| Industry | Food production |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Jose-Luis Saavedra, Sr. |
| Headquarters | Vernon, California, U.S. |
| Area served | North America |
| Products | Hot sauce |
| Website | Tapatiohotsauce.com |
Tapatío is a hot sauce, produced in Vernon, California, that can be found at many grocery stores in the United States. It rates 3,000 on the scale of Scoville units.[1]
"Tapatío" is the name given to people from Guadalajara, Jalisco: the company's founders come from Guadalajara. It is exported to Mexico, Canada, Central America and a few countries in Europe.
The ingredients, as 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 four sizes: 5, 10, and 32 fl oz., and 1 gallon (148, 296, 946 ml and 3.785 liters), as well as in 7 gram packets.
The product slogan is "Es una salsa ... Muy salsa" (roughly, "It's a very saucy sauce!")
In 2011, Frito Lay released a line of Tapatío flavored Doritos,[2] Ruffles,[3] and Fritos[4] in the United States.[5]
The Tapatío Hot Sauce company was started in 1971 by Jose-Luis Saavedra, Sr., in a 750-square-foot (70 m2) warehouse in Maywood, California.[6] In 1985, the company moved to a 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 where for a developer to custom-build a new 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) facility, which Tapatío presently occupies. The new factory has several loading docks and automated production.