Huy Fong Foods

this is a review long over due. i went during summer of 15.
as i embark on the Chili Grinding Tour, my joy receptors were on heighten alert.
come on, who else can say they actually don’t like sriracha??? it’d be hard to find one… i know there’s a huge cult following behind sriracha, but its one that’s 100% merited.
if you want to come check out the factory, you need to sign up online and put in a reservation. once inside, a tour guide will walk you thought out the chili making factory. its very interesting to check out how they make the bottles and chili paste from sun ripen chilies.
once you finish the tour, you’ll get a ton of freebies. when i went, i got snacks, shirts, and a mini sized bottle of sriracha.
they also have a gift shop where you can buy more shirts and merchandise.
i highly recommend checking this place out if you’re a fan of sriracha.
as someone has mentioned in the past… i put sriracha on my sriracha.

The Tour was amazing. .
Tour is during Chili grinding season which is Sept to Oct. Check out their website during that time to rsvp. RSVP is required but super easy.
Check in and receive a hairnet and ticket to get free stuff. Meet the founder David Tran and take a picture. Self Guided Tour: Didn’t really see too much just the chilis and then the machines goes through something which you can’t see through. We did see bottles get filled and packed in a box. At the end Free Samples: Sriracha croutons, so good, beef jerkey, and mix snacks. Free shirt, free sriracha ice cream, and free plastic cup as well. Wow so much free stuff.
They have a store to buy shirts and more of any snacks that was sampled.
It was super fun and who doesn’t love free?

Checked out the free factory tour today. It’s a huge facility and you can immediately smell the Sriracha once you step into the warehouse.
The tour took approximately 30 – 45 minutes. We put on some hairnets and beard nets. I wish we were here during the chili grind season (Sept — Oct). The tour was very informative and learned a lot about the humble owner and the company’s history. There was not a lot of walking. We boarded an extra long golf cart in which our tour guide drove us through various parts of the factory. We stopped at several steps along the Sriracha making process and got walk along the production line up close.
We went on Friday morning so the our group was small, which was nice. We recommend making reservations in advance though, just to be safe. The only downside to the tour was that it was difficult to hear at times over the working machinery.
The tour ended at the gift shop, which has tons of cute gifts. The tour concluded with a complimentary bottle of Sriracha and we even got free t-​shirts commemorating the company’s 35 year anniversary. Gift shop is really affordable too.
Would’ve liked to have met he owner, but it was a cool experience.

Huy Fong offers an intense 626 experience for free. Come check out the story behind the glorious red Sriracha sauce and how it became a global sensation. The tours are free, you just have to book in advance. David Tran (founder) is usually the first one in and last one out, so you may be lucky enough to meet or catch a glimpse of him. The guides are friendly, well versed, and do a great job articulating the rich history of the sauce as well as the different stages of its manufacturing process. The factory is as sterile as a hospital, and you are basically guided throughout the lifecycle of the chili from its shipment, to the grinding, to the bottling, to the packaging. Afterwards, you are treated to a free bottle of sriracha in the gift shop, and there are many other trinkets and gag gifts you can buy.
Definitely a very memorable experience. I was so shocked that it was free. This is definitely an activity you must do if you are a diehard fan of the sauce and it reaffirms my loyalty and respect for this family business!
PROTIP: They offer Sriracha ice cream on the Saturday tours. No open toe shoes.

