How does a Visiting Angels franchise operate after opening?
A Visiting Angels Franchised Business is a locally operated, non-medical private-duty home care agency. The franchisee acquires clients, employs and schedules caregivers, bills and collects for care, and manages local compliance; Living Assistance Services, Inc. controls the service line, brand standards, website, advertising approvals, reporting framework, territory rules, and selected technology integrations.
FDD basis: Item 1, pp. 8-9; Item 15, p. 58; Item 20, Table 1, p. 65; Franchise Agreement §§3.1 and 9.7(b). Franchise site.
What does the local agency sell, and who buys it?
The Franchised Business sells approved non-medical “private duty” home care to adult care recipients, with the client or family arranging care through the local agency.
The Franchise Agreement limits the standard service line to non-medical private-duty custodial home care for elderly and adult care recipients. Item 16 gives Living Assistance Services, Inc. the right to approve the services sold, require designated services, and add or modify authorized services. State law remains a separate boundary: the franchisee must provide only services permitted by applicable licensing and employment rules.
The current consumer site describes the operating service mix through Visiting Angels home care services, including companion care, personal care, respite care, dementia and Alzheimer’s support, end-of-life support, transition-to-home support and other non-medical assistance. The official personal care page identifies activities such as bathing, dressing, grooming, meal preparation, errands, medication reminders, mobility assistance and light housekeeping.
The service catalog is not an unrestricted franchisee decision. The franchisor can specify approved and required services, while the franchisee controls customer pricing. FDD Item 16, p. 59; Franchise Agreement §§9.1 and 9.6, pp. 92 and 94.
How does work move from a lead to completed home care?
The operating cycle joins local referral marketing and national lead generation to an in-home consultation, a care plan, caregiver assignment, service delivery, billing, and recurring reporting.
Demand and referral
Actor: Franchisee and Living Assistance Services, Inc.
Action: Local referral and consumer marketing operates within territory rules; the Cooperative Advertising Program generates national and regional inquiries and routes qualifying leads to the nearest franchised office.
Required system/asset: Protected Territory rules, franchisor-controlled local website and approved advertising.
Output: Lead received by the local Franchised Business.
Consultation and assessment
Actor: Local care coordinator or care manager.
Action: The local office reviews the adult client’s needs, schedule, preferences and home environment through the current in-person consultation and assessment process.
Required system/asset: Client intake and care-planning procedures.
Output: Defined care requirements and requested schedule.
Care plan and caregiver match
Actor: Local agency management.
Action: The office creates the care plan, matches an available caregiver to the client, and completes the required criminal background screening before assignment.
Required system/asset: Operations Software, caregiver records and Brand Standards & Training Manual.
Output: Screened caregiver and scheduled assignment.
In-home fulfillment
Actor: Caregiver employed by the Franchised Business.
Action: The caregiver performs approved non-medical tasks in the client’s home. The Franchised Agency, not LAS, is the caregiver’s employer and handles required withholding and W-2 reporting.
Required system/asset: Care plan, staffing records, insurance and applicable state licensing.
Output: Completed service and client-service record.
Billing and collection
Actor: Franchisee office.
Action: The agency invoices and collects from clients; clients do not pay caregivers who then remit funds. The franchisee sets customer prices.
Required system/asset: QuickBooks Online or similar-function accounting software plus compatible home-care Operations Software.
Output: Paid/collected service receipts recorded as Gross Revenues.
Reporting and quality loop
Actor: Franchisee and franchisor.
Action: The franchisee submits monthly Gross Revenues and lead-status reports, keeps auditable books, permits the required accounting interface, and maintains a client-and-employee satisfaction management survey system.
Required system/asset: Standard Reports, fee collection platform, survey provider and business records.
Output: Monthly reporting, ACH processing, audit trail and satisfaction data.
FDD basis: Items 6, 9, 11, 16 and 19; Franchise Agreement §§9.4(b), 9.7(c), 9.8, 9.9(a), 9.14, 9.15 and 9.19. Consumer workflow: how Visiting Angels starts home care and caregiver screening and role information.
What does the owner do, and when can a manager run the agency?
