Fresh foods firm plans 50 hires, $1.5M expansion

TAMPA — Fresco Foods, which makes and sells healthy prepared meals through its company Eat Fresco, plans to build a new commercial kitchen and food service production facility in eastern Hillsborough County.

The expansion will bring up to 50 jobs, in roles that include sales and marketing; quality assurance; operations; customer service; and food production, according to a statement. Tampa-based Fresco Foods will invest about $1.5 million in the expansion. "Since our launch in February 2015, Eat Fresco has experienced tremendous demand in Florida,” Fresco Foods President Robert Povolny says in the release.

The new 12,000-square-foot facility, at 9410 E. Broadway Ave., will be completed in January 2017. That will allow Fresco Foods to scale its business statewide next year and develop partnerships with large retailers, the release states. The company's model is to “meet the demands of time-starved consumers seeking convenient, flavorful and nutritious meals that they can feel good about eating,” the release states. The company also sells its prepared meals to retailers.

Fresco Foods has raised $2 million through a combination of debt financing and equity investment, and the company was approved for a small business loan in late October through Sunshine State Bank. More capital has been raised through Westshore Holdings-FFI, a newly formed private equity firm that provides funding to promising startups, according to the release.