(From left) Sijang Chili Crunch founders Chris and Kaitlyn Fitzner
History: Nearly 10 years ago, husband and wife Chris and Kaitlyn Fitzner left their day jobs to open a catering company offering Mexican and Korean fusion tacos. After a few years, the couple returned to their previous employment, but they hadn’t satisfied their culinary urges. In 2023, they launched Sijang, a brand inspired by their shared love of sauces and condiments. After creating more than 50 different prototypes and gathering feedback, the Fitzners developed their signature Sijang Garlic Chili Crunch, which takes inspiration from chili crunches around the world.
Specialty: “One thing I love about our product is that it gets better over time,” Chris says. “It’s like the chili the next day, the soup the next day.” He also highlights the stability of Sijang Garlic Chili Crunch, noting that it doesn’t need to be refrigerated after use. Customers can add it to pizza, pasta, eggs, noodles and more.
Production: The chili crunch’s base is expeller-pressed canola oil, which is produced by physically crushing canola seeds, rather than extracting the oil using bleach or other additives. Mexican puya chiles and chile de arbol are blended with garlic, onion, green peppers, mushroom powder and other ingredients.
Buy: At 15 different locations including Ellwood Thompson’s, Outpost Richmond and Libbie Market, or at sijangeats.com.
