He drove 1,700 miles for lunch. Then cooked it himself. Then he served it. To 550 people.
The cook in question is Max Himmel, owner and founder of Himmel’s Architectural Door and Hardware of New Orleans and other locales in Louisiana. His distribution business buys $8 million a year of locks, hinges, and other products from the various Assa Abloy companies including Sargent Manufacturing, both headquartered on Sargent Drive.
How does a succcesful Cajun businessman show his appreciation? He cooks for you.
Allan Appel Photo
Max Himmel (left) stirring the gumbo in the cauldron he built.
Himmel and his crew did just that Friday afternoon. Having arrived Thursday night, they started simmering the pork, chicken, bacon, Andouille sausage, and tasso—that’s a kind of smoked pork— for classic gumbo and jambalaya.
By lunch time, the giant cauldron of the meaty, aromatic gumbo was ready to serve Sargent Manufacturing and Assa Abloy employees in three shifts. Both management and union spokespeople called the lunch unique, moving, and an event that enhances the tight-knit Sargent/Assa Abloy culture that accounts for so many of the employees being long-serving.
As they trooped out to Cajun music broadcast under a large white tent, employees got a “bienvenue” from Himmel along with Mardi Gras beads to wear over their Himmel Hardware T‑shirts. The backs read: “Sargent Himmel’s cooking up a great partnership/Laissez les bons temps rouler.”
Cook Himmel and Crawfish Piascik.
Himmel, a welder and and hands-on guy who said he began his company with a loan from his dad of $600 and a pick-up truck, said the cooking tour is a way of saying thanks to “tell people in the shop I’m grateful.”
He said that in the past ten years, he’s visited at least ten Assa Abloy companies in his recreational vehicle towing specialty cooking equipment.
Crawfish Darlene Piascik with Joe Scalia (r) and Steve Smith. Scalia, who’d never had gumbo, praised it. Smith said, “It’s better than a sandwich lunch. Don’t tell the cafeteria.”
The lunch was a hit with pretty much everybody including production and inventory control manager Darlene Piasick, an employee of Sargent for 35 years. She said she was asked to play the role of hosting crawfish and was delighted to do so. Her job: hug her colleagues as they ate and tweak cheeks with her claws.
She said she couldn’t decide which was better, the gumbo or the jambalaya, both delicious. She did say the gumbo was spicier and a crawfish needs her spice. She said she’s going to take her claws off when she returns to work, but might keep on the rest of the costume.
Please explain why someone who buys $8M of product from Assa Abloy feels the need to show his gratitude. Shouldn't they be buying him lunch?