I make sauces good enough for the rich man that the poor man can still afford. David Tran said that. If you’ve never heard of him, you’ve certainly heard of his product: Sriracha. Tran was a Chinese-Vietnamese refugee that fled Vietnam after the war. He and his family settled in Los Angeles where Tran soon noticed that while there was a plethora of hot sauces, there were non with the bold Asian flavors he was used to.

So, what did Tran do? He started making his own hot sauce packaged in recycled glass jars, which he sold mostly to other Asian immigrants. Before long, there was enough demand for Sriracha that Tran opened a little warehouse in Chinatown, where he made and packaged his Sriracha by hand. Investors began knocking on Tran’s door but kept turning them down. He had no interest in rapid growth nor giving up any control of his business. Anytime Tran needed to expand, he patiently saved up his money and only bought what he needed.

In the four decades that Sriracha has been in business, Tran has never raised his prices. He has never advertised. And, when he has experienced shortages on ingredients, he has simply made less Sriracha rather than deviated from his recipe. If you look closely at a bottle of Sriracha—just under the rooster’s feet—you will find the name of Tran’s company…Huy Fong Foods Inc. When Tran and his family immigrated to America, they traveled on a Taiwanese freighter named “Huy Fong”.