Greg Steltenpohl on Califia Farm’s Plant-based Movement towards a Sustainable Future

It’s not often that you can find a brand so deeply rooted in its founding and principles. Califia Farms, a leading, independently-owned plant-based food and beverage company, does just that with its strong roots in California, from which its name is based, and its hearty commitment to environmentalism.

A native of California, Califia’s founder and CEO, Greg Steltenpohl, grew up exploring the diverse geomorphic terrains of the state. From the historic giant redwoods in the north to the self-sufficient Joshua trees in the south, California possesses a wealth of landscapes, all of which inspired the creation of Califia Farms. 

Nonetheless, despite his love for nature, Greg’s path into becoming Califia Farm’s founder wasn’t quite straightforward. He had initially been following a path into the Naval Academy; his father worked as a senior systems engineer contractor to the military, and he had grown up through the Cold War era, even staying in bomb shelters during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But was not until his Naval Academy senatorial interview that he realized that the military wasn’t his true passion. 

Soon after this realization, Greg discovered Stewart Brand’s magazine Whole Earth Catalog, which introduced him to a plethora of alternative ideas. Already inspired by iconic events such as the first moon landing and the early counterculture ideals of the ‘60s, Greg became attracted to the intersection of human consciousness, nature, design, and collaboration. Soon thereafter, he became a student at Stanford University, majoring in environmental studies, a field which reflected his intersectional interests: “the integration of people and environment.”

During his time at Stanford, Greg became increasingly immersed in the pioneering spirit of California. Acknowledging Silicon Valley’s rapid development of technology, he comments that “[his] California experience kept on growing” throughout college. This statement came to fruition in Greg’s initial venture out of college:  Odwalla, a juice company he founded using citrus from California’s local orchards. Thirty years later, at the time he founded Califia Farms, he had an even greater interest in prioritizing regional solutions for food systems. Greg’s attachment to the state only deepened, and he asserted that with Califia, they would “make the abundance of California” the company’s primary source of supply.”

Today, Califia has become a company that not only produces the plant milks for which it was initially known, but a variety of plant-based products, including creamers, coffee, yogurts, juices, and more recently, butter. At its start, Califia strengthened its brand by pledging to produce with completely vegan ingredients. Further, Califia maintains a long-term commitment to creating products that promote better health through whole-food ingredients with greater macro- and micro-nutritional profiles, and all while maintaining a lower sugar content. While other natural food companies often have trouble staying true to their word—as it’s often cheaper to formulate higher sugar content products—Califia has been able to maintain their promise particularly well through their model of in-house product development, rather than acquiring outside brands. It’s through this commitment that Califia has been able to stick to its roots and advance a healthy lifestyle.

With each new product introduced, Greg pays careful attention to how this product can “deepen the relationship….[with Califia’s] stated brand values.” He describes brand strategy along two lenses: one is to “always deepen the incorporation of the core values into the brand” and the other is “to leverage that human relationship to the brand into a sustainable competitive advantage” as a business strategy. In particular, Greg notes that adjacency is helpful in orienting products toward a brand. Adjacency is composed of physical adjacencies of the product (like advancing products across the dairy case in the refrigerated section of a supermarket) and psychological adjacencies (where consumers feel that trying a new product “is very natural and re-endorses the brand”). In Greg’s words, for any Califia customer, “they know us for milk, they’ll try us for creamers, and then they’ll trust us in butter.”

Building a brand is a continuous process, and it’s imperative that companies pay attention to reputation management in order to successfully execute a master brand strategy. While brands often attempt to disrupt the status quo—as Califia successfully has done through its disruption of the dairy market—it requires careful consideration of the archetypes of its products. When Califia first ventured into producing plant-based milks, it studied old milk bottles extensively, noting their shapes and nuances and learning how these evoked nostalgia. Today, Califia’s bottles are notably rounded, alluding to an eminently feminine archetype and thus communicating the nourishing aspect of Califia’s plant-based products.

As Califia continues to expand its offerings, I couldn’t help but ask Greg about his thoughts on whether we’ll see more people commit to a plant-centric diet in the near future. Greg explained that there surely will be a tipping point for dairy to completely go to plant-based milk. In China, for instance, plant-based products are already largely popularized, with a long legacy of both soy and walnut milk being more popular than animal dairy. The current popularity of oat milk in the United States, for instance, is just one indication that the plant-based revolution is beginning in Western societies, and perhaps this revolution may even be accelerated by the pandemic’s passing as health becomes increasingly prioritized. Califia itself has begun to prioritize its own portfolio of oat-based products including creamers, milks, yogurts, and coffee. As Covid continues to increase awareness of self-health care, Greg has seen the trend accelerating even more within the past few months, as the company has seen a dramatic spike in sales of its Oat Barista Blend, a hybrid creamer and milk, which is currently the #1 best-selling oat milk on Amazon. 

Califia Farms hopes that its deliciously clean and wholesome products may help build awareness for further protection of the planet and drive us towards a more sustainable future. At the end of the day, what is Califia? In the words of its founder, Califia is “a vehicle for channeling a collective passion for saving the incredible diversity we have on this planet in order to protect the health and lifestyle of our future generations.”