BOTTLE ROCKETS

Smash Kitchen, an organic condiment brand co-founded by two startup vets and a Hollywood star, has surpassed $10 million in sales in six months.

- By ALI DONALDSON

IN HEINZ'S SIGHT Sameer Mehta and Sean Kane are putting the squeeze on big ketchup.

When Sameer Mehta and Sean Kane visited Washington, D.C., last summer, they carted their own ketchup and mustard through Capitol Hill security. That way, when the entrepreneurs sat down for lunch after meeting with lawmakers, they knew precisely what they were dipping into: sauces with no GMOs, dyes, chemical stabilizers, or corn syrups.

Last April, Mehta, 38, and Kane, 48, launched Smash Kitchen, an organic condiment brand, with Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell, 37. Within six months of debuting in Walmart, the L.A.-based company hit $10 million in revenue.

“I don’t think any of us imagined how quickly people would respond,” Powell tells Inc.

The brand, which projects to reach profitability in 2026, has already expanded into the supermarket chains Sprouts, HE-B, and Erewhon, as well as Crypto.com Arena in L.A. and San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium, but its three co-founders are thinking even bigger. They want to take on the multibillion-dollar likes of Heinz, Hunt’s, and Hellmann’s in the American condiment market by getting their better-for-you sauces and cooking oils on restaurant menus, in airports, and on school lunch trays. The last is what brought Mehta and Kane to Capitol Hill.

It’s a grand plan for a startup, but the founders’ have a track record of success: CEO Mehta was VP of partnerships at mattress brand Casper and co-founded the dog food brand Jinx. Smash Kitchen president Kane co-founded the Honest Company with Jessica Alba. And Powell’s 2.8 million Instagram followers, well aware of his penchant for fitness, don’t hurt either.