NEW ORLEANS — Its taken six years, but Mannie King’s fruit business “Froot Orleans” will soon have a permanent home
While standing in the middle of his shop he looks around and says, “this is where we should be at and the best is yet to come.”
King said that he never imagined how hard this journey would be, not because of the lifestyle that comes with being an entrepreneur, but because of how difficult it’s been for him to legitimize his business through the city’s permitting office.
"For years I was asking folks what’s the proper paperwork, what’s the proper procedure? Instead, they gave me the run-around. When I get to city hall, I find out there’s no permit created for what I do," said King.
Way before owning his new shop ever became a reality, King’s Journey started on Bayou Rd as a pop-up. On top of things being difficult with the permitting office, he says that he was regularly harassed by the police in his early days.
He said this was just one of over 30 times he dealt with police demanding he pulls down his pop-up. “The way they pulled up with their door open, in my days we called that the jump out boys. So I’m like I ain’t do nothing for the jump out boys to pull up on me.”
A half a decade, five citations and one thrown out court case later, King was able to receive his permit through the city upon opening a semi-permanent location inside of Circle Foods.
Cases like King’s are why New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno agreed to create a local working group in hopes no one would have to go through something like this again.
The council member took to her Instagram stating “her goal is to simplify the process and demystify the language of permitting.”
For King, a welcome step in the right direction.
“I feel like we are getting a step closer to where we need to be focused on. It’s cool to see one or two people with trophies, but until we the whole generation, the next generations secured, I feel like this is just one good success story.”