Caveman Cafeteria evolves Paleo dieting

Caveman Cafeteria has neither a cave or a physical cafeteria, yet this Denver-based Paleo-food service has already evolved significantly. The company, which provides catering services, has gone from a food truck in 2012 to a spot on the the 16th Street Mall to a mail-order delivery food service. It might just be the first business to offer shipped meals adhering to the popular Paleo diet.

"We're going to be the first company that’s going to really introduce people to what I consider a simplified healthy lifestyle that I don’t think that a lot of people have really quite grasped," says Founder Will White.

The company began shipping its prepared meals in January 2014 via FedEx. Already they have more than 200 clients across 12 states. Local customers can pick up their meals at a number of CrossFit or other locations in Boulder, Denver and Littleton.

White started Caveman Cafeteria after leaving the Army. "We are basically expanding this model here in Denver for our national headquarters,” he says. This year, among other places, he plans to move into the California market.

White was already in Colorado when he left the Army and decided it was the ideal location to start a food company. "I loved the city," he says. "I knew I would love living here. Then also there's just the track record of so many successful startups and especially food brand startups coming out of Denver that I felt that there’s just got to be something right here."

The company has been growing and hiring. "We just hired a part-time delivery driver," White says. That's in addition to a full-time chef they hired about four months ago. In all, the company has about five full-time employees and three part-time employees now and White says they're likely to hire about five more employees in the coming months.

The company's meal plans start at $549 for 10 meals a week over four weeks (40 total) with a recurring payment system. For that customers get delicious, Paleo-inspiried meals. "Our philosophy's really simple," White explains. "We just basically do everything Paleo by default in the sense that there's no processed oils ever, no added sugars and there's no grain in anything. That's kind of the main thrust of Paleo right there -- those three things."

The growth of the meal plan business has pulled away from its catering business, White says. Still they cater at offices, weddings and other special events like Paleo food and nutrition seminars. "Since we started out with the meal service, we're more selective with that now but we still love to do our catering which is $25 per person for office catering."

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Chris Meehan with tips and leads for future stories at chris@confluence-denver.com.