Strategic Partnerships, Strong Food Division Propels Hoffman’s Exterminating

© Amanda Joerndt

MANTUA, N.J. — When Bill Hoffman, president and CEO of Hoffman’s Exterminating in Mantua, N.J., started his company in the 1990s out of his home, he knew he wanted to establish a business model unique from other pest control companies.

With a plan for growth, acquisitions and hiring great people, he wanted to be considered the main commercial and residential pest control business in Southern New Jersey, Hoffman said.

“We went through the recession in the 1990s, and the COVID-19 pandemic, we have still been able to grow and develop because we’ve been so diversified since day one,” he said.

But Hoffman considers his beginnings in pest control an accident. Hoffman’s uncle, who worked as a sanitarian at the time, knew a local pest control company that needed seasonal help over the summer. Hoffman decided to give the job a chance and was offered to stay on through the fall and winter seasons.

“After the first year, I realized it’s a half-decent job and I started getting my pesticide licenses and took the Purdue courses,” Hoffman said. “The pest control company was a regional one, and I was able to move up in the 10 years I stayed there.”

At 27 years old, he decided to see what else was out there and left the company. Hoffman quickly realized he liked working in the pest control industry and decided to start his own company. Within four years, he outgrew his home office and bought the current office in Mantua, N.J.

A PASSION FOR FOOD SAFETY. From early on in his career, one of Hoffman’s passions has been protecting brands, food safety and quality assurance in the food processing and manufacturing businesses. Organically, he made the decision to start a food safety division at Hoffman’s, with only the most qualified and experienced technicians a part of the division.

“Food companies become my best salesmen because they are telling their family and friends about how we protected their business,” Hoffman said. “Strategically, that has been the single biggest growth model that we’ve had.”

Hoffman said he doesn’t view going into a food processing facility any different than going into a residential home because, “homeowners are protective of their space, who comes in and who’s walking around their yard doing applications. It’s a personal process for homeowners, and it’s very personal for these food plants.”

Hoffman’s has 250 food-related accounts, either manufacturing, processing or packaging plants. To get on the food safety team, Hoffman reviews the most highly credentialed, productive employees at the company.

Courtesy of Hoffman's

“It’s very demanding. There are no 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. jobs in food safety,” he said. “It’s when the customer needs us, we are out there responding,” keeping their brands protected and ensuring there are issues if an audit occurs.

Hoffman said when he started working in pest control in the 1980s, treatment was all reactive. Now it’s all about preventing the pests from contaminating food and getting into the food supply.

“When it comes to food, any pest is a bad pest, even outside perimeter pests or your occasional invaders,” he said. “We’re mainly dealing with rodents, flies, beetles or stored product pests, but with the new regulations, any pest is a bad pest, like if a spotted lanternfly or ladybug gets in the facility.”

Nearly 25 to 30 percent of food waste comes from spoilage packaging, expiration and from pests, Hoffman said. “We play a very huge part to make sure food is not wasted because mice got into it,” he added.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS. Hoffman said another growth driver is strategic partnerships, including mergers and acquisitions, and building relationships with regional associations and organizations outside of the industry, like the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey.

“We got involved with organizations early on that really shared our vision of giving back to the community, treating people well and helping our people as best we can,” Hoffman said. “That decision 33 years ago continues to mark our growth today.”

With smaller pest control companies, Hoffman is able to work with them in the beginning and when they decide to sell to give customers and employees a better home.

“We didn’t aggressively go into the M&A business,” Hoffman’s said. “We got into it because someone called me and said, ‘I want my customers and employees to be treated great and I think by you taking over my business, that could happen.’”

Jodie Gallagher, branch manager for Hoffman’s Mantua office, is one point of contact for newly acquired companies to feel comfortable in handing over customer relations, company database information, building the reoccurring services and making employees who are hired onto Hoffman’s team feel more at home in the transition.

Gallagher said the company doesn’t take routes outside of their service area, deliberately working to condense routes and close territory gaps, reduce drive time, have more efficient fleet management and higher production days.

“I would go in and learn more about their customers and what they wanted to implement into our systems, along with our policies and procedures,” she said. “Converting those customers from quarterly to our five-times-a-year policy and trying to communicate with them on what we offer.”

Employee retention and being a leader for her team has been a big part of growth for Gallagher during her 25-year tenure at Hoffman’s.

“Being available for my people whenever they need me, every day, all day,” she said. “Even if they’re having a bad day personally, being available and listening to what they need at the time. That’s what it’s about.”

Gallagher’s roots run deep in the family business. As Bill Hoffman’s niece, she has been able to grow in her career and be challenged by her uncle, she said.

“He pushes me. If he feels like I could do something, he pushes me until I get it,” Gallagher said. “He sees something in me because he’s a great leader. He takes me out of my comfort zone, and he’s done that to me in my entire career here.”

Bill Hoffman said at the end of the day, every decision the company makes is based on their core values.

“Everyone we hire, every customer we take on, it doesn’t become an issue transitioning people over because we are looking for people who have our core values in the very beginning,” he said. “Stay true to who you are, why you’re there and what your purpose is and make business decisions around there. Everything else will align.”