Sriracha2Denton Update and Media Coverage
To catch everyone up on the fast-developing pitch to bring Sriracha to Denton, here’s the rundown. Late yesterday morning (October 30), I read this Atlantic Cities story about the legal battle between Sriracha’s Huy Fong Foods and the city of Irwindale, CA. Shortly after, I pitched the idea of Sriracha moving to Denton via Facebook and Twitter.
The Dallas Observer was the first to write on it.
I then huddled with our Economic Development team and drafted this Open Letter to Sriracha on my website (thanks to Lou and Katie Kelly Korom for the great pic headlining the letter).
New traveled fast, even reaching folks at Huy Fong Foods headquarters. The major media outlets in DFW jumped in. Catch up on the stories and see Denton and #Sriracha2Denton featured:
- Dallas Morning News
- WFAA Channel 8 ABC News
- CBS DFW Channel 11
- NBC DFW Channel 5 News
- Fort Worth Weekly
- Texas Monthly- Central Track
We’ve even seen some play in California:
- Los Angeles Daily News
- Silicon Valley Mercury News (where I get a promotion to “Congressman”)
- NBC 4 Los Angeles
- NBC Bay Area
And let’s not forget the international press:
- For those who can speak Chinese
- For those who can speak Vietnamese
The stories keep coming – check here for some of the notable write-ups:
- Wall Street Journal
- D Magazine – The Savior of Sriracha
I followed up mid-December with an official letter to Huy Fong Foods – that led to this reply from the company on December 20, 2013:
I’ll leave you with a sampling of the Twitter discussion about all this…
2 Comments
Please spend your time with the economic development crew discussing
plans for involvement in bringing a nice cafeteria to Denton, instead of a stinking Asian hot sauce supplier.
I disagree with Mr. Huff. While it is nice to have options for spending money and shopping, we can always use more places to produce things that can be sold elsewhere, thus bring money into Denton, rather than simply moving it around for a little while before it leaves town in the hands of some supplier or manufacturer. We’ve got plenty of industrial space available for a plant that would have minimal impact on the livability of the city, while providing both jobs and another attraction for tourism. I know it is still something of a pipe dream, but I applaud the Councilman for being proactive. Even if Huy Fong doesn’t take to it, maybe we’ll be seen by another company looking for a place to set up shop.