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Sysco Pushes Back Food Plant Plans

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 21, 2007

ZEPHYRHILLS - Sysco Food Services Corp. may not come to Zephyrhills as quickly as anticipated.

Blame the economy and the price of gas.

Although company officials told the city this week they are committed to building a food distribution plant and providing jobs for more than 100 people here, economic realities and rising gas prices have set back the project's timeline.

"We just need a little more time to do it right. We just want to make sure that everything's in place and we're going to be successful," said Mark Palmer, a spokesman for the Houston-based food distribution giant.
Sysco officials want to wait to close on the property off Sixth Avenue until the end of the first quarter of 2008. That will push back the project at least three months, City Manager Steve Spina said.

Spina said he was optimistic the company still would open a center here.

"They expect to start working on the site plan and everything," he said. "That leads me to believe we're still moving forward."

In July, Sysco approached Zephyrhills officials to discuss the possibility of building a $60 million, 393,000-square-foot distribution center, a proposal hailed by both city and Pasco County officials. City and county officials agreed in October to provide an unprecedented $5 million in tax breaks to lure Sysco here.

The food distributor promised to bring more than 250 jobs, 125 of which would be transferred from existing Sysco facilities. The salaries would average $55,000, and the center would be built in an area city officials are keen to develop.

Sysco, which employs 47,000 people nationwide, is the largest food service distributor in the country. Distribution requires trucking, which inevitably has been affected by rising gas prices.

"They said that just the economy and gas prices," Spina said of the reasons for the delay.

"I'm not real surprised. I just think that they said they have several projects in Florida that were just slowed down a little bit."

City officials have touted the Sysco project as a boon to the local economy, both in terms of creating jobs and enticing other companies to move here.

As its population swells, the city wants to attract industry, so residents don't have to drive to Tampa or Lakeland for jobs.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at nwhite1@tampatrib.com or (813) 779-4613.

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