{"id":86247,"date":"2025-06-10T17:38:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T17:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=86247"},"modified":"2025-06-10T22:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T22:36:08","slug":"spice-scientist","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/test-www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/spice-scientist\/","title":{"rendered":"Spice Scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>sk Darby McLean about her childhood in Cheney, and you\u2019ll hear her wax enthusiastic about the subtle beauty of its college-town setting, its quiet charm and its strong sense of community. How it was the kind of place where a kid could bike its streets without a care in the world. About how it pulsed with the energies and ambitions of very bright people, both young and old. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What you won\u2019t hear her talk about are spices. At least not in the ways you might expect. McLean \u201900 runs Spiceology, a Spokane-based purveyor of bespoke blends that has, seemingly overnight, set the nation\u2019s spice scene on fire. Her company\u2019s products, instantly identifiable thanks to their eye-catching \u201cperiodic table of flavors\u201d design, are seemingly everywhere. They\u2019re in grocery stores, both plain and fancy. On the sets of food shows and culinary competitions. In ads for ritzy kitchen remodels. And, of course, in the TikToks and Instagrams of food-obsessed cooking fans. They\u2019ve even made a surprise appearance during last year\u2019s Super Bowl \u2014 this thanks to an unsolicited placement in a Fox promo for the latest Gordon Ramsey-hosted chef spectacle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in Cheney, none of this would have entered even the wildest imaginings of the younger McLean. In her mother\u2019s kitchen, she recalls, spices were, at best, an afterthought.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom was a middle school counselor for close to 30 years,\u201d McLean says. \u201cShe cooked all the time, which was impressive for someone with a career. But I think she suffered from the exact reason why our spice company exists today \u2014 spices become boring and stale by the time they get to consumers.\u201d (And perhaps even after they reach consumers. Not that any of us<\/i> would leave our spice jars neatly arranged and mostly untouched for years at a time, only to wonder why they fall flat in that special dish.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Freshness is a big point of emphasis at Spiceology, but it\u2019s just one of the features that has fed the company\u2019s rapid rise. Just as important is its novel \u2014 some might suggest audacious \u2014 approach to blending.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Celebrity chefs notwithstanding, it\u2019s moments with folks like her mom, curious but spice-challenged consumers, that get McLean super excited. \u201cIt\u2019s really fun,\u201d she says, \u201cto see people try our fresh spices and have their eyes light up when they realize that, \u2018Wow, you can actually taste the difference!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshness is a big point of emphasis at Spiceology, but it\u2019s just one of the features that has fed the company\u2019s rapid rise. Just as important is its novel \u2014 some might suggest audacious \u2014 approach to blending.<\/p>\n

Mixing spices is as old as cooking itself. Archaeological evidence has shown the Egyptians, for example, were blending as early as 3,500 BCE, using cumin and coriander, along with anise and fenugreek to enhance the savor of stews, breads and vegetable dishes. Cooks and traders in China and India were also building blends in the same era; spice combinations that, over the centuries, became foundational to culinary tastes and food-prep experiences of cultures across the globe.<\/p>\n

\"Spiceology
Explosive flavor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Spiceology, such time-honored flavor combinations are merely a launching point, an invitation to innovation. When it comes to mixing and matching, pretty much nothing is off the table. Unexpected combinations like Raspberry Chipotle and Black and Blue (blue cheese with blackening seasoning) comprise the norm. Versatility and flexible flavor profiles are the goal. \u201cYou can put Raspberry Chipotle on ribs, add a couple tablespoons to your brownie mix, or shake it on popcorn,\u201d McLean says. \u201cBlack and Blue is amazing on steak, but mix it into a box of mac and cheese, and the whole thing\u2019s upleveled. You could serve it to guests at dinner, and nobody would know it came from a box.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hence the \u201clight bulb\u201d moments when home cooks \u201ctaste the difference.\u201d Even professional chefs, who now make up close to half of Spiceology\u2019s rapidly growing food-service business, favor the company\u2019s blends alongside traditional single-ingredient spices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like her company\u2019s unique products,<\/b><\/span> <\/b>McLean\u2019s route to Spiceology doesn\u2019t follow the familiar path. A microbiologist by training, she spent almost two decades successfully working in biotech \u2014 a career choice for which she largely credits her time as an undergraduate at Eastern.<\/p>\n

