Home Care Franchises Winning the Sales Game

Jiffy Lube, Motel 6, Great Clips and Culver’s. These are just a few of the U.S. franchise giants that Home Instead Senior Care outsold in 2018.

That’s according to the latest Top 200+ ranking from Franchise Times, an annual compilation of top-selling franchises based on systemwide sales. Other home care franchises winning the sales game include Interim HealthCare, Visiting Angels and Comfort Keepers, among others. 

At No. 72 overall, Omaha, Nebraska-based Home Instead once again led all home care agencies in systemwide sales, with global sales of $1.77 billion in 2018. Home instead previously checked in at No. 77 in last year’s Top 200+ ranking.

At least part of its sales success can be traced back to its creative advertising approach. In October 2018, the franchise company teamed up with advertising powerhouse Energy BBDO on its “The Third Stair” video, an evocative and informative ad that earned lofty praise from AdWeek, Biz Journals and other outlets.

“[Home care] is a service that you don’t think about until you really need it,” Katie Cox, Home Instead’s director of advertising and marketing research, previously told Home Health Care News. “The oldest boomer is 72 and the average Home Instead client is about 78, so we’re just on the edge of this demographic shift. One of the challenges we face is really getting across this idea of choice and that there’s this option to stay at home.”

Home Instead’s sales success can likewise be linked to its embrace of technology to complement in-person care. In January, CEO Jeff Huber informed HHCN that the franchise company made a “significant” minority investment in senior-friendly tablet startup GrandPad.

“We’ve been looking at the macro picture and understanding where technology is going in the aging space,” Huber said at the time. “We’ve been looking for the right solution for many, many years to bring together high-tech capabilities with our high-touch approach to caregiving.”

Home Instead has more than 1,000 franchise locations, with more than 600 in the United States.

With about $1.17 billion in systemwide sales, Sunrise, Florida-based Interim took the No. 92 spot on the latest Top 200+ list from Franchise Times. Interim, which actually held the No. 91 spot on last year’s ranking, has more than 600 franchise locations worldwide, with more than 340 based in the U.S.

Interim’s staffing business, data initiatives and new overarching strategy focused on holistic care will be keys to the franchise company’s growth moving forward, CEO Jennifer Sheets recently told HHCN during a Disrupt conversation. 

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based Visting Angels — an in-home senior care franchiser that provides companion care and personal care services — recorded systemwide sales of $725 million in 2018, good for the No. 120 spot on the Top 200+ list. The franchise company has 584 locations, the vast majority of which are based in the U.S.

Comfort Keepers (No. 138), Right at Home (No. 140), BrightStar Care (No. 175) and Senior Helpers (No. 188) rounded out home care franchise placement within the top-200 spots. The companies had 2018 systemwide sales of $545 million, $540 million, $434 million and $362 million, respectively, according to Franchise Times.

Although it’s called the Top 200+ list, Franchise Times recognizes a total of 500 companies in its annual ranking. In addition to the previously named home care franchises that all fell within the top 200, a handful of other providers made the trailing section of the list.

They included, for example, ComForCare (No. 247), Home Helpers (No. 256), Synergy HomeCare (No. 274) and Always Best Care (No. 281).

To qualify for the Franchise Times’ Top 200+ ranking, companies must be a legally based U.S. franchise, with franchisees owning at least 15% of the company’s total units.

Systemwide sales are defined as the total sales for both franchise and company units.