Jack Gayton has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Merchandising at The Vitamin Shoppe, the Secaucus, N.J.-based specialty retailer that operates more than 640 stores nationwide. Gayton, who joined the company in 2019, will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Sharon Leite and take over leadership of the merchant and product development organization.
The move follows the retirement of Muriel Gonzalez, who served as President of The Vitamin Shoppe and held oversight of merchandising. Gonzalez's career in retail spanned more than four decades, and Leite credited her with sharpening the company's product strategy, accelerating proprietary brand development, and deepening the brand partnerships that underpin its specialty retail model.
Brand Portfolio Buildout
During his tenure, Gayton has cultivated relationships with a roster of high-profile brands across the sports nutrition and wellness segments — including Barebells, Clean Simple Eats, David Protein, GHOST, Gorilla Mind, MaryRuth's, RAW Nutrition, and Transparent Labs. That work has positioned The Vitamin Shoppe as a launch destination for exclusive and first-to-market products, a strategic differentiator that matters increasingly as functional foods, supplements, and performance nutrition compete for shelf space across specialty and mass retail channels.
"The health, wellness, and sports performance categories are evolving in many new directions, creating significant opportunities for The Vitamin Shoppe," Gayton said. "My mission is to anticipate what customers will want next and bring the most compelling new ideas to market."
Leadership Structure
Alongside Gayton's elevation, David DiTota has been promoted to Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager, reporting to Gayton. DiTota brings more than two decades of merchandising experience across national retail and technology companies and will focus on third-party assortments and high-growth wellness categories. The dual promotion signals an intentional effort to build depth in the merchandising bench — a priority Leite flagged explicitly in her remarks about succession readiness.
For operators and buyers tracking the functional food and beverage retail landscape, the leadership change at The Vitamin Shoppe carries real strategic weight. The retailer's omnichannel platform — spanning in-store, e-commerce, and international franchise partnerships across Asia, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean — makes its merchandising direction a bellwether for which emerging brands and product formats gain mainstream specialty-retail traction. Gayton's stated priorities around differentiated assortments and private-brand strength suggest the company will continue pressing its advantage in categories like sports nutrition, on-the-go functional foods, and condition-specific supplements where Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked accelerating consumer demand.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
