popular by Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. The company still manufactures root beer extract for home preparation and brewing. History Zatarain's was founded by Emile A. Zatarain, Sr. a merchant and entrepreneur of Basque descent. He had 5 sons, all of whom followed him into his business when they finished school. In 1886, Zatarain opened a grocery store with the first National Cash Register in Louisiana. A few months later, he bought a horse and buggy to do deliveries. The company's big success, at first, was root beer. According to great-great granddaughter Allison Zatarain, "Emile introduced Papoose Root Beer at 2:30 p.m. on May 7, 1889, at the Louisiana (Purchase) Exposition. The root beer was so successful, that his business grew, and grew, and grew!" Several years later, Zatarain found that it was more cost effective to sell the root beer blend as an extract. Zatarain formed a company called Papoose Pure Food Products to manufacture the root beer and diversify into other foods and he built a factory at 925 Valmont Street, New Orleans. He began to import and pack olives, pickles and spices. When the root beer and spice business became more profitable than the grocery store, Zatarain focused on the manufacturing business at Papoose Pure Food Products. His root beer extract sold in barrels to restaurants and markets where it was added to carbonated water. Seasonings with a Creole or Cajun flair were among the first of Papoose Pure's products expansions. Next they moved into Creole Mustard and pickled products. On May 29, 1922, as his sons assumed more of the day-to-day operation, Zatarain reincorporated the business as E.A. Zatarain & Sons, Inc. and also did business as Zatarain's Pure Food Products. Emile A. Zatarain, Jr. and his wife Ida May Bennett Zatarain eventually took over the business. Ida May created recipes for their products like Remoulade Sauce and Olive Salad. In 1963 the family sold the business to James Grinstead Viavant, founder of the Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, who had sold his ship building business in 1959. Viavant took over the company, which was using outdated, inefficient packaging technology and modernized it. In 1963, Viavant merged Zatarain's Papoose Products Co., Inc. and another recently-acquired business, Pelican State Lab, owner of a brand of coated fish frying seasoning mix called Fish-Fri, which was brought under the Zatarain's label, and became a best-seller. He dropped bleach, dyes,