Add a little spice to your life—and save someone else’s.
Imagine all the flavors of your fave episode of Hot Ones—sans the spicy questions and sub in sauce on a mission.
Drenching Raleigh with purpose—and soul-satisfying spicy sauce—is Cole Fungaroli, founder of East Coast Sauces. The Raleigh-based brand’s collection of four hot sauces has major pepper power, and while the spice is nice, it’s the company’s true holy grail that takes the heat.
Photo courtesy of East Coast Sauces
Bottle by bottle, the not-so-cool bone broth-based condiments contribute to the fight to end human trafficking at both local and national levels. “I can bring people together through flavor,” says the founder of his saucy passion—“but I wanted it to be for something.”
After learning about the prevalence of human trafficking, Fungaroli stood on the belief that even a small company can make a dent in this critical issue, and decided East Coast Sauces wouldn’t confine its goals to just the flavoring of food.
“I felt like I’ve been blind my whole life—not noticing human trafficking is not what you see in the movies,” emphasizes Fungaroli. “It’s actually a lot smaller and a lot harder to detect.” Detecting and protecting are 10% of each spicy sauce sold, benefiting local and national organizations fighting human trafficking—with $2K+ to agencies like Shield North Carolina in 2024 alone.
And if the name hasn’t clued you in, the four sauces bear the East Coast area codes behind the inspiring locales. See: the 919 Killer Mambo sauce, a North-meets-South mashup of flavors Fungaroli sees reflected in Oak City culture.
Tapping in for the “a little dab will do” mentality, Fungaroli purposely pulled back the heat in his sauces, designing for generous use without tummy troubles and hoping spice connoisseurs will use them to the max. Don’t mind if we do! eastcoastsauces.com
Add a bit of heat to your winter ahead of National Hot Sauce Day Jan. 22 via our saucy quiz that’ll test those spicy smarts on all things #fire—from trivia on local sauce brands to takes on the global Sriracha shortage. Get ready to test your zest. … No weak sauce allowed.
“The OG dry hot sauce,”—aka the only one that exists!—is local brand Benny T’s Vesta. And the master makers have created a sauce so hot it requires those making it to wear how many pairs of latex gloves?
a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4
The spice of life is… spice. Locally owned Oak City Hot Sauce has been heating things up in the city since its launch in 2017. Where did owners Zack Goodman and Devin Bayles work before starting their heated condiment biz?
a. Marriott b. Disney c. Hilton d. Starbucks
Back in 1929, Sam Garner and his three sons spun up a hot sauce that is now a household legend: Texas Pete. What name did a marketing adviser recommend they use for the sauce instead?
a. Carolina Pete b. Texas Joe c. Mexican Joe d. Carolina Heat
For sauce that’s finger lickin’—er, bone suckin’—good, try topping your next meal with Raleigh-based Bone Suckin’ Sauce. First developed in 1987 by a real estate appraiser and father of four, the brand flaunting both heat and sweet added which ingredient to amp up its hot BBQ sauce?
a. Habanero peppers b. Poblano peppers c. Cayenne peppers d. Jalapeno peppers
Hey, hot stuff! Texas Pete’s name may be a nod to the Lone Star State, but it’s actually a staple born in what NC city?
a. Winston-Salem b. Greensboro c. Wilmington d. Charlotte
“Those who don’t fear the Reaper are fools.” Gaining traction after an NPR journalist tried a small sample and rolled on the floor hallucinating, Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper took the word “fire” to a whole new level with a Guinness World Record for hottest chile. … That is until which pepper recently nabbed the title?
a. Ghost pepper b. Infinity chile c. Trinidad Moruga scorpion d. Pepper X
That’s so fire. While many hot sauces boast massive cult followings, which one brings the heat as the No. 1 most popular in the country per recent grocery shopping data?
a. Tabasco b. Cholula c. Frank’s RedHot d. Huy Fong Sriracha
