Hey Blake,
As a New Orleans native, I’ve often heard the name William B. Reily and the company he founded, which makes Blue Plate mayonnaise, Luzianne tea, French Market coffee and other products. How did he get into the food business?
William Boatner Reily Jr. was born in East Feliciana Parish in 1859 and raised in Morehouse Parish in northeast Louisiana. According to his Aug. 18, 1942, New Orleans Item obituary, Reily first entered business as an apprentice and clerk at a general store in Bastrop. After eight years he opened his own store, then organized a bigger wholesale grocery company in Monroe.
Reily moved to New Orleans in 1902 and formed a coffee roasting and grinding company with partners Warren Taylor and D.W. Pipes. It was called the Reily-Taylor Co. Within a year, he bought his partner’s interests and renamed the company William B. Reily and Company, Inc. Located at 640 Magazine St., Luzianne coffee was its best-known product…