SCOTT BELLINA SMOKES “FIERY FOODS” WORLD
the Best Hot Sauce Tasting (for Flambeau Fiya) and Best Advertising/Marketing (for the Bayou Gotham brand) at the 2024 Scovie Awards competition, held in Albuquerque. This marked the first time in the 28-year history of the annual National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show event that one BY CHRIS RUSSO BLACKWOOD entrant took home two grand prizes in the same year, beating more than 1,100 entries. Bayou Gotham also won five more awards in categories at the show, including three first places, one second, and one third place. “Is this real life?” was Bellina’s reaction to the coup. “The email went to my spam folder for some reason and I randomly checked the folder that day, so it was a bit kismet and I was just confused and ecstatic at the same time.” Things cleared up when the association’s president called to confirm an hour later. Scott Bellina with Bayou Gotham products Bellina went beyond the tried and true trio of hot sauce ingredients: salt, cayenne, and vinegar to incorporate other Louisiana influences including European, Caribbean, African, even Asian. Thus, the Bayou Gotham line has four products. In addition to Bayou Bourre, there’s Flambeau Fiya (sweet Caribbean heat), Juju Guru (tropic jalapeno), and Ruby Rebelle (boubon cayenne). Also, beyond the obvious pairings like on boiled seafood, oysters and Bloody Marys, Bayou Gotham sauces complement lots of other fare, including hamburgers, pizza, and Bellina’s favorite, meatball poboys from New Orleans’ Parkway Tavern. When it came to branding, Belllina turned to one of his LSU design mates, Scott Hodgin of Tilt. “We did Legacy magazine together at LSU,” said Scott. “His first reaction was ‘you’re going to be a terrible client.’ “I wanted to be the client for a change. It was a very collaborative project and also enjoyable for both of us as we hadn’t worked together on a project in 30 years.” He credits two LSU mentors; Lynne Baggett for pushing him while in school and Jenni Peters for opening his eyes to merging his artistic talent and storytelling abilities. Bellina’s focus is on expanding the distribution of his product line amid a growing arena. “Craft sauces are like the craft beer industry, which has been exploding for a decade and even the big boys are trying to keep up” he said. “Tabasco has a scorpion pepper hot sauce with pineapple in it – just sayin!”
WINS TWO GRAND PRIZES WITH BAYOU GOTHAM
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cott Bellina likes to say he was born on the bayou but aged in Gotham. The New Orleans native and LSU School of Design alum moved to New York after graduation, but missed Louisiana’s culture. When the city’s laws against propane use ended his crawfish boils, Bellina summoned his hot sauce and food pedigree and went to work in the kitchen, “de-constructing” a crawfish boil to develop a fiery sauce with the flavors of potatoes, corn, the heat, everything except the crawfish. It all came pretty naturally. You see, his maternal grandfather, Roger Baumer, worked alongside his great uncle, Alvin Baumer, founder of the world-renowned brand, Crystal Hot Sauce. His paternal grandparents owned Bellina’s Grocery in Donaldsonville. Thus, he named his hot sauce product line Bayou Gotham to reflect his physics-defying state of being in both places at the same time. It took six months to develop the first of four products in the Bayou Gotham line, Bayou Bourre. And, after all that work, Bellina was ready to share it with the world. Getting the message out is another of his talents. For 20 years, he’s made his living as a creative director, graphic designer, and quite the storyteller. Co-incidentally, many of his clients are in the food and beverage industry. Even so, Bellina shocked the fiery foods world (and himself) when he became the first entity to win both Bayou Bourre, everything but the crawfish
24 LSU Alumni Magazine | Fall 2024