LET’S GRIND TILL WE’RE HOT!
BACKGROUND:
The company is named for a Taiwanese freighter, the «Huey Fong», that carried the founder David Tran and 3,317 other refugees out of Vietnam in December 1978. The rooster logo comes from the fact that Tran was born in the Year of the Rooster on the Vietnamese zodiac.
Huy Fong Foods is a hot sauce company based in Irwindale, California. Beginning in 1980 on Spring Street in Los Angeles’s Chinatown, it has grown to become one of the leaders in the Asian hot sauce market, particularly in Sriracha sauce.
STATS:
FREE self-​guided tour
Reservations are a must through signupgenius
Tours between Mid-​September through Mid-​October
Private tours available
Free parking
Free schwagggggg!!!
Closed toe shoes a must
Must be in good health
EXPERIENCE:
Finally made it to this hot plant, prior to September 14, 2015, and too make up for lost time, visited the plant three times this year. First visit was to scout for an Urban Adventure for The Crew with co-​worker/​lunch buddy, her hubby, and five year son. Although parking is exposed to the elements, it was quite easy peasy as they limited the number of cars into their onsite lot. For those not into walking, employees zooma zoom zoom around in golf carts picking peeps up from their cars and dropping them off at the registration table. As well as ziggin’ and zaggin’ peeps back to their cars, post-​tour.
Once at the table, visitors are checked in by employees and given their FREE schwaggggg tickets, hair net, and for those with facial hair, a facial net. There is a photo op at the entrance to the plant and if you’re lucky, like I was two out of three visits, David will be there waiting to get his pic taken with you.
This 150,000 sqft factory is über clean, well-​organized, and the self-​guided tour is easy to follow, from the dumping of the chili’s (pick a chili from the basket as you go into production), to the washing, preserving, grinding, bottle making and filling, as well as boxing and shrink wrapping.
Upon exiting the plant, you will come across the first schwaaaaag stop, so have your tickets ready. Followed by schwaaaaag number two, Sriracha ice cream. I recommend getting this before standing in line to the gift shop cuz there’s always a line, might as well indulge in some ice cream while you’re waiting your turn to enter the store. The gift shop sells t-​shirts, sleepwear, undergarments, drinking, as well as Sriracha bottles, hats, etc…
Just beyond the gift shop is shwaaaag stops three and four; a 3.5 oz. bottle of Sriracha, which comes with a lifetime of refills, and a t-​shirt.
I must confess, I’ve never actually tried Sriracha up until my first visit to the plant. However, the scouting of this place was done with The Crew’s beloved leader and fellow hiker (may they RIP) in mind, as they were both huge fans of the stuff. I purchased two 1.25 oz. bottles with carabiner for each of them, as well as an apron for Mark, The Crew’s chef on trail, and PJ bottoms for our leader so he didn’t have to wear that silly pink bunny, with feet, pj to our slumber parties. Although with the hat and bunny ears, he did look quite adorable. Now, their gifts are with their significant others.
Anywhoo, I digress… the tour lasts about an hour or so, depending on how many pics you take. Overall, all three visits were both fun and educational, not to mention, HOT!!! Outside temp was well into the 90’s on all three visits. A couple cold packs might have been a good idea.

My foodie group decided to visit here during chili grinding season. Chili grinding season is only Sept. and Oct.
The factory is very clean and organized. You can walk through the factory and see boxes of product ready to be shipped all over the world. Everything from sriracha popcorn to the infamous sauce.
Once you pass the packing area, you enter where the chilis are grinded. Their’s even sample chilis that you take home with you. The chilis first take a water bath on a conveyor belt, then get dropped into the grinder. The smell is a little overwhelming once you walk in the grinding area, but it soon dissipates.
After pass the grinding, now the bottling and storing are in play. They make their bottles their and they store the sauce in blue barrels for the year!
They have a small store that’s open year round. Be sure to visit! BTW… did I mention that when the tour happens, it’s free? Yes F-​R-​E-​E! Woot!

Everything about the Open House is pretty cool! You have a chance to come experience this tour in the months of September and October!
You can call and make a reservation for a Saturday! Let them know how many people are in your party! Print out the parking pass and online waivers! NO SANDALS OR OPEN TOE SHOES! of course I went in sandals! (I’m a rebel) but I was still able to go through! I’m not sure if I slipped through or they just don’t make a big deal about it!
Parking is easy. As you drive up they check your pass and let you drive on in! There are little carts that take you to the entrance or back to your car or you can just WALK!
You register in, you get an awesome hair net (yes, put it on) a stamp card, a map of the tour and your off! It’s a walk through tour that takes you in the step by step process from grinding to packaging the chili sauce! The whole place is immaculate! It’s impressive how organized the whole operation is!
At the end of the tour is where you get free Sriracha chili! One bottle per person in your group. A free commemorative t-​shirt! Samples of popcorn, chocolate and sunflower seeds all of course with Sriracha! You even get free Sriracha ice-​cream! It was pretty amazing that I also got to meet the man himself Mr. Tran! In the Rooster Room you can purchase items such as socks, undies, cups, salt shakers, etc. all at cost of course! Nothing here is outrageously priced!
Five stars! =)City of Irwindale stop giving this company a hard time!

