Walk down the seasoning aisle at almost any grocery store and you'll find bottles for $3, $5, $8—and sometimes considerably more.
Then you come across Perry Spices at $12.99 per bottle.
It's fair to wonder:
Why does Perry Spices cost $12.99?
Are you actually getting something different? Are the ingredients more expensive? Are you paying for fancy packaging? And perhaps most importantly:
Is a $12.99 seasoning actually worth it?
Those are fair questions.
So rather than dancing around the price, let's talk about it.
First: Yes, Perry Spices Is More Expensive Than Some Grocery Store Seasonings
Let's get that out of the way.
You can absolutely buy seasoning for less than $12.99.
There are excellent reasons someone might choose a less expensive seasoning, too. If price is your biggest consideration, you use seasonings infrequently, or you simply love the flavor of an inexpensive blend already sitting in your pantry, Perry Spices may not be the best choice for you.
We're okay saying that.
Our goal was never to make the cheapest seasoning on the shelf.
We built Perry Spices around a different question:
Can we create bold, interesting seasoning blends using thoughtfully selected ingredients without relying on unnecessary fillers or shortcuts?
That decision affects what goes into the bottle—and ultimately what it costs to sell it.
So, What Are You Paying For?
There isn't one single reason a bottle of Perry Spices costs $12.99.
It's a combination of several things.
1. You're Paying for the Ingredients Inside the Bottle
A seasoning blend is only as interesting as what goes into it.
There can be a significant difference between a basic combination of salt and inexpensive spices and a more complex blend containing specialty ingredients.
Depending on the Perry Spices flavor, you may find ingredients such as chipotle pepper, maple sugar, vanilla bean powder, smoked salts, habanero, pineapple juice powder, specialty peppers, herbs, spices and other flavor-building ingredients.
Those ingredients don't all cost the same.
And when we develop a blend, our first question isn't:
“How can we make this as cheaply as possible?”
It's:
“Does it taste good?”
That sounds simple, but it influences nearly every decision that follows.
2. We Don't Want You Paying for a Bottle Full of Unnecessary Filler
This is one of the reasons we encourage people to turn a seasoning bottle around and actually read the ingredient list.
Some non-spice ingredients serve legitimate purposes. Anti-caking agents, carriers and other functional ingredients can help with flowability, moisture management and manufacturing.
We covered that in detail in our article “What Are Fillers in Seasoning—and Why Are They Used?”
Our philosophy at Perry Spices is to formulate our blends without unnecessary fillers whenever possible.
That doesn't mean every ingredient with a technical-sounding name is “bad,” and it doesn't mean every seasoning containing an additive is low quality.
It simply means that when we're deciding what belongs in a Perry Spices bottle, we want the ingredients to have a reason for being there.
Because if you're paying $12.99 for seasoning, we think it's reasonable to expect the bottle to be focused on flavor.
3. Some Perry Spices Blends Are More Complicated Than They Look
Making a good seasoning blend isn't always as simple as throwing garlic powder, paprika and salt into a bowl.
The proportions matter.
Sweetness can overpower heat.
Heat can overpower everything else.
Salt can make flavors pop—or completely dominate them.
Smoke can add depth or make a blend taste harsh.
One small adjustment can change the entire finished product.
Some of our blends went through multiple iterations before becoming the version you see today.
That's especially true when you're trying to create flavors that are a little outside the ordinary.
Honey Chipotle Charm. Sassy Sriracha Maple. Honey Habanero Hype. Sweet Vanilla Dream.
We don't want the name on the front of the bottle to be the most interesting thing about it.
The flavor has to deliver, too.
4. Perry Spices Is a Small Business
This is another part of pricing that consumers don't always see.
Perry Spices isn't producing seasoning on the same scale as a national brand filling millions of bottles for grocery stores across the country.
Large manufacturers can purchase enormous quantities of ingredients, bottles, labels and packaging and spread their operating costs across huge production runs.
Smaller brands generally don't have that same economy of scale.
