Monday, June 22, 2009

Home Care Chain Arrives in Metro

An Arizona-based home-care company is moving into the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, with plans to sell up to a dozen franchises.

Synergy HomeCare's first Minnesota franchise opened in Woodbury in February. Brother and sister Percy and Angela Nelson spent $35,000 in personal funds to buy the territory, which covers an area northeast of St. Paul. They recently finished training roughly 30 workers to provide services ranging from getting groceries for seniors or disabled persons to bathing them and putting them in bed. Synergy does not provide medical care.

The Nelsons are now ready to find clients and are optimistic. "We've actually turned down clients. We wanted to get our staff hired, trained and ready to go before we started our major marketing efforts, " said Percy Nelson, a former Hamline University administrator.

A second franchise, owned by former Cutco Corp. district manager Mitch Bloom, is opening in Golden Valley. A third franchise, owned by Jim and Heather Zenk, is expected to open soon, serving communities including Bloomington, Edina and Minneapolis.

Peter Tourian, founder and CEO of Gilbert, Ariz.-based Synergy, said he sees promise in Minnesota. Synergy has about 70 franchises in 34 states and wants 100 by the end of the year.

Neil Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota HomeCare Association, said there's plenty of room for Synergy in the market. Demand will grow as baby boomers retire, but want to live independently, he said.

"If you look at the demographics over the past 10 to 15 years, it's going to be staggering what the numbers are going to look like."

Synergy HomeCare

Founder and CEO: Peter Tourian

Headquarters: Gilbert, Ariz.

Description: Home care services

Revenue: Not disclosed

Franchises: About 70

Founded: 2002

Web: synergyhomecare.com


cnewmarker@bizjournals.com | (612) 288-2107

No comments:

Post a Comment