BBQ Rub Spices for Pork & Beef

Vanns Spices specializes in custom-blended BBQ rubs for regional flavors, including Texas, Memphis, Carolina, and Kansas City. Whether you’re looking for a BBQ rub that imparts a nice bark, improving a family recipe or favorite brand, or a BBQ rub tailored for a specific meat, we can offer a 100% customizable seasoning rub. (Fig 1)

We have over 45 years of experience developing BBQ rub spices for caterers, food truck owners, competition pitmasters, and restaurants. Our team of culinary BBQ experts can help you create a custom-blend recipe tailored to meet the exacting specifications of your brand.

BBQ in its original form is cooking meat over hot coals. This method of cooking traces its roots back to the earliest days of man. Today, ask ten people what BBQ means to them, and you will get answers ranging from hot dogs and hamburgers to ribs and brisket to a jar of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce.

The key components of BBQ are fire and smoke. Fire is necessary to generate smoke. Smoke is the vehicle for developing the unique flavor of barbequed meat. This is where things become complicated and, unfortunately, somewhat controversial. Purists from Texas will tell you to apply only salt and pepper while cooking the meat low and slow over coals. If you’re from Maryland, hardly the center of BBQ culture, Baltimoreans will tell you pit beef (cooking beef over direct heat in a pit) is BBQ.

One facet of BBQ that most people can agree on is that a BBQ rub imparts a unique flavor on the meat, depending on the combination of spices used and how and when the seasoning is applied.

Regardless of your preferred BBQ style, we can work with you to develop a custom-blended BBQ rub. We can formulate a recipe that adds flavor, color, and an excellent sensory experience. Prefer to avoid added salt? We can develop a custom blend without salt, allowing you to add kosher salt before applying the rub.

Craft Your Signature BBQ Rub — Custom Blends for Serious Cooks

Whether you’re chasing the trophy on the competition circuit, turning tables in your restaurant, building a BBQ brand, or want a rub that’s all your own, we help turn your culinary vision into a signature BBQ rub. (Fig 2)

Quality and Safety Standards
Founded in 1981, Vanns Spices maintains an 82,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art SQF 2000 Level 2 (Certified HACCP-Based Food Safety Plan) manufacturing facility located in Baltimore, which includes space for spice blending, packaging, labeling, and warehousing. We also maintain several certifications by outside private and governmental organizations, including:

• SQF (Safe Quality Food) Certification (Food Manufacturing, Edition 9)
• USDA Organic Certification, [OTCO] Oregon Tilth Certified Organic
• OU Kosher Certification

Cost Effectiveness and Transparency
We offer a transparent pricing structure before any work is begun. You will know the costs, be aware of any possible additional fees, and avoid any surprises after the manufacturing of your custom-blend BBQ rub has begun.

Flexibility
Vanns Spices offers generous flexibility in all our business relationships. From sourcing special-order spice ingredients to customizable formulations, we stand ready to meet your specific requirements. We possess the necessary expertise to address any unique requirements your product may have.

Communication and Relationships
From the initial point of contact until the day your product leaves our manufacturing facility, we will remain engaged with your team, ensuring a responsive and transparent process. However, the partnership does not end there; instead, we work diligently to maintain a high level of trust and continue to collaborate on new partnerships.

What You Get From Vanns Spices:
As a leader in custom-blend spices, you will have the backing of our entire team and the expertise that comes along with producing custom-blend seasonings for some of the country’s leading supermarkets, membership warehouse clubs, restaurants, chefs, and solopreneurs.

• Culinary expertise with dialing in flavor profile and balance
• R&D support
• Access to over 350 high-quality spices (Never irradiated, contain no ethylene oxide, and are all natural), including organic options
• Rigorous testing protocols of spices at multiple points in the supply chain
• Reverse engineering existing BBQ seasoning blends
• Batch-tested recipes for proven consistency
• Ownership of your formula
• Fastest time from discovery to production in the industry
• Custom labeling
• Container selection, including food-service options
• Options for small runs or bulk orders
• Warehousing and shipping
• Non-disclosure agreement
• Open-door policy, visit our manufacturing facility before beginning the process

💡 Not sure where to start? We’ll walk you through the process — from brainstorming to finished product — and help you avoid the common pitfalls. Start a conversation with us.

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