Even well before college, however, McLean knew science would be her thing. She remembers it was a middle school project working with fruit flies that \u201cgot me really fascinated with the concept of genetics.\u201d <\/span>After high school, she says, friends and family figured she\u2019d head up the street to EWU, precisely the kind of place that could provide her with the undergraduate research experiences she was looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n

But McLean instead decided on a different direction, traversing the Cascades to attend Seattle\u2019s Bellevue College. \u201cI had an itch to have other experiences, like many young people do,\u201d she says. \u201cI played softball at Bellevue, a community college at the time. I was a lefty pitcher and had a great couple of years there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, she says, in spite of the many West Side higher-ed options, a return to Cheney was never far from her mind. EWU wasn\u2019t just close to home, McLean says, it offered something unique.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEastern had one of the only biotechnology areas of study west of the Mississippi River,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I knew it was a place where I would be able to do bench-science research as an undergrad, which is completely different from what you\u2019d be able to do at a larger university like UW.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In spite of the many Westside higher-ed options, a return to Cheney was never far from her mind. EWU wasn\u2019t just close to home, McLean says, it offered something unique.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so McLean became an Eag, where she found the intimacy of Eastern\u2019s biotech program, and the readiness of even senior scientists to work directly with undergraduates, to be transformative. She laughs now as she recalls her ravenous appetite for acquiring knowledge: \u201cI had an insatiable thirst for learning, and I still do. That\u2019s a core part of my personality. Always learning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She adds that faculty members such as Don and Haideh Lightfoot were particularly instrumental in encouraging this youthful hunger for knowledge. \u201cHaideh was in the microbiology program, and Don was part of the biotech program. I worked closely with both of them. The size of the programs at EWU helped \u2014 you can\u2019t have a close relationship if there are 100 people in the class. I got to know Don and Haideh very well. They even invited me and other students to their house for dinner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Soon the Lightfoot\u2019s were<\/b> <\/span>more than just influential instructors. They became research collaborators who were eager to include McLean in something bigger.<\/p>\n

\"Darby
McLean in Spiceology’s Spokane headquarters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That \u201csomething bigger\u201d was the Lightfoots\u2019 idea for commercializing a new technology developed by a student in Don’s program, one that made possible more efficient forms of rapid microbiological analysis. Along with their EWU colleague Jim Fleming, an adjunct professor of biology who had worked for NASA and the Linus Pauling Institute, the group approached the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute for seed funding. They got a green light, and soon their proposed start-up, GenPrime, was open for business. McLean, still an EWU undergrad, was one of their first hires.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first products were in food science,\u201d says McLean. \u201cThese were methods for rapidly enumerating, or counting, bacteria. Our niche was applications outside of heavily regulated industries like medicine; those turned out to be in the fermentation industry, especially cheesemaking and brewing. What a fun job as a college student to be eating cheese, drinking beer and doing science!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduation, McLean began working for GenPrime full time. She says it was a great gig, one that allowed her to pick up a range of valuable skills. It wasn\u2019t long before history intervened and her skill set, by necessity, grew even larger. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeptember 11th happened,\u201d McLean says. \u201cAnd right after that came the anthrax attacks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly, government agencies urgently needed technology to quickly detect biological threats. Turns out GenPrime\u2019s food-science applications could be adapted to do just that. \u201cWith some minor adjustments to the underlying technology,\u201d says McLean. \u201cwe became one of a handful of devices in the world that could be used as a point-of-detection device for police, fire and hazmat agencies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus the company pivoted into government and military sales. McLean, ever the insatiable learner, soon found herself absorbing the intricacies of procurement, product development and supply chains. \u201cIt was a terrible event, but great timing for us,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/p>\n

McLean followed up her success at GenPrime with five years of navigating FDA clearances for Abbott Labs and Labcorp. Her career trajectory seemed set. \u201cI was at a place where I really knew what the next five years of my life would look like,\u201d she says. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t bad, but it also wasn\u2019t super exciting. And I was pretty sure I wasn\u2019t going to learn anything new by doing that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n<\/span>That\u2019s when she encountered<\/b><\/span> a fledgling spice company called Spiceology. Founded by local chef Pete Taylor and food blogger Heather Scholten, the two started offering blends in area farmers\u2019 markets just over 10 years ago. Their mission? Disrupting \u201ca stale spice and seasoning market\u201d while helping cooks \u201cbring an extra dose of magic to their cooking.\u201d Taylor was the tastemaker. His first blend, Smoky Honey Habanero, put Spiceology on the map, the company says, \u201cwith its smoky-sweet heat that brightens every dish.\u201d (It\u2019s still Spiceology\u2019s biggest seller). Scholten, one of the nation\u2019s most followed food bloggers, brought social media expertise and storytelling skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Christian Gill, a staff chef and “spiceologist” at Spiceology.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

