The Traits That Define Trailblazing & Successful Leaders

0:10Hello, friends. I'm Ray Lateef, and you're listening to the number one podcast for anyone building a business in food or beverage, Taste Radio. This is a special edition of the podcast, which highlights interviews with six founders, creators, and innovators who joined us on the show during the first half of 2025. Let's kick things off with Gail Becker, the founder of trailblazing frozen food brand, Caulipower. In a clip pulled from an episode featured on March 25th, Gail opens up about the guiding principles behind Kali Power's product development and highlights how hard work, energy, and sometimes unawareness of challenges fuel the brand's success.

0:59I think the point of reference is really important as well, and you've touched on this a number of times, which is you're not selling something that is really esoteric. You're not selling something that's difficult to understand or requires a high level of education. And I encounter entrepreneurs all the time who come out with really, really innovative products, but it's going to take them going over a mountain to get people to understand what they're doing. How do you advise and talk to early stage entrepreneurs about reducing the amount of education that it requires for someone to understand what they're selling?

1:33Well, you know, look, we've all learned the hard way, right? And so a few things I like better than talking to entrepreneurs that are just starting out. I wish more had talked to me when I was just starting out. But money's tight when you're a small company and you don't have the marketing budget that's necessary to educate consumers. What's interesting about Caulipower is the day I made my first and only cauliflower crust pizza from scratch, there were 569 ,000 recipes online. Right? 569 ,000 recipes. I picked one. I couldn't even tell you which one I picked. It was fine, by the way. It wasn't great.

2:14It wasn't horrible. It was fine. But that was 569 ,000 recipes hiding in plain sight for people who just wanted a better pizza crust. It's not rocket science, and it shouldn't have to be. But that's not to say that we don't think the consumer is highly educated. We do. I think that there is a lot of like big food, I will say, who bets against the consumer, right? Who thinks the consumer isn't going to know any better. At Kali Power, we absolutely think the consumer knows better. In fact, we're betting on it. When entrepreneurs hear this and they say, well, you know, Kali Power, they did everything right.

2:58They got lucky. I mean, but I think they didn't see the hard work behind it. I mean, how do you think about, how do you advise people about hard work and entrepreneurship? Yeah, you know, it's so funny because no one really warns you. And if they do warn you, you don't get it. You're warning them right now, though. Yes, believe me, I warn people all the time. But I cannot articulate. You can't really explain it unless you go through it. And I think that's why the founder community is so close. because you can see it in our eyes. You know, we all speak this unspoken language of, you know, oh, you've been through it too.

3:38It's a thousand yard stare. You're like, yeah, yeah. Exactly, exactly. It's like, you know, you're closest to the people that you're in the trenches with, right? But I like to think a slightly different way in the sense that I think the beauty of entrepreneurialism is that you do enter with wide eyes and super curious and boundless energy and a little ignorance. And I think it's all of that together, including the ignorance, that really can make you successful. I mean, think about it like this. You were talking about big food. These companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on R &D every year.

4:22Why did I, this, you know, woman from California, come up with the cauliflower frozen pizza crust? That's crazy. And it's because they weren't consumers. They didn't have the frustration. And they thought, like all the people who told me, it couldn't be done. So that's the beginning of the journey. And in many ways, that is the sweetest, greatest thing I have ever done in my life other than my kids. As the journey continues, the company gets bigger, the journey changes. And that's okay. That's all par for the course. That's when it gets hard. You have a lot more rules to follow. It's not usually the reason why you did it.

5:12Would I do it over again? Sure, I would. Would I do it more with my eyes wide open? Sure they would be. But I wouldn't have changed the ride. And I wouldn't have changed the people I've done it with. And I certainly wouldn't change Kali Power's ability to help people. The hard work was worth it, is what you're saying. The hard work was worth it, but not for the reasons that, you know, people who are in the industry might think. It's not the monetary bit, right? Not even close. Because who knows how that story ends, right? But when I see how we have changed people's lives and made dinner easier and bring people joy and get people to hold our box and smile and all of the notes and emails and texts and direct messages that we get about how we've helped people, that's what has to satiate you.

