Follow our The Best Idea Yet, our 2nd podcast series, to get episodes like this every week:https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ Chances are you’ve got a bottle of Sriracha chilling in your fridge right now, but have no idea who invented it — and the spicy story of how he did it. Entrepreneur David Tran fled Vietnam in the late 70s, smuggling gold bars into the US to start his venture - selling hot sauce out of a van. Little did he know his thick, spicy red jalapeño concoction would make him the world’s first hot sauce billionaire… without ever spending a single dollar on advertising (FYI: Kraft dropped $750M on marketing alone in 2023). For over 40 years, David’s stayed laser-focused on making “a rich man’s sauce at a poor man’s price.” But when massive pepper shortages threatened the entire business, he faced a choice more painful than Tabasco on a paper cut. Find out how David puts “Co’s before Pro’s” (customers before profits)...and why Sriracha is the best idea yet.Spotify Poll:Best Dish to Spice Up With Sriracha?Pho, Scrambled Eggs, Fried Rice, Burritos, Pizza, Ice Cream, Sriracha… on SrirachaGET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Full Episode
This is Nick. This is Jack. And today's pod is the best idea yet. That's right. We got a bonus treat for you right before Thanksgiving. And that bonus treat is the best idea yet. It's our weekly show that we launched, what, like a month ago, Jack? We're like six episodes into this thing. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with.
So besties, here's what Jack and I are thinking. Since you're either traveling, digesting, or stuck in 12 hours of traffic this week, we wanted to keep you company with our latest deep dive series, our latest deep dive episode. And that's a 45-minute deep dive on the wild story behind Sriracha hot sauce.
And not just Sriracha, also the incredible refugee who became the first hot sauce billionaire making Sriracha, Sriracha. David Tran, he's a hero. So yetis, tell this Sriracha story over the weekend and you will be the most interesting person at the Thanksgiving table. And then follow The Best Idea Yet, our separate podcast series to hear stories like this every single week.
We dropped the link in the episode description so you can follow the show and listen every Tuesday. Don't forget to leave five stars because that's how we grow on the pod platform. So Jack, let's whip it up. Here it is, besties. The best idea yet. Sriracha. Sriracha.
It's 2011. Nick, you and I are roommates living in our shared apartment in the East Village of New York.
In a tiny four-bedroom apartment up a four-floor walk-up above the beauty bar where you could literally hear people making drinks at three in the morning. You could even hear the L train from that apartment, remember, man? The next Brooklyn-bound L train. We're arriving. Four.
Okay, but my favorite part about the apartment was every Sunday night, without fail, all four of us would get together and we would cook our family meal. My contribution to that apartment was that I would always pair the meal with a movie. Yes, it was a wonderful combination. And then you had some specialties, Jack. You did an eggplant parm, you did chicken parm, you did a lot of parm deviations.
But the surprise about that apartment, Jack, was that there were technically four roommates, but we always said that we were really five, right? Ah. Because there was one more individual in our tiny East Village apartment, and they weren't paying rent. I have to give you all the credit, actually. Yeah. You introduced to us the fifth member of the team. It was a product. It was bright red.
It had a cult following, and it ranks at around 2,200 on the Scoville scale. I think we're talking about sriracha. Sriracha. Rooster sauce. LA ketchup, baby. A half-used bottle is probably sitting in the little shelf on the door of your fridge right now. I mean, sriracha was one of the first alternative condiments.
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