Kansas City Style BBQ Rub Seasoning

I am cooking four pork butts today for a work event later in the week.  While at Sam's Club picking up the meat last night I realized that my favorite bbq rub is currently M.I.A. after our recent relocation to Michigan. The movers do a good job, but sometimes I wonder how certain things turn up in certain boxes.

On the way to the check outs I stopped by the spice aisle to pick up some of the key ingredients to make a bbq rub from scratch. I decided to save money buying stuff I already have and picked up two bottles of Kansas City Style BBQ Rub Seasoning with the famous Weber trademark label instead. (The rub is actually bottled by ACH Food Companies in Memphis, TN). Sam's had the 10 oz. bottle for $4.00. One bottle was enough to season three pork butts.

The rub has all the traditional ingredients you would expect to see in a quality bbq seasoning including turbinado sugar, salt, chili pepper, dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, paprika, red pepper, spices, spice extracts, and silicon dioxide (an anti-caking agent). One additional ingredient surprised me - soy.  I did a double take on the ingredients list, but it's there.

Apparently soy lecithin is a popular dietary supplement, but the most probable reason it's showing up this bbq rub is it's other common use in commercial food applications as an emulsifying agent.

So You Want to Sell BBQ Sauce?

I get questions about selling bbq sauce and bbq spice rubs frequently via e-mail.  I've written a few posts about my research previously, but thought I'd do a more recent post for anyone with similar thoughts.

If you want to start by bottling and selling your own bbq sauce recipe, you're probably looking at about $10,000 in start-up costs because most bottlers will only do it in fairly large batches. That's an estimate based on research I did several years ago, so it's likely even higher now.

I found a bottler a few years ago who would do small batch bottling (less than 500 gallons), but based on my experience this is somewhat risky. The bottler I was using went out of business before filling my order and he kept my deposit. He changed his name and relocated the business to another state, so I was completely out of luck. Other than filing a complaint with the State Attorney General's office, there was little else I could do.

If you want to put your label on someone else's recipe, you can probably pull that off for $3,000-$4,000 to start depending on how much your liability insurance costs, the corporate structure you choose, how much you want to advertise, and several other variables.

The best thing to do is do a Google search for private label bbq sauce suppliers. You'll likely find 5 or 6 possibilities within 15 minutes or less.

I decided to pursue bbq spice rub instead of bbq sauce. Spice rub has a much lower cost of entry than bbq sauce, but it's also a Catch 22 because bbq sauce sells much, much better.

Whatever you decide, I think the "gimmick" you have for your name and the design of your label and overall branding approach is much more important than your actual recipe.  The best bbq sauce in the world might not sell very well if you can't, or don't know how to market it.

In my personal opinion, taking the "selling it on the side to friends and family and at bbq contests" is not a viable business strategy.  I tried that for 4 years with my spice rub. And, although I did not lose money doing it, I didn't really make much either.

Oakridge BBQ Rubs and Spices

I was recently introduced to Oakridge BBQ rubs and spices.  I haven't had a chance to order any yet to give it a try, but with statements like this one on OakridgeBBQ.com, it won't be long before I place an order:

...we use absolutely NO MSG, artificial ingredients, preservatives, fillers or anti-caking agents in our spice rubs. Our unique, quality-centered approach creates truly artisanal products with bold flavors and perfectly balanced sweet-hot, salty-savory profiles unlike any other barbecue rubs or seasoning blends on the market today

Oakridge has a variety of selections including rubs for venison, beef, pork, and chicken.


I marketed my own bbq rubs and spices for a few years, so I always enjoy reading about how bbq rubs are made.  Some of the bbq rubs on the market are "private label" copy cats.  I marketed my own rubs with my own recipes that I used in competition with good results, so I find myself gravitating to others creating their own added value (not copying someone else).  It seems like all products are being sold in smaller and smaller containers to keep profits up, but OakridgeBBQ is different.  Their rubs are packaged in "bulk" containers versus smaller plastic bottles. I started selling mine in 13 oz. bottles, but my packer stopped offering that size.  Oakridge has found a way to overcome those types of challenges.
 Way to go Oakridge BBQ.

Most barbecue rubs on the market today feature high percentages of salt, fillers or inferior grade spices in their formulations, often tending to be nothing more than just cheaply flavored salt in many cases. However, in stark contrast, all Oakridge BBQ rubs feature raw, unrefined cane sugar, ultra-high quality herbs and spices and just the right amount of all natural flake salt to perfectly balance each rub's flavor profile. 

Here's a list of retail locations.

BBQ Pork with Bad Byron's Butt Rub

Sunday I cooked some pork for sandwiches later in the week. I forgot to take a picture after we pulled these, but here is a picture from early in the cooking process.

I injected these the night prior to cooking with a mixture of apple juice (4 cups), bbq rub (4 tblsp), and 3/4 cup of honey. I applied a liberal coating of rub and refrigerated overnight.

BBQ Sauce and Rub

I usually don't like Mesquite flavored bbq sauce (middle), but this Pendleton sauce is pretty good. Papa Jake's (right) is good on steaks and I had some yesterday on some buffalo burgers. The mesquite flavor complimented the steaks well.

I haven't tried the other Pendleton sauce in this picture (left), but I cooked 12 lbs of pork butts and have at least 9 lbs of pulled pork vacuum sealed in the freezer for sandwiches later this week.

BBQ Rub Secret

Do you have a favorite bbq rub? Are you wishing that it had a little more salt flavor or wish it was a little sweeter?

Instead of buying more rub, tweak the rub you've been using by adding a little more salt, more sugar, or a little of both.

I started out my bbq hobby with Head Country All Purpose Seasoning. It's a basic bbq rub that has been used in bbq competitions with much success. In fact, I predict it's the basic formula that many, many bbq teams are using for their brisket rub. It's a little tame for my tastes, but that's easily cured by adding some white pepper, a little more cayenne, or fresh ground pepper to the mix.

For bbq spare ribs, try equal parts Head Country and brown sugar. If you don't get the results you hoped for add more or less sugar and try it again.

If you'd like to buy some of my personal brisket rub, visit TheBBQGuy.com. You won't be dissapointed.