Just three years ago this month, Caulipower listed its first pizzas in 30 Whole Foods Markets on the US West Coast. Today, thanks to national distribution in more than 25,000 stores including Kroger, Walmart, Albertsons Safeway, Whole Foods Market, Target, Sprouts and CVS, the Los Angeles-based company is celebrating the sale of more than 36,000,000 units.
In 2017, Caulipower’s cauliflower-crust pizza disrupted the American market and since then the company has passed a few milestones. It became the 8th best-selling frozen pizza in 2019, the #1 “better-for-you” pizza since 2018, and the #1 gluten-free pizza since 2017.
The line’s toppings range from uncured pepperoni and vegetable to turkey pepperoni, plain pepperoni, veggie (red, yellow and green peppers, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and spices), and three cheese (mozzarella, white cheddar and parmesan).
Original Cauliflower Pizza Crust and Paleo Cauliflower Pizza Crust are popular with folks who want to add personal signatures in their home kitchen.
“Create your own masterpiece when you call the shots on this one – which toppings, what kind of cheese, how thick to lay it on,” is a suggestion posted at the company’s website (www.eatcaulipower.com). “Whatever you decide, you can’t go wrong with this pizza crust that’s always made with cauliflower as the first ingredient, so it’s naturally gluten-free.”
Category Extensions
In the last 18 months, Caulipower entered three new categories with the first-ever cauliflower tortillas, bread replacement Sweet PotaTOASTs and cauliflower-coated Spicy(ish) Chicken Tenders. More than half a million bags of the “baked, not, fried new chick on the block” chicken tenders were purchased during the first three months on market.
Sweet PotaTOASTS are frozen, ready-to-make roasted sweet potato slices positioned as a “one-ingredient solution to gluten free toasts.” The non-GMO product is gluten-free, vegan and paleo with 15 net carbohydrates, high fiber. They provide a good source of Vitamin A and C, and contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.
Commenting on the company’s growth, Founder and CEO Gail Becker (pictured above posing with pizza products) said: “We more than doubled in size in 2019 and we contributed a third of the dollar growth in the frozen pizza category even though we represent just 2% of the market. Our fourth year will be bigger than our first three combined.”
Interestingly, the Caulipower got its start on a Pinterest fail.
As the mom of two boys coping with Celiac autoimmune disease that left their bodies unable to process gluten, Becker tried hard to find nutritious, gluten-free options that weren’t filled with fat, sugar, salt and calories.
“Frustrated, I turned to a like-minded community of healthy hackers and stumbled upon lots of recipes for cauliflower crust pizza,” she recalled. “My creation tasted just fine, but it looked awful. My kitchen was a disaster and I had spent 90 minutes I didn’t have making a pizza crust. I figured I probably wasn’t alone and, so, left my job to create Caulipower.”
Becker’s products are marketed under the Vegolutionary Foods banner of ready-to-cook meals now available in more than 15,000 conventional, natural and specialty stores across North America.
