Why is it that the best stories in consumer goods are about condiment brands? I suppose if you’re sole role is to make food better, you’ve gotta have a little pep in your step.

So far we’ve written about the legend of Kewpie. The inimitable Lao Gan Ma. And today, this becomes a fully fledged series as we jump into a deep dive on Huy Fong Sriracha.

David Tran landed in America in 1979 with $3,000 and a recipe. Today, his red sauce with the green cap is a $1 billion empire sitting in fridges from food trucks to Michelin-starred restaurants. He's never hired a salesperson. Never bought an ad. Never even trademarked his product name.

How the f did that happen?

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The Anti-MBA playbook

Most people go to business school to work out their approach to strategy. For Tran, it was simple: “Make a rich man’s sauce at a poor man’s price”. That’s it (he has sooo many good one-liners, just wait).

He didn’t hire a team of consultants to study his go-to-market plan. Tran skipped focus groups, market segmentation and customer persona’s like “Spicy Susan” to deliver on the fundamental idea of marketing - scale through quality and price.

At one point, advisors suggested Huy Fong Sriracha dial down the heat for mass market appeal - his response was pure poetry:

You might think this is arrogance. I think it’s pure clarity. Tran knew exactly what he was building and stuck to his guns - he’d rather win a tribe of obsessed fans than a group of lukewarm customers. Decades later, the product still wins on value.

If you aren’t inspired by that, at least be inspired by his wit.

What to do when the copycats arrive?

Here's where it gets weird. Because "Sriracha" is named after a Thai town, Tran couldn't trademark the word - even though he was the one to bring it to market and popularise it. He created something incredibly distinctive - clear bottle, red sauce, green cap, white label with an animal. And although he trademarked some elements, it didn’t stop the flood of copycats.

For the most part, his business has been flying and they’ve struggled to keep up with demand and manage the scale.

Tran shrugs at the idea of competitors. He calls the copycats "free advertising" and has an even better take: "I can't make enough of my product to meet the demand, so let them have it and work together for the consumer."

That is the most level-headed response in history.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

At one point, neighbours complained that Tran's new California factory was gassing them with chilli fumes and the city threatened to shut him down. This should have been a PR nightmare - imagine the headlines: "Toxic Sauce Plant Poisons Town."

Instead of hiring crisis managers or issuing corporate non-apologies, Tran did something radical: he opened the doors. "Come smell for yourself" he said.

Hundreds showed up. They toured the facility, watched jalapeños get crushed, and yes - took big whiffs of that legendary spicy air. Most left as bigger fans than ever, eyes watering but ready to defend their beloved sauce.

The controversy died. The factory stayed open. And Tran had created the world's first industrial tourism experience centred around inhaling pepper fumes.

The loyalty test

Here's the real proof of Tran's approach: In 2007, they literally ran out of peppers with months left in the year. Shelves emptied. Fans panicked. Some stores started price gouging.

Lesser companies would have scrambled for inferior suppliers or hiked prices. Tran politely asked customers to wait for the next harvest. And they did. "We didn't lose any customers," his team noted with pride.

That's the difference between manufactured hype and genuine loyalty. When your sauce runs out and people still wait for you instead of switching to competitors, you've built something real.

So why not cash out?

Tran has never taken any outside investment.

He’s constantly rejecting offers to sell the company, as he wants to pass it down to his children instead.

But his reason for that is pure gold:

He calls Sriracha his "girlfriend" (his wife apparently finds this hilarious).

He Googles fan-made memes about his sauce in the evenings. He measures success in customer smiles, not stock options.

There’s a thread here.

So what’s the secret sauce to building a billion dollar sauce empire?

Between Hoy Fong Sriracha, Kewpie Mayo and Lao Gan Ma chilli oil - there are some super consistent themes from the condiment category captains

They fight tooth and nail to keep prices as low as possible. Tran's promise wasn't just talk - that 28-ounce bottle still costs about $4 after decades. His "rich man's sauce at poor man's price" wasn't just a slogan, it was a promise he kept.

They ignore conventional marketing and do not spend on advertising. No ads, no influencers, no viral campaigns. When your product does the talking, you don't need to. Just make something so good that people can't shut up about it.

They use packaging as a distinctive asset and let word of mouth do its thing. Distinctive design, uncompromising quality, and genuine personality create fans, not just customers. Fans who'll wait through shortages, defend you against copycats, and turn your factory tour into a pilgrimage.

Tran proved that in a world of growth hacks and marketing stunts, the oldest trick still works: make something people actually love, price it fairly, and trust them to spread the word. Sometimes the best way to break the internet is to ignore it completely.

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This article was brought to you by The Little Food Market - the perfect place to launch your own condiment kingdom in 2026. Reach out to the team for exhibitor info.