Vietnam War

David Tran founded Huy Fong Sriracha hot sauce in 1980 but began to create his now-famous hot sauce while he was still a citizen of Vietnam.

Tran was born in Vietnam to a family with Cantonese ancestry but when the Vietnam War ended, he moved to California and started his hot sauce empire.

Original Sriracha

Huy Fong Sriracha is the version most people know, but it's not the original Sriracha sauce. That honor goes to a sauce called Sriraja Panich.

Sriraja Panich was created in Thailand in the 1930s by home cook Thanom Chakkapak and her family. They named the sauce after Chakkapak’s hometown of Si Racha.

Si Racha vs Huy Fong

Huy Fong is on top of the hot sauce world but residents of Si Racha generally feel that its sauce lacks the subtlety of hometown favorite Sriraja Panich.

Huy Fong sriracha is a thicker sauce that brings heat to a dish, while the thinner Sriraja Panich is known for its subtle blend of hot, sweet, and sour notes.

No Trademark

For many people, sriracha is synonymous with Huy Fong's spicy sauce but authorities like the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office consider sriracha a generic term.

While Tran hasn’t trademarked the sauce’s name, both sriracha's bottle cap design and its rooster logo have been trademarked by the founder.

Advertising

Think of a Huy Fong sriracha ad. If you can't, there's a reason: Huy Fong doesn't advertise, has a shockingly simple no-frills website, and has no social media presence.

When you consider this, it's even more impressive that Huy Fong Sriracha is the most famous brand out there and remains high in sales rankings.