Baumer Foods in Reserve produces a whole line of sauces, including hot, worcestershire, steak, soy, teriyaki and buffalo wing sauce, an effort which earned the company Louisiana’s Lantern Award for the Bayou Region.

RESERVE — The employees at Baumer Foods in Reserve didn’t quite know what was going on the day Quality Assurance Specialist Alvin Baumer III, better known as “Pepper,” stopped production to call an impromptu meeting.

Nothing had gone wrong.

In fact, something had gone very right.

Baumer stood before his employees that day to tell them the company, the maker of Crystal Hot Sauce and other condiments, had just received the Lantern Award for the Bayou Region, which is presented by the Office of Louisiana Economic Development.

Lantern Award winners are selected based on excellence in manufacturing and outstanding service to their communities through the involvement of their businesses and employees.

Baumer said it was a complete surprise to him, then to his employees.

“It came completely out of the blue,” Baumer said. “We’re very proud to have it. It’s a very prestigious honor. I think who really cared about it and is really proud of it is our employees. It’s something they can really relate to and it gives them somewhat of a reward and shows them that their hard work does not go unnoticed.”

It has not always been an easy road for the family-owned company, which produces a whole line of sauces, including Worcestershire, Steak, Soy, Teriyaki and Buffalo Wing Sauce.

It began in the early 1920s when Alvin Baumer Sr. purchased Mill’s Fruit Products, a New Orleans company that made snoball syrups. The sale also included a recipe for a hot sauce called “Crystal Pure Louisiana Hot Sauce.”

In the 1940s the business was renamed Baumer Foods and produced its signature sauce at a plant in Mid City, complete with an iconic neon sign that became a landmark for generations of New Orleanians.

But in 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the site, flooded the building and even destroyed the sign.

The company quickly found a new home in Reserve and continues to ship more than 4.5 million gallons of Crystal Hot Sauce around the world with the help of more than 100 local employees.

St. John the Baptist Parish President Natalie Robottom nominated the company for Lantern Award, which was presented by Governor John Bel Edwards and LED Secretary Don Pierson at a private ceremony at the Governor’s mansion in early July.

“The relocation of Baumer Foods to St. John Parish has proven to be a great decision,” Robottom said. “Through hard work and persistence, Baumer Foods was able to continue producing and distributing their products across the country. For those reasons and more, it was an honor to nominate this resilient family business for the prestigious Lantern Award.  We are proud Baumer Foods has chosen to call St. John Parish home and we look forward to a continued relationship with the company for many years to come.”

Pepper Baumer, the grandson of the company’s founder and son of CEO and president Alvin Baumer Jr. (and the famous Brennan family of restaurateurs on his mother’s side), oversees the workings at the Reserve plant.

“I grew up in the warehouse and worked there all through high school,” he said.

“This was my MBA program.”

He said the move to Reserve was a godsend for the company.

“Compared to where we were on Tulane Avenue, the space is 10,000 times better here,” he said.

“Everything’s in a straight line here. It’s much more efficient.”

It now also houses a Lantern Award, which Baumer said is a testament to his employees.

“I thanked them for all their hard work and service and just explained to them that this doesn’t happen without them,” he said.

“They’re out here watching the lines and whatnot. Without those people watching the lines and making the sauce, this company doesn’t run.”