I think we're all a bit disappointed when we find out that Texas Pete is made in eastern North Carolina rather than West Texas... but this seems like a bit of an overreaction.
Turns out Texas Pete isn't as Texan as some might believe. A Los Angeles man has filed a class action lawsuit accusing Winston-Salem-based T.W. Garner Food Co. of false advertising after learning that its Texas Pete hot sauce is made in North Carolina — not the Lone Star State.
As reported by North Carolina news station WGHP-TV, in Sept. 2021, Philip White purchased a $3 bottle of Texas Pete — which has a label featuring a cowboy and what court documents describe as "a stereotypically white Texas "lone star" reminiscent of the Texas state flag" — at a Ralph's grocery in Los Angeles. The suit states that White made the purchase while relying "upon the language and images displayed on the front label of the Product, and at the time of purchase understood the Product to be a Texas product," according to the complaint. "There is surprisingly nothing Texas about them," it continues. The complaint also alleges that the ingredients of the Louisiana-style hot sauce come from "sources outside of Texas."
Texans watching a dude from Los Angeles thinking he has some sort of consumer right to Texas-made food:
You also got to laugh at how incredulous Texas Pete sounds over this whole thing:
A spokesperson for the company wrote: "We are currently investigating these assertions with our legal counsel to find the clearest and most effective way to respond."
The company is gonna be responding in a court filing like:
