Bay Food Brokerage, a Tampa, Florida-based retail food brokerage company serving the Southeast, has relocated to a new headquarters building in Tampa’s Westshore Business District that is double the size of its previous office on Memorial Highway.
Bay Food Brokerage purchased the almost 12,000-square-foot office building at 5201 W Laurel St. for $4.3 million in August 2024. After major renovations and upgrades to the space, the company moved its staff into the new headquarters in late April.
“In 1993, when I started Bay Food Brokerage, I would never have dreamed that someday we’d be moving into a beautiful building like this,” Founder and CEO Cammie Chatterton said at the ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony the company hosted for the community on May 6.
“I started out in a 400-square-foot office with no employees, and today I can proudly say we have 76 employees in eight states, and we are moving into a building that’s 12,000 square feet. This new headquarters will allow us to grow our company, our employees and help our clients achieve more success.”
Bay Food Brokerage has achieved significant growth in the past 14 years when Chris Chatterton – Bay Food’s current president – joined the company. In the past 10 years, it has quadrupled its annual revenue and more than doubled its staff.
“We’ve been on a fairly steep growth trajectory for the past decade, and it was time to upgrade the size, location and amenities of our headquarters,” Chris Chatterton said. “Our rapid growth in recent years – in terms of revenue and employees – prompted a need for space that’s comfortable for our team and also can support our growth into the future.”
Leadership chose the location for its convenience to Tampa International Airport and to better accommodate the commuting needs of its Tampa Bay-based employees. Building features and amenities include a commercial test kitchen, The Oasis Café breakroom, Recharge Room for wellness, The Studio for cutting-edge video-conferencing capabilities, a large meeting space off the kitchen that can hold over 80 people, a large conference room, a huddle room for smaller meetings, private offices and open workstations.
“We’re thrilled to have found a building in a location that really meets all our needs and will allow us to grow into the next generation of Bay Food Brokerage,” said Cammie Chatterton.
Cammie Chatterton established Bay Food Brokerage in 1993, as one of the first women in the country to own a retail food brokerage company.
The company also has an office location in Lake Wylie, South Carolina.
About 150 staff, clients, business partners and community leaders attended the ribbon-cutting event, including Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Bob Rohrlack, president of the Tampa Bay Chamber.
“We were really excited to welcome our clients and the community into our new office,” Chris Chatterton said. “Many people put in a lot of hard work to get us to this point, and being able to host this gathering to celebrate together was the perfect way to mark the start of this next chapter.”