For 55 years, the family behind Tapatío has refused to even write down the recipe for Los Angeles’ iconic hot sauce, passing its secret formula for success only from lip to ear in closed rooms.

The Saavedra family put the ingredients on paper for the first time earlier this year as they sold the beloved brand to backers who plan to make their salsa picante even bigger beyond California’s borders. It is a weight off the shoulders of Luis Saavedra, the founder’s son and one of the few people who knew the recipe.

“We didn’t want anyone to know what we were using,” he told The Times in an interview at Tapatío’s factory in Vernon. “That always scared my sisters, because what if something happens?”

Demand for hot sauces had taken off for unexpected reasons just as the Saavedras were looking to sell. The millions of people on Ozempic and other powerful weight-loss drugs often have cravings for more flavor. The values of some sauce companies have skyrocketed. Bachan’s, a Japanese barbecue sauce brand, was acquired in February for $400 million.

While the Dallas private investment firm that bought Tapatío, Highlander Partners, wouldn’t share the terms of the deal, the company’s new chairman, Jeff Partridge, said it hopes to capitalize on the growing appetite for more heat to splash on proteins.

“Whether it’s GLP-1 or desire for proteins, Tapatío and hot sauces enhance that experience,” he said. “Consumers are increasingly seeking flavors.”

Red peppers drive Tapatío’s taste, though the company won’t share which exact peppers are used. The thin sauce uses garlic, salt and other spices for a tangy, peppery punch. It has a mild heat that doesn’t linger.

The big acquisition is a long way from the brand’s birth in founder Jose-Luis Saavedra’s kitchen more than 50 years ago.

Saavedra, originally from Mexico City, long dreamed of making his way north. He landed in Chicago in his late 20s, working as a Spanish translator. He met his wife and moved to Southern California.

He worked at an aerospace parts manufacturer in Los Angeles. The homemade hot sauce he brought for lunch was a hit with co-workers who asked for more. When he was laid off in the late ’60s during an oil recession, he started selling bottles.

As sales rose, he rented a small space for production in Maywood and it officially became a business in 1971. The whole family pitched in. His son, Luis, remembers twisting on caps and attaching labels to bottles when he was 13.

Bottles are filled with Tapatío hot sauce before being labeled at the Tapatío manufacturing facility on Wednesday. The hot sauce company was recently acquired by Dallas-based private investment firm Highlander Partners.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Saavedra and his son would drive a van up and down Los Angeles, manually packing and unloading the product to local corner stores. Many of the first bottles were stocked in East Los Angeles stores.

About five years in, the company made enough for Saavedra to quit the two part-time jobs he had picked up to keep the business afloat. Operations remained in Maywood for 14 years before they expanded to a 7,000-square-foot building in Vernon.

In 1996, the company made its boldest bet, splurging on a 30,000-square-foot building.

In the same facility today, the strong aroma of spices tickles visitors’ noses. The precise portioning of the secret ingredients, matching the ratios of the founder’s original formula, happens in a room locked off from employees. The magic mix is then rapidly poured into a long line of empty bottles that march along a conveyor belt like soldiers.

It’s the legacy of the founder, who refused to be deterred by naysayers or obstacles to growth, said Saavedra’s son.

“Let’s go around it,” the younger Saavedra said, quoting his father’s mantra in the face of problems. “Let’s go under. Let’s go above it.”

His father’s stubbornness paid off in court as the company was sued for its name. It was once called Cuervo — his wife’s original last name — and tequila giant Jose Cuervo came after it. Saavedra had already trademarked the name in California, so it got a big payout to give up the name.

Saavedra briefly entertained the name “Charro,” a reference to Mexican cowboys, before landing on Tapatío, a nickname used for people born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, where all three of his children were born. Its logo evolved into a beaming cowboy with bright blue eyes in a wide-brimmed hat.

The Tapatío name was also challenged. Del Monte Foods sued Saavedra in the ’80s, claiming the name was too similar to its brand “Patio.” Saavedra won that case.

The founding father’s hardheadedness could also sometimes cause trouble.

