Gustus Vitae’s Small-Batch Seasonings Are Built for Chefs and Bartenders
story by Marci Symington / photos by Grace Stufkosky
All chefs worth their salt are familiar with the drill: After the grill has reached 500 degrees Fahrenheit and the meat is warmed to room temperature, it’s time to apply a rub. Enter Gustus Vitae (Latin for “taste of life”). The family-owned company offers over 250 gourmet salts, artisan cane sugars, and premium seasonings that, with just the shake of a wrist, can elevate and transform even the simplest of dishes. That includes the brand’s Bougie BBQ collection, a line of rubs and seasonings with playful names like Chef’s Kiss Spicy BBQ and Fancy AF BBQ.
Founder Francis Scanlon—the grandson of wealthy Chicago businessman Robert “Tubby” Bacon, renowned as a passionate gourmand and promoter of French food and wine—planted the seed for his future business when he began creating gourmet flavored sea salts for friends and family as Christmas presents. While living in Venice Beach, California, and working as an advertising executive, he experimented with selling a line of eight sea salts at the Venice Farmers Market in 2015; before long, he was discovered by Whole Foods’ now-discontinued forager program, which scouted farmers markets for new products, and began selling his wares at the store’s location in Venice Beach.
A year later, Scanlon found his future CEO (and wife) in Elizabeth Kernan after the pair met at the Expo West trade show in California. Sensing that she could add tremendous value with her experience as head of wholesale for a cold-pressed juice company, he persuaded her to join Gustus Vitae, and with their combined creativity and energy, Scanlon and Kernan expanded beyond salts into sugars and blended seasonings.
“Easy, Healthy, and Approachable”
As Scanlon explains, the question at the heart of their business is always “How can we make it better?” Their answer, essentially, is to source as many ingredients as they can from California while omitting unnecessary additives, ensuring that Gustus Vitae’s small-batch products contain no fillers, wheat, gluten, MSG, or artificial colors and flavors. For some items, they use an unprocessed fine-grain sea salt from the San Francisco Bay Area, resulting in blends with a lower amount of sodium than traditional rubs and seasonings contain. In short, Scanlon says, “We put good things in so people get good things out.” Another emphasis is on accessibility. “[Cooks at all levels should] feel they can make something that’s easy, healthy, and approachable with our products,” he notes. “So, for example, if you’re making a chicken dish every night, you can mix it up and have Jamaican chicken or Thai curry one night [and] a rustic Tuscan or a spicy Moroccan meal another night, just using a natural spice blend.”
A prime example is the Everything But The . . . collection of ten seasonings, including the popular Everything But The Avocado Toast. Scanlon, who describes it as “elevated [yet] easy to use,” encourages experimentation with all of Gustus Vitae’s products through the recipes and videos posted on its website; take a simple watermelon gazpacho spiked with Extra Spicy Bayou Boil BBQ Seasoning for an unexpected kick.
Cooks with a sweet tooth, meanwhile, can look to the brand’s extensive line of cane sugars; sustainably sourced from sugarcane grown in the United States, they’re available individually or in gift packs like the Infused Cocktail and BBQ Cane Sugar set. Their applications range from classic to creative: The Spicy Raspberry Cane Sugar can rim the glass of a Margarita or make a flavorful simple syrup, the Pink Lemonade Cane Sugar can serve as a topping for frosted cupcakes, and the decadent Caramel Crème Brûlée Cane Sugar can, of course, caramelize the top of its namesake dessert with the help of a culinary butane torch or add new dimension to holiday drinks like eggnog, spiced rum, and Irish coffee. Staying true to the brand’s roots, Scanlon has also grown the gourmet sea salt line to 29 colorful and mouthwatering selections like Blue Spirulina Superfood Salt, Buffalo Wing Sea Salt, Lemon Rosemary Sea Salt, and Italian Black Winter Truffle Sea Salt. Like the sugars, they also can be used behind the bar: Gustus Vitae’s creations have appeared at establishments like neat LA. in Los Angeles, which features the brand’s Red Cayenne Sea Salt in its Pretty Please Papi cocktail. And purists should look no further than the Must Have Kitchen Basics set of Garlic Pepper Rub, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, and Granulated Garlic—representing, as stated on the Gustus Vitae website, the “culinary backbone” of any dish.
Sprinkling in Global Influences
Looking for a change of scenery, Scanlon and Kernan moved from Los Angeles to Scottsdale, Arizona, in February 2020 and prepared to work on their latest collection of products; the process was, unsurprisingly, complicated by the arrival of the pandemic, which necessitated that all research and development be conducted in their home. (Describing the chaos, Scanlon recalls seeing masks and baggies, which they use to hold their blends until they’re packaged, “everywhere.”) But their productivity hardly suffered: In just three months, they created 40 new seasonings in addition to the aforementioned 20-piece line of gourmet rubs called Bougie BBQ. The flavor profiles of many of the seasonings—largely based on salt, onion, and pepper—reflect Kernan’s preference for a big, bold, garlic-driven bite.
Many of the flavors the couple developed in their brainstorming sessions were influenced by their travels and their heritage; for example, Kernan says, “I knew there were a few ingredients that I wanted to use—like the Great Lakes Fish Fry and BBQ Rub had to have cherries in it, which, [in addition to being] different and delicious for a barbecue seasoning, was essential in representing the area of the Great Lakes, where my people are from.” Meanwhile, the New Zealand Lamb & Game BBQ Rub—made with ingredients found on and around the Scanlon family’s cattle ranch on New Zealand’s South Island—and Argentine Chimichurri & Steak Seasoning harken to the time Scanlon spent in both countries during his formative years. Explains Kernan, “We are inspired by the things we like to eat and make for ourselves and the places [we’ve visited]. We really find joy [in creating] something that is not made yet or things that already exist that are done poorly or have unnecessary additives, like artificial ingredients, fillers, and old spices.”
In addition to its website, Gustus Vitae is available on Amazon as well as in specialty grocers, co-ops, and select mom-and-pop shops across the country. The majority of its products come in 4-ounce magnetic tins that stick to most metal surfaces like fridges, grills, hoods, and ranges, while its newly launched line of barbecue-focused rubs and seasonings comes in jumbo-sized 8-ounce tins. Scanlon and Kernan applied the same conscientious approach that they took with their sustainably sourced ingredients to their packaging: The tins, which are hand-packed in California, are made from recyclable material and the labels with recycled paper.
Explains Kernan, “We have something for everyone. That we are able to play a small part in the way that people cook and serve their friends, family, and loved ones is a huge privilege. It’s something that we think about all day, every day.”
