Vern’s Bbq and Catering has served New Iberia and venues around the country for three decades.

Started by the husband and wife dynamic duo, Vern and Debbie Mitchell, Vern’s Catering has gone across the country to serve everyone from the NFL, to the U.S. Marshals, to the Red Cross. Currently, they are contracted by AmeriCorps out of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

But, they didn’t leave New Iberia on the backburner, as the city and parish had supported them as they developed. Anytime Iberia Parish needs them, they will split forces and return to cater events across the parish.

Vern and Debbie spoke with the Daily Iberian about their struggles and successes as business owners, and reflected on black history, and the problems their community faces today.

How long have you been in business?

Vern: The company was established in 1986, so 38 years.

What made you want to start your own company?

Vern: I always had a desire to serve, and I was passionate about cooking even in my younger days. I actually started out in New Orleans baking and decorating cakes from scratch. That’s how it all got started.

What has been the biggest challenge that you’ve faced as a business owner?

Vern: Feeding 2500 people three times a day for the Red Cross. That was during the flood in Denham Springs in 2016.

Debbie: The most challenging now is staffing. Since COVID, everyone was getting additional funds, so staffing has become a nightmare for a lot of companies. Thank God we have dedicated employees who stayed with us and still work with us, but on some occasions where we have to add additional staffing in, it’s a nightmare. We are working for the government, so you can’t have a criminal record and then you have to be able to be on-base. Even when we did superbowl, we had to be vetted through the FBI, which meant fingerprint cards and criminal background check from 18 and up.

What is your favorite memory from your time in business?

Vern: I would have to say the Superbowl in Phoenix, Arizona, because we were able to stay there for a month and a week, and it was the first time that the All-Star game was held on the mainland, so that was really, really exciting.

Debbie: For me, it would be New Orleans because that’s my first initial contract with the NFL. Some of the people I met in New Orleans in 2013 had passed or moved on by the time we went to Arizona, so it had created our initial contract with the NFL. When we were in New Orleans, we catered for the NFL film crew and the private tailgate parties for the owners, players and their families.

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Debbie: Don’t second guess yourself, because we talked about it for years before we actually went into business. We would talk about, like yeah we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna do it, and then we’d put it on the backburner. Don’t second guess yourself, follow your heart, follow your dreams, pray about it. Once you get that answer, do it, because if you prayed about it and you got that answer, it’s gonna be a success.

If money was no object, what other program or business would you start in Iberia Parish? Why?

It would have to be a homeless shelter to accommodate our veterans and service people. A lot of the people who are homeless have everything they need to access social security, they just don’t have a permanent residence. If you had a place for them to call their own, then they could get their social security and move out and move on and let somebody else move in and move on. They also don’t have the proper identification to open up a bank account once they do collect. When we were in New orleans, we fed the homeless for a good two years and a lot of them were saying, if only I had a permanent address, I could collect my Social Security, I could collect my VA benefits, but I don’t have family that will let me stay with them because I’ve lived on the streets so long. It’s scary to think a lot of people are one paycheck away from being homeless.

Would you recommend business ownership/entrepreneurship to others? Why or why not?

Vern: Yes, definitely, that’s what dreams are made of! But, if you are just doing it on a whim, it’s not going to be successful. One very important thing, is you have to surround yourself with good people, you have to have a good team. If not, you are just setting yourself up for failure. And you cannot go into a business without a solid vision before you even start. Training and due diligence, you have to do your due diligence.

Debbie: Realistically, we tell them this is what it takes, this is what it does. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, there were some hard times, and difficult decisions we had to make. But if you follow this path, and you follow your heart and follow what God has led you to do, it’s going to be okay. You may have to weather through the storm, but God controls the storm, so you just have to look back, say thank you, Lord; thank you, Jesus and keep moving.

What does Black History Month mean to you?

Vern: It’s just an opportunity to be inspired by the works of those that came before us. It actually motivates us to continue to move forward as a people. It’s not just about African Americans, it’s about all ancestors, it’s about all people.

Debbie: To be grateful of the sacrifices that our ancestors made and for us to pave the way for the younger generation coming behind us. Each one teach one. Be grateful for the path that your ancestors forged for you regardless. In order to have a change, you need to make a change, so you need to do what you need to do, so that whatever you see now changes, so the generations coming behind you don’t have to suffer the same things. Leave this place better than the way you found it!

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing the Black community today?

Vern: It’s being disconnected. When you are a complete and a whole family with a father and mother in a home, you have a complete household. When you are missing that father, it’s chaos in a lot of cases. Now there’s a whole lot of good single mothers out there, but by the same token, there’s also a lot of single mothers that are trying to raise boys. A mother will do all they can do, but boys look at the father like a protector, so when a father’s not in the house and you have a house that has three or four sons, they believe they have to step up and be the protector. A lot of times, it’s in a negative way, not a positive way.

Debbie: Accessibility to jobs; to housing; to schools; to employment in some cases. In some cases, it’s not always what you know, it’s where you are in life. It’s access be it by vehicle, by education, be it by living arrangements, just accessibility.