| Tapatío Hot Sauce | |||||||
| Founder: | Jose-Luis Saavedra Sr. | ||||||
| Location City: | Vernon, California | ||||||
| Location Country: | U.S. | ||||||
| Area Served: | North America | ||||||
| Industry: | Food production | ||||||
| Products: | Hot sauce | ||||||
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Tapatío is an American hot sauce produced in Vernon, California. It is popular in the United States, predominantly among Mexican-American communities.
The product is named after a term used to describe someone from Guadalajara, Jalisco, from where the company's founders emigrated. It is exported to Mexico, Canada, Central America, Australia, and elsewhere.
The Tapatío Hot Sauce company was started in 1971 by Jose-Luis Saavedra Sr. in a 750square feet warehouse in Maywood, California.[1] In 1985, the company moved to an 8,500-square-foot (790 m2) facility in Vernon, California, 5 miles (8.0 km) from Downtown Los Angeles. Although larger than the first location, the new factory had a single loading dock and limited storage space, which created a new series of problems for the company. After a long search, a site was found for a developer to custom-build a new 30000square feet facility, which Tapatío presently occupies.
The ingredients listed on the product label are water, red peppers, salt, spices, garlic, acetic acid, xanthan gum and sodium benzoate as a preservative. Tapatío comes in five sizes: 5, 10, and 32 U.S. fluid ounces (150, 300, and 950 mL) and 1 U.S. gallon (3.8 liters), as well as in 1⁄4-ounce (7 g) packets. The sauce overall has a Scoville heat scale rating of 3,000, hotter than Sriracha.[2]
The product slogan is "Es una salsa ... Muy salsa!" ("It's a sauce... Very saucy!").
In 2011, Frito-Lay released a line of Tapatío-flavored Doritos,[3] Ruffles,[4] and Fritos[5] in the United States.[6]
Tapatío Ramen was introduced in 2018.[7]
In 2021, to celebrate the brand's 50th anniversary, they collaborated with Gabriel Iglesias for a special edition of the hot sauce Tapatio X Fluffy.[8]