Debt-Free Fine Dining

5 Min Read By MRM Staff

Blake Aguillard, Drew Delaughter, and Trey Smith started with $30,000 and no outside investors when they opened Saint-Germain in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood in 2018. The team transfomed a dilapidated cottage themselves entirely by hand into an intimate 12-seat restaurant that has received numerous accolades.

They have been recognized by the New York Times, Wine Enthusiast, Southern Living, and  were named Eater NOLA's 2019 "Restaurant of the Year." The co-owners were listed among Food and Wine’s “Best New Chefs” (2021) and they have garnered multiple James Beard Foundation Award nominations for "Best Chef: South."

Along the journey, they utilized a debt-free model to survive the pandemic and do not even use credit cards to run day-to-day operations. The restaurant's limited seat count allows them to purchase smaller amounts of quality ingredients such as Japanese Wagyu and white truffles, as well as harder-to-source wild game like pheasant, while their…