Many mature franchise systems focus heavily on automation and efficiency as they look for ways to streamline operations and protect margins. At Comfort Keepers®, we invested in technology as well, but we made a deliberate decision not to let automation define our growth strategy. Instead, we doubled down on the one differentiator that has powered our brand for more than 25 years and cannot be replaced by technology: human empathy.
That decision showed up in real results. Comfort Keepers finished 2025 with more than 20 new territories awarded, marking one of the strongest development years in our history. In a mature franchise system, that kind of momentum does not happen by accident. It comes from staying focused on who we are and being willing to evolve how we tell our story to today’s franchise candidates.
Over the past 18 months, we have taken a hard look at how we position the opportunity, how we engage candidates and how we support franchise owners once they join the system. Rather than lean solely on our legacy status, we chose to operate with a founder’s mindset by moving with greater speed, clarifying our message and being intentional about where and how we grow.
Home care remains, at its core, a people-driven business. While software can enhance scheduling, reporting and communication, it cannot replace the trust that families place in a caregiver or the leadership required to recruit and retain high-quality team members. Our caregivers are central to the value we deliver, and the strength of each franchise location depends on how effectively owners build, manage and support those teams.
Candidates often tell us they are drawn to home care because they want a business that performs financially but also lets them make a real difference in their communities. We have leaned into that instead of trying to position the business as purely operational or numbers-driven.
At the same time, we have modernized our development engine to ensure that our message reaches qualified operators. We overhauled our franchise development website, improved our digital engagement strategy and expanded our development team to provide faster follow-up and more personalized guidance.
That allows us to engage candidates earlier, move them through the process more smoothly and stay focused on finding the right fit. We’ve seen increased inbound interest across multiple regions, including markets that previously had lighter coverage. Seattle has moved up the list. We’re also targeting Dallas, Houston, Boston and Miami, along with Salt Lake City and other parts of Utah.
Today’s franchise candidates are looking for strong and steady demand, predictable margins, a model that can scale, and the demographic trends in senior care continue to support those expectations. They also want to join a system with a clear identity and a culture that prioritizes long-term relationships over short-term gains.
Strong support has been a big part of being able to grow without losing who we are. We have put more emphasis on training, coaching and day-to-day guidance so franchisees can build healthy businesses and still deliver the level of care our brand is known for.
Growth only works when existing owners are expanding, new franchisees feel supported and the client experience remains consistent across the system.
Balancing technology adoption with an empathy-first approach has been a defining theme for us. We embrace tools that improve efficiency and visibility, but we do so in service of our caregivers and clients rather than as a replacement for human interaction. Families choose a home care provider based on trust, responsiveness and compassion, and our role as a franchisor is to equip owners with systems that free them to focus on those priorities rather than distract from them.
As we look ahead to 2026, our goal is to expand into 30 to 40 new territories while continuing to attract purpose-driven operators who understand both the business and mission sides of home care.
Even with more than 600 territories in the U.S. and more than 40 in Canada, there are still plenty of strong markets where we see room to grow. If we stay disciplined about where we expand and stay true to who we are, we can keep building at a healthy pace without losing the empathy-first foundation the brand was built on.
With so much attention on technology, 2025 was a reminder that innovation in home care is not about taking people out of the equation. It is about strengthening the human side of the business and building a system that grows because of it.
By Scott Oaks, Vice President of Franchise Development, Comfort Keepers®