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Bay Area veterans who bonded over spicy foods creates 'Redacted Hot Sauce'

By Corey Beckman
Published  February 19, 2025 5:29pm EST
Made in Tampa Bay
FOX 13 News

2 veterans band together to create hot sauces for the people

FOX 13 producer Corey Beckman introduces us to two men who create hot sauces for the people.

The Brief

    • Two Marine Corps veterans from the Bay Area started a hot sauce company, Redacted Hot Sauces, after meeting while deployed in Hawaii.
    • They developed a shared bond over spicy foods and began creating sauces and rubs together with time on their hands between deployments.
    • They offer nine sauces currently and say they hope to make careers out of it.

TAMPA, Fla. - Redacted Hot Sauce is located here in Tampa Bay. 

All nine of Redacted Hot Sauce's offerings.

All nine of Redacted Hot Sauce's offerings.

The veteran-owned company offers nine types of craft hot sauce and prides itself on creating sauces that satisfy every consumer's taste buds. 

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"The company’s motto is Sauce to the People. We want to give everybody hot sauce," said Stephen Kephart, one of the owners of Redacted Hot Sauces.

The backstory:

Kephart and friend Tyler Rakowski met in 2011 while stationed in Hiawii for the United States Marine Corps, and they instantly bonded over their love of spicy foods. 

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Stephen Kephart while in the United States Marine Corps.

"We are a veteran-owned company that makes craft hot sauces to try to cover the base of every flavor palette in existence," said Kephart. "Anyone who likes hot sauce, we've got something for you."

The pair began making sauces and rubs together while deployed, and in 2021, with time between deployments, they decided to start a business.

"I had plenty of time to kind of do whatever I'd like to do," Kephart said. "So, I kind of came up with this idea with him that, hey man, let's, let's take our recipes, tighten them up, put them together, and let's actually, move this forward, like to a company."

Dig deeper:

Redacted has nine different sauces in its lineup, from sweet to scorching hot.

Redacted hot sauces.

Redacted hot sauces.

"The hottest one now is called war crimes," Rakowski said. 

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Rakowski said ‘black blast’ is the second-hottest sauce they sell, but they offer a variety of other flavors, like ‘red habanero’ and ‘bird’s eye chili.’

What's next:

They hope to make creating hot sauces a full-time career.

Kephart and Rakowski together.

Kephart and Rakowski together. 

"We each have full-time jobs now," Rakowski said. "If it can free us from that and give us the ability, the financial freedom to pursue this, like full-time, that's what we want."

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"When (everyone) is in their hot sauce, I want them to go, hey, I like redacted," said Kephart.

For more information on Redacted Hot Sauce, click here.

The Source: FOX 13's Corey Beckman collected the information in this story.

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