Fitlife Foods, the leading Southeastern independent retailer of healthy, fresh-prepared meals, will expand its Culinary Center operations as part of a brand new 100,000 square foot facility in County Line Commerce Center in Plant City, Florida.

The expansion is expected to generate more than 100 jobs and several million dollars in capital investment in eastern Hillsborough County over the next two years. The jobs will fill a variety of roles in food production, administration, transportation, and operations.

“Plant City offers us the perfect combination of a central location and a quality workforce to fuel Fitlife Foods’ next stage of growth,” said David Osterweil, Founder/CEO of Fitlife Foods. “We’re excited to build our state-of-the-art Culinary Center in the County Line Commerce Center, and to have our culinary and operations teams working together under one roof. We’ll have plenty of room to grow and look forward to hiring the local talent we’ll need to support us as we expand.”

The Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation and CareerSource Tampa Bay will assist Fitlife Foods with workforce recruiting, screening, and on-the-job training services as well as sales tax exemptions on machinery and equipment for manufacturing companies.

“With our investment in the utility extension along County Line Road and new commercial and industrial buildings like County Line Commerce Center going up in Plant City, we are seeing significant interest from high-growth companies like Fitlife Foods to locate and expand here,” said Plant City Mayor Rick Lott. “These two developments have created unprecedented opportunities for manufacturing, distribution, and logistics operations in particular to secure a prime location in the heart of central Florida’s booming I-4 corridor.”

“Fitlife Foods offers a great example of how successful entrepreneurial companies identify a market need, create a better solution to meet it, and build a loyal following by listening and responding to their customers,” said Dr. Ronald Vaughn, Chair of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation and President of the University of Tampa. “Tampa’s startup community is flourishing, and the success of home-grown companies like Fitlife Foods is further proof that Hillsborough County offers the talent and business support that entrepreneurial organizations need to thrive.”