Nick Desai is the founder and CEO of multiple companies, including the PeaTos® brand, and has a background in law, banking and finance, and operations. He has personally lived through the complex challenges that business owners are facing.

Desai entered the food and consumer space in 2011 by leading the acquisition of Energy Club LLC, a snack food manufacturer based in Los Angeles. He then turned the company around through a series of maneuvers including moving from self manufacturing to outsourcing to cut overhead and selling off underperforming assets

Over the years, Desai has raised over $20M from a variety of high profile and strategic investors. He also orchestrated the sale of the Sunkist Snacks Brand in 2018 with a strong return to investors. His background spans fundraising, restructuring, turnarounds, brand building, mergers and acquisitions, and day-to-day operations as a lead executive.

Prior to his entry in the CPG sector, Desai’s experience spans an extensive background of over twenty years in private equity, investment banking, and law. He started his career as an attorney in the entertainment industry and migrated into investment banking as a top dealmaker at KPMG Corporate Finance. He then became a Managing Director and Partner at FocalPoint Partners. In 2008, he moved to the private-equity side of the business as a Managing Director at Shackleton Equity Partners, a private-equity firm focused on the lower middle market.

Desai has a JD/MBA from Loyola Marymount University and was a UC Regents Scholar at the University of California, Irvine. He currently lives in Los Angeles.