We're a husband-and-wife-owned business that started Perry Spices in 2024, and we're still growing.
That means our purchasing power and production scale look very different from a multinational food company.
We're not telling you that because we think you should pay more simply because we're small.
You shouldn't.
Being a small business doesn't automatically make a product worth $12.99.
The product still has to earn its place in your kitchen.
But scale is one of the realities that influences what a specialty food product costs.
5. You're Paying for a Finished Blend, Not Just Individual Spices
Could you recreate some seasoning blends yourself?
Absolutely.
In fact, if you already have a well-stocked spice cabinet and enjoy experimenting, making your own blends can be a great option.
But consider what it might take.
Instead of grabbing one shaker, you may need six, eight or ten individual ingredients. Then you need to figure out the proportions, measure everything and adjust the recipe until it tastes the way you want.
For someone who enjoys that process, that's part of the fun.
For someone trying to get dinner on the table after work?
Maybe not.
Part of what you're buying with a seasoning blend is convenience.
Someone else already did the experimenting, measuring and balancing.
You shake it onto your food and cook.
6. One Bottle Isn't One Meal
There's another way we think about the $12.99 price.
Cost per use.
A bottle of seasoning isn't typically consumed in one dinner.
Depending on the blend, bottle size and how heavily you season your food, one shaker can flavor many meals.
If a $12.99 bottle helps turn several weeks—or months—of chicken, vegetables, eggs, potatoes, beef, seafood or meal prep into food you actually look forward to eating, the cost per meal becomes much smaller than the price on the bottle.
That doesn't automatically make $12.99 inexpensive.
But it is a more useful comparison than looking at the bottle price alone.
Is Perry Spices Worth $12.99?
Here's the answer you probably weren't expecting from the company selling it:
It depends.
If you're looking for the absolute least expensive way to put salt and spices on your food, probably not.
There are cheaper ways to season food.
If you already own dozens of individual spices, love creating your own blends and don't care about convenience, you may not need us either.
But Perry Spices may make sense for you if you value:
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Bold, distinctive flavor combinations
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Thoughtfully selected ingredients
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Blends made without unnecessary fillers
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Convenient all-in-one seasoning
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Supporting a growing small business
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Having several completely different flavor profiles available without buying an entire cabinet of ingredients
Ultimately, you get to decide whether those things are worth $12.99.
Why Don't We Just Make Perry Spices Cheaper?
Because price isn't the only thing we're trying to optimize.
Could different ingredient choices, formulations, packaging decisions or production strategies potentially lower the cost?
Of course.
Every food company makes those decisions.
But there's a point where chasing the lowest possible price starts changing the product itself.
That's not the lane we're trying to occupy.
We would rather build Perry Spices around the product we want to put our name on and price it accordingly than start with a target price and work backward until the flavor fits the budget.
What About Perry Spices That Cost More Than $12.99?
You'll notice that not every Perry Spices blend necessarily carries the exact same price.
Some specialty products may cost more because their formulations and ingredients are different.
That's another reason we don't think seasoning should be evaluated by price alone.
Compare the ingredient lists.
Compare bottle sizes.
Compare the flavors.
Consider how you'll actually use them.
Then decide what's worth buying for your kitchen.
The Bottom Line
So why does Perry Spices cost $12.99?
Because we're not trying to make the cheapest bottle of seasoning you can buy.
We're trying to make seasoning that delivers big flavor using thoughtfully selected ingredients, without unnecessary shortcuts, while building it as a growing small business.
That comes at a price.
And we're comfortable being transparent about it.
But we're also not going to tell you that spending more automatically means you're getting a better seasoning.
Turn the bottle around. Read the ingredients. Consider what you're getting. Taste the food.
Then decide whether it's worth it.
We think that's a much better reason to buy Perry Spices than simply taking our word for it.
Want to Decide for Yourself?
Explore the Perry Spices lineup, compare the ingredients and find the flavor that fits your kitchen.
Shop Perry Spices → PerrySpices.com