The Acadiana region has long been home to a number of companies with global impact and international recognition. With a number of business incentives and new initiatives, Louisiana offers new and migrating businesses the resources they need for expansion.

Growing Business in Louisiana

Decades before Bell’s 2015 decision to invest $26.3 million in its latest North American helicopter manufacturing facility in Acadiana, PHI opened its doors in Lafayette as a small helicopter transportation company. Since inception in 1949, the global leader has flown over 12 million rotary wing flight hours – more than any private entity worldwide. Thriving in Acadiana’s business-friendly climate, PHI now maintains operations in 43 countries while providing transportation, air medical, and technical services to the offshore oil and gas industry across the globe.

Founded over 40 years ago, Stuller, Inc., one of the largest jewelry setting manufacturers in the world, employs approximately 1,400 skilled workers in its administrative and manufacturing headquarters in Lafayette, providing next-day delivery of more than 200,000 different items to jewelry professionals worldwide. Due in large part to Stuller’s business model, both FedEx and UPS have significant cargo operations at Lafayette Regional Airport that provide top-notch logistics capabilities to Acadiana’s industry leaders.

Traveling north towards St. Landry parish, the steel framing of a 235,000 square foot FedEx distribution center rises from a 40-acre plot of land along Interstate 10. FedEx’s April 2016 decision to locate in Acadiana follows in the footsteps of a Walmart distribution center established nearby in 1999.

A short drive south in Iberia Parish, you’ll find Avery Island, one of five “islands” rising in atypical and almost mystical fashion above Louisiana’s flat coastal marshes. This area has housed McIlhenny’s TABASCO brand Original Red Sauce production facility for 140 years. Today, the internationally popular sauce is labeled in 22 languages and dialects and sold in over 180 countries.

This strong food processing tradition that started over a century ago continues today with companies like Bayou Rum, Swamp Pop, and Bayou Teche Brewing introducing innovative products with a local flair to regional markets.   

Capitalizing on Louisiana’s Business Incentives

Louisiana provides a fertile tax environment conducive to business growth, offering the lowest industrial gas rates and second lowest industrial electricity rates in the south. These impressive rates, coupled with Acadiana’s transportation and logistics network, presents an obvious explanation for its ongoing success in distribution.  These incentives are helping lead regional companies into bright futures, both locally and globally.

Visit our site to learn more about the region’s business climate, or call 337.233.2705 for more information.