Twinlab CEO: St. Pete positions company for acquisitions, recruitment
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 14, 2015

Twinlab Consolidation Corp. is moving its corporate headquarters to St. Petersburg in part to put it within striking distance of acquisitions and poaching talent from competitors.

TCC (OTC: TLCC) said Tuesday that it would take over two floors in the First Central Tower, moving employees to downtown St. Pete from New York City, Michigan and Utah. The company is expected to take occupancy by late summer.

Tom Tolworthy, CEO of TCC, said Tuesday that his search for a place to consolidate the company's many locations pretty quickly landed on Florida - there are a number of dietary supplement companies here that he's eyeing for acquisition, though he declined to name them.

Employees will move in waves, he said, and he expects the majority of his employees to relocate to St. Petersburg. That environment sets the stage for growth as well as talent recruitment.

"As far as recruiting and finding quality talent - it's really a great area to recruit to," Tolworthy said.

Gov. Rick Scott's office engaged the company and provided economic development incentives, Tolworthy said, mostly in the form of tax refunds.

Tolworthy said the executive leadership of TCC first discussed a consolidated office in February 2014 and started to search for sites shortly after that.

Florida very quickly became the focus of the search, and the company scoured the east coast, as far south as Fort Lauderdale, as well as the Bay region, and "by far, St. Petersburg stood out."

"It's just exciting," Tolworthy said. "When you look at other parts of Florida, it's maybe not so exciting. We were just excited when we saw everything that was going on."

The last time Tolworthy visited St. Petersburg was 2005, when he was CEO of Vitamin Shoppe and opening a location in Tyrone Square Mall.

"It had been a while since I've been to downtown St. Pete," he said, "and the transition just blew me away. That kind of urban renewal is just exciting to me. I like seeing the investment in what exists and bringing things back like that."

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.