|
 |
|
|
 |
|
The Skinny on New CEO of Fat-fighting Jenny Craig
By Ted Pincus
August 16, 2005—What's a pudgy guy to do any more? A year ago, I wrote that I was hooked on Atkins, the first diet of my rotund life. Last week, Atkins went—you should excuse the expression—belly up, leaving me high, dry and still too wide.
Seeking a new answer, I called Jenny Craig, or to be precise, the new Chicago-born-and-bred CEO of Jenny Craig Inc., Patti Larchet, 47. A University of Illinois nutrition grad, she's devoted her 25-year career to helping people trim flab. Beginning as a Craig consultant in Chicago, she rose through the ranks of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company, and today is in hot pursuit of the fast growing weight-management industry's No. 1 spot, now held by Weight Watchers.
Patti was extremely sympathetic to my case, which has been languishing on a diet of Atkins bread, biscuits, pancake mix and a range of other products whose flavor is eerily reminiscent of cardboard.
1,200 calories—a day
"What you need is one-on-one counseling focused on your mental state, intelligent menu planning, activity goals, motivation and accountability—plus weekly deliveries of Jenny Craig meals geared to 1,200 calories a day," she explained.
When I told her that this regimen might be daunting to an aging, highly metabolized glutton for whom 1,200 calories used to be a noon-time hors d'ouvre, she replied that this makes me a prime candidate for the program.
Her system is labeled Your Style, and it's a tailored, flexible plan of personalized support, with a comprehensive approach to "food, body and mind" as the key to successful weight management.
In contrast to Weight Watchers and its emphasis on support groups, Craig puts the accent on weekly, disciplined, individualized counseling at one of 650 centers nationwide (for $399 the first year and then $39 yearly "forever") plus special, controlled meal packages.
"It's the difference between an aerobics class and a personal trainer," Larchet says. She points out that client tracking studies show an average weight loss of 15 percent over a 52-week program.
But what's the secret? If I have to forgo my formerly habitual intake of one-pound Allen Brothers sirloins, cottage fries and toasted brioche, what's going to sustain me?
Snacking, she says. Snacking?
"Yes," she insists. "Our strategy with someone like you (read: virtually hopeless) is not to rely on breakfast, lunch and dinner, but a steady diet of Craig snacks in between each."
But, I countered, I always thought that munching between meals was a direct route to obesity.
No, she says, that's exactly what kills your appetite for breakfast lunch and dinner. And that's the good news.
"We build relationships that help you continue to sacrifice and substitute," she says. "We have a 24/7 help line, and audiocassettes you can hear while walking or working. We become your conscience."
While I may be beyond salvation, Larchet claims that Craig has helped over 10 million other chubbies since its 1983 founding, and it currently has 100,000 actively enrolled. Since 1983, she's seen the firm go public, spread to five countries, then go private a year ago, when founding shareholders Sid and Jenny Craig and an investor group led by ACI Capital and Mid Ocean Partners tendered for all shares.
I can't fault them for wanting the whole diet pie. While they decline to disclose volume numbers, their membership, I estimate, is generating more than $300 million in annual revenues. Moreover, the market, like American waistlines, is expanding fast. The U.S. surgeon general's last report estimated that over 60 percent of adults are overweight, 27 percent are obese, with males up from an average 161 pounds 40 years ago to 191 now, while females bulged to 164 pounds from 140, although none will admit it.
Fat fight free-for-all
All this has created a fat fighting free-for-all where billions are now spent on weight management. To bite a bigger share, Larchet is busy pushing her online food-delivery service and expanding her network to well beyond 1,000 centers over the next five years. She's currently looking to open two more locations in the Chicago area beyond the 27 now operating here.
And how does she keep her own weight down?
"It doesn't come easy," says the 5-foot-4 size 8 blond. "I have to work at it every day, which helps me empathize with every client we have."
Ted Pincus is a finance professor at DePaul and an independent communications consultant and journalist.
[Back]
|
|
|
|
