Parish, port, state combine to bring 200-employee business to parish

By KEVIN CHIRI

Publisher

LAPLACE — Thanks to the combined efforts of St. John Parish, the Port of South Louisiana, and state officials, the River Region has now secured a food processing company that may open the door to an entire new industry beginning in St. John.

Baumer Foods, makers of Crystal Hot Sauce which is distributed worldwide, has signed papers to lease a Port of South Louisiana Building in St. John Parish, effective immediately L’Observateur has learned.

Baumer Foods will eventually build a work force of 200 employees, according to Vice President of Finance Ronald Wendel, with a 192,000 square foot building being leased on West 11th Street in Reserve. That would place the company as the fourth largest industry in St. John Parish.

The deal to bring Baumer to St. John Parish, after the 80 year old New Orleans business was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, surfaced as a possibility quickly after the storm.

Wendel said their building was devastated by five to six feet of water, along with wind damage.

&#8220We could not operate there at all, and it would have taken so long to rebuild, we did not have the time to do that. We were forced to look for a new place to relocate,” he said.

St. John Parish entered the picture almost out of good fortune, since a vice president with Baumer Foods was in the parish living with his daughter in LaPlace. He went to a local copier company and mentioned the need for a building, and was put in touch with St. John Parish Economic Development Director Julia Remondet.

Remondet got Parish President Nickie Monica involved with Port of South Louisiana Executive Director Joel Chaisson, and the work began to find a way to bring Baumer to St. John.

&#8220In the end, this was an amazing cooperative agreement between the parish, our council supporting the economic help, the port, and even the state with economic money for renovations to the building,” Monica said. &#8220We all worked together for a common goal. It is the job of this administration, and of the port, to bring solid businesses here for economic development, and this is an outstanding company for us. We believe it could open the door to many other support services to go with them.”

Chaisson echoed those thoughts, seeing the Baumer move as one which could start an entire new industry for the area.

&#8220This could open the door for suppliers to locate here, other food products, bottlers, labeling companies and trucking companies,” he said. &#8220We see this as beginning a new cluster industry.”

But the deal to secure Baumer took an incredible amount of work and cooperation from many corners.

Chaisson said that when he was first told of the need for such a large building, the only one he knew would fit was the former Con Star Building which had just been leased to the Red Cross.

&#8220Fortunately the Red Cross agreed to give up 79,000 square feet at this time, knowing we had a chance to secure a long-term permanent tenant,” Chaisson said.

The Red Cross signed an initial 18-month lease, and has an option for 18 more months. But that will give port officials time to get Baumer started here with the available space, and then see whether an entirely new building needs to be built for the long-term or not.

&#8220Either way, we worked out a way to get them here permanently for now, and we will either build a new building long term, or use all the space where they are if the Red Cross does not stay,” Chaisson said.

Baumer has signed a 15-year lease at $4 per square foot for the building, with St. John Parish putting in $10,000 a month on the lease for 16 months out of its economic development fund. Additionally, state economic development funds are providing $1.5 million for improvements to the building, and the port will sell $4 million in bonds to cover all the other improvements needed.

&#8220We wanted to keep a New Orleans business in this region,” Monica added. &#8220And St. John has done that.”

Michelle Holtzclaw, vice president of sales and marketing with Baumer, said the company is currently operating with other contractors doing their work. But they anticipate a May start date here for production.

&#8220This was a good fit for our company, and keeps us in the New Orleans Metro area, which is what we wanted,” she added.

Baumer had 200 employees in New Orleans when the hurricane shut them down. Wendel said the company has offered all the employees their jobs back, but so far there are &#8220vast numbers we can’t find.” He expects there to be a mix of former employees, as well as many new hires in St. John Parish.

&#8220We will probably start with around 100 employees and slowly rebuild to the 200 we had, hopefully within a year,” he noted. &#8220And we have positions for skilled or unskilled workers, with benefits and very good pay.”

President and CEO of the company, Alvin Baumer Jr., heads the company which began in 1923, growing to become the fastest growing condiment manufacturer in the United States.

The former facility on Tchoupitoulas Street is now with second generation leadership after Alvin and Mildred Baumer founded the company, now having grown to distribute in 75 countries.