Twins Maya and Kala Johnstone always had a love for food. But it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic, when they retired after working in the educational field for two decades, that they decided to make a full-blown living from it. With plenty of help from both their real and Temple alumni family, they prove it's never too late to turn that passion into a dream career.
When Maya Johnstone, EdD, EDU '01, and Kala Johnstone, EdD, EDU '01, decided to go to college in 1997, there was only one choice: Temple University. The two joke that their father, Isaac, wouldn't have it any other way but to continue the family tradition. Isaac was a police lieutenant at the university and older brothers Lance, STH '96, and Brent, SSW '99, had already attended, both playing for the Temple football team. While the decision to enroll may not have exactly been completely theirs, looking back, they say they wouldn't have changed a thing.
Both Maya and Kala ended up graduating with bachelor's degrees from the College of Education and Human Development, but their college journey initially didn't point in that direction. Kala recalled how neither of them started as an education major when they first arrived, but 54 credits in, both had come to the decision to change fields—at the same time. In a "major twin energy" moment, they actually came to the decision on the same day—and told each other when they spoke one night.
After graduation, the twins both went on to work in the Philadelphia School District, eventually working their way up to being the principals of Wagner Middle and Edmonds Elementary schools respectively. After a lengthy career spanning two decades in the education field, the sisters decided to retire in July 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, as many people did, the two started to reevaluate their lives, careers and dreams. They'd always had a passion for food, starting an Instagram account 8 years earlier called FoodChasers. The account up to that point was just for fun, posting photos of different dishes they'd seen on their travels across the city, state and country. The name was derived from that exact concept: their love of "chasing" all different types of food and sharing it with their friends and followers.
Around the time of their retirement, at the urging of their family and some of their followers, they decided to use their pension money and turn their culinary ambitions into a business. FoodChasers became more than just a fun outlet for them on social media; it was now a full-blown catering business and restaurant in Elkins Park. Thanks to the fanbase they'd cultivated and some savvy business help from their brothers, they transformed their love for food into a business that now boasts over 90,000 followers on Instagram between their two accounts. Over the last year, the account and the twins have been featured in food articles, local media and even in a recent Pepsi commercial starring Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
They can be seen regularly posting examples of their dishes on those social media accounts, as they describe FoodChasers' identity as a "twist on American traditional breakfast and lunch." They say their No. 1 seller is a brioche French toast that has golden fried shrimp and chicken tenders on top, with their famous house-made spicy honey sauce.
The twins said that while it's been a whirlwind since launching the restaurant and catering business during a pandemic, they attribute a lot of success to being Temple alumni and the network that comes along with it. Their brothers and fellow alumni, Brent and Lance, also assist with the business, and have been integral with their connections to the alumni community as well. Kala and Maya added that they hear all the time whenever they may be featured on radio or television, the biggest thing that stands out to their followers and customers is that Temple connection. Kala said, "Some of these people are 70 years and older. They come in here and the first thing they say is, I heard you went to Temple and we just had to come."
A few of the dishes served at FoodChasers
The connection between FoodChasers and the Temple community has continued to stay strong into their second year, with the twins hosting TUBAA, the Temple Black Alumni Association, for a recent lunch, and hoping to cater the football team sometime this fall. They'll also be coming back to the nest for Homecoming as a vendor at the Temple Fan Tailgate. They added that the rush of support from other Temple alumni has been a huge part of their success, and if they'd gone to school in another state and come back to Philadelphia to start this business, it just might not have been the same.
The two also spoke about their philanthropic endeavors, launching FoodChasers Cares, an initiative that focuses on providing special school lunches to kids and schools that may not otherwise have the resources. They added that most "extra" parties or lunches at schools normally aren't covered by the typical school budget, so it's something that teachers and administrators don't have to dig into their own pockets for. The hope is to expand the idea to honor teachers with an additional special "FoodChasers Experience" at the end of the school year. Bringing their experience as principals into focus as well, the twins hope to be able to raise and donate money for schools to afford de-escalation rooms, an educational tool that's used as a "safe environment for [students] to release their pent-up frustrations, de-escalate and return to a calm state."
Both Kala and Maya fondly recalled their days as students at Temple. The first two years were the ideal college experience, spending hours at a time meeting new people in the J&H cafeteria or the Student Center. They added that by their senior year, while they continued to have fun, being at Temple was a place and state of mind you didn't want to leave as the real world rushed toward you faster and faster. Those friends they spent time with for hours on campus remain their close friends to this day, with the sisters adding that the relationships formed during their four years were and remain extremely important.
So where was the twins' favorite place to eat on campus? The Student Center (or the SAC as some alumni call it), joking that while it looks quite different today than it did back then, it was still the best place to eat and hang out with friends.
You can find more information about FoodChasers at their website, as well as on Instagram at @FoodChasers and @FoodChasersKitchen.