6:21If that's not why you did it, then stay the hell out. Because otherwise it will never be satisfying enough.

6:33Next we have Bill Creelman and Dave Berwick, the founder and CEO, respectively, of Spindrift, the beverage platform best known for its sparkling water made with real fruit juice and purees. In this clip, pulled from an episode published on April 8th, Bill and Dave talk about how the brand upholds its integrity and solidifies its market position via a commitment to real ingredients and flavor innovation, and also explore how ambition, when guided by intentionality, leads to real sustainable growth.

7:11our position on you know real ingredients and then the kind of resulting calories or sugar really hasn't changed i would say i think what we would always say about our product and especially now i think this is true in the soda category is that we're not relying on sweetness we're really relying on dimension of flavor what single strength ingredients give you uniquely is a little sweet, a little tart, a little body, some sweetness, you know, that's traditional soda intensity, but a lot more dimension of flavor. And that's why you don't miss the sugar. So I actually think now more than ever, we now know sugar can accelerate things in your body that you don't necessarily want.

7:57We know a lot more about the effects of sugar. So So I think we're more, as Dave said, like we know ourselves so well now that it's much more about, you know, kind of continuing to defend our proposition than necessarily kind of reinventing or reimagining it now as we expand. Dave, how does ambition fit into your strategy? On the one hand, you've got these great product lines and you want to be intentional about and specific about how you position them and where they're sold. On the other hand, I mean, I can see these and say, hey, well, the sky's the limit for what you can do here. How do you think about and weigh ambition versus intentionality?

8:43Well, I think if intentionality is followed correctly, then ambition is sort of achieved, if you will. So I think continue to do what we're doing. I think there's more categories to go into with real ingredients and real fruit that we could redefine, if you will. And I think we need to do that at the right pace and the right way. And ultimately, the ambition will be achieved. Personally, I mean, I think this is a billion dollar business and beyond. It is. But like I don't wake up in the morning, this is only like week three, but I don't wake up in the morning and say, hey, how quickly can we become a billion dollar business?

9:16I think, hey, how successful can we make soda? And to your point, where does soda, where's it going to fit out a consumer's choices? How are they going to consume on what occasions? How do we separate that from sparkling? How do we best reach that consumer? Should we be targeting modern soda drinkers or traditional soda drinkers or both? So I think it's great to have the ambition, but I think you get there by doing all the right, not focusing on that every day, just focusing on what's right in front of you. And I think, again, this is a brand that is like, you know, it's from Bill and the team.

9:48It's like, it's never wavered from its intentionality, if you will. And I think that's really, I think today's world, people see that. They just understand it. And I think that's a really powerful thing. And I think we just got to keep following, you know, following that same path and we're going to get there. And actually, I joined because I'm so excited about, there's so few brands in any category that have that kind of sanctity to it, that it's really super exciting to be a part of this and help the team achieve their ambitions. And again, I think this thing is, it's got a lot of runway ahead of it.

10:22You mentioned a number of times that Real Ingredients is a platform with which you can innovate into multiple different beverage categories. I think when you're considering new product development, you don't want to over-innovate. You want to be very focused on what you have in front of you, but be cognizant about the potential for the brand. I don't know. I mean, I sometimes wonder about innovation as being a big trap for a lot of brands. Bill, how have you considered innovation over the years and timing in particular as it relates to the soda line? Yeah, we spend a lot of time on that. You know, and in general, if you think about, let's say we're in four to five product lines over 15 years, you know, it's about every two or three years that we feel like we're kind of ready to come out with something different and unique.

11:15I think that the difference is really, as I mentioned already, like it's about showing the versatility of real ingredients and trying to present in a unique way for consumers that may not yet have moved into Spindrift. So, you know, we're about 5 % household penetration today. We're, you know, 60 ACV. Like we're, you know, we've been pretty consistently and intentionally growing the brand. And that's always been a foundation really of the business from the beginning. And so I think we would love to continue to expand into lots of different occasions as long as we can bring something unique. That's the thing that to me is really important.

