WINSLOW, MAINE — Better With Buckwheat, an artisanal buckwheat snack maker, has named Joshua Wright as its director of operations.

Wright joined the company in December 2023 and played a pivotal role in the company’s recovery after a flood that hit central Maine flooded its facility. Wright was able to help restart production after only 34 days, according to the company.

The company moved to its new 17,500-square-foot facility in 2022 in Winslow, Maine, and is installing new packaging equipment as part of Maine’s Agricultural Infrastructure Improvement Program, according to the company.

He has held leadership positions in quality assurance and operations for brands including Boar’s Head and Sazerac.

“In the future, I hope the first days of our new employees aren’t met with 100-year flooding events and power losses,” said Lewis Goldstein, chief executive officer at Better With Buckwheat. “Josh’s presence during that event was invaluable to our recovery. But regardless of the flood, as we experience exponential growth, we were excited to find someone with Josh’s experience to optimize our wonderful new facility to enable us to meet our aggressive growth targets. Josh’s background in food and beverage was a perfect fit for us, and we’re lucky to have him.” 

In September 2023, the company rebranded from Maine Crisp to Better With Buckwheat to better differentiate in the market as a gluten-free ancient seed crafted into snacks.

With the rebrand, the company also launched a new product line of crackers featuring a blend of tartary buckwheat with common buckwheat. Flavors include everything, rosemary-herbs and sea salt. 

The company still offers the original Main Crisp product line with five flavors of wild blueberry walnut, savory fig and thyme, cranberry almond, olive and za’atar, and maple cinnamon currant.