Franchisee Spotlight: John Tuosto of Mosquito Joe

John Tuosto will be applying over four decades of leadership experience and business management to his newfound business, Mosquito Joe. 

Tuosto had previously spent 45 years as a member of the Lehman Brothers team until he voluntarily retired earlier this spring. Still interested in working, along with the motivation of providing something for his children to own and operate one day, Tuosto began to search for a franchise to own. When seeking something that fit his lifestyle, he landed upon Mosquito Joe. He quickly jelled with the Mosquito Joe corporate team and jumped on the opportunity of opening his own franchise territory in Ocean County, New Jersey, this May. 

Can you tell me a little more about your background? 

I graduated from St. John’s University before working at E.F. Hutton & Co., a company that later merged with Lehman Brothers in the 1980s. I’ve been with the same company for 45 years, working in global accounting services, global procurement, accounts payable and commission accounting. In my latter years with the company, I managed a team made up of nine vice presidents and senior vice presidents but the company filed bankruptcy in 2008. I’ve been working with a bankruptcy administrator for the past eight years and am fortunate to have been one of the 125 people still working for the company up until recently. Lehman Brothers will no longer be an entity in 2018 so I opted to voluntarily retire. I spent 45 years managing people and feel that motivation is a key factor that made me succeed, as well as something I instilled in others to help them succeed. I know this skill is transferable into my future career with Mosquito Joe.

How did you hear about the Mosquito Joe and how did you learn about  it?

Although I’m 66, I feel like I’m a young 66. I didn’t want to commute back and forth between Manhattan anymore as I was spending the majority of my time in Jersey City. I woke up one day and decided retirement wasn’t for me at this point, and with the firm shrinking, I knew it was in my best interest to find another opportunity. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel so I started looking into franchising.

My first search was for the top franchises in industries that were important to me. I also wanted something that I could potentially pass along to my two daughters who are ages 29 and 37. I’ve spent a lot of my life on the water, boating, and often times the biggest headache is fending off mosquitoes and flies. Being able to control that aspect was something that I thought might be fun and aside from that, helping to reduce mosquito-borne illnesses was intriguing.

I looked at top franchises in that sector and Mosquito Joe popped up. When I went to visit the corporate team in October, I was blown away. The corporate support structure, the seasonal concept, they didn’t have to do much convincing to help me realize this was the ideal opportunity for me.

What’s next for you and your business?

I bought three territories, with the first opening in May. I’m aiming to open my second in May of 2018 and the third in May of 2019. I’m considering buying all of Staten Island but revenue will determine whether or not that’s a viable option. I’m optimistic with the support team in place and my enthusiasm that we will see fairly rapid success.

One of my daughters is very much interested in getting involved, and I also have a son who works in sales Wall Street. We’ve talked a little bit about the business transitioning into their hands once it becomes lucrative enough, but this is further down the road.

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