Benefiting From the Bedbug Boom

(Crain’s) — As Paul Simon once sang, “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.” Ever since the fear of bedbug infestations became Topic A among anxious New Yorkers, Jonathan Frisch has been riding high. As vice president of sales and marketing for Brooklyn-based pest-control firm AP&G Co., he has been trying to keep up with the demand for his company’s newest product, Catchmaster BEDS (or bedbug early detection system).

Designed to simulate the environment that bedbugs find irresistible—think tight, dark and grooved, like a mattress crease—the matchbook-like cardboard device lures the little bloodsuckers before they breed. Selling for $2 to $3 a pop, “they are the fastest-growing product in our company’s 30-year history,” crows Mr. Frisch.

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