JUSTIN GOLD, CEO Justin's Nut Butters: Nut butter is a multi-billion-dollar category, so the sky really is the limit
He doesn’t have the celebrity status of Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya, but in the world of nut butters, Justin Gold has pulled off a similar trick, transforming a business that began with a food processor and some nuts in his kitchen into a multi-million dollar natural foods empire - in less than a decade.
Justin’s does not disclose its revenues, but Gold confirms they are in the “$50m to $100m range” - and says the brand still has huge potential to grow.
“Nut butter is a multi-billion-dollar category, so the sky really is the limit. Retailers are cutting space devoted to jams and increasing space for nut butters, so it’s a really exciting time.”
Gold - who wanted be an environmental lawyer but changed his mind after completing an environmental studies degree - moved from Pennsylvania to Boulder, Colorado in 2002, where he began throwing nuts in his food processor, adding everything from maple syrup to vanilla - and scrawling his name on the jars to stop his room-mates helping themselves.
It didn’t work, but it got his entrepreneurial juices flowing. If his friends liked them this much, maybe other people would too?
They did. 10 years later, Justin’s branded products are available at retailers from Starbucks to Whole Foods, Safeway, Kroger, Wegmans, Vitamin Cottage and Sprouts.
Click HERE to read more about Justin’s.
