Creating Food Safety and Pest Management Inclusivity

GADSDEN, Ala. — The harvest of Beau Bridwell’s company Farm 2 Fork Pest Services started long before he made the dream a reality through late night conversations with his wife, Amber, on ways he could provide for his children by combining his experience in food safety and pest management.

“[Amber] saw me frustrated and she said, ‘Open your own [business], baby,” Bridwell said. “I prayed about it, and said, ‘You’re right.’ I want to give my kids a future because of the way the world is [going] and give them something to look forward to.”

Bridwell started in the pest control industry 15 years ago working as a commercial technician for Cook’s Pest Control, Gadsden, Ala., and quickly “fell in love with commercial work.” From there, he was recruited by Rentokil’s Gadsden, Ala., branch in 2013 as an operations manager.

“I have a love for pest control and food safety itself and protecting brands,” he said. Wanting to learn more about food safety plans and contaminant risks, Bridwell went to work for Food Protection Services in 2016 and then became a food safety auditor at AIB International.

Bridwell is still a contractor for AIB, a preventative control quality individual (PCQI) and food defense coordinator, showing he can “talk the talk, and walk the walk” as a business owner and operator of Farm2Fork, he said.

“We might do the trap check — I call it ‘checknician’ work,” he said. “We also will go and look for the infestation, do air quality tests, metal-to-metal contact if it’s in a facility that does production. We help them in ways outside of a normal pest control company that they normally would have to do themselves.”

Headquartered in Alabama since 2020, Farm 2 Fork now services Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi — with potential growth opportunities in Florida, the Carolinas and Pennsylvania — offering 100 percent commercial pest services, fumigations, food safety consultations, risk assessments and helping food facilities with FDA inspections.

© Beau Bridwell

Bringing food safety and pest control experience together has been favorable for Bridwell, he said, adding that as a food auditor, he’s been able to educate clients on establishing well-rounded food safety cultures and programs.

“We can sit here and sell you a service, but if you don’t understand what it comes with, the biggest thing I have seen is a [lack] of education,” Bridwell said. “Letting the customer know that we are all on the same page and we get your back when the FDA shows up and helping them mitigate those risks, especially when it comes to pest control.”

Bridwell said the FDA is only going to continue adopting stricter regulations, making the collaboration between food safety and pest management more essential.

“If you can go in there and help your client with food safety and pest control, you are only adding value to yourself and the company to be the front runner [in the field],” he said. “More companies should be involved with understanding food safety and knowing more about the ‘why.’”

Knowing each customer individually and their needs to achieve a perfect score in all areas of a third-party audit has been the key to continued growth for the company.

“You have to conform to good manufacturing practices like a smock or hair net,” Bridwell said. “You have to make sure you’re not bringing any contaminant in and understanding the slang and acronyms when you go into a plant. It’s a whole lot different than just walking in and doing normal pest control.”

What’s kept Bridwell grounded when “playing with the big boys” has been his faith, he said.

When he’s not on the road, Bridwell is a deacon at Cornerstone Church in Gadsden, Ala. He did not predict that this would be a part of his journey, but it has been a part of his bigger calling to help people.

© Beau Bridwell

“I was in the middle of an audit, and my pastor called me on a Monday and said that my name came up at a meeting to become a potential deacon,” Bridwell said. “I broke down crying in my customer’s office, because I believe I was put on this earth to help people.”

With five children ranging from 15 to 3 years old, Bridwell said some are already watching him work in the field, wanting to follow in his footsteps.

“My 14-year-old has shown interest in the business, but the best part is my 5-year-old,” he said. “If I let her, she would be working with me right now. She hates bugs, but she wants to come and learn everything with me.”