Mr. Valentine: The company was started in 1922 in Chicago, originally as a pecan sheller only and continued that way into the early 1960s when it began to diversify into processing other nuts. And then, in the 1970s it entered the consumer end of the business through its acquisition of the H.H. Evon Nut Company and the Evon's brand, where it began as a route distributor. Through a few other acquisitions we grew our consumer business. One example of that would be the acquisition of the Fisher Nut business in 1995, where we bought the second leading consumer nut brand. Today, we're considered to be the second largest nut company in the United States.
TWST: What were the keys to this success?
Mr. Valentine: Buying those two brands were very important. In addition
to that, the company also, when it went public in 1991, raised a sizable
amount of capital which it then invested into expanding its operations.
Specifically, we built a peanut shelling plant, purchased a walnut
sheller, and also built a much larger pecan shelling plant. And that
vertical integration really propelled the company to the size it is
today.
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