Episode Details

On this week’s episode, I sit down with Alvin “Pepper” Baumer III, the president and CEO of Crystal Hot Sauce and born-and-bred ambassador of New Orleans. Pepper shares his Five Rules for Southern Hospitality straight from the Big Easy—where the host is always gracious, the drinks are always served cold, and the music never stops. We chat about what it means to take on the responsibility of hosting, how to curate the perfect vibe, and how to make everyone feel like family the moment they walk through the door.

Talking with Pepper reminded me of why I love hosting. It’s something I grew up with—watching my family welcome friends, neighbors, and near-strangers into our home with open arms, full plates, and the right music flowing from the speakers. Pepper gets it. His approach to Southern Hospitality is rooted in intention: making sure his guests are fed, heard, seen, and sent off already dreaming of the next invite. We connected over our shared love of New Orleans’ culture, where music and food are more than entertainment: they’re acts of service. From backyard boils to black-tie dining, Pepper shares the ethos that’s kept his family’s love for hosting alive for over a century and why he’s honored to carry on the tradition of care, flavor, & celebration.

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Transcript

Hello, and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I'm your host, Darin Bresnitz.

Today, I sit down with New Orleans native Alvin “Pepper” Baumer III, the CEO and president of Crystal Hot Sauce, an iconic American hot sauce that has been around for over 100 years. Pepper shares his five rules for Southern hospitality and his deep love for the Big Easy. We chat about the importance of having hot food and cold drinks, the importance of music setting the vibe, and how to leave your guests always wanting more.

Let's get into the rules. Pepper, great to meet you. Appreciate you sitting down with me today. Coming all the way from New Orleans, the one LA to the other LA. Welcome to the show.

I appreciate you, man. Thanks for having me.

When I hear third generation, 100-plus year American heritage company, all I could think about are the parties your family must throw. What is a typical soiree like in the Bomar extended family?

Well, we're in New Orleans. Partying and food and culture is right in our wheelhouse. Right off the bat. Being born into a food family on one side, and also on the other side—my mother's side of the family is in the restaurant industry. So parties and birthdays and Christmas is just like a come one, come all extravaganza wherever we go.

What's the music and food situation like?

It's funk, jazz, you got crawfish boils, crab boils, your Cajun boudin and stuff like that. But then you get the upscale, like white tablecloth service at like Commander's and Herbsaint and those places too, where it just—you can't have a bad time here.

You were literally born into this. The legend goes that your grandma gave you your nickname, Pepper, while you were still in the womb.

Too many Albans running around. She was just done with it. I am named after my grandfather and my father, but I've been going by Pepper since the womb, and that's the only name that I've ever been called. Unless I'm at the DMV.

What's it like to be born into this destiny, this responsibility of taking the mantle of your family's heritage and legacy?

A lot of personal pride comes with it for sure. My name is Pepper. I'm a walking billboard. I wear it on my sleeve. It's part of my identity. It's part of my family. So I really take that to heart when we ever have people compliment all of our products, that's phenomenal. But even when people say hey, like we wish you kind of did something here better, I take that to h