When Lagneaux’s Country Store was under construction more than two decades ago, there wasn’t much to see on its stretch of Fieldspan Road in Duson, Louisiana. The store was almost in the middle of nowhere.

But neighborhoods began to spring up as people left the city for a quieter setting, and owner Stephanie Lagneaux has seen the business grow over the years. She said customers are still taken aback by what they find inside.

“They think it’s just a gas station. People are surprised we have meat and are surprised to see fresh produce. It’s a little more than a regular convenience store,” Lagneaux said.

The Butcher Shop

There is a lot that sets Lagneaux’s Country Store apart from other c-stores, but the meat selection takes center stage. There are walls of meat products that rival what one might find in a supermarket.

“We have deboned chickens stuffed with seafood dressing, seafood cornbread, broccoli, cheese and rice, rice dressing, cornbread dressing and crawfish étouffée,” she said. “They’re available and popular all year round, but we sell more of them during the holidays.”

The store also takes cornbread dressing orders during the holidays, and Lagneaux’s is a staple item that has made local news. “People love our cornbread dressing. It was featured in the local newspaper. It’s simple, but it’s really good,” said Lagneaux.

Another popular item is the store’s meatballs, which are made from its hamburger recipe. “The meatballs are seasoned and ready to take home and cook,” she said.

The sheer volume of meat products is made possible by this small store’s large meat team, which is a department of four people. “Donald Trahan handles the meat. I’m fortunate to have him. He makes our cracklins, boudin and boudin balls,” she said.

Bursting With Boudin

Boudin (pronounced boo-dan) is a mixture of richly seasoned pork cooked with onions, peppers and Cajun seasoning, mixed with rice and stuffed in sausage casing. It can be found in most c-stores in Louisiana and much of the South—similar to cheese curds being prolific in Wisconsin or West Virginia’s pepperoni rolls. And when people find a boudin they like, they become loyal, passionate customers.

Lagneaux’s offers boudin in multiple ways—there are also boudin balls, which are the store’s boudin mixture rolled into a ball, battered and deep fried instead of in the sausage casing.

“Boudin and boudin balls are big sellers for us,” said Lagneaux. “I couldn’t say one sells more than the other.”

There are even boudin egg rolls. “These are really popular—they’re boudin mixed with pepper jack cheese and rolled into an egg roll. The wrapping is sealed with a little bit of water and then they’re deep fried,” she said. These require attention to detail to create, Lagneaux explained. “They have to be prepped ahead of time, but not too far ahead.”

A lot of customers come in to get boudin or boudin balls for breakfast before heading to work, Lagneaux said.

Food, Fuel and the Future

Through the years, the store has built a reputation for its daily plate lunches, but Lagneaux recently decided to discontinue the plate lunches for the foreseeable future.

“We have stopped doing them during the week. It’s so hot and there’s so much labor involved with plate lunches. I want to see if we can get by not doing them during the week,” she said.

Sunday is the only day that plate lunches are now available. There are a lot of choices. “We have barbecued chicken with white and dark meat, pork steak, sausage and ribs along with five sides: coleslaw, potato salad, rice dressing, beans and cornbread,” Lagneaux said.

But there are still plenty of great food items for customers to choose from, many of which have been added over the years.

If you’re in south Louisiana, Lagneaux’s chili dogs are definitely a must try. “The chili dogs came about when we made our own chili, which was a recipe that a woman who worked for me came up with. It’s been popular for years,” she said.

People are surprised we have meat and are surprised to see fresh produce. It’s a little more than a regular convenience store.”

Lagneaux’s also makes its own hamburgers, chicken patties (a popular item), as well as meatloaf and chicken kabobs.

When it comes to adding something new to the menu, it’s as simple as a customer request. “If someone asks for something, we will try it,” she explained.

Lagneaux said that she keeps good prices for fuel for her customers.

“I do try to stay on top of that, making a certain amount of markup all the time and not raising the price high just because everyone else is going up,” she said.

As the years have passed, the city has crept out to this once quiet area. You can still sit on a bench in front of the store, eat boudin and watch the world go by—it just goes by a little faster now. But with the increased traffic has come an uptick in how many more customers come to the store, so business has increased. Customers now line up for the barbecue and boudin, but the staff isn’t fazed by the busier days. Stephanie Lagneaux and her team still deliver the same great food and service they have for the past two decades.