Walking into a retail store in Lake County, customers are not likely to find products made by Libertyville and Round Lake Park-based Belle Aire Creations, but there is a good chance that there is already something in their home with a scent or flavor made by the business.
Working with partners who manufacture other products, Belle Aire gives those goods their fragrance or flavor, according to the company website. A Belle Aire product can also neutralize an unpleasant smell.
“Our scents or flavors are pretty much anywhere you are,” Belle Aire Chief Operating Officer Jason Dhaliwal said.
Belle Aire is one of a number of businesses that have helped spur economic growth over the past year in Lake County, along with a growing workforce and collaboration among a variety of people contributing to the ecosystem.
“Lake County is leading one of the most dynamic economic transformations in Chicagoland,” Kevin Considine, the president and CEO of Lake Partners, said. “With over $1.7 billion in new investment, and thousands of jobs created and retained over the last five years, the region is proving its strength.”
Part of the county’s industrial growth, Dhaliwal said, Belle Aire more than tripled the size of its workforce in the past five years, going from 63 employees in 2000 to now more than 200.
Founded by two brothers — Richard and Charles David — and a third partner, Don Conover Sr., in 1982, the second generation of the families is now running Belle Aire. Dhaliwal said Stacey David became CEO in 2016.
Dhaliwal said Belle Aire was originally based in Mundelein, but outgrew its space, moving its manufacturing operation to Round Lake Park in 2021 and opening a separate facility for its corporate headquarters and creative center in Libertyville the following year.
Focusing on what Dhaliwal said is the middle market, Belle Aire was purchased by Switzerland-based Givaudan on Dec. 1. The now parent company makes similar products for a larger market. He said little will change for Belle Aire.
“We are assured the people who are still here will continue to have jobs,” Dhaliwal said. ”We’re a middle-market company. What we do is relationship-based. Big companies do things differently.”
Colorado-based Tolmar, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company manufacturing drugs including those treating cancer, is opening a research laboratory at Rosalind Franklin University’s Innovation and Research Park, according to a news release from the school. It already has executive, sales and marketing offices in Buffalo Grove.
“At Rosalind Franklin, Tolmar gains world-class research space and the chance to collaborate with leading scientists and research cores,” Stace Porter, Tolmar’s senior vice president of development operations, said in the release.
Earlier this year, Fortune Brands consolidated its headquarters for its far-flung companies — Moen Faucets, Master Lock and others — expanding its 135-person Deerfield operation into space where more than 1,000 may eventually work.
Considine said another element of business growth — particularly in the industrial sector — comes from places like Lake County Workforce Development and the College of Lake County. Between coursework and training programs, local people can fill needed positions.
“They have very quietly been on a tear,” Considine said. “They are preparing people for needed, well-paying jobs.”
Jennifer Serino, the executive director of Lake County Workfree Development, said the operation uses a variety of programs to “fill the talent gap” for employers in the area. They involve direct training of both new and existing personnel. It often includes paying six months of wages during the learning process.
“We help people learn new skills,” Serino said. “We do new product training for existing employees. We help people returning to the workforce learn new skills which are relevant today.”
Serino said a lot of the programs are funded by the US. Department of Labor Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.