October 17, 2023

American Nuts Promotes Jim Buatte to Chief Executive Officer

American Nuts, a leading value-added supplier and processor of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits and provider of category management and merchandising services, is pleased to announce that Jim Buatte has been promoted from President / Chief Operations Officer to Chief Executive Officer.

Jim is a veteran in the food manufacturing and supply chain industries and has helped numerous organizations execute strategic and operational initiatives that drive inventory, purchasing, planning, and logistical improvements. Prior to joining American Nuts in 2022, Jim was most recently Senior VP of Supply Chain at Curation Foods (formerly a division of LANDEC); earlier in his career, Jim was an operator at both Refresco and Nestle Waters. 

“I am thrilled to lead American Nuts and am honored by the trust that the organization has placed in me,” said Jim. “I look forward to directing the company through its next chapter of growth and to continuing to execute American Nuts’ mission of delivering best-in-class ingredients and services to our customers.”

“Jim has been a valued partner and leader as COO and President, and we are pleased to appoint him as CEO,” added Sam Banon, a Principal at Gauge Capital. “His deep manufacturing and continuous improvement background make him the clear choice for this role.”

About American Nuts (www.americannuts.com)
American Nuts is a value-added supplier and processor of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. The Company is focused on sourcing a wide variety of high-quality, hard-to-source products from around the globe while maintaining the highest safety standards. American Nuts currently serves customers across the bulk retail, portion control retail, and the industrial and foodservice ingredient markets.

About Gauge Capital (www.gaugecapital.com)
Gauge Capital is a leading middle-market private equity firm based in Southlake, Texas. Gauge invests in five key sectors: business services, food & consumer, government & industrial services, healthcare, and technology. The Firm manages more than $3.0 billion in capital and in 2020, 2021 and 2022, Inc. Magazine named Gauge one of the top private equity firms for founders. In 2021, 2022, and 2023 Gauge was also named to the Top 50 PE Firms in the Middle Market by Grady Campbell. In 2022, Gauge ranked in the top 5 out of 517 private equity firms in the HEC Paris – DowJones Small-Cap Buyout Performance Ranking. For more information, please contact Andrew Peix, Managing Director of Business Development at apeix@gaugecapital.com. 

 

Disclaimer: From time to time, Gauge may be recognized or ranked by independent third-party rating services or publications. Such recognitions or rankings are generally based on information prepared or submitted by the recognized advisory firm, and are usually limited only to those advisory firms who choose to participate in such surveys. Any third-party recognition or ranking that may be included should not be construed as a guarantee that any client or prospective client will experience any specific level of investment performance or receive any specific level of customer service, as a result of such recognition or ranking. Furthermore, any such recognition or ranking should not be construed as an endorsement by any of Gauge’s clients. As such, clients and prospective clients should not put undue reliance on any of these statements.