The 9-Year-Old Chef With Her Own Thriving Gnocchi Enterprise

Imagine that you just bought some gnocchi, a dumpling-like pasta made of potato, at your local grocery store. The brand of pasta is simply called "Sadie's Gnocchi," and as far as you're aware, it doesn't seem to be different than any other brand of gnocchi on the market. What you don't know, however, is that this particular pasta is the product of one 9-year-old girl's flourishing business.

While the idea of kids running their own businesses may sound like it extends to crafts and lemonade stands, some young entrepreneurs have actually found themselves making a profit off what they make. There's an 11-year-old boy in Dallas, Texas, who runs his own spiced pecan business (via WFAA News), while there's a 10-year-old girl in Australia who may retire as a millionaire at age 15 thanks to her company that produces children's toys and hair accessories (via The Hill). There's also Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, the popular YouTube channel, who KHON 2 News says is already a millionaire at 10 years old. Kids are a lot smarter than most people give them credit for.

And then there's Sadie Cunningham and her successful pasta enterprise.

On November 17, Kelly Clarkson of the talk show "The Kelly Clarkson Show" interviewed Sadie Cunningham, a 9-year-old chef from Orlando, Florida, who has already entered the culinary scene through marketing and selling her own homemade gnocchi (known very simply as "Sadie's Gnocchi"). 

As Cunningham spoke to Clarkson, she revealed that she had learned to make the potato-based pasta through her family, selling the gnocchi she makes to everyone from teachers at her school to locals in her neighborhood. Cunningham is also inspired by Italian-American chef Giada De Laurentiis and even has her own book published titled: "Sadie's Journey: How a young girl cooks her way to Italy." The book is meant to help raise money for a trip to Italy for the young girl, who in the book is stated to have a love of "pizza, pasta, and gelato."

Sadie's Gnocchi also has its own Instagram page, where Sadie and her family post about a variety of different topics ranging from the girl's pasta business to different events in the Orlando community. We can all certainly hope that Sadie reaches her goal and takes her family to Italy!