Can You Serve The 'Sandwich Generation'?

Many of today’s parents are part of what’s known as the “sandwich generation.” They’re raising young kids, caring for aging parents, and working full-time jobs. They need a lot of help holding it all together. and increasingly, they’re getting that help from franchises.
 

- Jon Marcus

It's a weekday morning and Howard Mierau’s 2-and-a half-year-old granddaughter is paddling in a heated pool at the Goldfish Swim School franchise in Needham, Mass. The blond haired, blue-eyed toddler, clad in a baby-blue swimsuit, spends two or more mornings a week here learning water safety and swimming techniques, while her grandfather watches from the tiki-themed viewing area. And when they’re not at Goldfish, they’re at another franchise, Gymboree Play & Music.

This all looks quite different from when Mierau raised his own daughter decades ago. Back then, his wife stayed home while he worked as a computer programmer. But that daughter grew up, got married, and had a child of her own—and because she and her husband work full time and want to make sure their daughter is fully occupied and looked after, Mierau began commuting from his home in Tampa to help out. “[Her parents] want her to be happy, they want her to be healthy, and, yeah, they want her to be exposed to other kids,” Mierau says. 

Which is where the franchises come in. Franchisors have always tried to find and respond to unmet market needs—say, the urge to grab a quick meal when you’re on the road. But these days, some of the greatest unmet needs are coming from a growing population called the sandwich generation. Defined by Pew Research as people with kids under 18 and parents over 65, and who increasingly work full time, this generation represents an unprecedented social and demographic shift that is driving growth across the economy—and, by extension, the franchising landscape.