"If you can't have a good time in New Orleans, you probably don't have a pulse."

That's how Karen Cosburn says she and her husband, Glenn, have always felt about the legendary Big Easy, the raunchy yet genteel city that inspired them to launch Cajun Corner - Canada's only Louisiana imports shop.

New Orleans is where the jovial Ontario natives first met at a jazz festival in the French Quarter in 1992 and it's where they chose to be married six years later.

By that time, both had ditched what they call their "squares" back home in Toronto as, respectively, a clinical psychologist and a business analyst.

Tyler Anderson, Business Edge
Mardi Gras is part of the Louisiana theme of Cajun Corner, which is a labour of love for co-owners Karen and Glenn Cosburn.

Instead, the duo decided to laisser rouler les bons temps (let the good times roll) by importing as many of Louisiana's signature foodstuffs as they could get their hands on and wholesaling them to Canadian restaurants, grocery stores and caterers.

The demand for Cajun and Creole products was robust from the get-go because so many Canadians are in love with what New Orleans represents, says Karen. "It's the second most popular tourist destination for Ontarians and a top spot for conventions. And people here have Mardi Gras-themed parties all year long," not just in pre-Lent February.

But procuring sufficient supplies was tricky. Glenn says that "in a place where business is still done on a handshake," it took years to forge relationships with key suppliers. "They would smile graciously and seemed to epitomize southern hospitality, but they were actually quite skeptical about us at first.

"Some of them had tried dealing with Canada before, but run into problems with Customs, the language laws and ingredient restrictions. We said we'd take care of all those hassles if we could distribute their products."

In time, the Cosburns got the hang of doing business southern-style so well that they became fast friends with a host of colourful characters such as Miss Eula Savoie, an octogenarian who still runs her andouille sausage empire from the venerable family pig farm.

Then there's courtly Greg Minogue, manager of New Orleans' Café du Monde, the famed haunt since 1862 of folks such as Tennessee Williams.

Now that Cajun Corner is the official Canadian distributor of the café's incomparable chicory coffee and (donut-like) beignets, Minogue answers all queries about bringing Louisiana food to Canada with: "Y'all got to call Glenn and Karen 'bout that."

Incidentally, when asked whether he had fled New Orleans during the recent killer storms, Minogue drawled: "No, honey, down here we drink Hurricanes, we don't run from 'em."

With the supply glitches fixed, the Cosburns' new business rolled along as steadily as a paddlewheeler on the Mississippi. And then the next step became as plain as the choppers in a gator's grin: Go whole hawg by opening a retail shop.

So, about 18 months ago, the Cosburns rustled up about $40,000 so that Cajun Corner could sashay into a quaint, albeit slightly seedy, spot on Toronto's Queen Street E. Stocking the new shop took about $60,000 more. But the hefty investment extended the product line from 180 items to more than 500.

Now Cajun Corner sells not only its owners' original range of packaged food items, but also fresh meat and fish, regional recipe books, Mardi Gras gear such as masks, feathers and beads, and Louisiana music, books and posters. There's even a voodoo section whose patrons, says Glenn, "always seem to look furtive when they sidle in."

Cooking had always been Karen's passion. So before long, Cajun Corner hit the catering circuit offering, she says, "nothing but absolutely authentic Louisiana cuisine - no fusion, no Canadianized anything, just the real deal."

Despite virtually no walk-in traffic from the mostly have-not neighbours and an operating budget that didn't stretch to advertising, Cajun Corner caught on.

Word of mouth spread sufficiently that salivating customers began flocking to the store, not only from Toronto but from Peterborough, Barrie, London and Kitchener.

With their first location packed to the rafters, the Cosburns - who broke even on their initial investment in the first year - decided to buy and renovate a larger property on a more upscale section of Queen Street. They waited until the Mardi Gras rush was over earlier this month and then began packing up all their feathers, CDs, crawfish tails, alligator filets, sweet potato pancake mix, hot sauces with such evocative names as Bayou Passion and Sweet Cajun Fire, and the rest of their savoury stock in trade. Then they will move it all a few blocks west.

Cajun Corner's charming new store near Logan Avenue, which will open in mid-March, is located in a historical building that reminds its owners of classic New Orleanian architecture. Thanks to the addition of an enticing open kitchen, there will be a yummy takeout menu.

On it will be such mouth-watering New Orleans favourites as gumbo, jambalaya and dirty rice, and sandwiches ranging from fried catfish and oyster po'boys to muffalettas. And, yes indeed, they will serve hot Café du Monde coffee and beignets.

What's also enthusiastically served up at Cajun Corner is congenial conversation about Louisiana in general and New Orleans in particular. After trekking to their beloved Big Easy nearly 50 times, the Cosburns possess a wealth of lore and advice they just love sharing with customers.

"For a couple of Canucks, we know the place fairly well," says Glenn. "So we tell people what's what, where to go that tourists don't go, where to go on a budget and anything else they want to know. More often than not, when they get back, they come in to thank us for making their trips so enjoyable."

The Cosburns are now fielding queries from potential franchisees who'd like to duplicate Cajun Corner in other Canadian cities.

"We're all ears," says Glenn, but there is one crucial proviso. No applicants need apply if they don't know and love New Orleans at least as much as the Cajun Corner's faithful patrons.

"We can always spot the people who are as crazy about it as we are when they walk in," says Karen. "They get this kind of glazed-over look on their face like: 'I never thought I'd see this stuff again.' And you can just tell that they're suddenly right back down on Decatur Street."

(Terry Poulton can be reached at poulton@businessedge.ca)