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Until recently, if you searched “Glen Powell oil” on Google, you’d probably get a picture of top Gun This may make you want to turn off your laptop in public. Now, search results tell a different story – about a smash kitchen, the Hollywood star’s latest off-screen venture.
After successfully bringing organic spices to Walmart shelves nationwide, Powell and his partners Sean Kane and Samir Mehta are expanding the brand into everyday pantry staples with a new line of cooking oils.
It sounds almost absurd – 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 she first moved to Hollywood and realized that being successful in the industry would require taking her health more seriously.
“At the time I thought barbecue chicken pizza was healthy because it had protein,” he said with a laugh.
Over time, he began educating himself about promoting an active lifestyle without compromising on nutrition and taste. Cooking for friends, hosting barbecues, and organizing game day parties became a way to combine his love of food with his social nature. The evolution of Smash has allowed them to create products that reflect that philosophy: delicious, high-quality ingredients that don’t compromise.
On the surface, selling spice couldn’t be much different from acting in blockbuster movies. But Powell sees parallels. Building a brand, he says, 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 means combining Powell’s passion for food with the CPG expertise of industry veterans Sean Kane and Samir Mehta.
Ken is as traditional an entrepreneur as they come. While most kids his age were busy trick-or-treating, he was busy selling his old Halloween candy. He studied accounting, but soon realized his true passion was entrepreneurship, which led him to PriceGrabber and eventually co-founding The Honest Company, known for eco-friendly baby products and home goods.
Ken recalls, “We were making better diapers, better shampoos – everything organic – and people thanked us for making products that were safer and healthier for their families.”
When he left, he knew he wanted to create something new, and by chance he was introduced to Mehta and Powell.
Meanwhile, Mehta has experience founding Jinx, a premium dog food company focused on health and nutrition. That venture taught him a lot about welfare and consumer behavior, which he applied when evaluating the human food category.
He noticed a difference: Conventional brands were filled with artificial ingredients, high fructose corn syrup and sodium, while clean, organic options were often more expensive and lacked flavor. That observation inspired Smash Kitchen’s mission to create products that fill the middle space – healthy, organic, delicious, and accessible.
Image Credit: Smash Kitchen
a big recipe in mind
Powell is deeply involved in Smash Kitchen beyond financing. He samples every product and even sent tons of spices to the London set so the crew could try them. While filming in the studio for a year, he also built a small “camp” with a grill out of his trailer, which shows how practical he is.
Whether he’s cooking for friends or the crew, Powell presents food the same way he does in the film – with care, creativity, and a focus on balance. As he puts it, the experience of filmmaking is “symbiotic… part of the same journey”.
While Spices was a strong first step, Powell’s vision has always been bigger. He wants to transform the entire pantry so consumers don’t have to choose between quality and affordability. He uses his friends as a sounding board, testing ingredients for taste and cost, and emphasizes that trust has been a key foundation for the brand.
“Ultimately, we really want to transform the American pantry,” he says. “We want everyone to buy Smash.”
For Powell, the mission is personal. He explains that his friends in Texas often can’t justify paying premium prices for organic products. Smash Kitchen is designed to remove that barrier, allowing consumers to purchase high-quality, organic ingredients without any compromises.
Breaking into an industry dominated by long-established brands is no easy feat – especially in an industry where consumers tend to stick with 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 are thinking about health,” says Kane. “As more people become aware of what they’re putting into their bodies – and as we continue to educate consumers – the understanding around wellness is growing. It feels like this is the right place, right time for something that is both delicious and organic.”
With the momentum for healthy options growing — and Powell 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 About It
Until recently, if you searched “Glen Powell oil” on Google, you’d probably get a picture of top Gun This may make you want to turn off your laptop in public. Now, search results tell a different story – about a smash kitchen, the Hollywood star’s latest off-screen venture.
After successfully bringing organic spices to Walmart shelves nationwide, Powell and his partners Sean Kane and Samir Mehta are expanding the brand into everyday pantry staples with a new line of cooking oils.
It sounds almost absurd – until you hear him explain why.
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