12:06I think our drifter community has come to expect that from us. You don't see all of the innovations we haven't done because they don't meet that criteria. I think as long as we continue to stay true to that, I think we'll be okay. Let's keep it going with Emily Griffith, the founder and CEO of Lil Bucks, a modern snack brand that champions buckwheat as its hero ingredient. In this clip, from our episode published on February 18th, Emily talks about why getting into Whole Foods was a full-court press. She also emphasizes the importance of knowing your brand and processes inside and out when fundraising, and why she wasn't just selling her brand and vision, she was selling herself as a founder.

12:55you did raise the money last year and it was your series a and raising your series a can make you want to tear your hair out from what i understand i'm not an entrepreneur but i hear from entrepreneurs about this talk about the timing and your thought process of when should i do this how much should i be asking for who should i be talking to because all those things are so important when you are taking that first step, that big step. Right. Yeah. It is really a process that grinds you to a pulp, but you'll know your business inside now and 10 times over again, times a million. And as any founder, you're always fundraising, but especially through that, I mean, that 2021 to date is a very, very challenging environment in the post-pandemic world and a lot of shifts.

13:44This is my first time hearing this, actually. Oh, yeah. Nobody's ever complained about it. Nobody's ever posting about LinkedIn on it. Yeah. But yeah, so always fundraising and mostly from angels because we would talk to all the big funds. But we're like, we see there is like the approach, like a magic spoon type of brand where you bring in big venture money early and, you know, big spend from the beginning. This is how we're going to do it. And I knew that wasn't what was happening here because of we really did have to prove like the consumers wanted Buckley and figure out fine tune our product offering and kind of the slow burn in that way.

14:24So we went the angel investor route for a while. And in 2023, we did in the middle of the year, we got confirmation that we were launching into Whole Foods National. We were going from two SKUs in the Midwest to four to five SKUs nationally. and I was smart enough by that point to have learned that, you know, that doesn't mean it's just a big break or overnight success. Like the work has really just begun at that point. Like that to me, it almost felt like last year was year one because we got to the point of achieving a baseline of distribution and awareness. Like now the fun begins. And so with that, it did.

15:02And, you know, we met Proterra Partners is the lead of the series A. They're an agriculture focused PE firm based out of Minneapolis. And we met them at a sustainable food financing conference. And it's kind of weird. Like it's probably like dating, of course, too. It's like when you know, you know, like I wasn't specifically like looking only at venture or for a series A, but when we started talking and the types of investments they made, it was like, oh, actually, this does seem like the right partner to do a series A with. There was just a lot of alignment on the agriculture side and their expertise in sourcing and building supply chains too.

15:39And then their interest to get a new emerging brands and a little bit of CPG. So yeah. And then, you know, there was like nine months of diligence between that. How much do you feel like you were selling the brand, the business, the vision, as much as you were selling yourself as a founder? I mean, that's so funny you say that because I feel like I was always selling the brand, the business and the vision, but really I was selling myself as a founder. And probably realize that later on in the process, that is really something I should have been flexing more. I think especially women are probably a little more like, oh, I don't want to brag about myself or this or that.

16:19But just like laying it on the table, like I'm so good at this. So like you need to unlock this so I can go run around and do what I'm amazing at, which is being the like evangelist for Buckwheat and for this brand. We all have seen it. I'm really good at it. Let's go. So now I know a lot of folks listening are going to ask, Ray, please ask Emily, how she got into Whole Foods nationally, because it is a dream to, and yes, there's a lot of work that happens after you get on shelf. But how do you get into Whole Foods nationally? I would assume it's an iterative process that you get into a few, you prove yourself out, you get into more, you prove yourself out.

16:55But I mean, is it that simple? Oh my gosh, you wish. nothing is but that's so funny you say that because even when I was selling in the farmer's markets with my brown craft bag I had a coffee date with Ricky from Think Jerky and I sat down with my like brown craft bag and was like so how do we get these in Whole Foods and he was like very alarmed you have a lot to learn before then like my packaging all of that you know this was even before Cluster Buck so we did have a lot to learn but even at that time in 2021, I feel like there was, well, maybe not so much anymore because of the pandemic, there was that playbook of getting in a region, demoing the crap out of it, really crushing that region, going to another region.

