Jenny Craig, Inc.

Jenny Craig, Inc.
Subsidiary
Industry Weight Loss,
Weight Management,
and Nutrition
Founded 1983 in Melbourne, Australia
Headquarters Carlsbad, California
Key people
 Monty Sharma, CEO[1]
Number of employees
 3,000 (as of 2015)
Parent North Castle Partners
Website jennycraig.com

Jenny Craig, Inc., often known simply as Jenny Craig, is an American weight loss, weight management, and nutrition company.

The company has more than 700 weight management centres in Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico. The program combines individual weight management counseling with a menu of frozen meals and other foods, which are distributed through its centers or shipped directly to clients.

History

Jenny Craig, Inc. was founded in 1983 by Jenny Craig and her husband, Sidney Craig. The program was started in Melbourne, Australia and began operations in the United States in 1985.[2] The company expanded rapidly after entering the U.S., opening 46 locations by 1987 as well as 114 in foreign countries. In 1991, the company underwent an IPO, generating $73.5 million in funding.[3]

Throughout the 1990s, the company's share price declined as it ran into a series of financial troubles involving weight loss drugs, employee training and costly leases before eventually being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in August 2001 and being traded over the counter.[4]

In May 2002, Jenny Craig, Inc., was acquired by MidOcean Partners, a New York and London-based private equity investment firm, and ACI Capital, a New York-based private investment firm. On June 19, 2006, they announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell the company to Nestlé in a transaction valued at approximately $600 million. The company was operated as part of Nestlé Nutrition. On November 19, 2013, Jenny Craig Inc. was purchased by North Castle Partners for an undisclosed amount.[5]

In 2008, YouTube personality Shane Dawson and approximately 6 other Jenny Craig employees including his mother and brother, were fired from their jobs for uploading a sketch to his YouTube channel.[6] In 2013, Dawson wrote a comedy pilot about his experiences there and sold the script to NBC.[7]

In March 2018, the company reportedly pulled its advertisements from The Ingraham Angle as a result of her cyberbullying David Hogg.[8]

Diet effectiveness

According to a systematic review, overweight and obese adults enrolled in Jenny Craig after 12 months had 4.9% more weight loss than subjects in a control/education group (receiving no intervention, printed materials only, health education curriculum, or < 3 sessions with a provider) or behavioral counseling group.[9]

Promotion

A typical location in Hillsboro, Oregon

In 2008, comedian Magda Szubanski joined the program and is serving as an "ambassador" for the company in Australia.[10] In January 2011, actor Shane Jacobson was announced as the current male spokesperson for Jenny Craig. In October 2011, ex Spice Girl Mel B was announced as the new female spokesperson for Jenny Craig in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Queen Latifah, Jason Alexander, and Kirstie Alley have also served as spokespeople for the company.[11]

In 2013, the company announced that it was discontinuing the use of celebrity spokespeople.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "IHRSA - IHRSA Blog - Q&A with Monty Sharma, Curves/Jenny Craig CEO and President". www.ihrsa.org.
  2. ↑ Jonathan Horn. "Jenny Craig Sold to Equity Firm". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
  3. ↑ "Jenny Craig, Inc. History". Funding Universe.
  4. ↑ Greg Winter (29 January 2002). "Jenny Craig Founders Are Selling Chain $115 Million Deal". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ Perri, Celeste; Fletcher, Clementine (November 7, 2013). "Nestle to Sell Most of Jenny Craig Unit to North Castle". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  6. ↑ Tom Ward. "All Aboard The Shane Train: An Interview With Shane Dawson". Forbes.
  7. ↑ Michelle Jaworski (14 November 2013). "YouTube Star Shane Dawson Sells Sitcom to NBC". Mashable.
  8. ↑ Cleve R. Wootson Jr. "Laura Ingraham Takes an Easter Break Amid David Hogg Controversy and Advertiser Revolt". Bangor Daily News.
  9. ↑ Gudzune, KA; Doshi, RS; Mehta, AK; Chaudhry, ZW; Jacobs, DK; Vakil, RM; Lee, CJ; Bleich, SN; Clark, JM (7 April 2015). "Efficacy of commercial weight-loss programs: an updated systematic review". Annals of Internal Medicine. 162 (7): 501–12. doi:10.7326/m14-2238. PMC 4446719. PMID 25844997.
  10. ↑ "Magda Szubanski gets serious about slimming down". Watoday.com.au. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  11. ↑ "Celebrity Weight Loss: Stars Who Have Been Spokespeople for Diet Programs". Us Weekly.
  12. ↑ Laura Stampler. "Jenny Craig is Getting Rid of Celebrity Spokespeople - And It's All Because of Jennifer Hudson". Business Insider.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.