‘Chef, writer, entertainer and hugger’

A Food Network Star visits Williamsport

Jay Ducote, a chef, writer, entertainer and hugger, according to his business cards, talked with the Lycoming College and Williamsport communities about his story, education, career, time on Food Network, product line and entrepreneurship at the Community Arts Center on April 24.

Ducote received his undergraduate degree in economics and political science and his masters in political science, he said. He used to work in grant-writing and policy research -- a nine-to-five computer job.

Bored at his desk job, to pass the time, Ducote started writing about what he ate for lunch, growing into his blog, "Bite & Booze," he said. In 2009 and 2010, the blog started taking off, growing and gaining traction on Facebook and Twitter.

This hobby quickly started to become a job -- he started more freelance writing, started the "Bite & Booze" radio show in 2011 and started seeing revenue, he said. Ducote ended up leaving the grant-writing job to pursue his career in the food and beverage industry.

For Ducote, "the common thread is just enjoying, almost from an academic point of view, food and food culture," he said.

These opportunities opened a door for Ducote for television -- he has been on "Cutthroat Kitchen," "Food Network Star," "Masterchef," "Chopped" and "Ginormous Food," among others.

Ducote described his time on "Cutthroat Kitchen" as a fun and challenging experience that's more of a game show versus a cooking competition. His biggest mistake was not bidding enough on sabotage -- he had to make minestrone in a coffee pot and had a five-minute timeout, which he spent with Alton Brown, he said.

Ducote also had to hold hands with another contestant and his deep-fried falafel blew up, he tried selling it to the judges a falafel cracklin, he said. Cracklin is deep-fried pork skin, a Louisiana treat. He was still sent home, though.

Producers saw Ducote was a good storyteller from his time on "Cutthroat Kitchen" and was casted for "Food Network Star," he said. During his time on "Food Network Star," Bobby

Flay told Ducote he was the most camera-ready star they had. On this show, Ducote was never on the elimination block and ended up the season 11 runner-up.

Ducote knew he had to convert his radio show listeners to customers, he needed something he could sell to them, he said. Through a barbecue competition, he had a sauce he created and decided to bottle it for sale. It launched during the Fourth of July weekend in 2014.

His product line continued to grow in 2015. He worked on a project with a Louisiana winery promoting their grapes, Blanc Du Bois -- his wine came out that spring, he said. He also bottled his Louisiana Molasses Mustard -- Bobby Flay told him he should bottle it on "Food Network Star." It launched at the end of 2015. The same year, he came out with a barbecue dry rub.

Ducote also is launching his first restaurant, Gov't Taco, in Baton Rouge this year.

"This is me putting my political science degrees to use -- something everyone can agree on, which is tacos," he said.

Another product of Ducote's is JD's single-origin coffee, sourced through Lycoming College. Ducote went to graduate school with Caroline Payne, a political science professor at Lycoming College, he said. Payne told Ducote about her project through Lycoming and the Dominican Republic community, coffee farmers in particular.

One of Payne's concerns was getting too much coffee, so Ducote offered to buy beans from her -- he now roasts his own through a Louisiana coffee roaster, he said.

Ducote also has spoke with the political science classes at the college and has gone to the Dominican Republic on the college's trips there, he said.

Ducote was the inaugural speaker for Lycoming College as a part of their entrepreneurship lecture series. The lecture series invites entrepreneurs, Lycoming alumni and others who fit the profile to contribute to a liberal arts education, said Marshall D. Welch III, Sloter Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship and Senior Lecturer.

At Lycoming College, they now offer a minor, open to every major, to surround their liberal arts education with entrepreneurial skills, Welch said. Students will gain an understanding of, for example, issues that Ducote may face with his brand or company.

"There's always something to learn, there's always something new, there's always somebody doing something different in some part of the world," Ducote said. "Believe in yourself, ask questions, never stop learning, find something that you never want to stop learning about. A curious mind is a good mind in entrepreneurship. When I discovered the passion that I really had for food, it was when I found something I didn't want to stop reading about. I was intrigued."