Although many people might be interested in doing this kind of important work, it can be a huge challenge to start this type of business from scratch. Opening a franchise location gives you access to a proven business strategy, ongoing professional support, and brand recognition from the start. Having this foundation for success from the outset makes senior service franchises an excellent career opportunity!
This article will give an overview of senior services and the franchise opportunities associated with them. It will answer questions like:
- What are senior services and what type of businesses provide them?
- Which elder care franchises are the best options to own?
- Are senior care franchises profitable?
- What are some examples of franchises in this field?
What Is a Service Based Franchise?
Senior service franchises are one subset of the service franchise, meaning they provide services rather than products. In general, service based franchises utilize the time and skills of workers to achieve a goal, rather than provide a physical object for a customer to purchase.
For instance, in a product based business, a restaurant could deliver food to seniors to provide them with nutritious dining options. With a service based business, a senior home care provider would take the senior to the grocery store to pick out their own groceries, or help them place an online order for what they need.
What Is an Example of a Service Franchise in Senior Care?
There is a large range of senior services franchise types available to meet the various needs of senior citizens today. These include types like:
Home Care Franchise
In general, home care refers to any professional service that provides support for someone so they can safely live in their home. Home care is a broad category with many franchise options. This can include things like running errands, cleaning, food preparation, house maintenance, in-home medical care, companionship, assistance getting to doctor’s appointments, and help managing medications. Some home care franchises are specifically non-medical, others provide exclusively medical support with trained nursing staff, and some include a mixture of medical and non-medical aid. Here are two franchises in the home care realm that you can read more about.
- Visiting Angels franchise - Providing “non-medical, private duty home care”
- Home Instead franchise - Providing “in-home care services to seniors around the world”
Senior Placement Franchise
When the time is right, many seniors decide to move to somewhere that can accommodate their changing needs better than living alone. But making this transition, and choosing the right option for each unique circumstance, can be a challenge. There are franchises available that help seniors and their families understand all these options and make the best decision. These types of placement franchises are not a group home franchise or assisted living franchise themselves, but rather help people understand the options available. They often provide these services free-of-charge to seniors, and get paid by the assisted living or nursing home businesses they recommend. Here are two franchises that work in this way:
- Owl Be There franchise - “Empowering them to make wise, informed choices about senior living and care”
- Oasis Senior Advisors franchise - Offering “seniors and their families valuable resources to help them navigate the senior living options that are the best fit for their lifestyle, budget, and medical needs”
Mobility and Accessibility Franchise
For seniors and others with mobility challenges, finding the tools they need to stay independent can be a challenge. There are franchise opportunities that can help the people in your community who need mobility aids get the equipment to improve their quality of life. Many of these franchises are brick-and-mortar storefronts selling accessibility tools where seniors can see their options and watch demonstrations of products that can help. Two such franchises are:
- Mobility Plus franchise - Providing “retail showroom that will be there every day to ensure that your customers find the most appropriate solutions to their mobility needs”
- All Star Medical and Home Accessibility franchise - Offering “retail storefront and showroom that provides an impressive variety of options to maintain everyday accessibility for our customers and their loved ones”
Senior Relocation and Downsizing Franchise
Often as people age, they no longer wish to stay in the large homes where they lived with big families. Sometimes they are no longer able to take care of big homes and large properties, or they wish to spend their time doing other things. But packing and moving are a big job, no matter what age someone is. For older people who have spent a lifetime accumulating possessions, downsizing can be too big a hurdle to overcome. That’s where franchises that help seniors relocate come in. These businesses can assist with the physical challenge of sorting and moving, as well as the logistical challenges of selling unwanted possessions. Here are some examples of this type of franchise opportunity:
- Caring Transitions franchise - Providing “peace of mind for seniors and their families by making relocation a seamless, personal experience”
- Blue Moon Estate Sales franchise - Helping “families and companies downsize and liquidate their estates or offices”
Seniors Activities Franchise
Changing circumstances for elders mean challenges for staying active and engaged with their communities. There are options for franchises to help seniors stay connected and get the most out of their golden years. These include companies that provide day programs for seniors to socialize, and physical therapy options for maintaining physical condition like these:
- Daycation for Seniors franchise - Providing “a social day program (M-F) that doctors recognize as a vital part of a care plan for those with dementia”
- FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers franchise - Providing “traditional PT services including injury and surgery rehabilitation”
No matter what your passion or previous experience, there are so many options for senior services franchises that you are sure to find one that is the perfect fit for you. Everyone considering starting a franchise or other small business will have a different set of priorities when choosing where and how to open, we will explore some common influential factors in the next section.
What Franchises are Best to Own in the Senior Services Sector?
The best senior care franchise for you to open will depend on what matters most to you. There are several different elements of a franchise that tend to be most important to potential franchisees, so let's look at some of the biggest ones.
Best Franchises to Own for Beginners
Starting a franchise for the first time if you aren’t coming in with much business experience can feel like a big challenge. Some franchises will offer more training and support for beginners than others, which would make them the best options for someone struggling to get started. Here’s a list of senior service franchises that offer the highest level of support:
- HomeWatch CareGivers - This industry-leading franchise has been in operation since 1980, providing high quality care for seniors. They offer an extensive pre-training program, followed by a week of classroom training and a full 52-week business program designed by home care experts to guide you through the entire first year as a franchisee.
