November 8, 2013 A Story Behind the Story

Three years ago, when the City of Irwindale offered their land for Huy Fong to

purchase, they proposed an attractive and irresistible loan to me. At that time, I believed it was a great deal and appreciated their offer in support of the Company moving into Irwindale by providing me with a loan that included an 100% interest-only loan for a ten-year term, with a balloon payment at the end. At that time also, Huy Fong started to contribute to the City of Irwindale $250,000 each year and has been doing so for the past three years.

So with the City’s loan in place, I believed that the entire process of acquiring this property would go smoothly and proceeded with the construction of this building. The final result is this modern facility with its state-of-the art processing and production lines. At full capacity, the sales that the company could generate could potentially reach up to about three hundred million dollars. Had the Judge granted the Temporary Restraining Order on October 31, about ten million dollars of chili would have not been harvested. The lost would have potentially led to the business’s closure. This would have been due to the City requesting from the Judge that our entire facility, not only just our grinding processing, cease to operate – therefore perhaps even leading to the Company’s bankruptcy.

The Company’s building is unique and custom built to only producing our chili sauce products. Suppose if the City chose never to issue another business license to the Company? Suppose if the City chose not to issue any business licenses to any other company wishing to use this facility? Who would be left to ‘run’ this company’s operations? The City of Irwindale?

After the odor complaints from last year, I believed the City of Irwindale acted severely toward us without a real investigation into the matter. I felt that the City just took action without any real reason, which gave me an odd feeling. So based upon those feelings, I directed the Company to borrow from East West Bank in order to payoff the land loan with the City. I knew that the terms would not be as favorable as the City’s terms. But still, even with additional expenses to the company, I felt we had to proceed with the loan with East West Bank.

As a final note, I believe President Obama and I are on the same page – we both believe in creating more jobs for the American people and making USA made products. So then, if that’s true, why are local City or any agencies acting contrary to what the President is speaking about. Why would foreign investors embrace the President’s invitation to come and invest in the United States, when businesses such as ours seemingly are being ‘pushed out’, forced to go elsewhere?

Needless to say, we give thanks this Thanksgiving to all our Sriracha friends and supporters. David D. Tran, CEO p.s. we don’t make tear gas here.

HUY FONG FOODS, INC. ~ Known Worldwide for Our Chili Sauces ~

4800 AZUSA CANYON ROAD IRWINDALE, CA 91706-1938 TELE: (626) 286-8328 www.huyfong.com FAX: (626) 286-8522