Sriracha And Its Pepper Farmer Are Mad At Each Other
The quintessential hot sauce experiences spicy drama.
For decades, the iconic Huy Fong Foods sriracha—the one with the rooster on it—was made with red jalapeños sourced from the same farm.
Sriracha is technically a type of Southeast Asian hot sauce, but when Americans think of it, they tend to think of Huy Fong Foods’s sriracha, the rooster-emblazoned Californian sauce. The most important ingredient in any hot sauce is its chile peppers, and Huy Fong Foods sourced its peppers from the same Ventura County, California farmer for decades. Note the past tense on that one.
A lawsuit between the grower—Underwood Ranches—and Huy Fong Foods was recently settled in the favor of the former, but the relationship between the two enterprises has been strained for years. The basics: Underwood has grown the red jalapeños for Huy Fong since the early 1980s. The relationship between the two companies was close; Craig Underwood, the proprietor of the farm, attended the weddings of the children of Huy Fong’s CEO, David Tran.
But in 2016, Huy Fong overpaid Underwood, to the tune of $1.46 million. According to Underwood’s lawyer, Tran attempted just before this to hire away Underwood’s COO in order to form a new chile-growing concern, breaking the trust between Tran and Underwood. Huy Fong sued Underwood for not paying back this overpayment; Underwood countersued for an illegal breach of contract.
The case was decided generally in favor of Underwood, with a California jury awarding Underwood $10 million in punitive damages and $14.8 million to make up for the years of lost contracts between 2016 and now. The jury also, however, decided that Huy Fong’s claim of the failure to repay was also valid, so $1.46 million was deducted from those damages.
Underwood Ranches is the country’s largest supplier of fresh jalapeños, and also happens to be conveniently located close to Huy Fong Foods’s production facilities. The hot sauce maker will presumably have to find new suppliers to make up for the loss.
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by Dan Nosowitz, Modern Farmer
July 23, 2019
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Oh for Pete’s sake. Having the red rooster with my homemade taco’s and stir fry is darn near a religious experience. Work it out for cryin’ out loud.
Better go buy some Rooster Sauce before you can’t get it
Tapatio and Cholula both thinking as they slowly rub their hands together…”Soon, very soon”
So, Who’s going to really lose out? The manufacturer will end up going to get their peppers elsewhere. Because of the prices of American goods, it’s not likely the farm won’t get a new contract.
The good news is that we probably will still see the red rooster on the shelves, but it’s sad to see good relationships end like that.
You write exactly like a person who would say that. 🙂
There are 2 issues. 1. Overcharging by Underwood. 2. Tran trying to hire away a key employee of Underwood. The court decision was just and answered both issue.
Nothing personal, it’s just business.
Oh well. Time for Underwood to form a Sriracha Making concern.
awww look who wanted to use a big grownup word like fungible.
says Juan Coronado from Mexico City. Huy Fong’s company was just down the road from pepper farmer, that is doing business on our continent and even doing business in our own COUNTRY! just go to walmart or any grocery store and look at the sticker that states where that “fresh” food came from. oh and while you are at walmart check out were an employee checks your items and takes your money, that way a person in america has a JOB instead of some chineese guy in china making the parts. look at the origional parts boxes at the HARLEY… Read more »