Takes Two Eggs

Megan Pham and Eliezer Martinez, Co-Founders

Irvine, CA

2024

Takes Two Eggs is inspiring readers through the universal language of food

In the early days of their relationship, Megan Pham and Eliezer Martinez bonded over their shared love of food and cooking. Now they’re sharing that passion with the world through their hit cooking brand, Takes Two Eggs.

A culinary love story

When Megan Pham and Eliezer Martinez first started dating, they loved cooking brunch together. In the thick of those early COVID days, they would spend cozy mornings together, cooking and taking beautiful, high-quality photos of their meals.

Soon friends began to comment on these pictures of their food, raving about how delicious it all looked. Inspired by the thought of sharing their dishes with the world, they did some online research and found a thriving world of people building fanbases — and earning money — from their online culinary brands.

One day, Megan and Eliezer decided to put on a rom-com while they enjoyed their freshly-made brunch — and a certain phrase caught their ears. “The characters said something about ‘two good eggs’ and we thought that had a great ring to it,” says Megan. “We finally had a name for our own blog.”

Sadly, Two Good Eggs was already taken, so they shifted it slightly to Takes Two Eggs — and so began their adventure in food blogging. Originally designed with a focus on brunch and breakfast foods, the couple also decided to incorporate Megan’s connection to the Asian dishes she grew up eating.

“We created Takes Two Eggs to be a culinary space that transcends cultural boundaries and brings people of different backgrounds together through the universal language of food,” explains Megan.

With Megan in charge of recipes and cooking, and Eliezer in charge of photography, they just had one more task to knock off their list: turning this budding passion project into a profitable business.

Multiple revenue streams emerge

As Megan and Eliezer started building their audience, they turned to Google AdSense to monetize their content through an ad-supported model. Bit by bit, their audience grew as they kept sharing content on social media, on Youtube, and on their blog. Eventually they hit the threshold to partner with Raptive, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.

“We opted for Raptive and they've just been great,” says Eliezer. “We love that they kind of handle everything so that we can focus on the creative. And they’re always very receptive if we go to them with ideas for tweaking the ad strategy. In the fast-paced world of online content, they always respond quickly, which we appreciate.”

Today, ad revenue has become their second-largest revenue stream, alongside some sponsored content they do on social media and some bespoke freelance work they do for brands in the food and beverage space.

“It's really kind of grown into this multifaceted media business,” says Eliezer. “Talk to anyone in this space and they’ll tell you you need to diversify your content offerings so that you aren’t just tied to one social channel or one type of revenue stream. I’m proud we’ve managed to do that.”

Megan and Eliezer have been serious about not putting all their eggs in one basket — but they still point to ad revenue as a central reason for their site’s profitability. “It gives us such freedom and flexibility to have a passive income stream like ad revenue,” says Megan. “Even on days when we don’t cook or upload something new, we know the traffic on our site is still generating revenue for us.”

“It gives us such freedom and flexibility to have a passive income stream like ad revenue. Even on days when we don’t cook or upload something new, we know the traffic on our site is still generating revenue for us.”

Diverse flavors, delighted readers

Thanks to their reliable revenue streams in place, Megan and Eliezer can now enjoy the relaxed, flexible working lives they’ve always wanted. Both are able to devote themselves full-time to the blog — embracing the sort of creative careers they never imagined for themselves.

“I used to be a lawyer, which was just crazy hours and crazy stress,” says Megan. “Now it's so much nicer having my own schedule and really having a life outside of work.”

“And coming from the creative marketing space, it was hard to find those jobs that felt fulfilling,” says Eliezer. “It was a bit defeating to always be making content for other clients — but now with Takes Two Eggs, I have more control and creative freedom. We’re creating something together, then seeing the direct impact it makes.”

The highlight for Megan and Eliezer is seeing that impact — and hearing from readers who made the most of these recipes. For instance, one man reached out saying he spent a whole weekend baking two of their recipes with his nephew. Megan and Eliezer were so moved to see people making memories with their recipes, and experiencing the same joy they feel when they put together a delicious dish.

“The business aspect of this project is of course satisfying, but seeing how this work resonates makes it all worth it,” says Megan. And it’s particularly impactful given the personal connection Megan has to so many of the meals on the site.

“I grew up in a predominantly white suburb, but my mom would always pack me Vietnamese lunches for school,” she explains. “Kids would often make hurtful comments, saying my lunches smelled bad or looked funny. So to turn those traumatic experiences into this project — where we’re really celebrating the beauty of Asian food — just motivates me to keep reaching readers.”

And while they’re doing the blog to make the world a more welcoming place for Asian ingredients and flavors, they’re also deriving their own personal satisfaction.

“They say you should never work alongside your spouse, but we’re proving that idea wrong,” says Megan. “I love that my husband and I are able to share this journey — and lots of delicious food — together.”

About the Publisher

Megan and Eliezer are two matcha connoisseurs, foodies, visual storytellers and food bloggers based in Southern California. They created Takes Two Eggs as a space to bring people together through the universal language of food. With this blog they hope to inspire others to try new cuisines and learn about the cultures behind the flavors.