1012 Corridor

You fell in love with welding at the age of 14. How did that happen?

For the most part as a kid, I liked pulling my toys apart to figure out how things worked. Then I would remake them into something different. Later, I started messing around with coat hangers, doing things like shaping it into a metal flower. Around 1969, I was at a friend’s house and I saw their brother doing sculpture work. I was intrigued, so while there I made a pretty little flower; that was my first sculpture made with a torch, and I still have it today. I went home and asked my mom for all the S&H Green Stamps in the drawer so I could go and get my own propane torch.

How did you turn that into a career?

I started doing sculpture work at home, and giving it to friends and family. I started going to art shows. This started generating revenue, selling it to friends and putting some works in the family business, Begneaud’s Pharmacy. My sophomore year in high school, my uncle Ed loaned me a welding machine. The following year, I convinced my parents to allow me to transfer from Cathedral-Carmel School to Lafayette High School in order to take auto mechanics and art classes. My senior year, I attended high school in the morning and the career center in the afternoon. After high school, I majored in industrial technology at USL and did sculpture and welding work on the side.

When did your business begin?

In 1978, after sitting out the spring semester to weld offshore and work out of the back of my truck, my dad—who has three degrees—told me I had to go back to school. But the company I was doing work for told me they would pay me more because they really needed me. A friend of mine told me her brother was a welder and was looking for a new job. Thus, he became my first employee. He would come to my place in the morning to get my welding truck and equipment, and I rode my bicycle to USL. In 1979, I ended up going to night school while I was running my small welding shop, but I eventually dropped out of college due to the influx of work and employees at Begneaud Manufacturing.

Where did you secure the money to start the business?

After attending USL for a year, I sat out a semester and worked for the City of Lafayette during the summer. While there, I was asked to fill in for two weeks while their welder was on vacation. To my supervisor’s surprise, I did more work in that time than their trained welder did in a month. When he returned, he was angry and threatened by my abilities, and called me a “young punk.” Later, I talked my dad into loaning me $1,300 so I could buy a welding machine just like the one I used with the City of Lafayette. Because of the large volume of work, within a matter of months I was able to pay my dad back. In true dad form, he always charged me interest.

Tell us about the growth you’ve experienced.

In 1988, we celebrated 10 years in business. We moved to our current facility, and we’ve added on 11 times. I slowly acquired adjacent property, including 12 acres across the street for a huge technology center housing sophisticated German and European machinery. From the ground up, we erected another two-story building, and completely gutted and remodeled a fourth building, turning it into Begneaud Bistro for our employees. Begneaud has had as many as 80 employees with revenues exceeding $10 million. This has allowed us to invest heavily in our employees, because we believe advancing the skill levels of each member of our team leads the organization to world-class greatness.

Begneaud Manufacturing now services a variety of industries—oil and gas, aerospace, architecture and art, to name a few. How did this business concept emerge?

First of all, I don’t sit down and work on a plan and say, “OK, I’m going to do this.” What did happen was by necessity. It’s taken me some time, but I am coming back full circle, branching out into sculpture and art work, although it’s different from those earlier days. We’ve done artwork for the Acadiana Arts Council, Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, and for Veterans Boulevard in Jefferson Parish.

How are you surviving the recession?

It’s kind of scary right now, I won’t lie. It’s tough. But this whole slowdown is probably one of the best things to ever happen to us. It’s gotten us to really, really tighten up the team. We have been blessed to not have layoffs, but at the same time, it’s helping us to hold everyone more accountable including myself.

What have been your milestones?

Honesty in relationships. My philosophy is that Begneaud is about creating value. Good businesses take care of all stakeholders instead of just shareholders. Stakeholders are the employees, customers and the community. When you have all the stakeholders aligned, everybody wins.

What happens when you look back and see how far you’ve come?

It’s gratifying to know the impact my personal success as well as my business success has had on so many. It’s called psyche income. It goes into my psyche bank account.