Why Right at Home Franchisee Kenneth Helmuth Continues to Invest in the Brand

Before investing in the in-home care and assistance brand Right at Home, Kenneth Helmuth spent 20 years in the corporate health care field, including the pharmaceutical industry and the medical device industry. Although he was advancing in his career, he started to notice that the corporate world might not be for him as his true desire was to work closer with his community. Soon, he found the perfect opportunity to provide direct care to clients and make a real difference with Right at Home. 

Right at Home employs professionally trained caregivers to provide licensed and accredited home care and assistance to elderly and disabled adults who wish to remain in the comfort and safety of their own homes or current living arrangement. With more than 500 locations nationwide, Right at Home has become one of the country’s largest in-home care franchises. 

“I’ve personally seen the emotional and physical toll on relatives and friends that years of caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease, cancer or permanent disabilities can take,” said Helmuth. “A passion for serving clients, their families and caregivers, as well as the community, led me to pursue Right at Home business ownership in Durham and Chapel Hill. After doing my due diligence, seeing the business model and meeting the incredible leadership team, I knew Right at Home was the right choice for me.”

Franchising with Right at Home offers entrepreneurs like Helmuth an affordable cost of entry, a proven business model, an exceptional support infrastructure and the ability to tap into a growing demand for in-home care.

In 2014, Helmuth purchased an existing Right at Home franchise location in the Durham and Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, which was five years old at the time. Helmuth notes that the greater Durham area — known as the Triangle — has been an ideal market as he has continued to grow the Right at Home brand there and build a reputation for exceptional care. 

“Everything we do is based on Right at Home’s ability to service our clients,” he said. “No one gives us clients — the number-one way we earn clients is through people recommending Right at Home’s reliable services to friends or family.”

Soon, Helmuth began to see first-hand why franchising with Right at Home was a viable long-term investment and a scalable opportunity. 

“The aging baby boomer population, paired with smaller family sizes and more dual-income families, is leaving fewer loved ones to be able to care for seniors,” he said. “This means that the demand for home health care is only positioned to grow and franchising with Right at Home offers prospects the ability to tap into this need.” 

Two years ago, Helmuth began speaking with the Right at Home owner in the Raleigh area, who had been in the business for 12 years and was ready to retire. In August 2020, he acquired Right at Home of Wake County, Right at Home of Johnston County and Right at Home of Sandhills. 

Helmuth says this growth has made it even easier to be able to provide Right at Home’s level of care throughout the entire service area because they can leverage the brand’s network of healthcare professionals and partner with various agencies across all of the locations.

While he had been planning to expand for a while, Helmuth says he could never have predicted how 2020 would play out. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, more people need care than ever before, and fewer have the means to pay for full-time facilities. That means more people are turning to Right at Home.

“It can be very isolating and depressing to be an older person who is living under quarantine and who is scared to leave the house,” Helmuth said. “Right at Home’s goal is to provide the kind of assistance they need to make sure that they are able to build the right space in their home to remain independent.”

Right at Home was deemed an essential business early on in the crisis, making the brand one of the few businesses to not only maintain its existing customer base but actually take on new clients throughout the pandemic. From the beginning, the Right at Home corporate team has worked hard to support franchisees, share best practices and provide resources and tools. Corporate also launched four Facebook groups where franchisees could share information and tips while monitoring local and state-level developments.

In addition, as the COVID-19 pandemic causes a shortage of caregivers across the country, Helmuth notes that Right at Home ownership gives franchisees the opportunity to invest in things like benefits, health care benefits, scholarships and more to make sure that they can recruit the best caregivers as the employer of choice. 

“We are also focused on bringing new people into the home care industry by expanding our training and offering resources to those who don’t necessarily have a lot of experience in being a caregiver,” he said. We are fully committed to making a difference in the community by employing and developing high-performing caregivers to care for the Right at Home clients.” 

When it comes to why Helmuth continues to invest in the brand, he says it is not only because of the growth potential on the business side, but also the ability to make a difference. 

“I see the amazing continuity of care that Right at Home provides in this area,” he said. “That quality of care is part of the culture that we’ve maintained while we have grown over the years. I am proud to be able to provide our North Carolina communities with Right at Home’s exceptional level of care and am excited to continue growing with the brand.”

For more information, visit: https://rightathomefranchise.com/