Beautiful Briny Sea Salt and Sugar Blends Makes Me Smile
Behind the Flavor: Beautiful Briny Sea Salt and Sugar Blends
If you have a sense of humor and love delicious flavor combinations, then you will love Beautiful Briny Sea, a chef-driven purveyor of small batch salt and sugar blends. Oh, and did I mention there are sprinkles? Beautiful Briny Sea is helmed by Suzi Sheffield, who is not only the chef behind the inventive flavor blends, but is also the visionary behind the packaging and quirky product names, as well.Everything about Beautiful Briny Sea makes me smile, from the bright packaging to the names like Magic Unicorn Sea Salt, which is a perfect blend of spices that magically go with everything. Or Mister Gigglepants Hibiscus Sugar. Which is so charming that I can’t even. Please.
Behind the Scenes at the BBS Headquarters
It may be because of the complex flavors or because we can tell how much care goes into each and every product, or because we eat with our eyes as well as our mouth and the packaging is just so darned cute, but Beautiful Briny Sea has exploded since launching in 2011. What started as Suzi’s home-based business, a way for her to stay true to her culinary roots without sacrificing her life to a restaurant kitchen, is now the type of company that needs an expert in logistics and operations. Today, the Salt Shack is a 6,000-square-foot facility in Grant Park where all of that Unicorn magic happens. I recently spoke with COO, Charlie Timberlake, in the middle of a power outage that was impacting the whole neighborhood. The timing was not great, he said, because they were in the middle of packaging Farmview Market’s samples for holiday time, which you'll be able to find in their Griller's Companion box (coming soon!). Yes, they were already gearing up for their holiday crunch. In August. And while we’re on the subject of Christmas, keep their Santa Salt in mind for the holiday; a combination of rosemary and pink peppercorn that echoes the colors of the season.
Growth has been fueled mainly by word of mouth, which has had the phones ringing off the hook from media, retailers, and people who wanted to collaborate with them. People like local Top Chef, Kevin Gillespie, who collaborated with Suzi to create Gunpowder Finishing Salt being used to finish dishes at Gunshow and Gamechanger, his restaurant in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Local Brand with National Reach
Though their roots are local, these days their reach is much larger than that. Products such as French Picnic Sea Salt, and Hot Steve can be found all over the country and will soon be available internationally. In spite of that, or maybe because of it, when I asked Charlie what he wanted to be sure people know about the company, it is that the Salt Shack is about as far from a conglomerate style factory as you can imagine. Everything is still handmade, and those who work at the Shack do it as a labor of love. They are a tight-knit group who are turning out small-batch products in big quantities. Products that are made with integrity and sustainability.
It's right there in their logo, which is a picture of Suzi's father as a Naval Academy student in 1953 looking over the Pacific Ocean. He was raised in a South Georgia farming community, the son of a farmer and the local cake maker. The legacy of Beautiful Briny Sea is of those that work with the land and products that are handmade. Delicious products. Products that would taste good with a pinch of Truffle Sea Salt.
You can find a wide array of Beautiful Briny Sea products at Farmview Market. Pick one of these up and put a smile on your face today.
