David Brown, Bluebird Care (Leeds)

My business partner, Rod Miller, and I have been running a restaurant business together since 1982. Although our restaurants were successful we decided to look into doing something else and thought franchising was a less risky option.

We began looking into care companies and Bluebird Care stood out as the one we wanted to work with because of the quality of service they provide. Additionally, Bluebird Care came across as a forward thinking company and the head office staff were open and honest.

I launched the business on my own in August 2008 and Rod is set to join me this year. Bluebird Care provided me with a week's intensive residential training course, as part of my start up programme. This excellent course gave me the training I needed to start my business.

Part of the training focused on how to recruit care staff and when I began interviewing for a Care Manager staff from head office came out to help me. Recruiting the right staff was very important to me as to provide good quality care you have to have quality staff.

The business currently has an annual turnover of just under £500,000, which Rod and I aim to increase by 50 per cent in the next year. Our territory has a lot of potential and, as we are only providing care to the elderly and adults with disabilities at the moment, there are a lot of other services we can provide.