Sriracha Kettle Cooked Potato Chips now available at Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa!
I was heading into the market area and had to do a double take, not believing my eyes. Brought the bag into my office yesterday to share with a couple of coworkers that are also Sriracha fiends. Well let me tell ya, one of the best snack inventions ever. I am the hero of the moment with the work-​mates. The flavor profile is not just hot, although there is plenty of heat, but a terrific complexity of flavors within a super crispy chip.
Not sure if they are available at the other Mitsuwa locations, so run don’t walk to their location nearest you. Just do it quickly before I buy out their current stock.

1500 photos but 115 reviews. My peoples doing their thang! I’ll throw in a few more.
Watch the movie (it’s on Netflix!) and then book your tour.
Chili grinding season is August-​October, but they give tours year round.
Free samples, shirt, swag, temporary everlasting tattoo, and a photo op with the man himself.
Asian Angelenos get their Asian card revoked if they don’t make the trip to the sauce mecca.

For my 100^th review, I wanted to dedicate it to a Company that I felt was truly well-​deserving for recognition — Huy Fong Foods, Inc. This is a Company based in Irwindale, CA that specializes in hot sauce with a rooster logo and has become one of the main leaders in the Asian hot sauce industry. I believe that food just tastes so much better when you add a little «spice» to it.
David Tran, the chief executive of Huy Fong Foods, Inc., deserves to be talked about because he clearly exemplifies a man that came from nothing who turned his dream of making Asian chili sauce into a $XX million dollar company. I was fortunate enough to sign up for his factory tour based on a friend’s recommendation. I had no idea that tours like this even exist!!! You must sign up quickly because spaces get filled up immediately. If you’re too late to explore this wonderful warehouse, just make sure to pay attention to their next opening next year. I was told they offer tours annually. Best part about this tour —it’s FREE!!!
I cannot express enough how wonderful this tour was… I did get teary-​eyed from all the hot peppers in process of getting grounded into bottles. I don’t really want to spoil the experience by giving you a detailed run down but bring a group of friends and just enjoy the whole process from start to finish.
At the end of the tour, you’ll get to collect a FREE souvenir shirt, a 9oz bottle of hot sauce, sriracha ice cream and a few snacks to munch on! Isn’t that wonderful?

Irwindale, CA: The source of Rooster Sauce!
We came when trucks were still delivering the red jalapeños fresh picked from Underwood Ranches out in Ventura. I think I heard that the fresh peppers are harvested from August through October. The peppers are washed, then ground into a paste that becomes the base for the sriracha sauce. The paste is stored in bright blue, plastic barrels and is taken to the mixing room to blend. Frequency of batches made varies with customer needs. The finished batches are squirted by machine into the in-​house made plastic bottles, boxed, and placed on palettes for delivery.
Our tour guide was patient and friendly. We learned that Mr David Tran, founder of Huy Fong Foods, named his company after the frighter that brought him to the US. The rooster logo represents Mr. Tran’s symbol in the Chinese zodiac. The tour included short distance walking and a short flight of stairs, with a ride in an open shuttle bus that takes you by the major areas of the sauce manufacturing process.
They have held annual, special Saturday Open House tours during Fall, to showcase their sriracha procducts. This Saturday, October 17, 2015, was the last Chilli Grinding Open House this year.
I had never heard of «Rooster Sauce» until three years ago when family was visiting and asked if we had that particular condiment. It’s still not a product I use but everyone around me does and they love it! The fresh 9 oz bottle of Sriracha Sauce and matching red t-​shirt souvenirs were surprises and are deeply appreciated momentos of a fun time had! I believe the free tours are held year round but reservations are required.
All Open Houses are completed for this year but watch for maybe next year:

