State Rep. Jason Villalba has a dream.
Rep. Jason Villalba wants to move production of his favorite spicy condiment to the North Texas area.
A plant in Dallas, Richardson, Plano, or another Texas community could help bring jobs to the state, he said.
Citing “greater opportunities for success” thanks to Texas’ business-friendly environment, the Dallas Republican sent a letter to Huy Fong Foods, the makers of the chili and garlic hot sauce Sriracha.
In the letter, he offered to organize a delegation of Texas dignitaries to talk about the benefits of moving to Texas.
“As a public official and a corporate attorney for small businesses, I am extremely troubled by excessive government interference in the operations of private, job-creating businesses like Huy Fong Foods,” Villalba said in the letter. “You have worked too hard and have helped too many people to let government bureaucrats shut down your thriving business.”
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Villalba said if the plant were to move to Texas and if complaints were filed, “we’d have to address that.”
“We’d want to make sure we can continue to create a strong and vibrant economy and we’re very safe with the companies we do have here,” he said.
That’s in regard to the environmental concerns that temporarily halted production back in November. Hard to imagine Texas being any harder on the environmental regulatory front than California, which the Huy Fong folks may see as a plus or a minus. In the meantime, Villalba’s entreaty comes as the hot sauce makers are at the end of a thirty day moratorium on shipping their product out of state “to ensure that the contents of the uncooked sauces are free of microorganisms, according to a California Department of Public Health order.” Again, whether a Texas approach to such things would work in Huy Fong’s favor or not is open to debate, but moving here could cause other problems.
Huy Fong has been buying peppers from the same Southern California farm for decades. The peppers arrive at the plant within hours of being harvested and are used quickly after that.
It’s all about the local sourcing, y’all. I respect Rep. Villalba for chasing a dream, but good luck solving that.