Arcadia Officials visit Huy Fong Foods in Irwindale

Arcadia Officials visit Huy Fong Foods in Irwindale

By Susan Motander

Last week, representatives from the city of Arcadia visited Huy Fong Foods in Irwindale. The company is renowned for its famous Sriracha sauce, that spicy, pungent, chili-based mixture that created such hullabaloo last year. Owner David Tran, an Arcadia resident, received the group after they had toured his facility. The group praised the enterprise and Tran replied, “My job is creating jobs.”
Tran, born in Viet Nam of Chinese ancestry, left his native land, along with thousands of others, after the country fell to the communists in 1975. Like so many others he was one of the Vietnamese “Boat People.” In fact, his company is named after the boat upon which he left, the Hoy Fong. In Mandarin Chinese, Huy Fong means, “gathering together in prosperity and abundance.” Perhaps it was not the most appropriate name for a boat carrying refugees, but it is quite fitting for the company Tran founded here in the United States.
Huy Fong Foods creates only three products, the famous Sriracha sauce, a Chili Garlic Sauce, and Sambal Oelek, a basic chili/vinegar sauce. The company started with just one sauce, a pepper satay sauce that Tran had been making in Viet Nam before he left that country. Initially working with just his family helping him, Tran had grown his business so much that by 1986 he had to move his company to a 68,000 sq. ft., facility in Rosemead. The company continued to grow and in 2010 it completed its move to the facility in Irwindale. This 600,000 sq. ft. facility now produces a very large quantity of bottles of the various sauces annually.
Last year controversy and lawsuits dominated the news about the company. These focused on the alleged “irritant” nature of emanations from the facility. While the group from Arcadia discussed “feeling” the chili inside the area of the facility in which the chilies were being ground, no one complained about the sensation, nor did anyone mention detecting any smell or sense of irritation outside the facility despite being driven all around the interior and exterior of the building.
The Arcadia representatives included three members of the city council, John Wuo, Tom Beck and Gary Kovacic, the City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto, and the Development Services Director Jason Kruckeberg. They expressed an interest in working with Tran in the future if he felt the need to expand his facility still further and suggested there were at least two properties currently available which might suit his needs for future expansion.
Tran proudly told the council that both his children, who work with him, were graduates of Arcadia High School and that he and his children remain proud residents of the city. He also explained a few misunderstandings about the sauce. The sauce is not cooked, merely blended. The distinctive look of the bottle is based on the look of the chilis used in the sauce. The red of the mixture is the nature color of the chilis used, ripe jalapeno chilis and the green cap mimics the green stem of the chili. As for the rooster, well, Tran was born in the year of the rooster in Chinese astrology. It is good luck for him.
Several people thought the rooster was a reference to the fact that the Sriracha sauce makes a great Bufffalo Chicken Wing sauce. Indeed, there is even a recipe for them on the company’s website. For those of you in whom this article has created a craving for that delicacy, we hereby offer Hoy Fong Food’s recipe for Buffalo Chicken Wings:
2 ½ lbs. chicken wings (12 to 15 wings)
¼ cup (more if desired) Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Chili Sauce
½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 Tbsp. of Worcestershire Sauce (optional)
1. Split wings at each joint and discard tips. Pat dry.
2. Place on a rack in a roasting pan and bake at 425 degrees for 1 hour; turning halfway through cooking time; OR Deep-fry at 400 degrees for 12 minutes (or until completely cooked and crispy.)
3. Combine butter, Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Chili Sauce, salt and Worcestershire sauce.
4. Dip wings in hot sauce mixture to coat completely.
*Serving suggestion: Plate with celery and blue cheese dressing.

Representatives from the City of Arcadia met with David Tran of Huy Fong Foods:

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