Jenny will be sadly missed. RIP girl.
BTW, starting Monday, Spritzler Nutrition launches 30 new locations across 10 states. Our guaranteed weight loss system features a comprehensive approach consisting of healthy eating, improved lifestyle, and stress reduction...and oh yes...a shi-load of diabetes drugs. Did I mention the diabetes drugs?
Is joining the Spritzler team expensive? The drugs alone are $1,000 a month for ...drum roll...the rest of your life. So no, it's not expensive compared to getting obese and dying of a heart attack. Quit being a tightwad and fire up the checkbook.
Jenny Craig, the Once-Highflying Weight-Loss Brand, Is Going Out of Business After 40 Years
Company was famous for personalized meal plans and celebrity endorsements
By Joseph De Avila, WSJ
Updated May 5, 2023 3:44 pm ET
Jenny Craig’s closure comes after new drugs have shaken up the weight-loss industry.
Jenny Craig, the weight-loss brand that once touted celebrity endorsements from stars like Queen Latifah, Mariah Carey and Jason Alexander, is shutting down after four decades in business.
The Carlsbad, Calif.-based company, which offered coaching sessions and personalized meal plans, said Thursday it was canceling all online food orders and merchandise sales in corporate centers. It also stopped its coaching sessions, the company said.
“It’s with a heavy heart, we’re announcing the close of our business,” a message on the company’s website said. “The last 40 years would not have been possible without you.”
The rest of the Jenny Craig website was no longer active. The company and Ms. Craig couldn’t be reached for comment.
Jenny Craig’s closure comes after new drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have shaken up the weight-loss industry. The drugs are ripping up long-held beliefs that diet, exercise and willpower are the way to weight loss. Some Jenny Craig competitors like WeightWatchers have embraced the drugs to adapt to changing consumer habits.
Entrepreneur Jenny Craig started her namesake business after struggling to lose weight following the birth of her first child. She and her late husband Sid Craig opened their first weight-loss center in 1983 in Melbourne, Australia, and later expanded to the U.S.
The company went public in 1991 when it had about 164,000 customers across the world through more than 400 company-owned centers and 220 franchises.
During the mid-1990s, Ms. Craig also had an accident that left her unable to speak temporarily. In an interview with Larry King in 2001, Ms. Craig said she fell asleep on her couch with her mouth open and was startled awake, causing her lower jaw to snap shut over her upper teeth.
The accident stripped the muscles in her face, leaving her unable to talk properly for years, she said. She had to have surgery and physical therapy to teach herself how to speak again, she said.
The company made celebrities a big part of its marketing campaign, luring Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertinelli and other stars to endorse it. In 1999, the company enlisted Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, as a Jenny Craig pitchwoman. Ms. Lewinsky lost 31 pounds on the program but left amid backlash from franchisees and stockholders.
“Well, let’s say that it didn’t work for us,” Ms. Craig told Mr. King in 2001 about Ms. Lewinsky. “She certainly lost weight, but unfortunately, people tended to focus more on who she was rather than her success on the program.”
A spokesman for Ms. Lewinsky said she declined to comment.
The company also faced regulatory issues over its weight-loss claims. Jenny Craig settled federal charges of deceptive advertising with the Federal Trade Commission in 1997. The company pledged it would better substantiate those claims.
By the late 1990s, the company was struggling financially after its prepackaged meals waned in popularity. Jenny Craig was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2001.
In the first in a long line of sales, a private investment group bought Jenny Craig in 2002 for $115 million, taking the company private. Ms. Craig and her husband retained partial ownership under that deal.
Food and beverage company Nestlé bought Jenny Craig in 2006 for about $600 million. But years later Nestlé, seeking to shed underperforming assets, sold Jenny Craig in 2013 to private-equity firm North Castle Partners for an undisclosed amount.
Jenny Craig sales improved under North Castle, and the weight-loss brand started to look for a new buyer in 2018. Private-equity firm H.I.G. Capital purchased Jenny Craig in 2019 for an undisclosed amount.
Some Jenny Craig employees are also pursuing a class-action lawsuit, alleging the company violated state and federal labor laws that require large employers to provide advanced notice before conducting layoffs. The plaintiffs—one from California and another from New Jersey—said they were laid off Thursday without proper notice.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, seeks at least 60 days of wages and benefits for the plaintiffs. An estimated 200 other employees from New Jersey and California were also terminated without proper notice, the lawsuit said.
H.I.G. didn’t respond to requests for comment about the closure of Jenny Craig or the lawsuit.
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