Jalapeño farmer Craig Underwood wins US$23.3 million after ‘spicy break-up’ with Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods
- Underwood Ranches was once the exclusive supplier of peppers for the famous sauce with the rooster label and signature green-capped bottle
- Partnership of nearly 30 years collapsed in 2017 after dispute over payments
After the collapse of a nearly 30-year partnership with the maker of the world-famous Sriracha sauce and a multimillion-dollar lawsuit with the company, Craig Underwood is still betting on his farm’s peppers.
A jury recently awarded US$23.3 million to Underwood Ranches after a bitter lawsuit with Huy Fong Foods, the manufacturer of the wildly popular Sriracha in the signature green-capped bottle. The family-owned Underwood farm was once the exclusive supplier of the chilli peppers at the core of Huy Fong’s rooster-labelled sauces.
The trial, which began in early June, came to a close last week when a civil jury determined that Irwindale-based Huy Fong breached its contract with the chilli grower and committed fraud by intentionally misrepresenting and concealing information.
“It certainly isn’t our nature to give up. We felt we had been wronged, so we were hoping we could right that through the court,” said Underwood, who manages the Camarillo farm. “When the verdict came down, there was a lot of celebrating. We celebrated at lunch. We celebrated at dinner. And then we celebrated the next day.”
Underwood said it was an emotional moment because the dissolution of the relationship with Huy Fong had hit the grower’s finances hard.
