Bauducco Foods, a Brazilian food manufacturer, is planning to build a $200 million facility in Zephyrhills. The company acquired 72 acres of the Zephyrhills Airport Industrial Park, where the facility will produce and distribute products across the United States. The property is a part of Pasco’s Ready Sites program, which prepares large, vacant pieces of land for industrial development. Ready Sites was approved by Pasco County Commissioners in April 2016.

Bill Cronin, the CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, asks the county’s largest landowners to work with the EDC and county administrators to position and market their land to commercial developers – and often for less money than what they may get from a residential developer. The most luck of the program according to Cronin, has come from landowners who see commercial development boosting property value of property they want to sell to residential developers since job creation drives demand for new housing. 

The Bauducco Foods facility will create 600 jobs. The company is the largest producer of panettones in the world, and they also make biscuits, wafers, and breads. Zephyrhills will vote on an economic development incentive deal this week. The facility will open in phases with the first phase open and operation by late 2024/early 2025, and the second phase opening by 2028. 

CEO of Bauducco USA released a statement revealing the company considered seven states for the production facility. The company has a total of five production facilities, with the only other one in the United States located in Miami. The 72 acres acquired were part of a larger 442-acre vacant and divisible site.