After Sriracha producers warned in a statement that product shortages were “unprecedented,” an Alberta restaurant worried about how customers would react to missing out on the sauce. their favorite spicy.
“It’s mixed with pho, you know? Rose Tan, manager of Phobulous Vietnam restaurant in Edmonton, said.
“All the Vietnamese restaurants, they have Sriracha. … If it goes on in the long term, it won’t be good for business. “
Huy Fong Foods, one of the world’s largest producers of Asian hot sauces, attributed the shortage to drought in Mexico and the southwestern United States, causing the peppers used in Sriracha to fail. The company said it has been forced to stop production of the popular hot sauce and that Sriracha orders filled after mid-April will not be filled until September.
“We can confirm that there is an unprecedented shortage of our products,” the company said in a statement to CTV National News.
Huy Fong Foods said it hopes a better chili crop in the fall will help boost production, but as with many food items today, a shortage could mean higher prices at stores grocery.
Experts say the unpredictable effects of climate change mean that unexpected shortages of products like Sriracha could continue to happen to other products.
“This is part of a larger problem that is starting to become a much larger reality for most people,” Ellen Goddard, an agricultural economist at the University of Alberta, told CTV National News.
Low production of mustard seeds so far this year is also expected to lead to a shortage of popular hamburgers and hot dogs.
Meanwhile, Tan said she plans to stock up before the red sauce becomes even harder to find.
“We need to order more, because customers like Sriracha,” she said.
Tan said the restaurant is stocked in Sriracha and hopes the supply will last through the shortage, but she also said she has a backup plan.
“In case [of] no Sriracha, I’ll make my own chutney,” she said. “…Because customers like spicy.”
