“Initially this started off as kind of a joke.”
If you say the words “gluten-free vegan pork rinds,” to most people, they will probably assume you are joking. But that’s what Snacklins are.
“People don’t believe you right off the bat,” says Snacklins co-founder Samy Kobrosly (better known as local radio personality Samy K). Kobrosly and friend Logan McGear, the executive chef of Smoke & Barrel, came up with the idea for the snack chip about two years ago.
McGear is known for seamlessly incorporating vegan items, such as vegan wings, veggie chili and vegan spare ribs, into Smoke & Barrel’s barbecue menu. Kobrosly has worked in restaurants in the past and bills himself as a food science fan. However, his venture into a variation on pork snacks is just as unlikely as the pairing of vegan food and barbecue.
“I’m a Muslim, so I’ve never eaten a pork rind in my life,” he laughs. So when the pair got serious about the idea, Kobrosly headed to the store and started buying pork rinds to research how they were made, their texture, and how he could make a mixture of dehydrated mushrooms, onions and yucca look and feel like a pork rind.
“I find the true thing about being a food fan is understanding why it’s so good,” he says. “A lot of people call themselves foodies and think it’s because they pay for expensive dinners.” Between Kobrosly’s food science and McGear’s talent for seasoning, the two were confident they could create something unique and delicious.
After tinkering with the moisture, testing different iterations of ingredients and relying on taste tests from friends, McGear and Kobrosly found a recipe they were happy with. And the pair’s connections throughout the DC restaurant industry gave them a natural starting point to enter the market.
Bags of Snacklins appear behind the counter at Smoke & Barrel and two sister restaurants Meridian Pint and Brookland Pint as well as a handful of other DC bars, at local breweries DC Brau and 3 Stars, and are now being sold at Glen’s Garden Market and some Yes! Organic Market locations.
And far more than just an outlet for distribution, Kobrosly credits DC’s uniquely collaborative food and beverage community with helping Snacklins throughout the development process.
“The biggest key to our success is our friends. The thing I really appreciate about this is that DC has a great community,” he says. “In DC everyone helps out. All of our friends, all of the people we work with in the industry, that came and ate them and gave us tips, helped us out. Anywhere else we’d be fighting an uphill battle.”
The Snacklins crew aims to expand to become a regionally-popular snack, and is actively seeking investment to scale up. McGear and Kobrosly have been operating off of a small funding round to get them going, and relying on advice and expertise of friends to navigate the unknowns of the business side, with which they’re less familiar. Snacklins also auditioned in Philadelphia for the next season of Shark Tank, and is awaiting to hear whether they’ll be moving on to further rounds of the popular show.
Ultimately, Kobrosly sees Snacklins’ combination of the familiar taste and texture of a pork rind with a health food snack as having real winning potential. A serving size of Snacklins has only 30 calories and no trans fat, compared to over five times that for true crispy pork skin. Each bag costs about $3, cheaper than many other health food options says Kobrosly.
“We have such a unique product, something delicious that’s also a healthy snack,” he says. “Kale chips are gross and those things are fucking expensive.”
