Meet LaLa: Our 9-Year-Old Chief Taste Officer | Switchback Foods
Meet LaLa: The 9-Year-Old CTO Who Keeps Switchback Honest
If you think Switchback was created in a corporate lab by a team of suit-wearing food scientists, we have some news for you.
Every single flavor you drink has to pass through one final, uncompromising quality inspector first: our Chief Taste Officer, LaLa.
LaLa is 9 years old. She’s my daughter, a semi-picky eater, a soccer player, and the official ruler of the Switchback test kitchen.
She was standing right at the kitchen counter the very first time I pulled freeze-dried fruit out of the chamber to mix batch #1. And for the last few years, she’s been running the show.
The Jungle Mango Era (And the 5-Smoothie Record)
For the first two years of Switchback’s existence, LaLa drank Jungle Mango exclusively. Every single day. No exceptions.
That was until I brought home the first test batch of Blueberry Beast. Suddenly, her loyalty split. Today, she rotates daily between Blueberry Beast, Island Wave, and Dragon Smile.
Speaking of Dragon Smile—she holds the unofficial world record for consumption. The very first day we perfected the Dragon Smile recipe, she drank 5 full smoothies in a single day.
"Why Do People Just Bring Sugary Junk?"
LaLa doesn't just drink Switchback at home. She packs them in her lunchbox, drinks them as post-school snacks, and brings them to her soccer games.
After one particularly sweaty match, while watching the post-game snack table overflow with artificial juice pouches and processed snacks, she turned to me and asked, totally unprompted:
"Why do people just bring sugary junk to sports games?"
Out of the mouth of babes. She genuinely doesn't understand why anyone would settle for synthetic powders or fake juice when you can rehydrate real whole fruit in 10 seconds.
The Ultimate Quality Control
As CTO, LaLa’s job is critical:
- Texture Inspection: If a batch is too thick, too thin, or has the slightest off-texture, it gets rejected.
- Flavor Testing: She critiques every single sample with brutal 9-year-old honesty.
- Customer Review Fanatic: She loves reading our 5-star customer reviews—and is genuinely baffled whenever someone mixes it wrong or doesn't like it ("Dad, did they remember to use ice-cold water?!").
Most of all, LaLa has a heart of gold. She’s so proud of approving these smoothies that she occasionally sneaks into the warehouse to drop 3D-printed keychains or fun hand-made surprises into outgoing customer boxes. If you find one in your order, consider yourself blessed by the CTO herself!
Want to Drink CTO-Approved Produce?
If a semi-picky 9-year-old soccer player approves of every flavor, you know your tastebuds are in good hands.
👉 Grab the Original Variety Pack ($51) — Build your daily 10-second real produce habit with our signature blends!
👉 Try the New Flavor Variety Pack ($51) — Experience our newest real-fruit smoothie creations!