Benson's branding bucket list

Tom Benson is bringing Dixie beer back to New Orleans because there clearly aren't enough breweries in town now. 

Tom and his wife Gayle Benson said Wednesday (July 26) that they purchased a majority of Dixie Brewing Co. LLC for an undisclosed price. Longtime owners Joseph and Kendra Bruno will keep a minority interest. As part of the agreement, a brewery will be built in Orleans Parish within the next two years, possibly in New Orleans East.

The Brunos bought Dixie in 1985 which happens to be the same year that Benson bought the Saints.  Maybe that's only interesting to me.  Anyway it's just kind of funny that Tom thinks he's stimulating the economy by bringing back manufacturing jobs.   

"Here's something that represents New Orleans for me," Tom Benson said Wednesday. "I think this is a good thing for New Orleans. This is why I wanted to get involved. I believe we need a little stimulus here in our city. We need something that's made here."

Sort of reminds you of Trump's Carrier stunt.. or at least Michael Bagneris and his "Nuts and Bolts" or whatever.  Either way, it's clear Benson is on his own personal locavore's version of a #MAGA journey.

The Dixie deal didn't come easily. About two years ago, Benson asked his team to look into buying New Orleans brands in the "ain't dere no more" category, iconic companies that were struggling or dead, his executives said. 

Saints President Dennis Lauscha said they had exploratory talks with at least 10 companies. "We all said that the one we all would love to bring back was Dixie Beer," Lauscha said. "Word on the street, though, was the owners weren't very interested in selling Dixie Beer ... We knew we had to convince them that this was the right thing to do, that we were the suitor that was going to bring it into the next generation."

So in the coming sunset years of Tom's life we can expect to see him present us with more undead brands. People had some fun with this on Twitter yesterday. "Tom Benson's Hubig's Pies" "Tom Saver" 'Tom's Ruth's Chris" "K&B&B" "Tom's Tastee Donuts" "TomBenzie's" and on and on. He's already managed to make Tom's Tulane Stadium happen. So, really, anything is possible.