Exclusive look inside Bauducco's largest facility to date

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Exclusive look inside Bauducco’s largest facility to date

30 Jun 2026

Maddie Lambert

Maddie Lambert is a copywriter and editor from Joplin, MO. She graduated from Missouri Southern State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English – literary studies. When she’s not poring over the magazine or lost in the pages of a new novel, you can find Maddie exploring her local bookstores, spending time with her husband, or sharing her latest literary discoveries with fellow book enthusiasts.

ZEPHYRHILLS, FL — It was a crowded lot with industry peers, local officials and company leadership in attendance at the June 26 grand opening of Bauducco’s new Zephyrhills, FL, production facility. The Brazilian baking company, which broke ground on the distribution site March 2025, celebrated the event with a champagne-toasted ribbon-cutting ceremony and facility tour.

Bauducco, a family-owned business making cookies and wafers for 75 years, built its largest US facility to date, sitting on 72 acres. Totaling 160,000 square feet, the campus is designed to scale to more than 1.2 million square feet as the baking company grows its American footprint.

Stefano Mozzi, CEO of Bauducco USA, stated that 75% of the company’s products — which include its cream-filled wafers and panettone, a classic Italian sweet bread — will be produced at the new plant, including a product previously manufactured only in Brazil.

“We’re bringing our Choco Biscuits to the Zephyrhills facility,” Mozzi said in an exclusive interview with Commercial Baking. “The idea is to continue growing that product and adapt it a little bit with new flavors. We’ll put a line in here for that category specifically.”

Phase one complete

The Zephyrhills facility was developed in three phases. The first phase, now complete, was to make the new site operational by mid-2026 and hire 150-200 new employees.

“In phase two, expected to be complete by 2028-29, we’re going to add another 200,000 square feet to the facility and add 200 more jobs,” Mozzi said. “The last phase is planned for 2031, and ideally we will maximize the capacity here and hire 600 employees.”

When selecting the Pasco County location, the team at Bauducco conducted an extensive analysis of more than 160 potential sites across seven states before choosing Zephyrhills. The town offered the ideal combination of infrastructure, workforce and community character that Bauducco’s leadership was seeking. According to Zephyrhills Mayor Melonie Bahr Monson, the feeling was mutual.

“When a world-renowned brand chooses your community for its largest manufacturing facility in the US, people take notice,” she said. “This facility represents more than economic development; it represents opportunity with hundreds of quality jobs and brings opportunity for future expansion. Bauducco is helping create new pathways for local families while strengthening the economic future of our community.”

New facility, new opportunities

Bauducco’s full wafer lineup will now have a “Made in USA” designation for the first time, with production capacity at double what the brand previously had available for the American market. The new bakery will enable the company to achieve shorter lead times, greater supply chain reliability, and the ability to respond to demand signals with speed and precision.

“This facility is extremely important for our continued growth in the state of Florida and for our global expansion,” Mozzi said. “Our plan is to use this facility not only for the US market, but also to serve Canada, Mexico, Japan and the Caribbean.”

Bauducco will also use the site for new product development, exploring flavor variation in its panettone product line. This includes a partnership with Skippy to create a peanut butter-filled Chocottone.

While the brand’s products are currently available at major retailers nationwide, the Zephyrhills facility is expected to support expanded distribution and shelf presence as domestic production capacity grows.

“We started this project three years ago,” Mozzi concluded, “and we share a value here at Bauducco to always try and work hard to achieve things. This facility is a result of all that hard work and the beginning of more things to come.”

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