Reserve your spot online! There are a limited number of cars available for each hourly time spot. There are golf carts that take you to and from your car and the entrance which was nice since it was a very hot day! We sign in and get the cards with the vouchers that allows you to get all the freebies they have available.
The facility is massive. The red chili’s arrive and they are washed, ground up, and placed in huge bins.
The actual sriracha bottles are formed on site and it is pretty amazing to see how quick the process is.
You will definitely smell the chili’s and your nose and eyes may get irritated (mine did).
After seeing the whole process which took about 20 minutes, we walked out and were given samples of their sriracha snacks (popcorn, crutons, chips, beef jerkey, and caramel), a tumbler, and the sriracha ice cream. We then walked into the store where they sold clothes, snacks, and other sriracha merchandise… and they are all very reasonably priced.
On the way out, they hand out the free bottle of sriracha and a 35^th annual t-​shirt that they have in various sizes.
It was a great experience and it was nice that such an opportunity is given to the public for free!

Who doesn’t love Sriracha?! As a Sriracha Lover, I am glad I came here for a visit. I kept reading good things about the factory tour and how special this place is. We signed up online to make sure we had a spot on the tour. With the online reservation, you also get a parking pass so you can park near the factory. If you parked a bit far that’s okay since there are employees driving golf carts that can give you a ride to the factory and back to your car.
Once we arrived, we check-​in and got a tour ticket that included FREE Sriracha Ice Cream, FREE T-​Shirt, FREE Sriracha Bottle and FREE Cups (All these are provided at the end of the tour after you are done walking around.). When we entered, the owner David Tran himself was there posing for photos.
On the tour, you basically walk around and wader by yourself. There are arrows indicating where to go and where NOT to go. Best area of the tour is where the chili peppers are. You will be give napkins to cover your mouth since the fumes are so strong you will definitely be coughing and sneezing. At the end of the tour, aside from the FREE goodies I mentioned above, we also got some FREE samples of Sriracha Popcorn, Sriracha Jerky, Sriracha Caramel and Sriracha Croutons which were all great. There was also a FREE Tattoo both to get your Sriracha Tattoo.
The Rooster Room — Gift Shop — is another must do. So many shirts, tank top, underwear, sweaters, etc that are so unique/​funny. They are not expensive at all either! I have made it my mission to keep coming once a year!

Thanks to fellow Unilocaler Richard L for organizing the tour, a group of us came to visit the Sriracha Factory and had a wonderful time. Sriracha was first popularized as a hot sauce that can be found in every Vietnamese restaurant across this country, but the extent of their influence has been far reaching. For example, I recently visited a Lebanese restaurant and there were bottles of sriracha at every table, and my gyro plate turned out delicious with it – a true testament of its influence across many cuisines.
Our tour started with a brief registration process and greetings from their staff dressed in a variety of sriracha costumes. Our group also got to take photos with the owner of the company David Tran by the entrance. Once in the building with the red hairnet on, there were staff and arrows at various parts of the facility to guide us in the right direction. We were able to see the chili-​making process as they were coming off the trucks until they were bottled and packaged.
The tour took about 20 minutes, followed by tents outside the facility that handed out free souvenirs such as sriracha-​flavored popcorn, soft serve cones, tattoos, t-​shirt, and cups. There was also a souvenir store for those hardcore followers.
We find the facility extremely clean, with walkways that are easy to navigate. The atmosphere was friendly, as there were many young children being accompanied by their parents. Their staff working along the assembly line was also accessible, friendly, and appeared to enjoy working there. Tissues were made available for those who find the chili garlic aroma too sensitizing. As far as I know, the aroma didn’t bother anyone in our group during this tour.
While there were lots to see, the tour could use a sound system with pre-​recorded stories of its histories and events that led to their culinary influence. Having an audio spotlight sound system could help to fill the gaps in-​between the tour, and help to explain each key stages of the chili-​making process in the walk-​through. Santi and I took many silly pictures along the way.
The tour is free to the public, but those interested need to get tickets in advance. Parking was plentiful and free around the facility. Thanks to Richard for this fun and awesome tour, and the opportunity to see some new and familiar faces. It will bring back good memories whenever I see sriracha in restaurants as I travel to many unlikely places in the U.S.

