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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