17:36And obviously there's been like a lot of region shifts with Whole Foods and like everything's constantly changing. And for me, like, I think at the start of 2023, I was like, Whole Foods is the absolute launch partner for us. That is our target consumer. We're launching buckwheat, this unfamiliar ingredient into the U S it's going to start in whole foods. I've decided they're supporting regenerative agriculture, which is big for us. So it wasn't just, you know, submitting to the reviews and following up and obsessing over your buyer, but it was like our buyer's boss and his boss and the marketing team, like what we could do together in marketing, keeping them appraised on like anything happening with the brand, the sustainability team?

18:20What are we doing at the farm? You want to come out to the farm, even though we only have two SKUs in the Midwest, why don't you come? And then like going to Expo West and having a booth, like for me, that show isn't about like direct sales. You're not writing orders there, but it is showing certain people in the industry, like you're here to play and you're a serious brand and having that home base. And so Expo West every year would really be where like I was trying to weave all of that together. Like, look how aligned we are in region and marketing and brand and ingredients in this product. You have to give this a chance.

18:56And yeah, 2023, the start of the year, we all want to be in Whole Foods, but it became more than just like the submissions and following up and being a rock star with the buyer. It was like a full court press on the entire company. So not easy, but doable. Not easy, but you did it. And I I think if you said Whole Foods or Busts, and that was the path. It is kind of crazy because that was the plan. And I was like, otherwise, I don't know if I've got it in me. Like, we need a big partner like that to anchor our core product line. And it worked. So I'm glad.

19:31We continue with Troy Bondi and Winston Alfieri, the co-founders of Saws, a bold, culture-forward pasta sauce brand. In this clip, pulled from an episode aired on April 22nd, Troy and Winston reveal how they convinced skeptical retail buyers that saws could deliver true incremental value and how saying, I don't know, has opened doors in unexpected ways.

20:00the problem that we saw with the category early on was that it felt commoditized right it felt like there had just been this this push to you know for a handful of brands it didn't feel their way it had become commoditized exactly you know exactly and and so you know being able to add real incremental experience and decommoditize this commoditized category is something that i think has has struck a chord with a new generation of consumers yeah i'm glad you use the word incremental because that was the word I was going to use. When I have sauce in my pantry, I think about it. Okay. This is an incremental value for me because I don't have to rely on whatever tomato sauce I have in there.

20:37If I want to make something that's a little different, spice things up, maybe mild things down. If that's a term, I can use sauce. When you talk about retailers, they're always looking for incremental value as well, but it's more, what are you bringing to our stores that are going to bring more customers into our stores that's going to make our shelf our tomato sauce shelf better and more dynamic was that the simple pitch when you started out i mean because in correct me if i'm wrong target was your first major retailer yeah we'd launched in whole food soap pack prior to target but our first national account was target chain wide yeah and and that that was honestly exactly the pitch we felt like we were and and we still feel today that we are the most incremental brand that the category has ever seen, right?

21:25And I think really like Winston had touched on, having this blank slate of opportunity in marketing the brand in a fundamentally different way than anybody else we feel, than really anybody else has permission to, gives us this opportunity to digitally engage a younger Gen Z millennial follower. And we think there's enough brand affinity that we can build to actually get that consumer into store. But on the flip side, in thinking about the consumer that's actually in their habitual shopping routine in-store, the way the brand presents itself with bright, exciting colors on shelf and winning secondary display and off-shelves, and then building that interest in a consumer reading Hot Honey Marinara and knowing what Hot Honey is and knowing what Marinara is, but never seeing the two together, is we even feel we can drive in-store incrementality with the existing shopper, right?

