BrightStar Care recently reached a milestone that fewer than 10% of franchise companies have been able to achieve. It has opened 400 locations across the U.S.
“To reach this milestone you’ve got to have a number of things,” Pete First, chief development officer of BrightStar Care, told Home Health Care News. “You’ve got to have a really solid system and a solid business case for what you’re doing and processes in place. BrightStar Care has been franchising now for over 20 years. To have that longevity, the history, and the reputation and the brand recognition — all of that feeds into growth. You have to have successful and happy franchisees. That’s one of the big difference makers.”
Chicagoland-based BrightStar Care offers personal home care, home health care and supplemental staffing.
In July, BrightStar Care reported that it signed 15 new franchisees in the first half of 2024. It also signed 24 new franchise agreements and opened 16 new locations during this period.
First noted that BrightStar Care was able to break into new markets, such as New Mexico and Nebraska, for the first time.
The company credits a combination of marketing and operational plans for helping it reach 400 opened locations.
“On the marketing side, we’re very fine tuned with our pay-for-click advertising in markets that we’re trying to get into,” First said. “We’ve got that dialed in with our advertising to look for new candidates. We have existing owners that are really wanting to expand. A number of the new signed agreements were with existing franchisees, so that was a big group that helped us reach that number. Then we’re getting a lot of referrals. Our referrals come from existing franchisees who love the business model, love doing what they’re doing and want to share that.”
However, the road to achieving 400 opened locations wasn’t without its challenges.
“The challenges really are territories,” First said. “Many of our major metro areas are already sold out, but we have markets in smaller suburbs, or different sized territories, that are available. It’s about working with and finding the right people for those territories, and usually it’s somebody that lives there. Let’s say we’re looking at a market that’s maybe 250,000 people, and it’s not in a major metro area, but it’s a great location for a BrightStar Care agency, it’s finding people that are already in that market and who want to make a difference.”
Ultimately, becoming an even larger franchise network will be leveraged to the advantage of BrightStar Care’s franchise owners, First believes.
“With the large footprint that we have, we’re able to negotiate better rates with vendors that the franchisees can use, so it helps to have that scale,” First said. “The big difference is we have a very robust national accounts program, where we have a team internally that provides access to national accounts for all of our franchisees through a central intake system. What that means is, the more coverage that we have across the country, the more opportunities and new national accounts we can open up for franchisees.”
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