I love a good pun. This way off-topic, even for me, but I can’t pass up not one, but two Sriracha stories.
As background, this is Sriracha, beloved by The Oatmeal and multitudes of others, including yours truly. Dare I call it “the Cadillac of hot sauces.”
First, there’s a profile of David Tran, h/t The Verge, founder and CEO of Huy Fong Foods, maker of Sriracha. Tran is secretive and seems to be the Bizarro of CEOs.
From the rare interview with Quartz:
His dream, Tran tells Quartz, “was never to become a billionaire.” It is “to make enough fresh chili sauce so that everyone who wants Huy Fong can have it. Nothing more.”
Well worth a read.
Then today, there’s news that the city of Irwindale is suing to stop production of Sriracha due to the smell produced by the Huy Fong factory, which sounds like it might be similar to, if not exactly, aerosolized capsaicin, a.k.a. pepper spray, h/t Foodspin.
Yikes.
Of course, if this suit is successful, production will be impacted, which means higher prices.
Tying it all together, Tran says he has never raised wholesale price for his hot sauce.
Some of you with long memories will recall Irwindale, California’s previous claim to fame. Back when the Los Angeles Raiders were looking for a new home (they ended up going to a city called Oakland), Irwindale ponied up an enormous amount of money just to be considered.
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/08/local/me-6055
Well, Irwindale didn’t get the Raiders, which is just as well since the team has been pretty cold for recent memory.
And longer memories of Frank Zappa fans:
“Time passes . . .
January, February, March, July . . .
Wednesday . . .
August . . .
Irwindale . . .
. . . 2:30 in the afternoon, Sunday, Monday . . .
Funny Cars!
Walnut!
Friday
City of Industry . . .
Big John Mazmanian!”
I remember the ads they were making fun of, too.
@John and joel: I had a feeling you two would add some local color to this story.
And thanks to the 30 for 30 on the Raiders, “Straight Outta L.A.” I do have that backstory.
Not the Zappa though, so that’s new.
Wonder how many tech projects have used ” Sriracha” as the code name?
@Ultan: Dunno, but you just gave me the name for my next one 🙂