B's Rubs: Othello teacher has spices for all occasions
Brian Lumsden, owner of B’s Rubs, in his classroom at Othello High School, where he teaches civics and history. Behind him is a wall of photos and letters from former students which Lumsden said reminds him of why he teaches in the first place. “That’s my wall of inspiration,” he said.
Charles H. Featherstone/Basin Business Journal
Boxes of spice bottles ready for shipping at B’s Rubs in their new digs at the Port of Othello’s business incubator.
A sample pack of all 10 of B’s Rubs. Brian Lumsden said he keeps copious notes on his spice mixtures, noting that he has had far more failures than successes. “A lot of combinations just didn’t work,” he said.
OTHELLO, WASH. — When you step into the large garage space occupied by B’s Rubs at the Port of Othello’s business incubator, the first thing that hits you is the scent.
It’s a deep, rich aroma of a spice melange, akin to something you’d smell in a South Asian grocery store, an Ethiopian restaurant or a Middle Eastern souq, heavy with cumin and other vaguely identifiable spices — rosemary, thyme, garlic — and it’s almost intoxicating.
Almost.
“So I started selling things about seven years ago, and it was starting to take over the kitchen,” said Brian Lumsden, a high school civics teacher who also moonlights as the owner of B’s Rubs. “I would make these huge batches, and then the whole house would smell like, you know, smoked, or salt and cumin, or other stuff. Just like a spice factory.”
Lumsden smiled.
“Which is kind of what it turned out to be,” he added.
With B’s Rubs, Lumsden has become a very tiny player in what Tradologie.com said was a global trade in sweet and savory spices worth an estimated $43 billion in 2020, with India accounting for nearly one-fifth of all spice exports and Americans buying a little more than 11% of the world’s spices. While B’s Rubs are primarily sold in the Pacific Northwest, from butcher shops like Ernie’s Quality Meats and Wine in Moses Lake to Lep-re-Kon Harvest Foods in Othello to Stein’s Ace Hardware and Home Center in Yakima, you can find Lumsden’s wares as far away as grilling and barbecue supply shop Eggs by the Bay in Santa Clara, California, and Bruno’s Meat Market in Manahawkin, New Jersey.
Lumsden said he is committed to expanding slowly, which means only using the proceeds from the business to develop and expand. It’s why he worked out of his kitchen for a while, and then a space in Moses Lake, Washington before recently moving to a space at the Port of Othello’s business incubator at 615 S. Broadway Ave.
He moved, in part, because demand for his spices means he has to keep a lot of inventory on hand, Lumsden said.
“When I have this much inventory, it’s really hard to keep everything managed,” he said.
Lumsden said even as he was studying to be a teacher, he was always interested in food, working in kitchens on busy Friday nights and experimenting with spice mixtures.
“I’ve always loved food. It’s always been my passion,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who develop things and, you know, they’re like, well, I’ll mix this together. And then I can’t remember the recipe. And it’s like, well, I take notes.”
That experimenting led to his very first spice melange, Smoked Rub, a combination of hickory, garlic and chipotle peppers Lumsden first made as a gift and then thought he’d try and sell at a farmers market just to see what would happen.
“I had it in little deli containers with mailing labels on it. I was hoping to sell five of them. I had like 100 we made and then I sold out within a couple hours,” he said. “It just kind of struck me like, hey, this could be something to do.”
Since then, Lumsden has developed nine other rubs, everything from a dill-inspired chicken and seafood rub to a smoked apple rub designed to reflect the flavors of the Pacific Northwest to a Caribbean-inspired jerk rub. His focus is on grillers and barbecuers, and he’s even branched out to brines for soaking and flavoring meat (including a bacon cure to make bacon from pork bellies). Like all good spice combinations, B’s Rubs can also do double duty, with his Gnarly Garlic and Rough Cut make for good slow-cooked or Instant Pot navy beans or pinto beans, for example.
Describing the apple rub, for example, Lumsden said he worked closely with a barbecue competition team to develop the spice mixture and didn’t release it until he knew he had something special. The rub combines apple flavor with rosemary and ginger, the idea being to bring both sides of Washington state together in one grilling spice.
He also tries to get everything as close to Othello as possible, from locally grown garlic and onions to the bottles and the boxes he uses, which come from companies in Spokane.
“When I design these, I start with the end in mind,” he said. “And then I don’t release it unless I feel like it has a wow factor. I want my stuff to definitely stand out.”
Even though he’s been growing his business slowly, and hasn’t given up his day job teaching at Othello High School, Lumsden said he is still eyeing expansion. He has plans, such as getting his spice mixtures into a regional chain store of some kind, maybe developing a rub with a more South Asian flavor, or even experimenting with more powdered and dried fruit. Or possibly even a barbecue sauce. But it will all happen slowly, at a pace he can keep on top of, Lumsden said, and without going into debt.
“I think we’re doing fine. We’ll grow at the pace we’re gonna grow,” he said. “I mean our rubs, we ship them all over the country. It’s just crazy.”
He looked around the space. On one side, pallets and shelves were covered with boxes of finished spice mixtures. On the other, giant plastic bins were full of the aromatic spices he uses to make his mixtures. Lumsden said he understood that any expansion comes with a cost.
“I like the 10 that we have,” he said of his current line of rubs. “The problem is that if I add any more, I’m going to start to run out of room again.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
