Life Lessons with William Hoffman, Owner of Hoffman's Exterminating

As owner of a family-owned pest control business operating in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, William Hoffman of Hoffman’s Exterminating markets his food safety division on the ability to keep food processing facilities pest-free while working with food safety professionals to remain fully compliant with third-party auditors.

Hoffman decided to enter the food safety market after having conversations with local restaurants and food companies in southern New Jersey who were looking for a “one-stop shop” operation that provided pest control and food safety knowledge on keeping products safe, including expertise on packaging and food waste management. Since then, Hoffman's has expanded from coast to coast, with the company now managing 275 food accounts nationwide. Its food safety division works in cooperation with other pest control operators from Atlanta to California to continue offering food facilities the family-forward service for which Hoffman’s is known.

“We don't want food damaged or spoiled because of pests, and we also want to make sure the quality food is there for people consuming it,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman’s core food safety team consists of eight service technicians, himself, another management team member and an account manager. Service technicians must be qualified through Safe Quality Food (SQF) and Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) programs, along with various FSMA and FDA trainings, and are hand-selected by Hoffman to be a part of the team.

“Any one of our food facilities could call me today, and I would pick up the phone,” Hoffman said. “It makes them feel like I’m a part of their food safety team and I am protecting their product, and it gives them a sense of relief. They don’t look at us as their vendor, but as a food safety partner.”

Hoffman shared more with QA magazine about his passion for protecting brands and keeping food waste at a minimum with pest protection.

I don’t see these accounts any differently than going into a home, because homeowners are protective of their space, who comes in and who’s walking around their yard doing [pest control] applications. It’s a personal process for homeowners, and it’s very personal for food facilities, because decisions they make about who they use for pest control could affect their brand, market and social media. Realistically, they know that we are embedded with them and concerned just as much about their brand.

There are no 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jobs in food safety. It’s when the customer needs us; we are out there responding. Our goal is that they are following proper food safety guidelines, their brand is safe and there’s never an issue when an audit happens.

A lot of companies have made their niche on protecting food, but in 2011, FSMA was created, and that has definitely changed people’s thoughts on how to protect our food source in warehouses, transportation, packaging and retail stores.

People are starting to realize we can’t waste food because of pest issues or spoilage. This market continues to evolve, because we’re finding new ways to do that, like not using as much pesticide, as well as using sanitation, exclusion, inspection and prevention.

I started back in the 1980s, and it was much more reactive. Now, it’s all about prevention, and you have to prevent 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. 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. Everyone is so in tune now with invasive species, and not just invasive in the country, but what could be invasive to a state.

The way commerce moves around this country is so fast, so we may have a pest issue in the Northeast that is treated because we dealt with it, but if it gets out to the Midwest, it’ll be a whole different issue. We have to protect not just the food, but against the pests that are hitchhikers, like in truck transportation and packaging.

We consume a lot of food in this country and unfortunately waste 25 to 30% of it from spoilage in packaging, expiration and pests, so that raises costs. If there’s anything we can do to not allow that to happen, we can keep costs in check. We play a huge part in that to make sure food is not wasted because mice got into it.