TAMPA, FLA. — Bauducco Foods, a Brazilian multinational company specializing in baked food products, purchased 72 acres of the Zephyrhills Airport Industrial Park Ready Site in Zephyrhills, the Greater Tampa Bay, Fla. area, in October. 

Bauducco Foods plans to invest more than $200 million in a new 403,000-square-foot facility, which will produce and distribute the company’s products across the United States. The project will create about 600 new jobs, the company said.

 Founded in 1952 in Sáo Paulo by Carlo Bauducco, Bauducco Foods is the world’s largest maker of panettone, an Italian sweet bread or fruit cake. The company’s other products include biscuits, wafers and bread. Bauducco Foods has five manufacturing plants in Brazil that can produce more than 400,000 tons of baked foods annually. The company has more than 8,000 employees and exports its products to 80 countries.

Pasco County and the city of Zephyrhills have approved millions of dollars in economic incentives that clear the way for the project. To qualify for the city’s incentives, the company must fill 120 full-time positions with an average annual salary of at least 80% of the median one-person income in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. Construction is set to take place in two stages, with the first phase expected to be operational near the end of 2024 or early 2025 and the second phase expected to be fully operational by 2028.

Bauducco Foods has a widespread presence in the United States, with its products sold in every state. The company currently has a manufacturing plant and warehouse in Miami.

Stefano Mozzi, chief executive officer of Bauducco USA, said the company chose the Pasco site for its central US hub after a “long and very detailed analysis in which more than 7 states and over 10 counties around the country” were considered. 

The company looked at 160 sites and said a trade mission to Brazil earlier this year helped make the case for Pasco County “by demonstrating a favorable business climate, well-developed transportation infrastructure and robust agricultural industry.”