The former owners of Cajun Ready Mix Concrete—once the largest cement and concrete company in the Capital Region—have partnered to launch a new ready-mix concrete company called HRM Concrete. HRM’s owners, all of whom were partners in Cajun Ready Mix, are Steven Cheatham; Ryan Heck, a former Metro Council member and current St. George City Council member; Tripp Heck, Ryan’s cousin; and Jason Lyngaas. They boast a combined 50 years of experience in the concrete business. Cheatham tells Daily Report that the ownership group decided now was the right time to launch a new concrete venture because Baton Rouge is projected to be Louisiana’s fastest-growing metro in 2025—a claim that’s backed up in economist Loren Scott’s latest Louisiana Economic Forecast. “There’s going to be a large increase in work in the Greater Baton Rouge area, and we feel that we have a unique skillset to be able to service that market,” Cheatham says. Cajun Ready Mix was acquired by Holcim, an international cement and concrete company headquartered in Switzerland, in 2022. At the time, Cajun Ready Mix employed 108 people and owned eight concrete plants and 51 mixer trucks. By comparison, HRM currently employs 40 people and owns three concrete plants and 30 mixer trucks, according to Cheatham. Those figures are likely to grow as the business expands; while HRM’s focus over the course of the next two years will be on solidifying its Capital Region presence, it has loftier goals for the long term. “Our vision for the next five or 10 years is to become a regional concrete company that’s owned and operated out of Baton Rouge,” Cheatham says. “That region could be the Gulf Coast.” HRM Concrete services commercial, industrial, municipal and residential projects. The company is headquartered on Pecue Lane near Perkins Road. Take Our Poll