[Life Chapter 3 Companies] "Average Occupancy Rate 90%... The Secret is Small-Scale Premium Care"

"This new branch also recorded 200% in pre-subscription. Our brand's strength lies in 'small-scale premium care' with fewer than 100 units. Thanks to this, the company's sales this year are expected to exceed 20 billion KRW, double that of last year. We want to open one branch in each major region nationwide going forward." (Park Jaebyeong, CEO of CareDoc)

If you pass through the townhouses near Dankook University Jukjeon Campus, you can see a four-story building labeled 'CareDoc CareHome.' The 'CareDoc CareHome Yongin The First Branch,' which the reporter visited on the 2nd, is CareDoc's fourth senior residential facility, with move-ins starting this month. It is located about a 30-minute drive from Pangyo Station, with a stream flowing right next to it. The chandelier visible as soon as you enter the lobby seems to showcase its 'premium' quality.

The Yongin The First Branch consists of 30 studio-type rooms. Although only a 10-minute drive from the city center, residents can enjoy mountain views, and the common areas include a karaoke room, beauty salon, rehabilitation exercise equipment, and a bathhouse. However, on this day, Park Jaebyeong, CEO of CareDoc (35), whom Asia Economy met, cited 'care services'?not the scenery or various facilities?as the strength of CareDoc CareHome.

원본보기 아이콘

Park, who first started his business in 2018 with a platform service for finding nursing facilities, has expanded into the residential sector centered on the keyword 'care,' achieving high results. Since launching the first branch in Baegot New Town last July, CareDoc has opened four CareHome branches in three regions?Songchu and Yongin included?within a year. The Baegot New Town branch achieved a 100% occupancy rate within six months of launch, and other branches are recording occupancy rates close to 90% on average. Among the residents, there are those who moved in dissatisfied with the declining quality of care services at other senior towns. Park explained, "Many senior towns initially advertised providing meticulous care services but ended up becoming 'apartments that just serve meals.' Many places are reducing their own care services to lessen operational burdens, but we have rather emphasized that we are a 'space with care services.'"

Park said, "We will strengthen the senior housing sector by segmenting the health and care needs of the elderly and continue to introduce differentiated total senior care services."

Park Jaebyeong, CEO of CareDoc, is being interviewed by Asia Economy at the fourth branch of the senior housing brand 'CareHome,' The First Yongin branch. Photo by Park Yujin

원본보기 아이콘

- What did you do before founding CareDoc?

▲ In my mid-20s, I had a lot of career concerns. I decided to take a meaningful challenge by traveling around the world. I planned to meet everyone from homeless people to presidents alone. I really met various people, including the president of Uruguay. I even tried to meet the U.S. president by camping out in front of the White House but failed and returned to Korea.

Back in Korea, I leveraged my experience traveling worldwide to join a travel agency. However, it was a bit difficult to adapt. I traveled in unique ways, but I had to sell standardized tour packages, which was not fun. I had never stayed in a hotel while traveling, so how could I understand customers who wanted to stay in hotels?

- How did you decide to start a business in the senior field?

▲ In 2016, while running a volunteer group for elderly living alone, I felt the need to improve Korea's elderly care system. The care services mandated by law were more about confirming survival than actual care. For example, giving a 5kg bag of rice once a quarter to check on elderly living alone. I thought care services needed to be developed in the private sector.

- Did you think of the CareDoc model from the start?

▲ Initially, I created a platform where running could donate to the elderly. It took three months to build, but there was no market response. I realized I needed to study business properly before diving in. A senior from school advised me that when choosing a business item, you should find what the market needs rather than what you want. So, I looked deeper into why I wanted to do business. I noticed that elderly facilities and institutions were very disorganized, causing a mismatch between supply and demand. People compare menus on platforms even for a few thousand won delivery food, but there was no platform to compare facilities costing millions of won monthly. So, I started CareDoc as a nursing facility search service.

- Now you operate in various areas such as care worker matching and insurance caregiver management systems.

▲ We attracted many users with the nursing facility search service, but the business model didn't stick. It is difficult to get long-term care grades, so what use is finding a nursing home? Expanding demand to those who need care but cannot enter nursing homes, we extended into self-pay caregiving and care services without subsidies. Care workers build their careers and information on the CareDoc platform and match with users. Thanks to this, we expanded into hospitals and B2B businesses. As data accumulated on this infrastructure, it led to jointly launching caregiver insurance products with insurance companies.

- What prompted your entry into the residential sector?

▲ As the elderly care industry grows, the government's role inevitably diminishes. The elderly population ratio is increasing, but it is impossible to cover all care with taxes. Studying advanced countries like Europe and Japan, when rapid aging reached limits for government-led care, the market shifted to the private sector. The most meaningful growth area was 'housing.' Considering CareDoc's care infrastructure, the current state of elderly housing in Korea, and company size, I saw it as a highly promising business.

- How is CareDoc CareHome differentiated from other senior welfare housing?

▲ We emphasized the feature of being a 'space with care.' We have further advanced our professional senior tech know-how accumulated through caregiver matching, visiting care services, and daily care. We specialize in providing professional caregivers, CareDoc's specialized training programs and caregiving know-how sharing, and supplying professional welfare equipment and consumables.

For example, we provide three meals a day, but instead of a meal delivery system, we bring meals directly to the rooms. Usually, senior welfare housing residents must go to the dining hall and carry their trays. It seems simple, but for patients with neck or back disc problems, this service is truly necessary. They recognize even this service as containing a lot of 'care' perspective.

- What are your future goals? You plan to open 10 more branches this year.

▲ We plan to open branches mainly in the metropolitan area, including Suwon, Anseong, Yongin, and Siheung, for family accessibility. Initially, we will focus on the metropolitan area, but we will expand to other regions later. Also, we are preparing for an IPO within three years, so this year we will concentrate on management and sales growth.

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.