Sacramento-area couple won’t let the coronavirus lock out their mom-and-pop business
They started with a phone, a bomber of a brown van and optimism.
The old ride included hundreds of keys on the interior wall, a small workstation and a stool. A key-chorus jingle drowned out Led Zeppelin on the radio when navigating speed bumps or taking the corner a bit too fast.
Ted Hofmeister’s first on-call locksmith gig through a yellow-pages ad was more than 30 years ago — after the Super Bowl, a frustrated locked-out guy in North Sacramento. Brown bomber van to the rescue. That moment of savior came several years after Hofmeister and his bride-to-be, Anita, lost their keys on a skiing trip, prompting an urgent call to a timeless essential.
“Got locked out once and it was a $100 service call,” Hofmeister recalled this week. “I thought that was good money in 1980, and it got me thinking.”
Thinking became action, which reaped results. The Hofmeisters created and have lived a slice of the American dream, rooted in modest beginnings. Anita Hofmeister said with a laugh, “We started with nothing!”
Then they had all they ever needed. The Hofmeisters were born and raised in Sacramento and vowed to not go far to make their living. They rode the population-boom wave, keys in hand, ready for anything.
More American dreaming: Ted married his girl. They had three children. They started their own locksmith in Sacramento and later in Elk Grove. They bought a house, then a vacation home. They became grandparents. They worked tirelessly to make it all work, hiring staff along the way, people that became more than employees.
“We’re the definition of a mom-and-pop operation,” Ted Hofmeister said.
The Hofmeisters have owned and operated Elk Grove Lock & Safe for 20 years. It is located in the heart of town, sandwiched by the United Methodist Church and the railroad tracks. It is an essential business amid these coronavirus pandemic times, and the owners are to be appreciated for surrendering their own salaries to ensure none of their staff takes a hit.
The charm inside a place that decades ago was a car showroom includes cinder-block walls, a floor safe dating to the 1900s, newish desktop computers and timeless metal filing cabinets. When the place is busy, everyone is in motion, including service calls in more trendy white vans with the company signage splashed across the side.
The coronavirus effect on small businesses
In the world of small-business owners, the Hofmeisters are proof that it can work through skill and sheer will, and that the profits can do more than just pay bills. But there are challenges, and the small-business owners in California feels that pinch more than ever amid this global pandemic in which COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is responsible for more than 67,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The Hofmeisters are determined to keep their staff intact. Including Ted and Anita, Elk Grove Lock & Safe has eight full-time employees, headed Jay Hudnall (23 years on the job) and Scott Roberts (20 years with the Hofmeisters). The Hofmeisters’ son, Geoff, and their son-in-law, Ryan Brazeau, are in line to take over should the Hofmeisters ever retire.
Ted and Anita are a youthful and healthy 57. Neither sees retirement any time soon. For now, there are more pressing matters. Business has dropped 25 percent as much of the state has been reduced to a something of a crawl with stay-at-home orders. A lot of businesses have slowed or have ceased operations completely until further notice in an effort to keep people away from people.
Concerns?
“Oh, sure, of course,” Ted said at his desk in the back of the shop. “I’ve had a sit-down with the staff to talk about it. We looked at the first week after the shutdowns, and we’ll reevaluate it again soon. Our staff is like family, and they have families. We’re all feeling this.”
He added of his business savvy and success, “I’m definitely proud of what we’ve done here over the years. We’ve had our ebbs and flows like any small business, but we’ve done well. We do mostly commercial work, contracts with business, and the small jobs, too. A lot of business is return customers and word of mouth. We have a good reputation. Anita insists that I’ll never retire. It’s not in my DNA, and I’m too young to even think of it. We’re teaching our sons here the business of the trade and maybe by the time we’re 62 or 63, we’ll retire. Anita has the ultimate faith in me. She always knows I have a plan.”
Anita is the on-site store manager and her No. 1 insists he manages all of it, even her. She rolled her eyes upon hearing this.
The Hofmeisters keep a cautious eye on the crisis in the community while ensuring social distancing in the office and out. Staffers wear gloves for on-site jobs, masks if needed. The shop is sanitized regularly, including with the spray bottle on the front counter with the added wordage of, “Plague Bleach.”
Just above that counter is a framed photo of a fierce-looking Ted Hofmeister, fists balled and eyebrows stern, in a star-down with actor Mr. T. Ted insists that Mr. T finally backed down.
As for the coronavirus, the Hofmeisters are preparing for anything.
“I monitor the micro aspect of it, how it affects my company,” Ted said. “I don’t know if I’m afraid yet of what it might do to small businesses, but we do want to keep our doors open. We’re an essential. People need us.”
Anita will not allow gloom to be part of her day. She’s the giddy one of this operation, never without charm or smiles.
“If it ever got really bad and we lost everything, for whatever reasons, I know we’d bounce back, and I know that deep in my soul,” Anita said. “We came from nothing. I was raised in the projects. I know how to survive, and so does Ted. We have that mentality. Nothing can bring us down, and we hope people stay positive and optimistic during this time. We feel for people who are really hurting or sick from the virus.”
Knowing when to ‘shut it off’ is key
The Hofmeisters have lived in Elk Grove for 20 years. In 2012, they treated themselves to a getaway house in Tahoe. Their business success afforded such a luxury, a scenic getaway from a job that can otherwise consume them. They recommend it for any small-business owner.
“We need those getaways,” Anita said of the Tahoe perks. “If you live with your spouse and work with your spouse, it’s fun to have a getaway with your spouse.”
“Our vacation spot is two hours away,” Ted said. “We go to hike, ski, the fresh air. We love it. It’s made for convenient decompression.”
Beating the Hofmeisters to the Tahoe-bound truck are Buddy, a short-hair pointer, and Gingy, a lovably spastic Pomeranian.
“The most important thing about being a small-business owner is being able to shut it off,” Ted said. “You can’t go home and dwell on your business or it’ll eat you alive. It took me awhile to learn that.”
Anita added that small-business owners who double as married couples also need their away time from each other.
“I sew and Ted fishes,” Anita said.
Ted is also a concert fanatic, having caught between 200 and 300 shows, be it the Rolling Stones or a Led Zeppelin cover band. His fishing trips are often with decades-long friend Eric Swanson of Swanson & Sons Lock and Safe in Sacramento. They have fished in Mexico, Alaska and in states across the country. Their latest fishing venture, to Oregon, was canceled because of the pandemic. Ted has no idea when the next fishing trip might happen, nor can he project what looms for his business and those in the same boat.
“No one knows what’s next because no one has been through anything like this,” Ted said. “What’s the end date? What’s on the horizon? Long term, this is no way to run a business, but we’ll do the best we can because that’s what we’ve always done.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 11:41 AM.