Like many others, I've noticed how hard it's become to find Huy Fong-branded sriracha sauce in supermarkets these days. I initially understood, from cursory glances at news articles (like this one from last year, for example) that it was due to a shortage of hot peppers (caused, of course, by the dreaded and hyped-to-death "climate change" - what else?). However, the reality appears to be rather more complicated.
Strained supplier relations coupled with adverse agricultural conditions have left Huy Fong Foods’ sriracha out of stock at many grocers nationwide. Bottles of the hot sauce were going for as much as $52 on third-party sellers such as Amazon as of Thursday.
Underwood Ranches, a farm owned by Craig Underwood based in Ventura County, California, supplied Huy Fong Foods’ peppers for 28 years. Underwood told CNBC that he could have kept up with demand if he were still the company’s supplier.
After a dispute between the two parties led to a legal battle that began in 2017, the long-term relationship between the manufacturer and supplier ended.
Huy Fong Foods claimed it overpaid Underwood Ranches for its crops from the 2016 season.
“We had been investing in the next year’s crop and crop beyond. So we felt that was really our money. But [Huy Fong founder David Tran] decided to sue us for that. And when he did, we countersued,” said Underwood.
Meanwhile, the company began contracting with new farmers, even though it already had made an agreement with Underwood Ranches for its 2017 crop supply.
“In the end, Craig Underwood won a $23 million judgment from a jury that was in Ventura County, in his backyard. But he also had to pay David Tran back the $1.5 million that Huy Fong says they overpaid,” said CNBC special correspondent Jane Wells, who covered agriculture in California.
There's more at the link, and in the extended video report below. It makes interesting viewing.
I'm a little taken aback by peoples' insistence on buying Huy Fong-branded sriracha. The sauce is not exclusive to them: it's a well-known Thai sauce that's been around for decades. Huy Fong marketed its brand very well, and came to dominate the US market, but it's by no means the only choice. Other brands are still relatively freely available, because they didn't get crossways with their pepper suppliers as Huy Fong did, and have thus been able to continue production. I've tried a couple of those other brands, and they taste just fine.
On the other hand, some people have made good money out of the shortage of Huy Fong sriracha. One acquaintance read about Huy Fong's 2020 warning of a shortage of chili peppers and began stocking up on the stuff. She built up a stash of about three hundred bottles, and when the price exploded due to the shortage (at one point I saw online prices as high as $65-$75 per bottle), she began listing them on eBay, Craigslist and other markets. She reckons she made over $10,000 from her accumulated supply - a very nice return on her investment. I asked her how she'd been able to foresee such wild demand, and she just shrugged and said that American consumers knew the Huy Fong brand, but not many of the other sriracha sauces out there. She relied on consumers continuing to demand the brand they knew, without realizing that "sriracha" isn't a brand name as such, but a generic name for all sauces of that type.
I don't use much sriracha, and that mainly as an ingredient in curries and other spicy foods (and very sparingly at that). I don't like to put it directly on my food, because I find it overpoweringly spicy-hot as a condiment. (On the other hand, a blend of Tabasco hot sauce and sriracha makes for an interesting flavor combination, if used sparingly - I say again, sparingly!!! I tried some last night, and it works for me. Purists who like either sriracha and/or Tabasco don't seem to like the combination, but that's a matter of taste, I guess.)
Peter
16 comments:
If you can get it where you are I recommend pili pili sauce too. It tastes good and has a good amount of heat.
Tabasco and Sriracha? Now that sounds like a red button I'm going to push.
I didn't know that there was a shortage. I walked to the larder and found a two-pack from Costco unopened and one used somewhat sparingly opened in the refrigerator. I will add to my hoard the next time I'm at the store if I find any on the shelves. It's an important condiment.
Good parable on why lawsuits are a gamble.
We do an amazing buffalo sauce by mixing half Franks hot sauce with half sriracha, (and butter, of course).
It's part of my food storage. I'm not usually partial to hot food either, but I do like a little dash of it on my food occasionally.
Other members of the household suffer from nerve damage and a loss of taste. They use a lot of sriracha, making it a necessity in our home.
Two words for ya, Peter: Texas, and Pete.
@chris vf: Yes, I know it as peri-peri sauce. Nando's version of it started in South Africa before the company moved to Britain, and is justly famous for heat and flavor. I like the mild-to-medium heat versions, and also (particularly) their lemon herb sauce:
https://amzn.to/3OY5Hx0
Moral of the story is that if you're on the ball you can make good money from stupidity, ignorance, and lack of curiosity to try alternatives or new things.
Never underestimate the American Mass Market Consumer. You can always go lower.
Drive-by addendum: Don't for get the "Oystershire" Sauce for those steamed greens:
https://usa.lkk.com/en/products/premium-oyster-flavored-sauce
"Huy Fong marketed its brand very well..." - Isn't it that the owner never really marketed his product because he can't keep up with the demand as it is? The brand was growing because word of mouth not marketing campaigns.
To quote an article from the Washington Post from 2015: "The company has never spent a penny on advertising, but the hot sauce has quickly become ubiquitous on the strength of insider cred and word of mouth."
I see the sauce regularly in better stocked food markets even in Germany but I've never seen a single ad in any way or form that wasn't an ad by the seller.
The ship I worked on for 10 years had a Filipino Marine Crew. They LOVED that stuff, and every table in the Mess Hall had a bottle on it.
Apparently it's originally from China (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8pacTAmaFA) and was a favorite of Sun Yat Sen. In any case my wife (who is Chinese) and I have come to prefer the other brands which have a stronger garlic component.
Sriracha is excellent in a bloody mary.
Peter. First time I have posted on your blog. Post occasionally on LL's blog. As you say, Sriracha is the generic name for a type of chilli sauce. It most definitely is not a brand name, whatever people in the United States might think. Never heard of the brand Huy Fong. There are many brands of Sriracha available here in Thailand, most much of a muchness as to taste, flavour, hotness etc. The brand we favour, and usually use, is "Crying Thaiger". Don't know if it available in the United States though. Regards. Mike W.
@MikeW: Well, what do you know! Crying Thaiger is available on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/45S7lHd
I might try some sometime. Thanks for the tip.
Sriracha sauce is crap! Real Mexican salsa, whether red or green is much tastier. The sriracha craze is due to hipsters discovering spicy tuna rolls a few years back. I love when young lily white hipsters tell me about hot sauce, they are experts on everything, ya know!
I think that my be a regional thing. I was in Sylva NC the past 3 days and Sriracha sauce was on the shelf at Ingel's grocery. I had to make a milk and egg run when I got back to NE Atlanta and there is plenty of Sriracha on the shelf at Publix.
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