Luis Saavedra, son of company founder Jose-Luis Saavedra, shows the original Tapatío label, left, compared to the current version.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The younger Saavedra battled with his father in the late ’90s about changing the brand’s label to help it stand out on crowded shelves. The old bottles were largely black and white and looked a little outdated. Eventually, the senior Saavedra gave in. Sales skyrocketed.

Today, Tapatío is shaken over meals around the globe, though its dominance is strongest in California. It has been used in collaborations with other companies to spike mashed potatoes, protein powder, pickles and ramen.

Tacked to a wall at the Vernon factory is an old photo of the dozen people who were there to launch the brand’s new facility 30 years ago. Some of the employees still work there, including Jorge Cuervo, the production supervisor, and Fabian Diaz, who mans the forklift.

Diaz, who moves countless pallets of product, jokes he was born at the factory, having spent almost his entire adult life working for the company.

Under the new ownership, all 25 current employees were retained, and the firm has committed to hiring more.

“They’ve been doing this for a long time,” Luis Saavedra said. “They have a passion for it.”

The family began exploring options for a sale in late 2024, right after the founder, now 97, suffered a stroke.

Jose-Luis Saavedra had remained closely involved in day-to-day operations despite his age, often spending from sun-up to sun-down at the factory.

As he took on all his father used to do as well as his own workload, the younger Saavedra was getting burnt out and started to worry that keeping the company family-owned could be hurting the brand.

“Work was really devouring me,” Luis Saavedra said. “It was a tough decision, very difficult. We cried together as a family, then we said, ‘In the long run, it’s better.’”

“It was a tough decision, very difficult. We cried together as a family, then we said, ‘In the long run, it’s better,’” Luis Saavedra said of the decision to sell the company.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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Once it let potential suitors know the company was in play, the offers poured in. The family considered offers from around 40 companies before choosing Highlander Partners.

In a few years, the company’s new leaders hope to use the growing demand for flavor triggered by weight-loss drugs to bring California’s top sauce to many more markets east of the Rockies, said Eric Beatty, the company’s current chief executive.

“We believe that we’ve got these sector tailwinds behind us,” Beatty said. “It’s going to be a really good story.”

Eric Beatty, current chief executive officer of Tapatío Foods LLC, stands next to boxes of the hot sauce that are ready for shipping at the Tapatío manufacturing facility on Wednesday.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

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New leadership has grand plans for the brand, hoping to build more facilities and add new products.

“We’ll always be a California company,” Beatty said. “This will always be the center of the Tapatío universe.”

Meanwhile, the Saavedra family still has a minority stake in the company and will continue to help manage it.

“They are the essence of the brand, and really understand the heartbeat of the brand,” said Partridge, Tapatío’s new chairman. “We certainly want to make sure that they always have a voice.”

A man was arrested Friday morning after he set multiple fires inside stores at the Ontario Mills mall, officials said.

Ontario police said they responded to the mall at about 10:30 a.m. after callers reported that a man with a lighter and a backpack was intentionally setting fires.

Officers found the suspect, who they identified as 28-year-old Luis Javier Gallegos Jr. of Rancho Cucamonga.

The police said in a statement that Gallegos did not comply with their requests, and they used force to arrest him.

Both Gallegos and an officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the arrest, the police said.

After being treated at a hospital, Gallegos was booked into the West Valley Detention Center and charged with felony arson, the police said.

Police said they are working to identify a motive for the crime and whether there is any connection to the April 7 arson at the Kimberly-Clark warehouse in Ontario.

Prosecutors say the inferno destroyed the 1.2 million square-foot warehouse and the paper products inside, resulting in $500 million in damages.

Chamel Abdulkarim, a Highland resident who worked at the warehouse, is facing both state and federal arson charges for setting the fire.

Abdulkarim, 29, filmed himself setting fire to multiple pallets of paper goods, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California.

In the video, he says, “If you’re not going to pay us enough to [expletive] live or afford to live, at least pay us enough not to do this [expletive].”

Anyone with information about the fires Friday at Ontario Mills Mall is asked to contact the city’s police department at (909) 986-6711.