Matt Field and his team at Right at Home are always looking to bring comfort to their clients.
Former rabbi Matt Field uses his experience to bring comfort to clients as an owner-operator of Right at Home in the Chicago area for more than a decade. Throughout his time as a franchisee, Field found a way to continue his goal to cultivate a community.
“I felt like I was looking for something that would allow me to continue to work in some way that was positively impacting people’s lives,” said Field. “I didn’t feel like I wanted to sell subs or do anything like that. I wanted to be working directly with people in their lives.”
Right at Home provides in-home care assistance for semi-independent seniors. Employees can cook, clean, nurse or assist with anything else that’s lacking in a client’s life. Right at Home helps the elderly through the stages of aging and prepares them for the end of their lives.
Matt Field
For ten years, Field served a similar capacity as a rabbi in Rochester, New York. He worked in an older community dealing with the effects of time, such as aging, illness and death, he said.
“That’s where I was able to make my biggest impact on people,” said Field. “If you’re able to be fully present and able to guide somebody through those difficult transitions in life and illness and death, that’s really where I think clergy makes a mark.”
Looking for a change while continuing to help people, Field reached out to a broker, who suggested Right at Home.
Field looked into in-home care franchises and got the best “vibe” from Right at Home after talking to corporate staff and franchisees, he said. Field plunged into franchising in 2012 in the Chicago area.
Despite running a business with a bittersweet mission, the last 11 years have fulfilled Field and his wife, Rachel.
“It’s depressing to a degree for sure, but I think it’s also rewarding to be able to support people through those transitions that we’re all going to experience from different dimensions,” said Field. “They’re not matters that scare me or chase me away or I shy away from.”
Right at Home helps seniors with whatever they need, including cooking, cleaning and nursing.
The in-home senior care sector is growing as the elderly population in the United States increases. Pennsylvania-based Visiting Angels ranked No. 90 on the Franchise Times Top 400 list, which ranks brands based on systemwide sales. Visiting Angels’ sales in 2022 hit $900 million, on par with 2021. Always Best Care, a nonmedical senior care franchise, increased sales 12.8 percent in 2022, to $212.6 million.
A Right at Home territory requires an initial investment of $88,719 to $157,669. The brand covers 525 territories across the United States.
Providing comfort is Field’s reward. He doesn’t work face to face with as many clients nowadays, but he takes pride in knowing his team continues the mission every day. Management was not in his skillset when he started running the business, so he said he takes pride in the team he’s built since then.
Field plans to expand his territories. He acquired two existing locations this year, totaling five territories. He admits he still has a lot of learning to do, but is confident that he and his team will succeed as they continue to expand.
“If there’s anything I think we’ve done right, it’s that we’ve surrounded ourselves with the right people,” said Field. “We’ve worked really hard at that and we’ve gotten it right many times.”