Late last week, Greenhouse Grower reported on the acquisition of Midwest greenhouse operation N.G. Heimos Greenhouseshttps://www.greenhousegrower.com/management/hoffmann-family-of-companies-acquiring-n-g-heimos-greenhouses/ by the Hoffmann Family of Companies. The planned closing is set for June 2025.
In this exclusive interview, Greenhouse Grower Editor Brian Sparks caught up with Bernie Heimos, President of Heimos, and David Hoffmann, Founder and Chairman of HF Companies, about why the deal makes sense for both companies, and why N.G Heimos is well positioned for a bright future in the floriculture industry.
Brian Sparks: How did the process start? Did one of your companies reach out to the other?
Bernie Heimos: We reached out to some of David Hoffmann’s employees that we knew. When American Farms was sold to the Hoffmann Family of Companies, we followed that very closely. Our family and the team at American Farms have known each other for years, and we share common customers. They told us their transition was smooth and seamless. The Hoffmann Family of Companies had also purchased some wineries in Augusta, MO, and one of our friends owns a bed and breakfast they acquired. Hoffmann came with a very high recommendation. Then, about two years ago Hillermann Nursery and Florist was purchased by the Hoffmann family. The Hillermanns and my dad go back to when they each started in the industry.
We’ve been approached many times from different people about buying our company, and none of them fit with our principles and values, or what we want to do with the community, with our employees, with our company, and the reputation that we hold in the industry. We wanted to keep that as strong as we could. So because of that I did a lot of research on the Hoffmann Family, and we found their values to be very similar to ours.
Brian Sparks: When you look at some of the companies that the Hoffmann family has acquired over the years, it shows a clear interest in this market. How does this acquisition reflect where Hoffmann is looking to head as a company?
David Hoffmann: When we consider making a purchase, we first look at the people and the cultural fit. So I went out and met Bernie and his family, some of whom had worked together at American Farms. We want to maintain a family culture at Hoffmann, and we’ve become great friends as well as colleagues with the Heimos family. We also really like this marketplace. We like the earth and what it represents, and we like the people in it. What Bernie and the Heimos family bring is a leadership role within that space for us nationally. We now span from Florida to California, and we will continue to acquire like-minded companies. Every company we’ve purchased has been a family business, so Heimos was a natural fit. When I walked through their facility, I knew there were some things we could learn from them, and hopefully there’s some things that we’re doing that can help them as well. But overall I was just impressed with the management, the family, their values, and how they align with ours. We couldn’t be more excited about this.
Brian Sparks: That family business aspect that you talk about seems to be really important, especially nowadays. As we’ve seen in the years coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, while there’s been growth in some areas of the industry, we’ve also seen the struggles that a lot of family-run businesses have had. To have a successful family-run operation like N.G. Heimos is really encouraging.
David Hoffmann: When you look at the breadth and size of our combined companies, there are certain things we can do that individual companies couldn’t necessarily do. We have capital, and we don’t worry about a lot of the things that smaller companies need to worry about. If times get tough, or if there’s a recession, we’re prepared for those events. We like to get involved with companies, but we also like to let them do what they do well.
Brian Sparks: For Bernie, how did you approach this from a family perspective?
Bernie Heimos: Our family is a group of 10 individuals, so it’s sometimes difficult getting everyone on the same page. But when we sat down and talked about what the company looks like today, and what it could look like in the future with an infusion of capital, we got excited. We try to honor our dad every day here because he was one of the pioneers in our industry. That’s why it was great when David said he was going to keep our name on the front of the building. It gives us the opportunity to honor our dad and continue to do what we love.
Brian Sparks: What effect, if any, will this acquisition have on the team in place at N.G. Heimos, or your customers?
Bernie Heimos: I go back many years in this industry. I used to work for Color Spot Nurseries, which is a name that’s no longer around. We were actually acquired several times while I worked there, and we also acquired other companies while I worked there. Every time that an acquisition comes up in any company, a lot of people get very nervous. So in our case, I had a meeting with all my managers and secondary supervisors to let them know what’s going on. We wanted to be completely transparent about what we’re doing, because it can only benefit all of us in the long run. I told them that David is committed to our company and will let our people run the business. That’s important because a lot of our team has been working for us for several years. They may be getting a little long in the tooth or towards the end of their career, but they don’t want to change jobs right now. It’s important to us to make sure that they’ve got a comfort zone to land when they’re ready to retire. But we also have a lot of youth here that will make up the next generation of leadership in our industry. And we want to cultivate them into becoming great leaders in our industry. This will give us that opportunity to continue that.
Brian Sparks: Do you see any effect on your end customer?
Bernie Heimos: About 80% of our customers ask us for more product each year. Right now we’re contracting out about 8 acres of greenhouse space because we don’t have more space on site, and we’ll continue doing that until we can build new growing space. And probably as we’re building, we’re going to still use them because we want to expand the market even more.
Brian Sparks: What are some of the other long-term benefits that you see from this arrangement?
David Hoffmann: We see Heimos playing a role in helping us with future acquisitions. We have demand in this industry, and we need to increase our supply. We’re excited about the leadership that Bernie and his family brings to our company in this space, and we’re excited about the opportunity because it’s a growth environment for them. We like to deploy capital, and this will be a very logical place to do that.
Bernie Heimos: The greenhouse business is very much family oriented, and as regulations change and concerns like tariffs come up, it affects us daily. Taking on a lot of extra cost is is not easy for a family business, and I think that this announcement is going to help us feel the freedom to do what we need to do. It’s going to take some of that anxiety of regulations tariffs off our mind and get us back to focusing on the customer. And that’s the main goal for us, to satisfy the customer with the best quality plant at the best price.