By Jessica Oates
Emily and Lyla Allen are on a mission—a mission to inspire healthy eating. The 11-year-old entrepreneurs have achieved so much at such a young age, and it is certain that more is in store for the Kitchen Twins.
Healthy eating has been part of the girls’ lives ever since they can remember. Their parents Cricket and Brian Allen, owners of the natural food company, The Perfect Snaque, have shown their daughters from a very early age that healthy food can also taste great.
The Princeton Day School fifth-graders took first place in Lawrence High School’s “Shark Tank” competition this past April, pitching their ideas for a cooking show as well as for cookware that appeals to young chefs.
“We think it’s important to make kitchen gadgets and utensils more exciting looking, to attract more kids into the kitchen,” Lyla explained.
The girls pitched their ideas in front of an audience of 50 attendees who came to support the school’s first Shark Tank competition, designed after the television show of the same name which features prospective entrepreneurs pitching ideas to a national audience in hope of gaining venture capital.
“We practiced a lot, so we weren’t very nervous,” Lyla said.
“It’s great to always have a partner, someone to share your ideas and workload with. Having each other and having practiced so much helped us to be confident in our presentation,” Emily added.
Lyla and Emily were awarded prizes donated from local businesses, and most exciting of all, a half-day professional experience at Edison Ventures, a venture capital firm in Lawrence.
That’s where the girls met their mentor, Kelly Ford. Ford had not attended the Shark Tank competition, but met the girls afterward when they came into Edison Partners for their prize.
“One of my partners, who had been on the panel of judges, introduced me to the girls and asked if I wanted to join the meeting,” Ford said. “I absolutely wanted to get involved. I had been living in Lawrenceville for so long but knew so little about my town, since I worked in New York City. I left my job there and joined Edison Partners in part because working locally gave me a chance to feel more connected to the community. I wanted to get involved with kids, and my plan was to reach out to schools and see how I could volunteer my time—and then the Allen twins walked into the building.”
Ford said the young ladies were very professional and prepared for their meeting. They brought her up to speed on what they pitched at the competition, and then began to discuss different ways to help their ideas take off.
“We talked about what it means to be the Kitchen Twins, and how we could build their identity,” Ford said. “Their enthusiasm is so authentic. Healthy food is part of their lifestyle. They want to work hard and try new things. They are full of energy and are very smart.”
Since their Shark Tank victory, Emily and Lyla have celebrated another huge success with the commercial launch of The Kitchen Twins’ first product, shake-and-bake kale chips, under the umbrella of The Perfect Snaque. The launch took place the weekend before Thanksgiving at Pennington Quality Market, with the creators present to demonstrate just how easy it is to prepare a fresh and delicious snack. The pre-washed and cut kale leaves, which come ready to bake with a packet of olive oil, have already been a huge hit. Stores sold out that weekend, and again the weekend after.
“Our motto is fresh is best,” Lyla said, and customers seem eager to buy into that concept.
Lyla and Emily continue to correspond with Ford, sharing their progress and discussing new ideas. The girls actively manage a blog, where they share recipes, including favorites such as spring rolls with edamame dip, squash lasagna, and sushi, and talk about their cooking experiences. They do a fantastic job interacting with fellow bloggers, and even conduct interviews with local chefs and other food professionals to learn as much as they can.
“We visit restaurant chefs and farmers to ask them about their jobs, and we watch lots of cooking shows including Giada, The Pioneer Woman, and Barefoot Contessa,” Emily said.
“We think our cooking show would be interesting because we would do each show together and make them as fun and easy to follow as possible,” Lyla said.
Lyla and Emily, who are members of the cooking and garden club at Princeton Day School, make it a priority to experience fresh food first hand.
“The twins have brought a new level of excitement to the club,” said PDS Garden Coordinator Pam Flory. “They really take the cooking component to the next level.”
Flory said that she recently challenged the club to a cook-off using a surprise selection of veggies from the school garden. The twins brought a friend along with them to sit on the judge’s panel. She warned everyone that she was picky when it came to vegetables, but by the end of the cook off, she had a new appreciation for kale, red cabbage, and more.
“The Kitchen Twins’ kale chips are fantastic,” Flory said. “For kids to appreciate vegetables is a wonderful thing in and of itself. You can tell the girls love to cook and appreciate the opportunities they have to experiment with food and to get hands-on experience in the garden.”
“We joined the garden club because we get to watch our ingredients grow,” Lyla said. “We are working on setting up cold frames for many of the plants so that they can grow year round.”
“We learned that it’s very important to respect how food grows,” Emily said. “Watching the process in such a natural environment without pesticides, they grow more quickly and more lively. The may be smaller, but they are packed with flavor—they just taste so fresh!”
The Allen twins have big plans to take their kale chips — which are now being sold at Pennington Quality Market, Olives on Witherspoon Street, and D’Angelo Italian Market — to the next level, rolling them out regionally and then nationally within the next year. You can be sure they have their sights set on other products in the shake and bake line, but they won’t say just what.
Their line of cookware and kitchen accessories is a larger goal that they will keep on their radar as they move forward, but right now, the focus is getting their content out there and continuing to grow their presence.
Cricket Allen said she is very happy her daughters have found their passion.
“Once you find that, it all flows from there,” she said.
In addition to encouraging the girls to experiment in the kitchen, she and her husband have also helped them develop an understanding of how products are manufactured and make it onto store shelves.
“A lot of brands have relatable stories, and once people connect with them, they tend to buy those products over others,” Cricket said. “It’s beyond marketing; it’s about values. I think their product has one of those stories behind it that people will make a connection with, and I think the Kitchen Twins have more product launches in their future.”
“Cooking is such a special medium—it combines creativity and sensory skills with math and science,” she said. “It’s a great way for kids to express themselves and grow their confidence. When they can say, ‘hey, look what I did!’ and not be disheartened after the occasional kitchen disaster transpires, they are growing,” she said. “We always want to make sure Emily and Lyla are having fun being the Kitchen Twins.”
To learn more about the Kitchen Twins and view some of their recipes, go online to kitchen-twins.com.
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