TAYLORSVILLE — This story begins with a personal mission. It's about hunting the most elusive of prey. My family calls it “Rooster Sauce”, a specific brand of Sriracha hot sauce.
The Huy Fong brand seems to have disappeared from the shelves of the grocery stores where we normally shop. My wife, who can drink by the gallon, says other Sriracha sauces are different.
I ended up in Taylorsville's plaza, which is lined with Vietnamese restaurants and specialty shops, including Saigon Supermarket, which imports Vietnamese food.
Specialty? Import? I went into the store expecting to pay a premium for “rooster sauce” because those two words don't usually translate into savings.
As it turned out, not only did the store have the item in stock, but it seemed to be cheaper than I had previously paid. As I browsed the aisles of the store, I found other staples that looked inexpensive on the surface, so I jotted down a few notes. Then I did a little comparison shopping at Walmart, Smiths, Macy's, and Harmon's.
It's true that some items were cheaper at Saigon Supermarket. 16 oz. A bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing costs $1.49 there, compared to $3.48 at Walmart, $4.39 at Smith's, $4.49 at Macy's and $5.99 at Harmon's.
The price of gingerroot was $1.29 at Saigon Supermarket, while the same amount of gingerroot was $3.99 at Smith's and $4.99 at Macy's and Harmon's.
Saigon Supermarket also offers tilapia at the lowest price per pound. It's only $2.49 compared to Smith's $4.99, Macy's $6.25 and Walmart's $5.62.
KSL's Matt Gephart found his family's beloved Sriracha “Rooster” sauce for cheap at a specialty food market, prompting him to investigate whether other staples offer an inflation-busting solution. (Photo: Tanner Siegworth, KSL-TV)
Given these price differences, we wondered if this was a one-time thing, or if other specialty stores that cater to specific communities might also find savings.
So I went to Tejeda's Market in West Valley City. In this store, knowing a little Spanish will come in handy as you browse the aisles.
I soon noticed that many of the items on the shelves had the Food Club branding on them. Macey's and Harmons are great because they offer the same brands and allow you to compare items accurately.
The $2.29 price for Food Club peanut butter sold at Tejeda's is the highest price for the same item at Macy's ($2.59) and Harmon's ($2.69).
In the produce section, Tejeda's also stocked jalapenos, the cheapest option in our little experiment. You can get the same amount there for $1.39 as at Smith's for $1.59, Macy's for $1.49, Harmon's for $2.49, Walmart for $1.54, and Saigon Supermarket for $1.49.
But the specialty markets we shopped at weren't necessarily inflation-beating. Smith's has the lowest prices on hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and tortillas. Macey's has the cheapest boxes of Trix cereal. And Walmart had the lowest prices on many items, from canned beans and fresh limes to 5 pounds of jasmine rice, beating the price of rice at Saigon Supermarket by a penny.
And then we go back to where this whole project started: “Rooster Sauce.” On the day we shopped, he only found Huy Fong's Sriracha sauce in three stores. And it turns out I was wrong. Smith's has a lower price for the bottle, coming in at $3.49. It's 10 cents cheaper than Saigon Supermarket. It easily beat Walmart's price of $4.97.