Ruffin Rodrigue, proprietor of Ruffino’s on the River in Lafayette, Ruffino’s in Baton Rouge, and Ruffino’s Catering in downtown Baton Rouge, is our guest on Discover Lafayette with Jan Swift.

A native of Thibodaux, Rodrigue followed in the footsteps of his dad, Ruffin Rodrigue, Sr., who played LSU football in the early 1960s as a member of the infamous Chinese Bandits. Rodrigue was an All-SEC guard at LSU from 1986 through 1989 and fondly recalled his time under the tutelage of Coach Bill Arnsparger when the team was #3 in the nation and won the SEC Championship. After graduating in Spring 1990 in Marketing, he played for the World League of American Football (now NFL Europe) until an injury in Montreal ended his career and he returned to Louisiana.

Rodrigue put his marketing degree to use working for five years at Mockler Beverage, a Budweiser distributor in Baton Rouge. He developed a friendship with T.J. Moran, the first franchisee of Ruth's Chris who went on to become one of the largest U. S. franchisees for the steakhouse company and who also owned the wildly popular TJ Ribs and Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant. In 1998, Ruffin entered the hospitality business with Moran to manage DiNardo's, an Italian-themed restaurant in South Baton Rouge on Highland Road named after Gerry DiNardo who had been a popular LSU football coach. As DiNardo's coaching career went into decline it was time to rebrand the endeavor, and Moran, Rodrigue, and chef Peter Sclafani bought out DiNardo and went into partnership in 2000, renaming the restaurant "Ruffino's."

Being mentored by the late T. J. Moran, successful franchisee of Ruth's Chris and owner of TJ Ribs and Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant, left an indelible impression on Rodrigue and he recounted that Moran's motto was to "Strive to Make it Better Every Day." Ruffin has followed that advice every day for the past 22 years.

Being mentored by T. J. Moran left an indelible impression on Rodrigue, and he recounted that Moran's motto was to "Strive to Make it Better Every Day." And Rodrigue has followed that advice every day for the past 22 years. Besides sharing his sage advice, Moran also taught Rodrigue how to treat people and how to do things the right way.

Inside view of Ruffino's on Highland Road in South Baton Rouge, featuring a Blue Dog painting with Ruffin Rodrigue's #68 jersey, along with other memorabilia from his LSU football days.

The success of Ruffino's in Baton Rouge led to the opening of its second restaurant in Lafayette in May 2013. Rodrigue and his partners opened Ruffino's on the River on Camellia Boulevard in the beautiful and spacious restaurant situated on the Vermilion River that was formerly owned by Cochon's. Cochon's, based out of New Orleans, had been in business for only nine months but failed to capture local interest. Ruffin had been advised that the River Ranch development was the perfect place to locate. The combination of delicious food, a huge bar, personality, energy, music, and all of the right intangibles outside of food that make people want to return again and again, made the restaurant a huge success. In 2018, Rodrigue bought out his partner, Peter Sclafani, and is now the sole owner proprietor of all Ruffino's properties.

Ruffino's on the River is situated on a beautiful setting on the Vermilion River in River Ranch at 921 Camellia Blvd., Lafayette LA 70508

As the oil and gas recession intensified in late 2014/early 2015, Rodrigue's close friend and LSU football buddy Jamie Howard warned him that tough times were in store for South Louisiana. When the expense accounts of the energy executives dried up, he turned to the marketing of small gatherings and parties to healthcare and IT professionals and maintained a pr...