In the wake of a rebrand and leadership reorganization, HomeWell Care Services has hit its stride. The home care franchiser is seeing significant growth, despite all the change and other industry challenges.
HomeWell is a Burkburnett, Texas-based home care franchise company that provides personal care, companionship and homemaker services. The company serves more than 3,000 clients annually, with more than 40 locations across the U.S. and Canada.
During Q1 2021, HomeWell opened four new locations with new owners. The company also executed five contracts and one expansion.
“We had a record year in 2020, and that pipeline was extremely strong going into this current year,” Crystal Franz, CEO of HomeWell, told Home Health Care News. “We have just continued to capitalize on the fact that we have a lot of people interested in home care. They see the demand, and they see the need to provide care in their local communities.”
In all of 2020, HomeWell executed 19 new contracts and brought in 16 new owners representing 31 territories. Franz believes the company is on track to match or even surpass last year’s numbers.
Amid the COVID-19-induced recession and general job uncertainty, there is still a lot of interest in joining a franchise system. One selling point for potential new franchise owners has been the opportunity to become an entrepreneur at this time, according to Franz.
“With the way the economy is right now, we’re getting a lot of people from the corporate world who are looking to part ways with their jobs,” she said. “They are betting on themselves, and want to own their own business and grasp their entrepreneurial spirit.”
As far as new franchises are concerned, HomeWell aims to achieve 30 new contracts by the end of the year.
Still, HomeWell places quality over quantity when it comes to finding the right owners to join its network.
“We are rather discerning, and we can be because our pipeline is very strong,” Franz said. “We make sure the candidates who are coming forward are well qualified, not only on paper but in regards to a culture fit. We’ve spent a lot of time revamping our brand, defining who we are and what we stand for in our local communities. Our franchise owners are the ones who are delivering that brand.”
In the first three months of the year, Homewell also saw its corporate revenue growth increase by 45% and its system revenue growth increase by 37%.
The revenue growth is the result of HomeWell’s aggressive footprint expansion amid the public health emergency, according to Franz.
“That’s what you’re seeing in that system revenue growth — our ability to take on the opportunities that we were seeing and help our owners understand how to capitalize on those opportunities,” she said. “What the pandemic has done is really highlighted home care as a place in the health care continuum.”
At the start of the year, HomeWell announced a series of leadership appointments — including Franz — as part of its larger rebranding efforts.
Broadly, HomeWell evolved from a company that mostly worked in the senior care space to one that aimed to reach a variety of populations.
While seniors will always be a big part of HomeWell’s business, Franz believes the rebrand has allowed the company to reach new clients.
“This gives our owners the opportunity to go out and provide home care to non-seniors,” she said. “We’re starting to see trends where non-seniors are realizing the value benefits that home care can provide. One area we’re really gaining traction is with our veterans.”
The company went from HomeWell Senior Care to HomeWell Care Services.
“We’ve rebranded to not limit ourselves in our name,” Franz continued.
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