Who knew that 10 years after three George Mason University students were just trying to get through their classes, they’d create a hot sauce that would become the official staple of the GMU dining hall?
It all started when SOSS co-founder Hasham Hafez, then a GMU grad and biotechnology graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, mixed up a sauce to elevate his meals.
“He basically formulated the sauce 10 years ago and kept it as a family recipe,” says SOSS co-founder Lance Ahmadian, Hasham’s friend and fraternity brother from his undergrad years at GMU. “When he finally gave me a sample, I told him, ‘This sauce is amazing. If you don’t do something with this, you’re crazy.’”
But Hafez wasn’t ready to go commercial. So the recipe sat quietly — until Ahmadian’s persistence (and a $100 bribe) revived it. Years after first tasting the sauce, he still hadn’t forgotten its flavor.
“I called Hasham and said, ‘If I give you $100 right now, will you make me the sauce?’” says the Chantilly resident. Hafez agreed — and that was the moment he realized he had something special.
Fast forward several weeks. Hafez invited Ahmadian to join him at his Miami home to teach him the recipe. “We got into the lab and experimented,” Ahmadian says. “We tried a couple things — that became the original formula: smoky, creamy, zesty.”
The Original 300 Bottles
Ahmadian says their first batch was hilariously DIY. “We hand-bottled 300 bottles. I bought a bottler on Amazon. We had no idea what we were doing. It was very much like bathtub gin.”
They shipped the bottles to Hasham’s brother, Karim Hafez, in Virginia, and he and Ahmadian sold all 300 in 60 days. Suddenly, SOSS was a thing.
After perfecting their recipe and bottling, the group made its public debut last May at Dominion Energy Riverrock — an outdoor sports and music festival — in Richmond. Offering sauce samples in person changed everything.
“Seeing the reactions — young, old, every background — everyone loved it,” Ahmadian says. “It changed the shape of the company.”
Ask the founders what makes SOSS special, and they’ll tell you it’s the flavor balance no one else has mastered. “It’s the smokiness, creaminess, and zestiness,” Ahmadian says. “It’s so hard to get a smoky flavor without liquid smoke or chemical aftertastes; we’ve mastered the art of smoke in a bottle.”
The line now includes three sauces: mild, original, and habanero hot. All three are designed not to mask flavor, but to enhance it.
“We’re not a hot sauce company,” says Herndon resident Karim. “We’re a premium condiment company. Too many condiments cover up food — ours makes food taste better. It gives you citrus, heat, a touch of sweet — all working together.”
Made by Patriots, For Patriots
A major milestone in SOSS’s young history came when the founders’ undergraduate alma mater, George Mason University, designated one of their creations as the official sauce of its dining halls. The co-branded “Mason Mild” is now sold exclusively in on-campus convenience stores or directly through SOSS.
“George Mason is the reason we all met,” Ahmadian says. “Without Mason, SOSS wouldn’t exist.”
The founders describe their distribution strategy like a clothing brand: curated and exclusive. You won’t find SOSS on grocery shelves. Instead, it’s available on the SOSS website and at partner locations like George Mason University.
The brand will also feature their products at the Frostival Winter Market in Tysons on December 13. They say the limited approach lets them control quality, messaging, and community partnerships.
The founders say building the brand has been the biggest challenge of their lives. “You have to wear every hat,” Karim says. “Procurement, co-packing, formulation, sales — it’s nonstop. But when you’re at an event and someone tries the sauce and immediately buys five bottles, that reward is unmatched.”
Ahmadian agrees: “Hundreds of those interactions in a day — it tops any corporate pat-on-the-back I ever got.”
Feature image courtesy SOSS
