. Large groups typically get fed by institutional chefs who, because of the demands of feeding a lot of people at the same time, don’t turn out the finest cuisine. But folks who come to New Orleans for an event expect the food to be great. After all, that’s what New Orleans is famous for. So, what Barrie’s company does, is provide everything creative chefs need to cook for a large group, without these chefs having to make institutional cooking their full-time gig. This is essentially an inspired catering interpretation of the very simplest business principle: supply and demand.

Shane Mutter, Barrie Schwartz and Peter Ricchiuti

Shane Mutter, Barrie Schwartz and Peter Ricchiuti at Commander’s Palace

This edition of Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Commander’s Palace. You can find more conversation about CBD and food over lunch here.

Photos by Jill Lafleur.

Realtor Tracey Moore