22:16I think to go off Troy's point, all the buyer meetings we do when we're pitching retailers, they're so excited to be and they really say like we've gotten this a few times we hate reviewing the pasta sauce category because every single time we get a new brand in here and they say we have the freshest italian tomatoes yeah and we actually go against conventional wisdom and use california your own tomatoes which is not like a big pitch for us but it's just ironic how a lot of the buyers have been telling us that and they're excited when they leave our meetings so and i I think it's like we want to really shift category dynamics and that for us, the category hasn't been this way in the past, but it should be a discovery category.

23:00The consumer should go walk to the pasta set and expect innovation, right? We want the consumer to be excited to shop the category, whether it's us or somebody else. But that was always confusing to us in a sense. It seemed so obvious for us as young consumers to crave excitement and innovation. And we just felt like there was nothing that was incremental enough to drive the discovery consumer to the category. As two young founders, when we think about building the team, we want to bring people in who we can really delegate a ton of responsibility to. and lean into to learn from and to understand how they think about making decisions with all that they've learned in the past.

23:43We have a lot of young team members as well who we learn from too on the marketing side. But ops comes to mind as one that daily we learn something from our ops team. And we owe them a ton of credit in being able to scale the way we have. We were really in 10 stores up until about January of last year. You know, so to be able to maintain that scale with a lean team takes a lot of great talent. And I think we've been fortunate to have talented people who we can learn from. How do you walk the line between being humble and saying, I don't know, I'm willing to learn and maintaining that leadership position saying, we're the founders, we're the bosses, essentially.

24:25Yeah, we're definitely still learning. I think it's a, you know, we've had times where we're just like, we have to figure this out. It's the figure it out mentality of like, we just got to figure it out or else we can't fail. I think that that is the ultimate role we play is like constant problem solving problems for our team and problems for the business as a whole. And this feeling of constant crisis management in many ways, right? Putting out fires daily. We'll make a great PR team one day. But no, I think it's more so building a team and understanding, you know, at the same time you're building culture that didn't exist a year ago, that now has to exist in a way that keeps everybody motivated and happy and willing and bought in, is something we're still learning, right?

25:11We're really still learning that. And I don't know the answer yet. Quick break. If this episode has you thinking about what's next in food and beverage, explore BevNet and Nosh Insider, our subscription platform with deeper insights from the BevNet team. Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more. Next up is Rosa Lee, the founder and CEO of Wild Wonder, a fast-growing brand of sparkling beverages that are infused with probiotics and prebiotics. In this clip from our episode published on March 18th, Rosa talks about how its pricing and retail strategy are interwoven, how she met buyers from major retail chains, and how demand planning and listening to consumers has guided Wild Wander's innovation and marketing efforts.

26:02You've grown, Wild Wander that is, pretty quickly, pretty fast in these last few years. And I wonder about your pricing strategy as it relates to distribution. distribution when you're breaking into those new markets and new channels? How do you think about aligning pricing and distribution? Yeah, that's a great question because we are always looking at how much is the customer willing to pay and like what are they saying to us in terms of what we can do better. We're always trying to be at least like 1 % better every day. So price is something that we are thinking about as we expand to conventional retailers and mass retailers.

26:37I would say looking at our velocity today, and we are top in terms of velocity performance, people are paying the premium. So we're not so worried about price today. Obviously, as we grow, you know, maybe we expand more with Walmart, we expand more with the conventional retailers, there's going to be some price compression. So we just think about, okay, Walmart usually looks for a certain discount to the rest of the market. Costco will want to offer a percent value to their customers. So we just want to make sure the math works while still maintaining a really solid margin so we can grow profitably, sustainably.

27:16But so far, we're not so worried about pricing. I would say, to your point earlier, if we were to position ourselves in the solar category, people are going to be expecting$2,$2.50, that type of price range. Kombuchas are priced at anywhere between like$3 to$4. So when they first started, they were at$5. So for some of the premium products, they are priced higher. So we offer more benefits in chicane, really unique flavors. Staying true to our value and why people are buying us, we'll continue to command that solid velocity at a higher price. You mentioned two very big retailers that a lot of folks would want their brands to be sold in.