An essence of France in Pasco

Tantalizing smells at an industrial park? They come from a French firm’s products made for the food industry.

ODESSA — Against a landscape of scaffolding and bulldozers, cinder blocks and “Beware of Dog” signs, the French woman delicately opens the vials and reveals the future of suites 105 and 106.

Here, the future smells like green tea. And rum, among other things.

A French company has chosen a 6,000-square-foot space at the West Pasco Industrial Park as the site of its first U.S. facility to produce scented flavor extracts used in everything from liqueurs to coffee syrups, cookies to mineral water.

Niel Aromes is the food division of Jean Niel, a 225-year-old family-owned company based in Grasse, France, founded by a perfumer and merchant who distilled aromatic plants from Provence.

Jean Niel’s “long-standing know-how in the aromatic field” led to the creation of the food division in 1998, company literature says.

Jean Niel decided to open its first U.S. facility for the food division in the Tampa Bay area because its best customer is Monin, another French company, which operates a 60-employee business in Clearwater making flavored syrups used in coffees and cold beverages.

“We chose the area because Monin was here, and they appreciate us,” said Michael Uzan, vice president of marketing and sales, one of two Jean Niel employees sent to Pasco County to run the facility.

The company will initially hire three employees but expects to hire more as the business grows, Uzan said.
Jean Niel scouted other nearby sites, including one in St. Petersburg, but they found the Odessa park, and its lower rent, after working with the Pasco Economic Development Council.

Monin will be the only customer once the equipment arrives and production gets running in about two weeks, but Jean Niel hopes eventually to expand its customer base, including to an international market, Uzan said.

The facility will receive shipments of raw materials like citrus juices and isolate the aromatic ingredients through a system of state-of-the-art cooking tanks. By the end of the process, the extracts could be in liquid, paste or powder forms, depending on their use.

But there is a science to taste, and before the company ships out the final product, samples will be taken into another room at the office and measured for density, pH and viscosity, said Anne Claire Lefrancois, a food industry engineer from Normandy who has joined Uzan in Odessa.

Jean Niel may not be the type of company one expects to find at the light industrial park, but Pasco Economic Development Council project manager Bryan Kamm said it seems like a good fit and draws dollars from outside the region.

“A growing business in the Tampa Bay area is in food production,” Kamm said.

Jean Niel’s current employees — Uzan and Lefrancois — are still adjusting to the move from France to Pasco County. They had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

“My idea of Florida was a lot of sand, hurricanes,” said Uzan. “And gators, too.”

Stepping outside the apricot-colored concrete building, he pointed to a body of water at the park. A man from the county told him that three gators live in that water. Uzan smiled and then laughed, a little nervously. Like he could smell danger in the air.

Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@sptimes.com or at (727) 869-6247.

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