Greg Steltenpohl
Beverage pioneer Greg Steltenpohl, who co-founded Odwalla, has continued to break ground with his newest health- conscious venture.
Inspiration
Califia Farms, a company concentrating on plant-based juice, almond milk, cold-brewed coffee, and Latin-inspired horchata and agua fresca, is one of the fastest-growing natural beverage companies in the US. Steltenpohl, 61, co-founded Califia Farms with Sun Pacific, a California farming group growing a bounty of produce and tree nuts in the San Joaquin Valley.
Steltenpohl says two different factors drove him to build a company that’s shaking up the beverage industry. One is business, the other is personal.
He says his role as an entrepreneur is to translate beverage trends into products the consumer can relate to. As he saw the Latino population in the U.S. grow and prosper, he realized “there was a lack of aspirational products for that market, healthier beverages using higher-quality ingredients and better packaging.” Hence, Mango Chile Lime Agua Fresca and Classic Cinnamon Horchata with Almondmilk were born. As the global population nears 10 billion in 2050, Steltenpohl also sees an environmental and literal market cost that is not sustainable if people continue to be reliant on animal-based protein.
“Unfortunately, you can’t just tell people not to eat animal products,” he says. “In developed countries, we have to create aspirational brands built around emotion and caring about the environment and making it desirable.” To that end, Califia Farms has worked to develop an alternative to dairy milk that is equally pleasurable when poured on cereal or in coffee. In addressing California’s protracted drought, he cited studies showing that almond crops require less than half the amount of water needed to raise dairy cows. He also noted that more people are discovering they are lactose intolerant.
“As more and more people become aware of the role of food and diet as a central issue in health care, they’ll be looking for healthier ways to get their protein,” he says. “It’s not just about animal protein becoming more expensive.”
Impact
Responsiveness to health-minded consumers is a priority, Steltenpohl stresses. More than a year ago, Califia Farms eliminated animal-based protein from its portfolio, making it a 100-percent vegan company. Concerns about a commonly used binding agent, carrageenan, that has been linked to inflammation and other potential health problems, led to it being removed from all products.
“It’s not scientifically documented as being harmful,” Steltenpohl says of carrageenan, “but we eliminated it as a precautionary standpoint, to err on the side of the investigative consumer.”
Steltenpohl’s values extend to the environmentally sound design of Califia Farms’ manufacturing facility. A number of innovations at the plant include skylights and high-efficiency lighting fixtures and motion sensors that reduce energy costs by 20 to 25 percent, he says. Packaging is 100-percent recyclable. All coffee beverages are made from beans grown on Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.
“We are working toward a closed loop system in which we’ll be capable of processing our water waste back to the point that it can be reintroduced as irrigation,” Steltenpohl says. He expects the system to be nearly complete within twelve months.
The Future
Califia Farms’ Almondmilk Horchata, in Classic Cinnamon and Vanilla Coconut flavors, was such a hit last summer, Steltenpohl recently announced that the company is expanding production into year-round availability. “Our horchata became one of our top 10 best-selling products within a few months of the product launch,” he notes.
Specialty coffee is another aspect of the business that has energized him. “Cold brew coffee is something I’ve been involved in for nine years,” he says, “and it’s finally emerged as a major growth industry. It used to be this esoteric practice of extracting overnight. Now it’s pulling people into being coffee drinkers who couldn’t take the acid of regular coffee.”
Given Califia Farms’ packaged Cold Brew Coffee, in flavors like Peppermint Mocha, Concentrated Cold Brew and Pumpkin Spice Latte, having a cup of cold brew now is simply a matter of mixing it with water. “When it’s combined with the nuttiness of Almondmilk it’s a little bit of a marriage made in heaven,” Steltenpohl says. The company is also launching a plant-based half-and-half substitute based on almond and coconut.
Califia Farms products are found in 18,000 outlets nationwide, balanced between natural food shops and conventional grocers, and the company expects to sell more than 50 SKUs by 2016.