Louisiana Store Owner Pulls His Community Together Through Popular Barbeque Cookouts
When one of the local elementary schools in Lake Charles, La., was looking for ways to increase parent involvement and boost attendance at its PTO meetings, the principal called local laundry owner Paul Pettefer to see if he had any ideas.
“I volunteer at the school, which is about two blocks from one of my laundries and is in the poorest part of town,” explained Pettefer, who owns four Laundry World locations – three in Lake Charles and one in Westlake, La. “And I thought it would be great if we had a barbeque and cooked for the meeting.”
Pettefer also suggested that getting some of the students involved in putting on this event would be an ideal way to add even more value to the school cookout.
“I thought we should get the fifth-graders to help us cook,” he said. “So, we set it up where the kids helped me plan the day, as well as helping me prep and cook the food. And they loved it. It gave them a chance to step up and have fun doing it.”
Not surprisingly, the attendance at the school’s PTO meetings has jumped from about 20 parents to more than 120.
Pettefer, who sets up his barbeque pit in the school’s parking lot, has now cooked there three times, with some of his laundry employees occasionally heading over to the school to help him serve the food.
“It’s a lot of work,” he admitted. “I’m there all day, from 6 a.m., cooking ribs and chicken and getting the kids to participate – because that engagement is important.
“I’ve graduated from dabbling in barbeque to it becoming sort of a hobby to full-on production.”
The school meetings are just one example of Pettefer’s popular barbeque events, which began about two years ago as another way to give back to the community that supports his laundry business. For years, Pettefer has been heavily engaged in his community – sitting on local boards and volunteering for neighborhood charities.
“I started by giving away gift certificates for our laundry services at local auctions to benefit the Boy Scouts or the school,” he said. “We’d auction off wash-dry-fold services or comforter cleaning.”
At some point, Pettefer decided to toss barbeque parties into the auction mix.
“We added ‘Ribs for 50′ parties, sponsored by Laundry World,” he explained. “We auctioned those off for charity. We’ve done five of those events in the last year, and we’ve raise $8,000 for different charities.”
In addition, Pettefer has barbequed for the closing ceremonies of a six-week law enforcement academy, which was organized by area churches and led by local police.
“My city is half black and half white, and this was an important event to try to prevent what happened in Ferguson, Mo., from happening here,” he said. “Basically, the academy described how the officers do their work and explained the legal process. As a minister, I helped my good friends organize the event, and I cooked for graduation, which included about 150 people.”
These community events clearly involve long hours and hard, hot work over a blazing barbeque pit. So, what does Pettefer get out of it?
“I’m a follower of Jesus and a minister of the gospel, so I want to live a life that leads people to ask me why,” he said. “Why would you do stuff like that? I want people to see Jesus more clearly on the other side of our interaction. I enjoy modeling a lifestyle that is fun, engaging and with no strings attached. I enjoy people, and I enjoy making friends.”
Of course, the businessperson in Pettefer also sees the added value these events can have for his laundromats.
“It certainly gives people an impression of credibility,” he admitted. “Especially when it comes to prospective drop-off or commercial clients, I’m now much more visible through the barbeques, because, let’s face it, laundry just isn’t that sexy. No one’s posting photos of their finished laundry on Facebook – it’s just not as fun to talk about as a barbeque.”
“Above all, I want to be a connector in my city – black, white, north, south, rich, poor. I think these events have helped my business in that regard. Certainly, my walk-in customers like it; at the store by the school, people will stop me and recognize that we’re helping the kids in the neighborhood.”
Although Pettefer thus far hasn’t held as many barbeque cookouts at his laundries as he would like, he said he wants to hold “cook days” at every one of his stores in the future – where all of his customers can enjoy free ribs and chicken as they go about their laundry tasks.
He also plans to eventually purchase a full-scale barbeque trailer.
“Then, we can do this more often,” Pettefer said. “When you do something that’s really good, word spreads fast. Right now, my requests for cooking are more than my time will allow. In fact, I’ve had to create a separate gmail calendar just to keep track of all of our cooking obligations.”
What advice would Pettefer give other laundry owners interested in making a difference within their own communities?
“Look around and see who’s engaging your community now,” he suggested. “Then, see how you can support them. Be a learner first. Before you say, for example, ‘No one’s helping the homeless, so we’re going to start something,’ go find out what’s already being done, and partner with those groups. From the posture of a learner, you become way more effective at being useful and at moving the ball forward for whatever cause.
“I would encourage people to be a part of what’s going on that’s good in their communities. The more you can do it without asking for something in return the better off your reception and your reputation. But be a learner and start small.”
