Tracy Luckow and Lori Gitomer, co-founders and CEOs of Whipnotic, a kosher whipped cream company, are reimagining everyone’s favorite sweet dairy topping with new technology and flavors.
The sisters have always loved whipped cream, but noticed that, in contrast to every other food product, their favorite treat has remained largely unchanged since they were kids. And so, to fix that, they started Whipnotic, which uses their patented invention to swirl unique flavors, such as Strawberry Swirl and Vanilla Salted Caramel, into the cream as it’s coming out of the can.
The sisters were born and raised in Montreal, Canada, and attended college together at Cornell University. Gitomer was always fascinated by television, especially the writing and what went on behind the scenes, so naturally she went into production after college, working at places like Viacom and NBC. Luckow, meanwhile, had enjoyed cooking from a young age, and so she studied food science, eventually earning a PhD in food science and nutrition. She went on to work for big names in the food industry, including PepsiCo and Dannon. Though they went in different directions professionally, the sisters stayed close, both living and working in New York City.
Gitomer was struck by the delight of whipped cream as an adult when looking for a snack for her daughter. She realized that it was relatively cheap, naturally gluten-free, and low in sugar as well. And, of course, it’s simply fun to eat, and it brought back happy memories of mountains of the stuff piled high on pancakes or ice cream sundaes. However, she quickly realized that of all the interesting things that could be done with whipped cream, none of them were making it to store shelves—all the innovation was being done on a small scale, by local baristas.
Then, five years ago, around a dinner table, the sisters began to fix the problem. Inspired by frozen yogurt machines that swirl flavors together, the sisters and some friends dreamt up a way to swirl flavor into the whipped cream as it was coming out of the can. It would be like a tiny coffee barista right there in your can, the sisters noted.
The idea lay dormant until around March 2020. With COVID locking everything down, Gitomer and Luckow found themselves with much more time than they had before—enough to perfect and patent their invention, and start Whipnotic, the business they run today with fellow founder and adviser Elissa Harman.
Since then, the business has only continued to grow. After another year or two of development, Whipnotic first hit store shelves in 2022, and has gone on to sell over 100,000 cans in hundreds of stores across more than 30 states, and also received OU kosher certification. And the company continues to grow and innovate. The newest version of the cap uses less plastic and adds more tastes in each swirl, and two new flavors will be released later this year: Peach Mango and Brownie Batter.
Gitomer and Luckow believe that the secret to their success lies in the fact that their product is among the first that adds any sort of innovation to the whipped cream world. While most other prepared foods have a dizzying array of options to choose from, especially compared to when the sisters were growing up, whipped cream has not had the same expansion … until now. “It’s the same brand, in the same can, with the same old ingredients,” the sisters said. But after decades of industry stagnation, people are hungry for new ideas like Whipnotic. “It’s a reminder that whipped cream deserves to grow, change and modernize, too,” they said.
Eitan Nissel is an intern at The Jewish Link, and is looking forward to returning to the Gush for shana bet.
