Caulipower Powers Ahead

Caulipower's Story, from Gail Becker, founder of Caulipower

In 2016, I founded the company based on a confluence of events in my life. I was in corporate America, very frustrated and I was looking to do something more meaningful. My father had passed away, and I wanted to change my life and do something to help people. Also, I'm the mom of two boys with Celiac disease, who were diagnosed at a time when there was no gluten-free food in the store. I had watched gluten-free options in the industry evolve, and what I noticed was how much junk the industry was putting in gluten-free food. I waited around for someone to do something, and no one ever did. So I put all those things together, and we launched Caulipower in 30 Whole Foods stores in February 2017.

How does Caulipower’s product stand out?

Why can't better-for-you foods taste good too? We make great-tasting frozen foods that are better for you and incredibly convenient — Caulipower created the category. There wasn't a Caulipower-like product in the frozen pizza category before Caulipower. We're famous for having created the No. 1 better-for-you pizza, but we also make chicken products, and that’s a notable part of our business. We also just launched pizza snacks, which is exciting.

What keeps you up at night today, and how are you trying to position the company to weather those challenges?

I want to make sure that we don't lose what brought us here, no matter how big we get. We want to make sure we still have instilled the company values and the mission that brought us here. Then also continue to listen to our consumers and create products they need. There are still categories that are ripe for disruption in much the same way that the frozen pizza category was when Caulipower first disrupted it. We have some new products, new platforms coming down the line, and we're very excited by them because we see so much opportunity.

What’s the best advice you can give other food & beverage entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurs need to come to the food industry with the acknowledgment of two things. One, there is something that you have to offer — maybe a background in sales or marketing or finance or something else. Two, don't be afraid to hire and surround yourself with people who are experts in the industry, because entrepreneurs should constantly be learning from people who have done this before. Then, once you know the rules that you need to follow and what has been successful, determine which rules you're going to break. What are you going to do differently? Will you be faster, better, cheaper, look different? It’s really important for entrepreneurs to know which rules they’re going to follow, and which rules they’re going to break.