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What Really Caused the Sriracha Shortage? (2024)
- r0ckarong 1y agoParanoid old men accuse each other of trying to rip each other off after decades of successful partnership. Sad.
- indigodaddy 1y agoFrom what I've been reading, Huy Fong Sriracha hasn't been the same since. My bottles last a very long time, so haven't had too many new bottles since 2017, but I can't say that my likely unrefined pallette has noticed a difference though..? Haven't tried the Underwood version yet either.
- jmpman 1y agoUnderwood’s version is different, as if they weren’t trying to make a duplicate, which is unfortunate. Had they made an exact duplicate, the market would have pivoted fast to Underwood. Sriracha hasn’t been the same since. I no longer buy it. Ruined his company and product over a few additional pennies he didn’t need.
- joezydeco 1y agoIs the Tabasco replica any good?
- konfusinomicon 1y agoits gotta a very different flavor but is still pretty good.
- busymom0 1y agoI personally like the Lee Kum Kee brand's Sriracha and TNT brand's as well.
- some-guy 1y agoI buy them often. I haven’t noticed a huge difference between the two and enough time has passed that I have forgotten what the original tastes like.
- drob518 1y agoCan’t we all just get along?
- oarla 1y agoHandshake agreements will most likely fall apart in time due to changing needs and personalities. This is why contracts are absolutely needed, especially for the size of business Sriracha was involved in. Except for the court ruling of 13 million in favor of Underwood Ranch, the article isn’t very clear in the amount by which the 2 companies disagreed so difficult to say if it was purely a clash of the 2 owner’s personalities or some other fundamental change in market that brought this sudden schism.
- steezeburger 1y agoIt seemed pretty clear to me that Tran started looking for cheaper peppers elsewhere first.
- indigodaddy 1y agoIt wasn't that clear to me. Do you mean by the fact that he started the Chilico company and tried to hire Underwood's manager? That did seem a little shady, but it just seemed like there aren't enough details out in the open to know for sure. Although I suppose the 13M judgement against Huy Fong supports the case.
- bigstrat2003 1y agoThat was certainly my impression from the article as well.
- washadjeffmad 1y agoFootnote: This article appears in the February/March 2024 issue of Fortune with the headline “Hot Mess.”
- zackmorris 1y agoBack in the 90s when I was in college, my friend brought back Sambal Asli hot sauce packets from Indonesia after holiday breaks. I think he said it meant "real sauce" but I just looked it up and it might mean "original sauce". The funny thing about it is that you build up a tolerance to how hot it is. So the first time you try it, a few drops feel like your face is burning off. By the end of the semester, we were pouring full packets on each slice of pizza. I just looked and I can't find the (ketchup sized) packets online. So I don't have anything to recognize the brand from. If anyone knows, please share! They are at least as addictive as Sriracha IMHO, should there ever be another shortage.
- dyauspitr 1y agoSambal Asli is something like 2500 Scoville. That is an extremely mild level of spiciness. If you thought your face was burning off with that your spice tolerance is incredibly low.
- nearting 1y agoSure, but I think the point is that you can build up some level of spice tolerance over time. Doesn't really make sense to judge someone's spice tolerance based on before they built it up.
- dyauspitr 1y agoIt’s like someone saying 80F is very cold, it’s jarring.
- eszed 1y agoFunnily enough, my brain went there, too - only to derive opposite lesson. When I was a teenager I spent a summer in central America, living in mostly un-air conditioned spaces. The first few weeks were hellish, but I became gradually used to it. Then I came home, and remember 80° F, with no humidity, feeling distinctly chilly! I think the lesson there is that subjective / comparative judgments are, well, always and irremediably subjective. It's never possible to impose an alternative frame of reference and get to a "true" answer. That's frustrating for those of us who prefer to live in the objective realm - but it's maybe comforting to recognize that these matters are objectively subjective!
- lazylizard 1y agoone of the funniest foods ever..a vietnamese dude making a fake thai chilli sauce with mexican chillies in usa...
- indigodaddy 1y agoSounds like you don't care for Sriracha? :)
- imtringued 1y agoHis point is that Sriracha doesn't come from Si Racha. It's Asian food originating from the US.
- indigodaddy 1y agoI think it's a fantastic and inspiring immigrant and entrepreneurial success story, notwithstanding the recent struggles.
- konfusinomicon 1y agoamerica in a squirt bottle