Visiting Huy Fong Foods during chili grinding season is akin to a modern day Willy Wonka experience. Seeing how my favorite chili sauce is made and packaged, made me even more of a fan!
Tours are by advance sign-​up only (see Huy Fong website for details and link). Chili grinding season is Sept-​Oct, Saturdays. You’ll get an email just before your tour. Make sure you have a copy of the pass handy when you show up for your appointed time.
The entire experience was well orchestrated and carefully planned. From the lion dance to the staff positioned throughout the tour, we felt welcomed and special. Best of all, it was FREE!
Parking is located on property around the building. At check in we were given tickets for freebies; a t-​shirt, a small bottle of sriratcha, a commemorative plastic tumbler, and a soft serve cone. Then, a brief lion dance welcomed us at the entrance. Since it’s a self guided tour, you go at your own pace. There’s lots of photo ops and fun large scale blow up bottles of sriratcha. The entire tour takes about 15 mins.
I found the chili garlic smell to be tolerable. But it’s not for everyone. At the end of the tour, there are free samples of chili flavored croutons (my favorite), popcorn, jerky, potato chips, and chocolate.
The gift shop is also full of reasonably priced sriratcha and chili themed goodies (t-​shirts, key chains, cookbooks, etc). They even have a mini bottle keychain that can be filled for FREE anytime you visit the giftstore.
This was by far, one of the best food related tours I’ve ever been on!

Review is about the Tour experience:
If you are looking to do a tour that is fun, free (free swag: free chile, free ice cream, free 35 years shirt, free tumbler), and full of photo opportunities with ao much stuff including a cardboard life-​size cut out of the owner, David Tran.
We are very lucky, my wife and I, that Huy Fong Foods is only 4 miles away from us. But the distance is a non issue when there is a tour as cool as this one.
We felt very welcomed as soon as we arrived. They offered us a ride on their golf cart to take us to the very front of the tour after we parked.
This is a self-​guided tour, just follow the arrows and make sure you have your cameras ready to snap pics of how Sriracha is made. During your walk, the employees are courteous and very helpful. They answered my questions and were more than willing to take your pictures for you when you need it.
All in all, thank you Huy Fong Foods for the best ever tour! Maybe Disneyland can learn some form of humility from you guys *cough *cough …$ 1,000 for a frigging pass. Mr. David Tran you are an inspiration and a true example of an everyman. Your generosity is much appreciated.

OMG! Can I give more than 5 STARS??? My first time attending their annual Chili Grinding Season. Super Super Super well organized!
They started the registration way early in May. You can do it on their website. This event is during September & October on Saturdays, from 10−3pm. They give out different time slots to spread out the crowd and most important… the parking issue! Everything here is FREE… except your purchase at the gift shop. FREE parking, FREE tour, FREE t-​Shirt, FREE sriracha, FREE food sampling, FREE t-​shirt, FREE cup… Yes, this event is FREE too!!! How awesome is that~
Once you signed up, they will email you the «parking pass». The security at the front will check the time slot on your parking pass. Many staffs stand by at the parking lot, non-​stop golf carts picking up people from their car so they don’t have to walk too far. How considerate it is! Love it~
Then go to the registration area and check in. They will give you a ticket to redeem your FREE gifts! Before you start the tour, stop by the Tattoo booth, Red Carpet booth and take pictures with the Sriracha man and of course our one & only Mr. David Tran (CEO & Founder). He is like a celebrity… everyone wants to have a picture with him.
In case you don’t get the chance to meet him, don’t worry… there are cardboard live size Mr. David Tran displayed in the warehouse!
It is a self-​guided tour so take your time and take lots of pictures. Once the tour is done, it is food sampling time and gift shop shopping time!
Overall, WONDERFUL event! Very well organized and efficient! The community loves Sriracha~
Looking forward to come back again next year!

