Fresh off its buyout by global home care provider Dovida, A Place At Home is now poised to turn its buy-back franchising model into a greater part of its growth strategy.

A Place At Home’s franchise model cultivates high-performing local operators and provides eventual exit ramps through corporate buybacks or joint ventures. Company leadership is now looking to its buyback model to accelerate growth, the company’s co-founder told Home Health Care News.

“That’s a major part of our growth strategy next year, because of all that the profits that come from those locations, then get consolidated with us,” Distefano said. “Whereas in franchising, we can grow franchising by 20 locations, but our margins are a lot smaller because our income is based on royalty income.”

Following the acquisition, Distefano was named the chief operating officer of franchise operations at Dovida North America.

Omaha, Nebraska-based A Place At Home provides non-medical in-home care, care coordination, Alzheimer’s and dementia care and other services across 22 states.

The company plans to open 10 additional locations in 2026 and hopes to complete 17 franchise deals by year-end, Distefano said. Its goal for 2027 is to add 20 franchise locations.

Currently, the company makes 60% of its revenue through franchising. However, Distefano envisions that ratio flipping. He projects 70% of its revenue will eventually come from corporate operations and the remaining 30% from franchising.

New owner Dovida provides home care services across Australia, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland. The February acquisition of A Place At Home marked Dovida’s first expansion into the United States, establishing its North American office in Omaha.

Following the deal, A Place At Home updated its corporate growth strategy, Distefano said. The company will focus on acquiring high-performing franchise locations outright, as well forming joint ventures. As part of these joint ventures, franchise owners retain a minority ownership stake and may continue as general managers.

A Place At Home plans to finish the year with five corporate conversions, Distefano said.

Franchise owners often have good reason to sell their business, he added. Owners might be getting older or experiencing a major life change. Selling back to A Place At Home gives owners an opportunity to get the worth of their business and provides a certainty to exit when ready, Distefano said.

“With this strategy for our owners [who] grow and want to exit their business, they have 100% opportunity to sell,” Distefano said. “It doesn’t mean they’re going to sell, but they have 100% opportunity, which is pretty much no other offering out there in the home care space in terms of franchising.”

Founding story to future plans

Distefano described buying out franchise owners as a full-circle moment. He started his home care business in his basement at 28 years old. Over the years, his focus shifted from caring for older adults to finding the best ways to help entrepreneurs and franchisees grow.

“I love to see the grind that owners do because I did it, but I was never given the opportunity to [exit],” Distefano said.

The opportunity to exit can also substantially increase a location’s performance. For instance, A Place At Home’s first branded corporate conversion opened in Jacksonville, Florida, in July. Distefano said the location nearly doubled in size after its conversion, which he attributed to the company’s sales and recruitment strategies.

Distefano said A Place At Home is also prioritizing its live-in care model, in which a caregiver lives and cares for a client in their home, as a key growth strategy, alongside expanding referral partnerships.

The company is also increasing its focus on caregiver recruitment and culture to support that growth. Distefano said leadership is seeking to balance sales and caregiver recruitment to meet demand.

Meanwhile, A Place At Home is working to better identify the diagnoses and care needs emerging among clients, Distefano said. The company plans to use those insights to develop caregiver training beyond established areas, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia care and fall prevention.

“What else is out there, that can differentiate us, that we equip our caregivers with, is something that we’re really focused on this year,” Distefano said.