[식품]벵가지로 Sriracha를 가져온 리비아 사람

Manufacturing

The Libyan Who Brought Sriracha to Benghazi

By Caleb Hannan on March 19, 2013

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-19/the-libyan-who-brought-sriracha-to-benghazi#r=nav-fs

Less than a decade ago, Huy Fong’s sriracha, a hot sauce made in suburban Los Angeles, was available only in a few Asian supermarkets and restaurants on the West Coast. Today it can be found in shops all over the U.S., in the makeshift kitchen of the International Space Station, and, in perhaps the least likely place imaginable, on store shelves in Benghazi, Libya.

In last month’s feature on sriracha, Businessweek told the story of how Vietnamese immigrant-turned-entrepreneur David Tran has made the Thai hot sauce a cultural icon in America. After starting off in a small storefront in L.A.’s Chinatown more than 30 years ago, Tran and his employees will soon move into a new, 655,000-square-foot headquarters in Irwindale, Calif., from which they’ll make and sell more than 20 million of his trademarked clear plastic squeeze bottles full of sauce.

The story of how sriracha made it to Libya, however, has less to do with Tran than with one of his best customers. Around the time when Tran was making his first batches of sriracha, Salah Bala, an immigrant from Benghazi, was making his way to L.A. Bala started his own export shop, from which he sold American-made cars to his home country. Every year, when returning to visit family and friends, Bala would pack a few bottles of Huy Fong sriracha in his carry-on as a gift. But no matter how much he brought, it was never enough.

“Each time I take one or two bottles, they ask me to please bring more,” he says.

The idea that his relatives might be hooked on the sweet and spicy taste of sriracha wasn’t unfamiliar to Bala. He was too. But it wasn’t until last November that he thought of leveraging that obsession into a business.

Libya was, at the time, not the most natural destination for an American-made product. Two months earlier, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens had been killed in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, becoming the first to die while in office in nearly 25 years. Yet despite the turmoil, Bala saw opportunity. Like many North Africans, Libyans were obsessed with harissa, a Tunisian hot sauce. But beyond that there was little competition. He decided he’d provide some.

Bala called Huy Fong to ask about ordering a container, or roughly 26,000 bottles. For most companies, it would have been an easy request to fulfill. But Huy Fong insists on grinding and bottling all its jalapeno peppers the same day they are picked and, as a result, often doesn’t have enough inventory to satisfy all its customers. It’s part of the reason the company doesn’t advertise.

“We’ve always had more buyers than product,” says Tran. “We can’t promise something we don’t have.”

Bala, though, was in luck. Huy Fong had what he needed. And after a month of w, aiting for the container, a few weeks in transit, and another two weeks waiting for Libya’s Department of Health to inspect his shipment, Bala at the beginning of the year officially became the first, and still only, distributor of sriacha to the Middle East, where his sauce sits on Benghazi store shelves for the low price of 4 dinar, or roughly $2.75. (In the U.S., a bottle will probably set you back around $4 or $5.)

“I told my partner, ‘C’mon man, do your best. They sell for even more here!” says Bala. “But we have to look at the people and the cost of living.”

Discounted or not, Bala says the sriracha is selling briskly. “All my friends and family told me it’s going really well,” he says. And in a sign of his optimism, he’s now begun looking toward expansion. In the next month he’ll order another container, this one bound for Tripoli, Libya’s capital and largest city. He’s taking trips to Qatar and Dubai to line up distributors. And he also hopes one day soon to sell to Egypt, the Middle East’s most populous country.

요약

Huy Fong의 Sriracha는 서부쪽에서만 구매할 수 있었는데, 이제는 미국어디에서나 구매할 수 있다. 이민 온 베트남 사업가  David Tran는 미국에서 태국 핫소스를 문화적 아이콘으로 만들었다. 30년여 전에 LA의 차이나타운에 있는 작은 매장에서 시작하여 2000만 병을 제조, 판매하는 기업이 되었다. Tran이 첫 번째 sriracha를 만들었을 때, Benghazi에서 온 한 이민자 Salah Bala는 미국산 차를 고국으로 수출하는 상점을 시작했고, 그가 고국을 방문할 때마다 선물로 Huy Fong sriracha를 들고 갔다. 그 당시 리비아는 미국산 제품이 별로 없었다. 리비아 사람들은 튀니지 핫소스에 사로잡혀 있었다. Bala는 Huy Fong에서 병을 주문했고, 중동으로 Huy Fong sriracha를 유통하는 유일한 기업이 되었다. Bala는 말한다. 할인을 하거나 안하거나 Huy Fong sriracha의 판매는 잘 되고 있다고. 또한 그는 리비아의 수도로 확장을 하려고 하며 언젠가 카타르, 두바이에서 이집트까지 확장하기를 희망하고 있다.