Celebrating our 100th Anniversary

We’re thrilled to celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2023! And we’re commemorating this milestone by giving back to the community that has sustained us – through a year’s worth of exciting events. Stay tuned as we announce more events in the coming weeks and months!

Camellia Beans & Second Harvest: A Pack-A-Thon (January 9th, 2023)

On January 9th, 2023, the first Monday of Carnival, we began a year-long partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank as part of an effort to end food insecurity in New Orleans. As part of a Camellia Bean/Second Harvest pack-a-thon event, 100 volunteers (including local celebrities and public figures) came together to pack 2,000 bags of beans and rice for those in need in our community. And over the course of our centennial year, we’ll donate beans for one million meals.

Working to End Food Insecurity

Our ongoing desire to ensure adequate food resources is deeply embedded in our company’s cultural values. Camellia regularly lends its support to food distribution programs, community kitchen meal services, nutrition education, shelters, food banks, schools, and public benefits – ensuring families have a meal on their dining table at all times.

Camellia Beans & Dooky Chase: Two Icons Turn 100 (January 7^th, 2023)

Two icons turn 100 years old! On January 7^th, 2023, we helped honor the life, work, and legacy of Chef Leah Chase – Queen of Creole Cuisine. Called “Grateful to You” Day, this free and open community event celebrated and memorialized Leah Chase’s 100th birthday (and ours) by serving up fried chicken and red beans & rice to the community, courtesy of Dooky Chase and Camellia beans. We were thrilled to join forces with the Chase family to commemorate this occasion.

Camellia Beans & Charter Schools: Red Beans Month (March 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th, 2023)

Councilmember Freddie King III of District C and Camellia Beans came together — just like Red Beans and Rice — to honor New Orleans culinary culture in March with “Red Beans Month”. The goal was to share the tradition of Red Beans and Rice and its significance with the next generation of New Orleanians, through an initiative with charter schools and InspireNOLA schools.

Camellia shared an 8-minute documentary short film with the schools on the history of Louis Armstrong’s favored dish and provided a free and nutritious meal of Red Beans and Rice to students and faculty on Mondays, March 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. The film presents insightful interviews with historians, authors, journalists, filmmakers, and respected tastemakers of the city, including Dr. Jessica Harris, Poppy Tooker, Stella Chase, Lolis Elie, Vance Vaucresson, and Rien Fertel.

We visited Alice M. Harte Charter School, Dorothy Height Charter School, Dwight D. Eisenhower Charter School, Frederick A. Douglas High School, Harriet Tubman Charter School, KIPP Leadership, L.B. Landry High School, and New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy. It was a joy and a pleasure to share our love of red beans and rice with amazing children from our local NOLA community!

We’re thrilled to celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2023, and we’re commemorating this milestone by giving back to the community that has sustained us. Through a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, we’re helping the ongoing effort to end food insecurity in New Orleans and ensure that all of our neighbors have the food they need.

On January 9th, we began a year-long partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, and over the course of our centennial year, we’ll donate beans for one million meals.

“We are a company that began with one of my great grandfathers, a self-made businessman. His early life would not be characterized by riches; he began selling beans from a cart in the French Market, so understanding what it takes to survive is something we are reminded of within each generation of Haywards,” said Vince Hayward, CEO, L.H. Hayward and Company, parent company of Camellia beans.

From taking care of our neighbors as part of hurricane relief efforts, to COVID-19 pandemic efforts aimed at feeding healthcare workers and our city’s culture bearers, our ongoing desire to ensure adequate food resources is deeply embedded in our cultural values.

Camellia regularly lends its support to food distribution programs, community kitchen meal services, nutrition education, shelters, food banks, schools, and public benefits – ensuring families have a meal on their dining table at all times.

Stay tuned as we announce more partnerships in the coming months!

Vince Hayward, left, CEO of L.H. Hayward & Company, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Robbie Trahan, co-owner of Crowley’s Falcon Rice Mill and producer of Cajun Country Rice. The ‘Red Beans & Rice Mondays’ campaign benefitted the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank, helping provide 50,000 meals in the Fall of 2022.

In March 2023, Camellia partnered with Councilmember Freddie King III of District C — coming together just like Red Beans and Rice — to honor New Orleans culinary culture with “Red Beans Month”. The goal was to share the tradition of Red Beans and Rice and its significance with the next generation of New Orleanians, through an initiative with charter schools and InspireNOLA schools.

The following schools joined us in the initiative: Alice M. Harte Charter School, Dorothy Height Charter School, Dwight D. Eisenhower Charter School, Frederick A. Douglas High School, Harriet Tubman Charter School, KIPP Leadership, L.B. Landry High School, and New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy.

We shared an 8-minute documentary short film on the history of Louis Armstrong’s favored dish and provided a free and nutritious meal of Red Beans and Rice to students and faculty on Mondays, March 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. The film presents insightful interviews with historians, authors, journalists, filmmakers, and respected tastemakers of the city, including Dr. Jessica Harris, Poppy Tooker, Stella Chase, Lolis Elie, Vance Vaucresson, and Rien Fertel. It was a joy and a pleasure to share our love of red beans and rice with amazing children from our local NOLA community!

The recipe contest will challenge high school students in each of the participating 52 ProStart Programs statewide to create an original recipe featuring one or more Camellia Brand products: Red Beans, Lady Cream Peas, Black Beans and Crowder Peas. Details were presented to ProStart students at the beginning of school year and each team will develop recipes throughout the fall semester before submitting them to be reviewed by LRAEF and Camellia Brand selected judges.

Ten finalist teams will be invited to prepare their recipe in person for a LRAEF and Camellia Brand tasting panel of judges. First and second place recipes will be selected by judges based on taste, presentation, creativity, and originality. The winner will receive a $5,000 cash award and the runner-up will receive a $1,000 cash award payable to the school to be used for support of the ProStart Program.

The winning recipe will be featured in promotional materials and on the Camellia Brand website. The winning students will be celebrated at a luncheon and offered paid cooking demonstration and brand ambassador opportunities at Camellia Brand-involved trade shows, events and festivals. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in live stream video opportunities and Camellia Brand’s new product line developments.

“So many of us grew up eating Camellia Brand beans,” said LRAEF Executive Director Alice Glenn. “This is a great way for the students to not only pay homage to such a long-standing Louisiana staple, but also to give them an opportunity to show their skills and ingenuity in creating a new dish. Who better to ask for recipe innovation than ProStart students, the future leaders of Louisiana’s culinary and restaurant industry?”

“Louisiana ProStart Program students take the initiative to really understand how one of our state’s life bloods – the restaurant industry – works. They deserve our full support since they are the future advocates of our culture and we hope this recipe contest will really challenge them to put their generation’s twist on indigenous cuisine,” stated Vince Hayward, CEO of L.H. Hayward and Company, the internationally recognized packager of Camellia Brand dry beans, peas and lentils. “Louisiana restaurants have always supported Camellia Brand. With recent discussions surrounding a lack of skilled workers in the Louisiana restaurant industry, we wanted to do something to help improve the situation at its core.”

About LRAEF ProStart® Program

ProStart is a two-year, culinary management program for high school juniors and seniors with a curriculum designed to teach students culinary techniques as well as restaurant management skills. By brining industry and the classroom together, ProStart provides students a platform to discover new interests and talents, and opens doors for fulfilling careers. ProStart is in 50 high schools statewide and more than 1,500 students participate in the program. ProStart is a registered trademark of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

As the philanthropic foundation of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, the LRAEF exists to enhance our community through expanded educational career opportunities, the formation of strategic partnerships and the elevation of our professional standards and practices.