Incentives worth millions approved for food producer’s $200M Pasco facility

Pasco County and the city of Zephyrhills have approved millions of dollars in economic incentives that clear the way for Brazilian food manufacturer Bauducco Foods to build a 72.52-acre facility that will create about 600 jobs.

The Pasco County Commission on Tuesday passed an economic incentive agreement for a 25% ad valorem tax reimbursement not to exceed $4.43 million and a $100,000 workforce training grant. That followed Monday’s decision by the city to grant the company incentives totaling $8.27 million.

Bauducco, according to a presentation to county commissioners, plans to build a $200 million, 403,000-square-foot plant that will produce and distribute its products across the U.S. on the ready site property it bought near the Zephyrhills Airport Industrial Park at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Chancey Road. (The county’s economic development council ready site program prepares “properties for industrial development and creates a portfolio of project-ready sites for targeted industries.”)

The Brazilian multinational company was established in 1950 and manufactures baked food products, including biscuits, wafers and breads and is said to be the largest producer of panettone (a type of Italian sweet bread) in the world and a market leader in this country. Its products are sold in all 50 states.

The company has five manufacturing plants in Brazil with the capacity to produce more than 400,000 tons of baked goods annually and it has more than 8,000 employees. It currently has a manufacturing plant and warehouse in Miami.

Courtesy photo

Stefano Mozzi, CEO of Bauducco USA, says in a statement issued by the county's economic development council that the company chose the Pasco site for its main U.S. hub after a “long and very detailed analysis in which more than seven states and over 10 counties around the country” were looked at.

The EDC says the company looked at 160 sites overall and that a trade mission to Brazil earlier this year — which featured a team from Enterprise Florida and the Florida Department of Transportation — helped make the case for Pasco “by demonstrating a favorable business climate, well-developed transportation infrastructure, and robust agricultural industry.”

Zephyrhills’ $8.27 million incentives package is based on the company creating 120 new full-time positions with average annual salary of at least 80% of the median one-person income in the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Area, the EDC says in its statement. The package also includes waiving or reimbursing transportation impact fees up to $331,000 and permit fees up to $660,750.

And it includes a job creation incentive cash grant equal to the amount of 50% of ad valorem city property taxes paid for the first 10 years the company is in operation, the statement says.

The Pasco facility, according to the presentation to county commissioners, will be completed in two phases. The first 96,494-square-foot phase is scheduled to be operational by 2025 or 2026. And the second 306,506-square-foot phase is expected to be fully up and running by 2029.

This story has been updated with the correct square footage in the photo caption.