I’m a life-​long sriracha sauce fan. I also grew up eating sambal in my food since I was in elementary school. Huy Fong Foods products has been a part of my entire life. So when I noticed that they were giving tours for chili grinding season, I jumped at the chance to sign up. It’s free. We arrived at our allotted time and parked. They check parking passes and they only allow 120 cars per timeslot. There is security waving people in. We walked up to registration and checked in. We were given some punch cards, a red hair net, and a tour map. We took some pictures in front of the backdrop with a cut out of David Tran and blow up Sriracha bottles. Then we started the tour.
The tour is fairly short, but you get to see the entire process, from the pepper hopper, grinding, storage, assembly, and packaging. It’s all done in-​house, which is impressive. Even the plastic bottles are blown in their machines! The tour was pretty awesome especially since each person was given a free 35^th anniversary shirt, sriracha ice cream, food samples, a 9-​oz 35^th anniversary sriracha bottle and a tumbler cup made from the same plastic as a sriracha bottle. As we were leaving, David Tran actually showed up for pictures, so I got a picture with him too! For a free tour, you get a ton which goes to show how much they love their fans. This was one of the better tours that I’ve been on. Thanks Huy Fong Foods!

Sriracha fans, touring the Huy Fong Foods factory is a MUST during chili-​grinding season. It’s free, fun, and did I mention it’s free?
My wife and I secured a parking pass the day they were available online back in June (go to their website to sign up). The pass allows anyone in your vehicle to attend the open house/​factory tour for free, so we invited two of our good friends to join us.
We arrived early and saw lots of people milling around with all kinds of sriracha gear, from hats and shirts to socks and capes (!). After checking in and putting on the required hairnets (and a facial hairnet for yours truly), we began the self-​guided tour. We walked through the ginormous space filled with crates and crates of sriracha (think the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark) and found ourselves at the loading dock, just as a truck full of chilis pulled up. While none of us could smell the chilis when we got to the factory, we could definitely smell them in this area. It was a sight to see … and smell.
Next, we watched the truck dump its contents into the grinder. So cool! These are some potent peppers and my wife was really feeling it. Once we re-​entered the building into the main processing area, she was having trouble breathing. Note to any of you potential tour-​takers: the smell is strong inside the this part of the factory. If you don’t do spicy, beware. And even if you do like sriracha (like my wife), it can still be pretty overwhelming.
We finished the tour in about 30 minutes. There was a cool Chinese lion dance that wound through part of the facility and continued outside, where the free samples were located. As part of the open house tour, each guest received free food samples: sriracha popcorn, sriracha potato chips, sriracha croutons, sriracha beef jerky, and sriracha ice cream. Surprisingly, everybody liked the ice cream the best. Each bite was cool and creamy ice cream with a bit of heat as you ate it. We were all impressed by how well they pulled off this balancing act of flavors.
Along with the free tour and free samples, we also received a free plastic Huy Fong Foods cup, t-​shirt, and bottle of sriracha. Awesome! We stopped by their gift shop, which was filled with sriracha-​themed clothing, food, and novelties, all priced reasonably (I scored a $ 5 shirt for my dad, a $ 1.50 I Love Sriracha button for myself, and a few other things).
I almost forgot to mention that we got to meet David Tran, the founder of Huy Fong Foods! We all took photos with him and it was an honor to meet this living legend. His sriracha has saved many a mediocre dish for me and elevated a few of my better meals as well.
Highly recommended.
(Shout-​out to fellow Unilocaler Stephanie P. for finding me and hanging out with us after her tour!)

Super fun tour during harvesting season!
Came here one afternoon for a free tour of their factory, timed it so it was during harvest season. There was truck loads of chili peppers rolling in to be processed and made into the famous siracha sauce. We arrived and parked, then golf carts came and drove us to the front door of the factory building, great service! We did have to walk back to our cars after the tour though. We are lazy bums.
At the registration desk, we were given admission tickets with tear off parts for all the freebies: t-​shirt, tumbler, ice-​cream and snack samples. The tour was self guided and there were staff members standing at each of the factory stations to answer any questions you may have. The machines are definitely top of the line, and worked their wonders to grind the peppers into paste, mixed with salts and other ingredients, fermented, placed into bottles, packed and neatly boxed onto pallets. The whole process was really cool to see! Very advanced machinery.
After the tour, we got free samples of the siracha flavored potato chips, popcorn, beef jerky and chocolate; followed by siracha ice cream which was totally unexpected but absolutely delicious! We also got free bottle of siracha to take home and a 35 year anniversary t-​shirt. And we also got to see the Lion dance performance!