Imagine: "Made in Texas." Jason Villalba does. (Nick Ut/Associated Press)
Dallas state Rep. Jason Villalba’s received plenty of grief in recent weeks for trying to lure the maker of Sriracha to Texas. He says critics call it his “quixotic quest.” Villalba says he’s heard the snickering, all the snark. “They’re giving me grief, saying this looks silly,” says Northwest Dallas’ representative. “In Houston, they’re saying, ‘Well, this is your tax dollars at work, Dallas.’”
But Villalba points to the embattled Huy Fong Foods plant in Irwindale, California, and sees only “real economic development,” he says Thursday morning, “a plant that employs 1,000 and a product that generates a billion in revenue. This is a real opportunity. This is not a tongue-in-cheek exercise.”
State Rep. Jason Villalba (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News)
And as of this morning, it’s not just a PR-generating one either.
Following some breaking news that David Tran is now at least talking about considering a relocation after having been deemed a chili-stinking nuisance by some surrounding residents, Villalba says he’s received a call from the Sriracha maker about setting up a meeting “as soon as possible.” Says the state rep, “We’re assembling our team now and getting ready to go to California.” That meeting will likely take place in early May, he says, and include Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Todd Staples and other state politicians.
“We’re pretty excited,” says Villalba.
But, of course, there’s plenty of reason to believe this is all just one big ol’ bluff, David Tran’s way of scaring the Irwindale City Council into backing off. “That’s a large part of it,” Villalba says. Absolutely. And Texas isn’t the only state getting an invite to the dating game: The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that Alabama, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, Arizona, New Mexico and West Virginia also want to pour Sriracha all over their respective states. There are plenty of California pols also vying for the business — and they have the advantage, given their relative proximity to the Ventura County peppers used in the making of Your Favorite Condiment.
“But I’m not a dumb guy,” says Villalba. “This makes sense for them. There are a number of reasons why a company like this could relocated. Texas has a robust economy, and California is taking a pretty significant chunk of their profits in taxes. And we have the agricultural infrastructure to support a company predicated on food product. We can do this.”