- April 25, 2024
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An international business has opened in Bunnell and committed to creating 100 new jobs over the next several years.
Vidya Herbs U.S.A. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 15, celebrating the grand opening of its new facility in Bunnell.
The facility is on Otis Stone Hunter Road at U.S. 1 and is the company’s first United States-based manufacturing plant.
The plant will also function as the company’s Florida headquarters, according to a press release from Vidya Herbs.
The ribbon cutting ceremony included key Vidya Herbs executives — including founder and President Shyam Prasad Kodimule and his brother, Vice President Chandra Sekhar Kodimule — Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson and Florida’s Secretary of Commerce, Laura DiBella.
“We deal with a lot of projects here in the state of Florida,” DiBella said. “But there’s some that really hit home and you’re just like, ‘This is good.’ … This is one of those projects.”
Vidya Herbs is an international company that makes sustainably produced plant-based ingredients for vitamins, dietary supplements, functional food and personal care products, according to the business’ website.
The Bunnell facility is a carbon dioxide extraction plant featuring a supercritical carbon dioxide extraction system.
Prasad Kodimule said the machine will extract oils from the plant material in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
Saw palmetto — native to the southeastern U.S. — is one of Vidya’s top extracts, and saw palmetto berries are among the materials that will be processed at the new facility.
The company was the first business to make use of Bunnell’s business incentive program.
Vidya’s application met all of the criteria for the program, qualifying for several years of grant money — $276,000 over seven years, Bunnell City Manager Alvin Jackson Jr. said.
Robinson said that she had been in talks with Vidya since 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed bringing the business to Bunnell.
“We’re looking forward to what they’re going to do, and how they’re going to grow and in expand,” she said.
The program is for current and new businesses in Bunnell and is intended to create local jobs and diversify the tax base, Jackson said.
Through the incentive program, Vidya is committed to creating 100 new jobs over the next several years, with an average salary of $42,000.
Jackson said the program is performance-based, meaning that a business that has been approved in the program must demonstrate that it is meeting milestones to get the full amount of annual city funding.
Each year, companies must provide proof of success, including the number of employees they have and the average salaries of their employees.
