Underwood Ranch’s Seed-to-Sauce Formula
Ventura County Pepper Farmers Who Powered Sriracha’s Popularity Now Make Own Hot Sauces
Lima beans, walnuts, lemons, broccoli, baby carrots — there’s not
much that the Underwood family hasn’t grown since putting down roots in Ventura
County back in 1867. But it was the family farm’s mastery of jalapeños that
fueled the recent decades of success, specifically by developing varieties
whose peppers stayed spicy upon turning the usually sweeter red color.
That’s exactly what Huy Fong Foods needed in the early 1980s, when
founder David Tran began building his sriracha hot sauce empire. Nearly 30
years later, Underwood Ranch was growing about 2,000 acres of jalapeños across
Ventura and Kern counties solely for Huy Fong, powering a meteoric rise that
made the green-topped, rooster-adorned bottles ubiquitous in grocery stores and
restaurants of all cuisines.
But then the relationship suddenly imploded in fall 2016, when Huy
Fong abruptly canceled all pepper orders, causing Underwood to lay off 44
employees. While lawyers went to war — Underwood Ranch was awarded $23.3
million after a unanimous jury verdict earlier this year, but Huy Fong’s
appeals continue — the family decided to turn the divorce into an opportunity.