This is not disclosed as an absentee model: a qualifying owner must manage full time during the first four years, and later delegation to a manager is conditional.
At least one owner/stockholder who owns at least 25% of the entity must be available to manage the Franchised Business full time during the first four years; two owners may combine schedules to equal one full-time manager. After that period, if the owner will not be at the business at least three full days per week, manager delegation requires franchisor approval and generally franchisor training.
The owner or approved manager runs client acquisition, staffing, scheduling, payroll, billing, licensing and records while ensuring the Brand Standards & Training Manual is followed. Item 1 says a full-time owner may initially need no office employees other than caregiver staff, whose number varies with active clients.
Caregiver staff are employees of the Franchised Agency. The Franchise Agreement requires tax withholding and W-2s, and LAS is not their employer. LAS supplies consultation on recruiting, screening, training, invoicing, payroll and referral presentations; the franchisee performs those local functions.
The disclosure does not set a universal office headcount, shift pattern, labor-hour target or worker-to-case ratio. Those details remain local execution choices subject to applicable law and disclosed operating standards.
Which functions belong to the franchisee, franchisor, and outside providers?
The operating model separates local employment and service execution from centralized brand, lead-generation and compliance controls, with several required third-party technology and risk-management inputs.
Franchisee / local agency
Living Assistance Services, Inc.
Required or approved third parties
FDD basis: Item 8, pp. 26-29; Item 11, pp. 42-47; Franchise Agreement §§9.3-9.5 and 9.8-9.19. Current support context: Visiting Angels franchise support.
What technology and purchasing rules are mandatory?
The franchisee has supplier choice for most purchases, but not unrestricted specification choice: required categories must meet LAS standards, certain digital vendors require approval, and core records must connect to franchisor reporting.
national lead generation and local marketing support. Contractual requirements come from the 2026 FDD and Franchise Agreement.
How protected is the territory, and where can the franchisee market?
A Protected Territory limits where another same-brand office may be located, but it is expressly not an exclusive customer territory and does not create unrestricted solicitation rights across the wider Metro Area.
| Operating question | 2026 rule | Practical effect |
|---|---|---|
| Office location | Approved commercial street address inside the Protected Territory. | No home office or shipping-store address; relocation needs approval. |
| Same-brand office protection | LAS will not locate another Visiting Angels office inside the Protected Territory during the term. | Protection concerns office location, not all client activity. |
| Inbound clients | Certain unsolicited Metro Area or bordering-county referrals may be accepted. | A neighboring office can serve a client there in limited circumstances. |
| Referral-source solicitation | Outside-territory medical referral solicitation is restricted, with defined exceptions. | Inbound lead acceptance is not the same as solicitation rights. |
| Digital and broadcast advertising | Ads follow Protected Territory and Metro Area rules; cross-territory media can require cooperation. | Channel reach does not override geography. |
The Protected Territory is defined by zip codes in the Franchise Agreement after demographic review and mutual agreement; Item 12 says boundaries later change only by mutual agreement. The Metro Area is a separate marketing definition with population-based rules, not an exclusive development area or blanket right to solicit every referral source.
FDD basis: Item 12, pp. 48-53; Franchise Agreement §3, pp. 79-84. For current availability only, not contractual rights, see the official Visiting Angels territory map.
What does Item 20 show about the operating network?
Item 20 shows a U.S. system composed entirely of franchised outlets at year-end 2023, 2024 and 2025, with a modest increase in outlet count across the three reporting years.
Interpretation: year-end franchised outlets increased from 538 to 541 between 2023 and 2025; company-owned outlets remained zero, so local service delivery in the disclosed U.S. network was franchise-operated.
Source: 2026 Visiting Angels FDD, Item 20, Table 1, p. 65. Values reconcile to total outlets because company-owned counts are zero for each year.
What does LAS control, and what remains a franchisee decision?
LAS controls the boundaries of the operating system; the franchisee controls many local execution choices inside those boundaries.
The 2026 FDD does not name the required Operations Software vendor, current approved internet consulting companies, or the exact fee-collection interface. Verify those dependencies against the then-current Brand Standards & Training Manual, vendor list and software requirements.