Magnolia Foods
As a manufacturer of corn and flour tortillas, tortilla chips and other similar products, Magnolia Foods prides itself on high-quality products and maintaining a clean and safe facility environment. After starting the company seven years ago, they are striving to uphold the high standard of cleanliness and sanitation that is critical to their success at the state-of-the-art facility.
For three consecutive years, Magnolia Foods was honored with an IPM Partner Award. The Mira Loma, Calif. based manufacturer has built an extraordinary Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program with its Orkin branch and values the partnership developed between the branch team and production staff.
We spoke with Sanitation Manager, Armando Ayala, to learn more about their partnership with Orkin and what the IPM Partner Award means to him and his staff.
How does your team feel about winning their third IPM Partner Award?
Our team is proud and honored to have received this award again. From the CEO to our production staff, everyone is very appreciative of the recognition and the excitement these awards have generated. Winning for the third time gives our team validity that their daily hard work does pay off. Our team has become even more engaged with our IPM program, as it has brought pest control to be top of mind. The team members realize they have a stake in making our program successful and that even one instance of a pest sighting can be detrimental to our bottom line.
Why is IPM so essential to your business?
IPM is not only about preventing pests. It’s a complete program that includes training and teamwork, which is very important to our business. It also creates an agreed upon direction for our pest control efforts including sanitation, cleanliness, documentation and thoroughness. With Orkin, our team has learned about conducive pest conditions and has also realized we cannot afford to take our eyes off pest control for even one day during the year. IPM criteria ensure that both our team and our Orkin partners are on the same page about what is most important for our facility.
If you could describe your partnership in one word, what would it be?
Commitment. We’re both committed to serving each other and working together as a team to make sure the program runs smoothly.
Describe the partnership you have with Orkin.
We’ve been partners with Orkin for seven years. The team is very communicative and provides regular insights from their weekly services. Their knowledge on food safety protocols and regional pest trends make them an excellent partner and advisor. There are many options when it comes to pest control, but we chose Orkin because we knew they had the knowledge and experience to best support our business.
How does your staff work with your Pro?
Since day one of our partnership with Orkin, we’ve kept the same Pro. It’s needless to say that he’s a part of our team. We’ve built a strong partnership because he is always available to answer any questions from the staff, and he always touches base with multiple people on the floor when he comes for service. During our third-party audits, he is always prepared with the documents and reports we need for the pest control portion. In fact, we earned a perfect audit score earlier this year, and we couldn’t have done it without his support.