Inside Glen Powell’s mission to redefine the American pantry
By Leo Zevin | Published: 2025-10-31 14:00:00 | Source: Entrepreneur
The opinions expressed by Entrepreneur Contributors are their own.
Until recently, if you Googled “Glen Powell oil,” you would likely get a snapshot of it Top Gun This may make you want to close your laptop in public places. Now, the search results tell a different story — one about Smash Kitchen, the Hollywood star’s latest off-screen venture.
After successfully bringing organic spices to Walmart shelves nationwide, Powell and partners Sean Kane and Sameer Mehta are expanding the brand to include everyday staples with a new line of cooking oils.
It sounds almost ridiculous – until you hear him explain why.
Related: 12 Ways to Eat Healthy No Matter How Busy You Are
From Top Gun to top shelf
Powell’s interest in pantry products began when he first moved to Hollywood and realized that success in the industry required taking his health seriously.
“I thought grilled chicken pizza was healthy at the time because it had protein,” he laughs.
Over time, he began educating himself on nutrition and how to promote an active lifestyle without sacrificing flavor. Cooking for friends, hosting BBQs, and throwing Game Day parties became a way to combine his love of food with his sociable nature. Developing Smash allowed him to create products that reflect this philosophy: delicious, high-quality ingredients that don’t compromise.
On the surface, selling spices couldn’t be more different from acting in blockbuster movies. But Powell sees similarities. He says building a brand is like making a movie: you assemble the best team, work with talented people, and make sure every element is top notch.
In the case of Smash Kitchen, that meant combining Powell’s passion for food with the consumer packaged goods expertise of industry veterans Sean Kane and Sameer Mehta.
Ken is as traditional a businessman as they come. While most kids his age were trick-or-treating, he was busy selling used Halloween candy. He studied accounting but soon realized his true passion was entrepreneurship, which led him to found PriceGrabber and eventually co-found The Honest Company, known for eco-friendly baby products and household goods.
“We were making better diapers, better shampoo — everything organic — and people thanked us for creating safer, healthier products for their families,” Ken recalls.
When he left, he knew he wanted to build something new, and chance brought him together with Mehta and Powell.
Meanwhile, Mehta gained experience from founding Jinx, a premium dog food company focused on health and nutrition. This project taught him a lot about health and consumer behavior, which he applied when evaluating the human food category.
He saw a gap: Conventional brands were full of artificial ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, and sodium, while clean, organic options were often expensive and lacking in flavor. This observation inspired Smash Kitchen’s mission to create products that fill the middle space—healthy, organic, delicious and accessible.
Image credit: Smash Kitchen
Greater recipe in mind
Powell is deeply involved in Smash Kitchen beyond finance. He samples each product, and has shipped tons of spices to a group in London so the crew can try them. While filming in a studio for a year, he built a small “camp” outside his trailer, complete with a grill, showing the extent of his hands-on experience.
Whether he’s cooking for friends or a crew, Powell approaches food the same way he does in movies—with care, creativity, and an emphasis on balance. As he puts it, the experience is “symbiotic…like part of the same journey” as filmmaking
While Seasoning was a solid first step, Powell’s vision was always bigger. He wants to transform the entire store so that consumers don’t have to choose between quality and affordability. He uses his friends as a measuring stick, testing ingredients for taste and cost, and stresses that trust was an important foundation for the brand.
“Ultimately, we want to create a real transformation in the American warehouse,” he says. “We want everyone to buy Smash.”
For Powell, the mission is personal. He points out that friends back home in Texas often can’t justify paying high prices for organic produce. Smash Kitchen is designed to remove this barrier, allowing consumers to purchase high-quality, organic ingredients without any compromises.
Breaking into an industry dominated by established brands is no easy feat – especially one where consumers tend to stick to what they know. But the Smash Kitchen team believes the timing couldn’t be better.
“It probably has a lot to do with where we are now and how people think about health,” Ken says. “As more people become aware of what they are putting in their bodies — and as we continue to educate customers — there is a growing understanding about wellness. It feels like the right place, the right time for something that is both delicious and organic.”
With momentum building toward healthier options — and Powell is set to appear in nearly a half-dozen upcoming movies and shows — Smash Kitchen is poised to be a smash hit among home cooks everywhere.
Related: 10 Simple Ways to Eat Healthy Without Thinking
Until recently, if you Googled “Glenn Powell oil,” you would likely get a still shot of Top Gun This may make you want to close your laptop in public places. Now, the search results tell a different story — one about Smash Kitchen, the Hollywood star’s latest off-screen venture.
After successfully bringing organic spices to Walmart shelves nationwide, Powell and partners Sean Kane and Sameer Mehta are expanding the brand to include everyday staples with a new line of cooking oils.
It seems almost ridiculous – until you hear him explain why.
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(tags for translation)Eating habits
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