Secret Aardvark Trading Co. was founded in 2004 by Scott Moritz. They began selling sauce at Portland farmer’s markets but have quickly grown to a national brand. So where did the name come from? When he was in his late teens, Scott and his friends read an editorial in the local paper that outlined the "Nine ways to identify a gang". They thought the article was so ridiculous (as it only stereotyped social groups) that they wrote a satirical letter to the editor claiming to be a part of a gang called the "Secret Aardvarks". The paper took them seriously and published a warning about the new gang, and he laughed about it until years later when he deemed his hot sauce worthy of the name.