Trio of Marines head up South Carolina-based hot sauce business
When Marine reservist Dillon Cox was finishing up his business degree at the University of South Carolina in 2016, he figured he’d soon be working at a Charlotte bank. Stephen Osegueda was nearing the end of a second deployment to Afghanistan and unsure of his future.
Neither Marine thought they’d soon be spending their days and nights grinding jalapeno and cayenne peppers and churning out a variety of hot sauces that are now sold in all 50 states and 23 countries while helping out fellow veterans.
The idea for forming a business to benefit veterans came at an Army-Navy tailgate in 2012. One of those company founders shared a class at USC’s Darla Moore School of Business with Cox and pitched him the idea. Cox became the company’s first full-time employee when he was hired as the head of business development. Osegueda, who was living with Cox, then came on as head of operations. Chris Behling was a reservist in Cox’s unit and became the company’s head of finance in 2020.
Their sauces – which can be found on shelves at Harris Teeter, Publix and Lowes Foods in South Carolina — are unique in that 86 percent of the peppers used in their sauces are grown in Lexington, S.C.
The sauces come in a glass container resembling a grenade with labels ranging from Grunt Green to Hooah Jalapeno to Shock and Awe. When customers see that grenade, Cox says they’re thinking of “the explosive heat and flavor and it also leads you to what is really important to us: our mission of donating to veterans.”
Since the first sauce was bottled in March 2016, Behling says, the company has donated more than $750,000 to organizations aiding veterans, including the Warrior PATHH project at the Big Red Barn Retreat Center in Blythewood, S.C. “I hope someone would do the same for me if I was in need, and there’s something rewarding about helping those who have already given so much.”
Osegueda agrees. “You put one foot in front of the other and take care of each other.”
The men are proud of their time as Marines and say the can-do attitude of the Corps is the secret to their success.
“The brotherhood is what bonds us,” Osegueda says. “I don’t see why it should change just because my uniform consists of a beard net now instead of bloused boots.”
“The mission is going to get accomplished,” Cox adds, “regardless of 9 to 5.”
Getting to know Dillon Cox, Stephen Osegueda and Chris Behling
Claim to fame: The leadership behind The General’s Hot Sauce, a veteran-owned, Columbia, S.C.-based business whose product is sold worldwide and provides jobs and funds for veterans.
Ages: Cox, the head of business development, is 31, while Osegueda, head of operations, is 32. Behling, head of finance, is 24. All three are Marines and graduates from the University of South Carolina.
Favorite food for hot sauce? Cox and Osegueda are vocal supporters of splashing their signature Danger Close sauce atop slices of Little Ceasar’s Pizza. “I put it on everything except ice cream,” Cox says.
Who is the General? That’s top secret, Cox says. The Buffalo, N.Y., native was the “hardest-working guy, frying up his wings” at the tailgate for the 2012 Army-Navy game, where the idea for the company was first formed. “Someone said that guy needs his own hot sauce,” Cox says and the name stuck.
Co-op affiliation: Cox is a member of the Edisto Electric Cooperative.
Editor’s Note: A version of this SC Stories profile was featured in the September 2023 issue of South Carolina Living, a magazine that is distributed 11 times a year to more than 1 million South Carolinians by The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina.
Michael Banks 360 
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