Terrible news: Huy Fong's Sambal Oelek

On Saturday morning, I made the trek up to Somerset Street to shop at the Lim Bangkok. I wanted some of their excellent bok choy and gai lan, but I needed a bottle of hoisin sauce and I thought it would be a good idea to get a new 3.5 litre jug of sambal oelek because I am getting low - only  a couple of weeks left.

And I need my sambal oelek. It is a straight-forward and simple blend of ground cayenne peppers, salt and vinegar. I eat it with every meal. Particularly breakfast. 

At the Lim Bangkok, I started in the sauce and oil aisle. Found a bottle of hoisin sauce no problem. But where were the jugs of sambal oelek? Not in the regular place. No 3.5 litre jugs, with or without garlic and not even the little 8 or 18 ounce jars. I feverishly checked the other aisles in case the jugs were moved. But I was not hopeful. The Superstore moves things on a regular basis. I assume to make us walk back and forth in the store more and interact with the staff, but I haven't seen products shift spots at the Lim Bangkok in ten years.

So, I picked out healthy bags of bok choy and gai lan and a bundle of green onions and went to the cash. The cashier whom I suspect is the owner is always friendly, so I asked about the sambal oelek.

"The factory is closed," he told me.

"Forever?" I asked.

"Don't know if they will come back."

After a sad trudge home, I did some internet sleuthing. News reports indicated that Huy Fong Foods who makes sambal oelek (and the very popular Sriracha sauce) had suspended operations in 2022 because of the world wide cayenne pepper shortage, but there was no news about a current suspension.

The Huy Fong Foods website actually has an easy-to-find email address for their customer service office! So I sent an email:

Subject: Is your factory closed? 

I am in Ottawa, Canada and I went to the nearby market called Lim Bangkok to buy a new jug of Sambal Oelek. I was surprised to find none at all. Not even in small jars.

The store owner told me that your factory is closed and he didn't know what would happen.

I read that you had to suspend production last year. Has the same thing happened again?

Will I one day be able to obtain your sauce that adds such pleasure to my life?

I understand that this is harder for you and all the people at Huy Fong. I wish you all the best.

Thank you,

This morning I received this reply:

Hello,

Unfortunately, we are still experiencing a shortage of raw material. Although some production did resume this past Fall season, we continue to have a limited supply that continues to affect our production. At this time, we have no estimations of when supply will increase.

Because we do not sell directly to retail/market levels, we cannot determine when product will hit shelves again and/or who currently has product in stock. We are grateful for your continued patience and understanding during this unprecedented inventory shortage.  We are currently working on trying to avoid future shortages.

Thank you,
Customer Service
HUY FONG FOODS, INC.

There you have it. In a very short time, it seems that I will have no sambal oelek. It's going to be harder to motivate myself to get out of bed in the morning.