Natchitoches is the oldest city in the state of Louisiana. And for about as long as people have been living there, they’ve been eating crawfish. Nearly 35 years ago, David McGraw moved his family to Natchitoches, and he set up crawfish ponds near his home. Crawfish farming was a hobby at first, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Soon, David and his wife started shipping crawfish to people on the East Coast who were looking for a taste of home. Word traveled fast, and the family business, Louisiana Crawfish Company, was born. “I don’t think any of us envisioned where this company would go,” says Avery Smith, David’s daughter and the company’s CEO.
Today, Louisiana Crawfish Company is a thriving online business, with customers all across the country. Avery attributes the company’s rapid growth to their use of digital tools: Google Ads drives more than $2 million in sales for the company annually, and Google Analytics helps them find new customers. For Avery, continuing the company’s growth is important—because when the business thrives, she can continue to bring jobs to the community and preserve a way of life her family has long loved. “Our biggest goal as a family is to continue to be the innovator in the crawfish industry,” she says.
