“We're passionate about our jobs and this business,” says Matthew Kanan. “But we don't take it personally.”

That's good advice for anyone with a stake in a family business, and Mr. Kanan is deeply entrenched in a family business — Kanan Enterprises, parent of the King and Peterson nut companies.

Since 2003, Mr. Kanan has been executive vice president of sales and marketing. Seven people in-house report directly to him, as do the 60 or so food brokers who sell the company's products to stores and other outlets across the country.

Mr. Kanan's father, Michael Sr., bought King Nut in 1989, creating Kanan Enterprises as a corporate umbrella. He moved his family from Detroit to Cleveland to run it.

At the time, Matthew Kanan was in college at Western Michigan University. While he worked summers at King Nut, he took a sales job with snack foods marketer Frito-Lay after graduating in 1991. But before long he joined his father and older brother, Martin, in the Solon headquarters. Matthew's first job was regional sales manager.

Today, Michael Sr. is chairman and Martin is president and CEO. A third brother, Michael Jr., has an independent career as an executive at an auto-related company in Michigan.

“We couldn't afford him; he'd have to take a decrease in pay to come here,” Mr. Kanan said.

When the family bought the business, annual sales were about $3.5 million. Today, Mr. Kanan said, revenue is approaching $40 million. It employs about 200 people.

In 2003, Kanan Enterprises bought Peterson Nut Co., a Cleveland competitor. Peterson Nut is the gift and catalog end of the business.

A big factor in the company's growth has been its success at winning airline accounts. Mr. Kanan said the company sells about 400 million bags of nuts a year that airlines offer on their flights. Airline sales now are about one-third of the company's business.

Lynn Gordon, the company's sales manager for specialty products, said working for Mr. Kanan has been challenging and fun.

“I respect him for how he has taken a team of sales people to the next level,” Ms. Gordon said. “He's gives us the energy, the challenges and the strokes at the same time.”

Mr. Kanan said his next target for expansion is the wholesale business — selling nuts to hospitals, restaurants and food service companies such as the giant Sysco Corp. King Nut also sells nut toppings to food companies such as Smucker's, Pepperidge Farms and Wendy's.

Though his office is Solon, Mr. Kanan lives in Fairview Park with his wife, Denise, who teaches school in Independence.

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