Assisted living is now the standard for out-of-the-home care for seniors. Many corporations are providing assisted living across the country in large planned communities. These facilities can house well over 200 residents and have a hotel-like feel. These large institutions may not feel comfortable to many residents or their families. Instead of looking or feeling like a home, they can seem overwhelming and feel massive and more impersonal.
Across the country, a BeeHive Homes assisted living franchise looks like a real house and in many ways feels like a real home. With our most popular home layout of 16 bedrooms surrounding a central, sky lit and vaulted ceiling family room and kitchen, residents are able to feel the difference a real home design can provide. They are able to watch the staff prepare the home cooked meals and at times, in some states, participate in the cooking and the baking. Residents and families feel they are part of a normal, functioning home, with a familiar dining room table, front porch, and backyard. These are homes that fill with family during special occasions, allowing all to take part in the activities and family environment that is part of the BeeHive Homes franchise.
Small independent homes, without the backing of a franchise, can fill a great need in the communities in which they operate. These homeowners do their best to create a caring world usually out of remodeling existing homes, homes with stairs, tight and limited bathrooms, and narrow halls with tight doorways. These facilities can have great curb appeal but lack the internal structure that combines appropriate assisted living care with a home-like setting. Furthermore, the owners are left to their own proactive efforts to learn what best practices they should be implementing. At minimum, they are left to the state rules and regulations to guide them in their care practices.
Our franchisees are trained and become part of a growing networked community of care providers that support and help one another. At a BeeHive Homes assisted living franchise, residents, staff, and owners benefit from the experience of over 35 years of honing the most effective care procedures, implementing appropriate operational policies, developing productive activities, complying with regulations, and providing oversight capability to help the franchisee provide truly excellent care combined with a small home setting.
Assisted living and franchising? Who would have thought. In 1996, after nearly a decade of providing exceptional senior care, BeeHive Homes became a franchisor of residential setting assisted living homes. When that happened, BeeHive Homes became the first ever combined product of the two fastest growing trends in American business–assisted living homes and franchising.
In recent years franchising has played an increasing role in the American economy. With more than 900,000 franchised businesses in operation across the country that are indirectly responsible for providing 21 million jobs and generating $2.3 trillion in economic output, franchises drive the economy. The sheer size and growth of franchising are indicators of how well this method of business is meeting the needs of consumers across the nation.
The franchise explosion is due, in part, to the outstanding success ratio franchises enjoy. While just 23% of all independent small businesses succeed in the first five years, 92% of all franchise businesses are still operating and successful. Franchises are successful because they share a combination of the essential elements that a business requires to prosper: the dedication and commitment of the entrepreneur, an established business system, and the resourcefulness of a large organization.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, 13 of the 20 fastest-growing occupations between 2004 and 2014 are related to health care. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that 26 percent of all new jobs created in the entire U.S. economy before 2018 will be in the health care and social assistance industry. They say that the health care industry—which includes public and private hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, and individual and family services—is expected to grow by 24 percent, which equates to approximately four million new jobs. Employment growth will be driven by an aging population and longer life expectancies. As consumers weigh the care options in the senior care market, the Baby Boomers, who are currently placing their parents into long-term care facilities, are finding that when their loved ones are at a point where they cannot be left alone (even for a short period of time), assisted living homes meet care needs better, with significantly less cost than the nursing and convalescent homes ever could.
Unlike many “open one day and franchising the next” franchise companies, BeeHive Homes assisted living franchise has established successful operational standards of care from the basic building blocks of experience over time, patience, and hard work. A new franchisee clearly inherits this foundation to build a successful, high quality, assisted living business. In no other industry will you find the degree of legal oversight, policies, and procedures infused into all aspects of construction, licensing, and ongoing business operation. If any industry could benefit from franchising, it is the assisted living industry.