Franchisee Voices: Jeff Huckabee of Mosquito Joe

Former nuclear engineer Jeff Huckabee is trading nuclear bombs for bug bombs when he opened Chester County's second Mosquito Joe* office in West Chester in May 2016. After working in nuclear and petroleum engineering, as well as serving in the military, Huckabee retired into franchise ownership in a brand new industry.

With the threat of Zika virus growing as the warmer weather brought the mosquitoes back, Huckabee saw the need for a prevention and protection service in the area. Mosquito Joe is a prevention service which sprays an EPA- approved barrier spray around your yard to keep it mosquito, flea and tick free for weeks at a time. The concept has grown to over 270 locations in just over 4 years with this year set to be the most successful yet.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

I was born in West Texas and earned my undergraduate degree in physics at the Virginia Military Institute. I spent four years in Germany with the Army and then went on to grad school at the University of Wisconsin, where I got my master’s degree in nuclear engineering and human resources management. I was a nuclear engineer with Westinghouse for 15 years and then worked as a petroleum engineer with Shell. I was a senior director of construction engineering in Pittsburgh when the oil industry took a dive so I was laid off at 64. I wanted to own my own business so I began looking into opportunities and moved to Westchester, PA.

Why did you choose to become a franchisee with Mosquito Joe? How did you learn about the brand?

I was working with a franchise consultant to find the right opportunity and was looking into seven different concepts. I loved that Mosquito Joe was a seasonal business with a nice profit margin and high customer retention rates.

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