SPRING 2022
Reiff is the manufacturing specialist for
the Florida Small Business Development
Center at Indian River State College. The
FSBDC also offers export assistance from
consultant Emily McHugh who can help
manufacturers sell their products overseas
with an export marketing plan and connections
to foreign embassies.
SBDC also offers free consulting to the region’s
businesses for sales, marketing and
access to capital. Reiff said his mission is
to work with the TCMA to put the Treasure
Coast on the map for manufacturing.
SMALL MANUFACTURER UPDATE
Aquaco Farms founder and CEO Joe
Cardenas shared a film clip of the St.
Lucie County fish farm’s operations by
Sereia Films watch at https://vimeo.
com/640415325 and walked the attendees
through his more than four-year, $3.8
million mission to sustainably farm Florida
pompano. Cardenas said it took two years
to find the right site and get all the necessary
permits. He started to build in 2018
and sold his first pompano in 2020. During
2021, he worked through capital access
issues, pricing, costs, etc.
Cardenas’s original concept was to sell the
pompano to high-end restaurants and
retailers. That plan was shut down by the
pandemic, so he switched to retail and
offered his fish at Publix and other stores.
With proof of concept, he recently closed
on a $2 million round of funding and is
expanding operations.
MIDSIZE MANUFACTURER UPDATE
Gian Carlo Alonso, president and CEO of
AmeriKooler, talked about taking cool further.
A manufacturer of walk-in coolers in
Hialeah, Alonso said his company kept selling
and investing throughout COVID, which
led to a boom in 2021 and a huge increase
in market share for the manufacturer.
“The knee-jerk reaction would have been
to downsize but we kept sales going and
planted as many seeds as you can, like a
fisherman who really chums the waters
and when everything comes back, you
have a huge catch,” Alonso said. “I focus on
what I have control over.”
The company created a virtual showcase
for sales and a virtual warehouse for installation
St. Lucie federal trade zone reorganized to encompass entire Treasure Coast
18 www.TCMAmfg.com
training, combining cutting-edge
entrepreneurial vision with traditional
company operations. Go to http://www.
amerikooler.com/virtualshowcase/ to view
the showcase.
A HEAD START
Tim Fischer, CEO of Southeast Elevator,
moved to the Treasure Coast a year-and-ahalf
ago. New in the area, and having been
very active with the Central Florida Manufacturers
Association, Fischer immediately
got involved with TCMA and the Treasure
Coast Builders Association.
TCMA has been very valuable for Fischer as
he reaches out for resources and contacts
regularly, he said. In addition, he appreciates
the focus the organization has on developing
a future manufacturing workforce.
Members of the Boys & Girls Clubs catered a
delicious breakfast for TCMA members.
After two years of pandemic-related delays,
members of the TCMA Board of Directors and
staff gather at the association’s annual meeting.
The International Trade Association recently
announced that St. Lucie County’s Foreign
Trade Zone No. 218 has been approved
by the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board for
reorganization under its Alternative Site
Framework, allowing for the expedited
designation of sites for companies ready to
conduct Foreign Trade Zone activities.
The service area for the newly reorganized
zone has been broadened to encompass
all of St. Lucie, Indian River and
Okeechobee counties, extending significant
potential benefits to the Port of Fort
Pierce and Treasure Coast International
Airport & Business Park.
“Foreign Trade Zone No. 218 will now become
a powerful economic development
tool for the entire Treasure Coast, and, in
particular, will support the dramatic and
continued growth of manufacturing in St.
Lucie County,” St. Lucie County Commission
Chairman Sean Mitchell said.
“Foreign Trade Zone benefits are key for
manufacturers interested in exporting
their goods. The expansion of our FTZ will
help the Economic Development Council
of St. Lucie County recruit manufacturers
who can bring high-wage jobs to the
county,” added St. Lucie Economic Development
Council President Pete Tesch. “This
is particularly good news at a time when
supply chain challenges are impacting
existing manufacturing businesses and as
companies look for alternative locations to
the congestion in South Florida.”
The FTZ designation provides federal tax relief
on merchandise that is shipped through
the federally approved zone. The new
Alternative Site Framework designation
provides considerably more flexibility for
companies looking to benefit from an FTZ.
St. Lucie County’s original FTZ designation
was approved in October 1996 under Central
Florida Foreign Trade Zone Inc. at the
St. Lucie County Airport. The FTZ board
changed its name in 2012 to the Treasure
Coast Foreign Trade Zone Inc. St. Lucie
County is the grantee of the FTZ.
Businesses with questions about Trade
Zone No. 218 should contact J. Stanley
Payne, St. Lucie County air and seaport
executive director, at paynes@stlucieco.
org or 772.462.1450.
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