Vertical Integration
Pond to Plate, Under One Roof
Ju's Crawfish Company owns the processing plant and the distribution routes — and every sack, whether from our own ponds or farm alliances across Louisiana, is held to the same standard before it ships.
Our Story
Named for Family, Built on Family Farming
Ju’s Crawfish Company is named for “Ju,” a member of the family whose vision was to vertically integrate the family farm — a seamless path for crawfish from our ponds to our partners. After Ju passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2017, the Deshotels and Politz families launched the company in her honor to carry that vision forward, drawing on farming roots that reach back to the Deshotels family farm in the mid-1970s and a family history in the Louisiana crawfish industry dating back to 1982.
“String lines and crawfish nets have been a part of our family for three generations. It all started with my grandfather, who was a rice farmer in Mamou. I guess there’s something comforting about Louisiana mud between our toes and those flooded rice fields that we just can’t help but love. Now we’re nestled in the heart of Avoyelles Parish on the Deshotels Plantation, where we raise, harvest, and process our crawfish right here at home.”
Our Ponds & Partner Acreage
Crawfish start on our own ponds around Plaucheville, Louisiana and with farm alliances across the state — and because we're farmers ourselves, we take care of our growers. Decades of hands-on farming experience guide meticulous pond rotation, proactive re-seeding programs, and an extensive water-well infrastructure on our own acreage, and every sack, no matter which pond it started in, is held to the same standard once it reaches our plant.
Wash, Sort & Grade
Crawfish are pulled, washed, sorted, and re-sacked the same day. Size grading follows seasonal demand, with little to no grading early and late in the season when supply is short. In the heart of the season, when supply is strong, our washed-and-graded standard is where Ju's sets itself apart from the competition. Field-run crawfish are sold essentially straight from the pond and can carry mud and debris in the sack; ours leave the plant clean and in a fresh sack, minimizing labor and dead loss on your end.
Field Run
Ju's Washed & Sorted
HACCP-Certified Tail Meat Processing
Boiling, chilling, and tail-meat peeling for our Deshotels Crawfish Farms brand all happen at our HACCP-certified facility. A documented Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plan governs that process, from incoming product to finished case — the food-safety standard wholesale and national accounts require for packaged tail meat.
Distribution
Finished product moves straight from our plant onto scheduled wholesale routes, without passing through additional middlemen or cold-storage handoffs that add time and risk to a perishable product.
Why It Matters
Vertical Integration Means Accountability
No matter which pond a sack started in, it runs through the same plant and the same process, ensuring the highest quality control possible with a live product. There’s no middleman in between to blame for a quality issue — and no one else who can take credit for consistency, either. That accountability is what wholesale buyers and national accounts are actually paying for.
See the difference farm-direct makes
Talk to our team about volume, packaging, and delivery scheduling for your business.