Need to 'Rent-a-Grandma'? Try This New Franchise
A Los Angeles-based employment service that specializes in providing senior women for domestic staffing needs has just launched a national franchise program. Even though the ink on the disclosure documents is barely dry, Rent-A-Grandma has already reached tentative agreement with a Texas entrepreneur to roll out five franchises in the Lone Star State.
The service provides carefully screened women age 50 and over for roles including child care, elder care, housekeeping, cooking, estate management, pet sitting and other domestic staffing jobs. The advantage that older women bring is their extensive age/life experience, Todd Pliss, the company's founder and CEO, told BusinessNewsdaily.
"Women in their 50s don't text or tweet while they're watching your kids," Pliss said. "There's no replacement for experience."
Because of the large number of senior women who are looking for work or to re-enter the work force on a part-time or permanent basis, there is no shortage of eligible candidates, Pliss said.
"Finding the grannies is the easy part," he said.
The company currently has 40 to 45 women working in the L.A. area working at rates that range between $16 and $23 an hour. The women pay the company an employment fee and/or a percentage of their hourly compensation.
Prior to founding Rent-a-Grandma, Pliss had worked as a studio teacher in Hollywood tutoring children in the entertainment industry on location. The idea for the company came to him in part, he said, from overhearing the conversations of the parents of his students complaining about the difficulty of getting competent domestic help .
Pliss, a transplanted Angelino who grew up in suburban Long Island in New York, said that he has already received about 25 inquiries about franchising . The cost of a franchise, he said, is approximately $23,000.
"It's less than the cost of buying most new cars," Pliss said.
- Boomers Retiring the Idea of Retirement
- 4 Business Ideas Primed for Success in 2011
- Prefer Going Solo? 5 Franchises That Donât Need Employees
Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.