If you’ve lived in New Orleans for any length of time, you’ve experienced your share of natural disasters. We even measure time here by hurricanes. We put events in context by describing them, for example, as “Before Katrina” or “After Ida.”

After each one of these disasters, affected homeowners make a claim with their insurance company. Now, I don’t like to generalize, and I don’t have any statistical information to back this up, but I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me on this… Even though insurance companies are technically in competition, the ones who are still writing policies in Louisiana seem to have adopted increasingly sophisticated justifications for reducing the amounts of money they pay out after a disaster.

Most of us who make claims and get denied throw up our hands and say, “What can you do?” But Jonathan Frazier is not taking “denied” for an answer.

Jonathan is Co-Founder of Forefront 360, a company created by a team of former insurance adjusters whose aim is to provide tools and services to property owners to get their property insurance ducks in a row before a storm hits.

So that when it comes time to make a claim, the insurance company doesn’t have a way to wriggle out of it.

When we’re not dealing with the preparation for, or aftermath of, a disaster, we New Orleanians are justifiably well-known for our propensity to celebrate the pleasures of life. 

One of those pleasures is going out to eat. When it comes to your favorite restaurant, you might be familiar with who owns it, the names of the chefs, bartenders, and your favorite servers. But one question you probably can’t answer is, “Who built the kitchen?” 

There’s very little more vital to the operational success of a restaurant than it’s kitchen. In New Orleans - and around the country too - a company called The Kitchen Guys has been designing and building commercial kitchens for 50 years. One half of their nationwide business is here in New Orleans, so there’s a pretty good chance The Kitchen Guys had a hand in building the kitchen at your favorite restaurant.

The President of the Kitchen Guys is Dustin Bennett.

In most places, people like to categorize things into groups of two. Black or white. Tall or short. Rich or poor. And so on. In New Orleans, we have our own pairs of things we use to bracket life here. But you’ll notice we don’t use the word “or” to differentiate elements. We use the word “and” to amplify them.

Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. The Marigny and The Quarter. The Saints and The Pelicans. Although it might seem slightly less obvious, two other significant, quintessential New Orleans experiences are hurricanes and restaurants.

Although one is something nobody wants to experience and the other is something we all love to experience, they’re both woven into the fabric of life here. Living in New Orleans means at some point in your week you’ll be considering a restaurant, and at some point in your life you’ll inevitably be affected by a natural disaster. So it's good to know Dustin and Jonathan have our back.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

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