In 2012, Nigerian writer and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a TED Talk that has since gone viral for how it posed questions of gender roles and the status of women around the world. In particular, her speech We Should All Be Feminists asked why women were regarded as those who must cook for their families and yet when it is time to earn from cooking, women chefs and restaurateurs are shut out of relevant career opportunities.

It is these questions of money, entrepreneurship and building wealth through food that seem to be what Taiwo and Kehinde Smith are answering. The identical twin sisters are part of a growing pattern of women redefining the hospitality and restaurant industry in Lagos. Together, they own a portfolio of high-end restaurants and lifestyle brands under The Smith Sisters Group. These women are chefs, restaurateurs and business operators who have become fixtures in conversations around the Lagos upscale dining scene for about five years now.

In tracing the journey behind their collective entrepreneurial partnership, it is important to trace their previous entrepreneurial stories prior to them co-founding restaurants and hospitality spaces like Maple Lagos, The Smiths, Forno and Cafeteria NG. 

To start with, before their foray into the food and hospitality space, the Smith Sisters actually ran a hair extensions and wig-selling business on Instagram. Called My Extensionz, it was created around 2016 by Kehinde Smith, with her sister Taiwo running the operational angles of it.  According to Kehinde in an interview, their experience running My Extensionz was the necessary launchpad needed to understand how e-commerce functioned. And particularly e-commerce and online businesses driven primarily through the use of social media apps like Instagram.

Although My Extensionz has now been rebranded to The Hair Studio–an online hair care store and beauty salon with locations in Chicago, USA, Kehinde Smith often mentions how she and her sister selling hair and hair-related products to Nigerian women at home and in the diaspora, gave her the funds and launchpad for their present enterprises. She also says that it taught her incredibly about supply chain and logistics and handling day-to-day business operations from a Nigerian perspective. What is interesting to note is that the Nigerian branch of the hair salon is physically located in the same building where their wood-fired pizza bar Forno is located. Located in Lekki, this smart merger has enabled customers to move between the hair salon and the pizza bar, thereby harmonising and improving sales across both seemingly divergent business verticals. 

But back to their fast-growing recognition in the Lagos food and hospitality space. It is important to trace how they have become a reference point in Lagos of sisters and family members running multiple hospitality businesses. The Smith Sisters foray into food and hospitality started with them most likely infusing the capital from My Extensionz into what can best be described as a test run. Most likely, because there are no public reports tracing their first business capital to My Extensionz, but what we do know is that their business in beauty also heavily influenced their operational model for their first business. Prominent food magazines like Eat, Drink, Lagos and Foodie in Lagos report that it as an “Instagram but make it cozy” aesthetic. 

Called Maple Lagos, it was created in 2021 and is a cafe/brunch spot still in operation at Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. Their menu contained the classic features of a cafe and coffee bar: pastries, coffee and snacks.  It is also an all-day dining as opposed to having the features of a full restaurant. In an interview with BusinessDay, Kehinde Smith attributes the success of Maple Lagos to having features that ensure it survives the signature inflation seen in Nigeria. 

For example, she says that they run what can best be described as a bulk-sourcing, zero-waste and lean production model in Maple Lagos. One where efficiency and management of lean resources is at the topmost of priorities. Her sister and co-founder Taiwo Smith, in addition to running the hair enterprises, is also an executive chef, operations professional and businesswoman who shuttles between Chicago, USA and Lagos, Nigeria. 

Their choice of location for their first three businesses is also one that should be referenced. Akin Adesola Street in Victoria Island, Lagos, is one that has a lot of foot traffic. This is such that their customer base is not only built via those who come to the salon and then go to Maple Lagos, but is also built by those who consistently move around Akin Adesola. This too is in addition to how they have built a name for themselves on social media apps like Instagram. 

If Maple Lagos was the first successful test run, their next two businesses in hospitality would be what stamped them firmly in the Lagos hospitality industry. About one year after operating Maple Lagos, The Smith Sisters launched Cafeteria NG and The Smiths NG. One can say that Maple Lagos validated them in the hospitality space and opened space for more demand for casual brunch and lunch options not limited to coffee or cafe options.

This led to the birth of Cafeteria NG. As the name implies, it features more comfortable and “regular” food options. This again ensures to capture the lunch crowd and those working around Akin Adesola, who Maple Lagos’ initial menu could have eluded. In addition to casual lunch options, Cafeteria NG also has dinner options that fuse a blend of casual Nigerian food and international options for anyone looking to explore different menu options. 

In every way possible, one can say that Cafeteria NG and Maple Lagos have both been successful. However, what stands out in their journey as restaurateurs was the creation of The Smiths NG. This was what cemented them and their place in defining the Lagos hospitality space. The Smiths NG is a first-of-its-kind cocktail room that has an intentionally curated global fusion aesthetic. Still in their building in Akin Adesola, Victoria Island, the outlook of The Smiths NG captures the date night and business dinner crowd that could have been skipped by Maple Lagos and Cafeteria NG. This third venture of theirs was created in 2023 and has since become part of the cluster of hospitality businesses located in their building that also houses their salon. The Smiths is not just a cocktail room but also is their first upscale dining experience in their history as restaurant owners.

 

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Throughout this essay, it has been mentioned that their first three businesses are located in the same building. The ripple effect of that is that this shared infrastructure has seen a harmonisation of their customer base across each food vertical. On an operational level, it has also enabled them to organise using shared storage, shared management and most importantly cutting costs on real estate ventures. What this has done is make The Smith Sisters Group almost synonymous with Akin Adesola Street when it comes to food, hospitality and even the mixed experience of getting your hair done and going to eat in the same spot.

Their most recent venture, Forno, is the only one that has seen a diversion from the aforementioned pattern. Located in Lekki, Forno is a wood-fired artisanal pizza bar that caters to pizza lovers. It was started in 2024 and is the first expansion out of their signature building on Akin Adesola.

The creation of Forno did not come without its own challenges. For one, reports stated that in the first weeks, they were sold out of pizza dough for two days in a row. That said, Kehinde and Taiwo Smith are known for always speaking on the importance of customers giving feedback. This is regardless of how comfortable the feedback may be. 

Since the occurrence of operational challenges faced in the first week of Forno’s operation, the sisters have since created a model for operational flow that can be adopted even in businesses that are not in hospitality. For example, they not only built a system that makes it hard for staff to overlook customer dissatisfaction, they also actively asked customers to complain directly to them as opposed to “leaving the restaurant to complain in your car”, to use the words of Kehinde Smith.

Women have always been a part of Nigeria’s hospitality and cuisine industry. This is regardless of how women chefs, cooks and restaurant owners are not taken as seriously as male chefs. What makes the Smith Sisters unique is that not only do they belong to this growing movement of women chefs who are intentional about cementing their place in Nigerian cuisine, they are sisters who work hand in hand to never overshadow one another.

This is the overall arc and defining feature of The Smith Sisters. They represent what true sisterhood looks like. And that in itself would always be worthy of emulation.