Red Stick Spice Co. under new ownership

Customers of Red Stick Spice Co. may not notice any changes when they go shopping for spice blends, loose teas, infused sea salts and small portions of freshly ground, exotic spices. But the Jefferson Highway store is under new ownership. Anne Milneck, a professionally trained chef and writer, is taking over as owner of the shop today. She purchased it last week for an undisclosed price from owners Lee and Gloria Easterwood, who opened the store in 2010. The Easterwoods previously told Daily Report they were asking $105,000 for the company’s inventory, recipes, branded material, website, and list of nearly 7,000 customer contacts. Milneck grew up in LaPlace and has a culinary arts degree from Nicholls State University. Her husband, Greg Milneck, who owns Digital FX, says she plans to keep the store the same for now but eventually hopes to grow the business, especially its online operations. “I don’t think she’s going to change a lot initially, but she’s got lots of ideas,” he says. “We think this is a great fit.” —Stephanie Riegel