McLean, who over the years had made a point of staying connected to Spokane\u2019s entrepreneurial scene, says she had first seen Taylor and Scholten doing local \u201cpitch competitions.\u201d She was intrigued. \u201cThey were getting really good traction, but struggling to scale,\u201d McLean says. \u201cAll the operational procedures and efficiency gains they needed were things I thought I could help with.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before long McLean was all in. She officially joined the company in 2020 as its vice president of channels and distribution. When her boss retired two years later, she succeeded him as CEO. It\u2019s since been a bit of a wild ride, she says, one supercharged by culinary media, with Spiceology products appearing regularly on shows like Hell\u2019s Kitchen and MasterChef. \u201cGrowing from $1 million to $2 million is hard. Going from $2 million to $5 million is hard. Growing from $5 million to $10 million \u2013 oh my gosh \u2014 every level presents challenges,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/p>\n

During a conversation held over the hum of the canning line in Spiceology\u2019s 45,000 square-foot facility, McLean, dressed for the occasion in an Eagle-red blazer, expands on the scope of that growth. Back when she came on board, she says, there were just over 30 employees. Today there are 84. When Spiceology moved to their current location in the months just after the pandemic, the cavernous space seemed like it might never be filled. Now, 25-foot-high rows of product and packaging stretch from end-to-end, bottom to top. Other areas hold 18-wheeler friendly skids of ready-to-ship spices and blends bound for retail outlets like Costco, e-commerce customers ($10 million in sales through this channel alone), and, of course, larger restaurant operators and their distributors.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"McLean
McLean with Ned Woodward \u201910, Spiceology\u2019s director of logistics and fulfillment. Photo by Luke Kenneally.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

McLean brought characteristic precision to managing all this, introducing Six Sigma processes that transformed operations. The Six Sigma approach, pioneered by Motorola in the 1980s, is a set of tools and techniques for minimizing manufacturing \u201cdefects\u201d by reducing processing variabilities \u2014 think of it as a high-tech analog to Henry Ford\u2019s assembly lines. At Spiceology, Six Sigma translates into helping employees do their jobs with accuracy and efficiency. McLean credits Bryce Burchak, now vice president of operations, and fellow Eastern graduate Ned Woodward \u201910, the company\u2019s director of logistics and fulfillment, with making it happen. Woodward, in particular, has been \u201ca pretty big reason why the company is so effectively growing,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

For his part, Woodward says, it\u2019s McLean\u2019s leadership, and the managers and creative talent she\u2019s assembled, that makes it all come together. \u201cTakes a village,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for McLean and Spiceology?<\/b><\/span> <\/b>With characteristic passion, McLean says job one is keeping the company at the forefront of culinary trends. Her team of working culinary pros, led by Tony Reed, is continually engaging with consumers, chefs and the wider restaurant community to identify emerging flavor preferences. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just asking questions about trends, we\u2019re helping to decide what those trends will be,\u201d she says, adding that their latest data on trends points to global flavors that tap into foodies yearning for cross-cultural comfort foods \u2014 think Korean barbecue chicken instead of buffalo chicken. <\/span><\/p>\n

Through it all, McLean leans on her background in science for both grounding and inspiration. It\u2019s a background that also leads her back to her roots in Cheney and at Eastern, where she is intent on helping today\u2019s students have some of opportunities she did. She serves, for example, as chair of the College of STEM\u2019s Advisory board, and will become a member of the EWU Foundation Board next year. She has also connected with other Eagle-run companies in Eastern\u2019s Alumni Business Directory (ewu.edu\/alumni\/directory<\/i>). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love this business and am excited by it, which I think comes through in our products,\u201d McLean says. \u201cI\u2019m passionate about what I\u2019m doing. Just like I was back there at Eastern.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0 <\/span>Story by Charles E. Reineke<\/i><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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