- Right at Home - This franchise offers exceptional support for new franchisees, including a two week in-person training on all the operational, administrative, sales, and computer software techniques and instructions you need to get started. Following your training, you’ll also receive up to 18 months of dedicated time from a support person to personally coach you through your daily routines as a new franchise owner.
Most Profitable Franchises
If a high return on your investment and profitability are your major concerns, you are probably interested in the most profitable senior care franchises. Although no franchise—or any business—can guarantee a specific monetary return, there are some companies whose franchisees have historically seen very high profits. Here are a few examples:
- BrightStar Care - This franchise has been leading the way in senior care for over 20 years and offers multiple potential revenue streams for franchisees interested in maximizing profits. These include medical and non-medical home care, privately paid in-home healthcare, national accounts, and medical staffing. The 2022 average annual revenue for their franchisee’s first location is over $2.2 million, with more details provided in their franchise disclosure documents.
- CarePatrol - CarePatrol has seen unparalleled growth as a senior care franchise, with more than 150 franchise locations across 30 states. Their franchisees also earn on average 42% more revenue than competitor franchisees in this competitive industry.
Passive Senior Care Franchise
Some prospective franchisees are looking for businesses that they can set up to work on their own, essentially franchises that run themselves. Most senior services franchises are designed to be very hands-on, since this industry is especially well-suited to people who want to make a difference in the lives of their community members. But all franchises, including those in senior care, will be much more turnkey than starting a business from scratch would be. Because the business strategy and resources are already established, any of these franchises can be set up to run more passively with the help of a well chosen manager or team.
How Much Does it Really Cost to Start a Franchise in Senior Service?
Senior care franchise cost varies widely, depending on the specific franchise, the area of the country you plan to open in, and the offerings you plan to include to begin with. The best place to look for the specific amount of startup capital required is in the franchise disclosure document from the franchise you are interested in.
There are several different monetary amounts that are typically listed for franchise pricing that are important to understand.
- Startup cost, which is sometimes also listed as liquid capital. This is the amount of money a typical franchisee needs to invest before they can open the doors on their new business. This will likely include things like the franchise fee, owner training costs, building rent, staff hiring and training expenses, etc.
- Total investment is another category that many franchises list, which includes the startup cost as well as other costs a franchisee will typically incur to get their business to the point where it is turning a profit. This might include things like rent and staff payroll for the first few months, before a client base has been built that is large enough to cover these expenses.
- Net worth is the last commonly listed financial requirement on many franchise descriptions. This is simply the total wealth of an individual considering franchise ownership. Franchises provide this net worth figure to help you decide if you would be a good financial fit for running a particular franchise. Some franchises will be best suited for people looking to make a large investment, while others will work well for owners with more modest budgets.
Here are a few examples of financial requirements for different senior care franchises to give you an idea of the range and format of these costs.
- Senior Helpers - This in-home elder care has an average startup cost of $104,800 to $144,300, with franchisees having at least $100,000 in liquid capital and a net worth of over $200,000. The total investment for one of these franchise locations is anticipated to be $214,883 - $408,183.
- A Place at Home - This franchise requires a total investment of $59,020 - $153,137, with a minimum of $70,000 of liquid capital and a net worth over $250,000. Potential franchisees are also required to have a credit score over 680.
Franchise.com offers search tools that make it easy to filter by investment level, so you can search for franchise options that meet your budget.
How Profitable Is a Senior Care Business?
Although there are no guarantees of profitability with starting any new business, franchises have the advantage in that at least you can learn what previous franchisees have experienced. In general, a home care franchise profit margin tends to be similar to or even above the general franchise profit margin, with some sources listing 30-40% as typical.
But what does this senior home care business profitability really mean to the owner of a senior services franchise?
How Much Do Senior Care Franchises Make?
Let’s look at an example to give you a basic idea of what you might expect. These numbers will vary for each business; this is just meant to give you an idea of how to make these calculations for yourself.
If you are running a non-medical home care service for seniors, you might have 10 clients who are each using your services for 20 hours per week at a rate of $20 per hour. This means your overall revenue per week would be: 10 clients x 20 hours X $20/hour = $4,000 per week.
Gross profit is calculated as your total revenue minus the cost of goods sold, which in this case is the amount you pay your caregivers for providing this service. Assuming you pay your caregivers $10/hour, you are left with a gross profit of $2,000 per week. If paying your caregiving staff was your only expense, in this example you would have a 50% profit margin.
However, there are other expenses associated with running a senior services franchise. These include costs like paying franchise royalties, taxes, office rent and utilities, business loan repayments, and advertising expenses. In the senior care industry on average, these costs are likely to add up to 10-20% of your total revenue. In our example company bringing in a weekly revenue of $4,000, these costs would be expected to run $400-$800 per week.
That means the net profit (total profit after all expenses have been paid) of our example business would be $1,200-$1,600 per week, which adds up to $62,400-$83,200 per year. Generally, franchise owners choose to invest a certain amount of this profit back into the business to help it continue to grow. To increase the overall take home pay a franchise owner can expect, they could add additional clients. If they doubled their client load to 20 clients per week, they could expect to earn roughly double the annual profit as well.
Franchise.com Offers the Best in Senior Services Franchises
When you are ready to take the next step to secure your financial future and make a real difference in your community, you need Franchise.com. We offer information on all the top performing senior services franchises to help in your decision making process. You can search by industry, category, state, or investment amount to narrow down your options. Start searching today to find your next career!
