If you’re looking for corporate gifts for your clients this holiday season, Brian and Kam Kyzer probably have just the items you need.
The Kyzer’s own Watanut, a gourmet nut business, located at 3309 Washington Road in Augusta and the second store in Amelia Island, Fla. Brian Kyzer said the business, which sells nut mixes, Georgia pecans, and shortbread cookies, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with an open house on Thursday, Dec. 1, 5-9 p.m., at the Augusta store.
The Kyzer’s host a large open house every year, but they want this year’s event to be even larger.
“We’ll have samples of all our products, and we usually serve beer and wine,” he said. “It would be nice to have 200 people.”
Watanut’s original location was a warehouse on Jones Street. The couple then moved the business to Walton’s Corner, a shopping center located at the corner of Walton Way Extension and Wheeler Road. They moved into their current 15,000-square-foot location, which is much larger than the other two stores, in February.
The Kyzer’s need more space because they prepare and package items for both stores and ship their products to customers. Kyzer said he’s enjoyed building a business from the ground up and constantly striving to improve it, as well as working with his family.
But like every business owner, Kyzer has faced his share of challenges.
“The biggest challenge has been wearing all the hats and not being able to do it all,” he said.
Kyzer oversees the baking and packaging of Watanut’s products, among many other daily tasks. He said the stores have about 10 year-round employees and nearly 30 seasonal employees, who are hired to help during the busy Christmas season.
He and Kam were inspired to launch Watanut because Georgia is the largest producer of pecans in the United States. Prior to going into the nut business, Kyzer owned a bottled water company.
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur,” he said.
Kyzer said several local businesses, such as Blanchard & Calhoun Insurance and Queensborough National Bank & Trust Co., buy their corporate gifts from Watanut.
The Augusta store is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Because Amelia Island is a popular tourist destination, that store is open seven days a week. For more information, visit watanut.com/.
