Out to Lunch is a New Orleans-based radio show hosted by Peter Ricchiuti, who invites guests from the new world of the business renaissance to join him on the show to talk shop and new ventures.
New Orleans host Peter Ricchiuti will host the new Out to Lunch Lafyette.
As of August, the show has expanded to KRVS Lafayette with Ricchiuti still as host, and WRKF Baton Rouge with host Stephanie Riegel, editor of the Baton Rouge Business Report.
Ricchiuti has a long connection to the Acadiana area because his wife is from Opelousas and the family has spent a good amount of time there. The couple also spent time in Baton Rouge where they were both economists for the State.
Riegel met the show’s producer, Grant Morris, in the 90s when she was a reporter and he was a DJ. “With her broadcasting talent and her familiarity with the Baton Rouge business scene she is a perfect fit to host the Baton Rouge edition of Out to Lunch,” says Morris.
“Part of the reason for the show’s success is the parallel online audience,” explains Morris. Out to Lunch is produced by INO Broadcasting which owns the “It’s” podcast websites now in the three cities: ItsNewOrleans.com, ItsAcadiana.com, and ItsBatonRouge.la. From the individual websites, the shows also make their way onto iTunes, Tune In Radio, Stitcher, and other podcast apps.
Morris says the other secret of the show is lunch; they have been lucky with their restaurant partners, including Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, Mansur’s On the Boulevard in Baton Rouge, and Charley G’s and at Social in Lafayette.
“We’re upending the old business maxim that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Not only is it free but it’s the most fun media appearance any business person is ever asked to make. And it reaches a sizable and responsive audience. We are frequently surprised by the number of guests with very successful and visible businesses who tell us their appearance on Out to Lunch is the most effective media they’ve ever done and gotten the biggest response of any appearance or advertisement.”