Entrepreneur Tilman Fertitta is known for a number of things, including his ownership of the Houston Rockets basketball team and giant restaurant corporation Landry’s, Inc. He is also the host of Billion Dollar Buyer on CNBC where he puts small businesses from across the country on the map.
One of those businesses is Baton Rouge-based salad dressing company Hanley’s Foods, the only Louisiana company to make it on season three of the show.
“In each episode, Fertitta will spend time with two small businesses, sample their goods, get to know their owners, and assess their compatibility with Landry’s, Inc,” shared CNBC. “He’ll point out flaws in their product and operations, share his expertise, and push for improvements. In the end, he’ll decide whether to place a transformative purchase order with one of the companies, both, or neither.”
Billion Dollar Buyer premiers on January 3, with the Hanley’s episode airing on January 24.
Hanley’s CEO and founder Richard Hanley told Silicon Bayou News that Fertitta made a trip to Baton Rouge and their facility at the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator to try out the dressings and see the facility.
Then we did a series of test with his Landry’s Seafood restaurants and flew us to Houston to close the deal,” shared Hanley.