CHEF’S LIS

Vanderbilt University English degree holder Lis Settimi became an entrepreneur— and a geometrician of sorts—in 2020.

That was the year, after all, when her path in the food industry had come full circle. Settimi served as a bakery assistant at a specialty grocery store back in her days at Brookfield East High School in Wisconsin. The teen basked in intoxicating aromas each workday and learned that a baker’s dozen equals 13, not 12, among other doughy jargon.

“It was a fun job, not stressful at all,” recalls Settimi, now 54 years old and a Glencoe resident since 2013. “My hours were from 7 a.m. to noon, sometimes 1 p.m., on Saturdays.

“I loved to bake and help people find what they needed.”

She’s now essentially assisting home cooks and top-notch restaurant chefs, locally and nationally, as president of Chicago-based Char Crust, which produces and markets 11 flavors of dry-rub seasonings for meat, fish, and even veggies. Flavors include Original Hickory Grilled, Roasted Garlic Peppercorn, and Classic Turkey Rub, launched last year before a certain holiday that always falls on the last Thursday of November.

Settimi—a former public relations professional who also worked for the Clorox Company and Peet’s Coffee and joined a business partner to run The Bar Method (total-body workout) at a Chicago location for 10 years— bought Char Crust nearly three years ago.

“It was exactly what I was looking for at that time in my life,” says Settimi, who had earned a degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in her late 20s. “There’s something special about Char Crust, particularly its history, and I felt it hadn’t reached its full potential. Its products are high-quality that have stood the test of time. Those who taste it become incredibly loyal to the brand.”

“Plus, my husband (Ohio University graduate Jim Thompson, another English degree holder) loves to grill meat. It’s easy to use and takes little time. You know what that means? More time to spend with your family and friends. Char Crust also elevates the taste of meat by creating a crispy crust that seals in the juices. Many customers, too many to count, have told me their houseguests say, ‘This tastes like a chef cooked it at a restaurant.’”

Char Crust’s history began after Al Farber’s, a Chicago steakhouse born in 1957, closed in 1977 when owner Nathan Silver retired. Regulars were devastated and clamored to get their hands on the steakhouse’s dry-rub seasonings that morphed all cuts of meat into 5-star slabs of meat. Nathan’s son Bernie extended the life of the seasonings via sales to restaurants across the United States; Char Crust started packaging retail packs at its base in Chicago’s Lake View neighborhood in the 1990s.

“My company’s team is small (10) but strong,” says Settimi, who’s been a guest lecturer for Northwestern University’s Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition program. “Sixty percent of them have been with us for 10 years or more.

“It’s been rewarding for me, working with all of them.”

The daughter of Joe, an MBA earner who has an engineering/ metallurgy background and a midshipman’s work ethic, and Pat, a mother of three who served as an executive director of a University of Michigan research group, Lis Settimi was a yearbook co-editor and Key Club member at Brookfield East HS before she hit the English books and edited a section of the school’s literary magazine at Vandy in Nashville, Tennessee.

Shortly after graduating from college, she got hired by a Nashville public relations firm, which meant the firm’s manager must have been impressed with Lis Settimi, the intern from the previous summer. Settimi worked full-time there for four years, ascending to the post of account executive.

NU’s Kellogg School of Management was her next stop.

“One of the highlights of my life,” Settimi says of gobbling up—minus delicious dry-rub seasoning—all kinds of tidbits in courses on marketing, finance, and business strategies. “I absolutely loved my time at Northwestern. I met fascinating people there.”

She then headed west, way west, after landing a position with the Clorox Company in San Francisco.

“I wanted to concentrate on classic marketing and learn all I could in a large company’s environment,” says Settimi, a Left Coaster for 10 years.

A stint with Peet’s Coffee preceded her decade-long tenure in Chicago with The Bar Method (TBM), which offers its clients a full-body workout that builds both physical and mental strength.

“Intense, low-impact, safe workouts,” Settimi says of TBM’s trademark. “It’s for those looking for that lean look. But it’s not just about exercise; it’s also a program designed to improve health on a number of levels. It’s important to be healthy, physically and mentally and emotionally. The Bar Method also boosts self-confidence.”

Lis and Jim got married 10 years ago and are raising their son, Nico, 7. Lis has a stepson, 21-year-old Soren.

“Nico keeps me on my toes,” Settimi says. “He’s like a wise adult already, like a little, grown-up man. I feel lucky, because I’m at a wonderful stage in my life where I get to focus on Nico.”

And run a company that’s a two-time National Barbecue and Grilling Association (NBBQA) Award-winner and responsible for wowing chefs and home cooks and millions of taste buds through its savory products.

Settimi brought work home on November 23, 2023, a holiday. But it didn’t keep her from entertaining and feeding 16 guests; “work” was an ample amount of Char Crust’s Classic Turkey Rub. She cooked a pair of 12-pound turkeys—one roasted, one smoked— on Thanksgiving Day.

The big birds’ juices couldn’t escape to plates or to trimmings, thanks to the dry-rub seasoning’s proclivity for trapping.

“I have high expectations for Char Crust and for our employees,” Settimi says. “I’m pretty serious at work. I like to be direct and firm—and warm at the same time.

“I guess that makes me a ‘velvet hammer.’” You nailed it, Lis.

Visit charcrust.com for more information. Warning: viewing the site’s videos of meat caked in a Char Crust dry-rub seasoning and cut with a knife could trigger a Niagara Falls of saliva.