6 December 2024

Oh no! There’s a shortage of Sriracha sauce and it’s causing a lot of problems for businesses and people who love it!

By Ronald Smith

Oh no! There's a shortage of Sriracha sauce and it's causing a lot of problems for businesses and people who love it!

I have some disheartening news to share with you – there’s currently a shortage of everyone’s favorite Sriracha sauce, and it’s causing quite a bit of trouble for both restaurant owners and customers.

Restaurants and Customers Feeling the Impact of Sriracha Shortage

Let me tell you about Huy Fong Inc., a big company based in California that produces a lot of Asian hot sauce. They recently made an announcement, stating that they were expecting a major shortage of their famous Sriracha sauce. This shortage is all because of a drought that’s affecting the peppers used to make the sauce. And it’s not just Sriracha that’s affected – Huy Fong also makes the Chili Garlic and Sambal Oelek sauces, which will also be in short supply.

Unfavorable Weather Conditions Affecting Pepper Quality

I wanted to share some news about the chili peppers used to make your beloved Sriracha sauce. You see, ever since the Covid-19 pandemic started, we’ve been experiencing a shortage of these spicy peppers. But guess what? The situation has gotten even worse due to some crazy weather that’s been messing with the quality of the peppers.

We reached out to our distributors in April and let them know that things have gotten out of control. As a result, we won’t be able to accept any new orders until September. So, if you placed an order before Labor Day, we’ll do our best to fulfill it in the fall, but please bear with us because our inventory is running low at the moment.

Now here’s the interesting part: the announcement of this shortage has caused some Sriracha enthusiasts to panic buy our sauce before it disappears from the shelves. But not everyone’s happy about it. Some people are comparing these hoarders to those who went crazy buying toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes at the start of the Covid crisis.

Huy Fong Working Hard to Solve the Problem

I want to let you know that we are facing a big problem right now. We don’t have enough of our products to meet the demand. We are doing everything we can to fix this issue, which happened because of a few unexpected things like our chili crop failing during the spring.

Without enough peppers, we can’t make our products. We know this is going to cause problems, and we’re sorry. But for now, we can’t accept any new orders until September because we won’t have enough inventory to fill them.

The Mystery of Sriracha Sauce’s Origins

I’m going to tell you about the origins of Sriracha sauce. People aren’t exactly sure where it came from, but one idea is that it started in Thailand. The folks at Eastland Food Corporation think it was made in the 1930s by a woman named Thanom Chakkapak. She was from a town called Si Racha, which might be why the sauce is named after it. In Thailand, they use different versions of the sauce to dip seafood and omelets.

The Thai version of Sriracha is a little different from the one we have in America. It tastes tangier and has a runnier texture. The American Sriracha was made in 1980 by a Chinese immigrant named David Tran. He even appeared in a documentary about the sauce that came out in 2013.