Crawfish with the click of a button

The clock is ticking towards spring, and with it, crawfish season is approaching. Boiled and live crawfish are already popping up at a few select spots around town. But the annual problem of where you can find crawfish and how much it’ll cost you is also looming. Fortunately, local entrepreneur Danny Smith has the solution. His new website and iPhone app, thecrawfishguy.com, tracks prices and locations across several parishes and puts the information right at your fingertips—no more driving from store to store to find the right crawfish at the right price. Smith got the idea at a crawfish boil with friends. “The discussion came up—as it always does—where did you go to get these, what did you pay for them?” says Smith. “And I started wondering if there was a place to get price comparisons.” He was surprised to find out that such information, when it existed, was scattered and often out of date, and almost immediately began putting together a business plan. The goal, he says, is to drive up demand for locally distributed Louisiana crawfish. “All the places we promote on our site and our app are locally owned only sell Louisiana products,” he says. Users can search for prices for live crawfish, boiled crawfish and tail meat, as well as selections that allow you to search for special prices, like discounts on larger orders. Smith worked with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry to ensure that his app would promote local businesses, but the flow of information goes both ways: The app and website will also generate information for the department to track fluctuating crawfish prices and availability throughout the season. The app tracks seven parishes around Acadiana and several parishes around Baton Rouge, and will launch in the New Orleans and Northshore areas next month. There are also plans to expand the app to track other Louisiana seafood products, such as shrimp and crab, and to launch an Android version of the app next year. Find out more and download the free app at thecrawfishguy.com.