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The Weight Loss Guru: The Early
Years of Jenny Craig
“When I make a commitment to do
something, I will stick with it no matter what” – Jenny Craig
When Jenny Craig had her second child, she was thrilled. That excitement,
however, quickly turned to depression when the weight she had gained during
the pregnancy refused to go away. But Craig was not one to sit and while
away her time being depressed. Instead, she decided to do something. Not
only did she lose her own excess weight, but she created a business empire
in the process. Today, with over 650 centres around the world, Jenny Craig
Inc. has become one of the largest and most recognized companies in the
weight management industry.
Craig was born as Genevieve Guidroz in Berwick, Louisiana in 1932. She moved
with her family to New Orleans during the time of the Depression. In order
to pay the bills, Craig’s father took on three part-time jobs. One of these
was transporting staff and supplies to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. It
was a difficult time for the family, but their father worked hard to make
sure they were never in want.
When Craig was older, she got married and started having a family of her
own. But that is when she discovered that everything was not as easy as it
looked. “When I grew up in New Orleans, my mother was a fabulous Creole
cook,” says Craig. “Everything we ate involved butter and fat, with lots of
starches. I just figured that was the way to eat.”
All of that changed after Craig had her second daughter. Craig discovered
that she could not lose the weight she had gained as easily as she had
before. She was 45 pounds overweight and knew she had to change something.
She just did not know what.
“My mother was always overweight after having six children,” says Craig. “I
was the youngest, and I never saw her thin. She died when she was only 49
from a stroke. Looking into that mirror, seeing her there in myself, made me
realize that if I wanted to live to raise my two daughters, I had to watch
my weight.” On top of that, of her mother’s nine siblings, eight died before
they were 50 years old, and all of them had been overweight.
“With regard to my own weight problem, I was figuring out what to do,” says
Craig. “I was always one to exercise, and I wasn’t losing weight. You’d talk
to a doctor, and he would just say to eat less. That was the standard reply.
Just eat less than you’re eating.”
Craig decided to take matters into her own hands. She joined a gym called
Silhouette/American Health, cut back on her food portion sizes, became more
selective about what she ate, and slowly got back into shape. “What really
started me off in this business was my own research into what kinds of foods
I should be eating,” she says. It was then that she realized that she was
not alone. “I was sure there were a lot of people just like me that want
someone to tell them what to do.” With that, Craig became determine to be
that someone.
“Whoever heard of cholesterol when I first started in this business in 1959?
People didn’t pay any attention to what they ate,” says Craig. “I noticed a
need before it was a whole industry and in that sense, I was
entrepreneurial.”
Craig had lost her excess weight by working out and watching what she ate.
She became so passionate about the process that in the 1960s, Craig began to
work for the Silhouette gym where she had previously been a member. Craig
started to not only learn the ropes, but also befriend other regular
members. She listened to their stories, some successful, some not. She also
shared her own story, making many friendships along the way. When the gym’s
managers realized how strong her presence was becoming, they immediately
promoted her.
Craig was now in charge of the entire gym. Soon thereafter, she was placed
in charge of four other gyms as well. She had become a key player in the
Silhouette family. All the while, however, Craig was itching to go out onto
her own. She wanted to try her hand at running her own business. And so,
Craig decided to mortgage her house. Using that money, Craig opened up her
own gym and called it Healthetic.
With Craig’s passion and experience, the club became an overnight success.
Craig had proven to both herself and others that she had what it took to
start a business. She soon sold Healthetic to her former bosses at
Silhouette, and went on a hunt for a new venture.
That is when she met Sid Craig. He was 38 years old, but he had a history of
running a successful business. While pursuing his business degree at Fresno
State University, he also worked as a dance teacher at night for Arthur
Murray. After graduating, he joined Arthur Murray full time and even went on
to own a few of its franchises and joining its board of directors. From
there, Craig went on to be a partner with Body Contour Inc., a chain of
women’s fitness salons.
Sid Craig went to New Orleans to open up a Body Contour salon and hired
Jenny as its first employee. “Sid ran an ad in the paper,” Craig recalls. “I
had just sold my business, and I was looking for a franchise. I thought it
sounded interesting so I went in to see what it was all about.” The New
Orleans franchise was performing so well that Craig was soon put in charge
of all of Body Contour’s franchises in the Southern states. “Sid called me
up one day and asked if I would open Chicago and I agreed to do that,” she
says. “I eventually became national director of operations.”
In 1979, after both finalizing their previous divorces, the two got married.
But as Body Contour became more successful, Craig thought it should be going
in another direction. “I kept saying to Sid’s partners that the world is
changing, and we really need to start offering more nutritional guidance,”
recalls Craig. “But the partners wanted to keep everything status quo. Their
attitude was that if something is working, don’t change it.”
Craig knew the importance of keeping up with the times. “So we gave them
three options,” says Craig. “Sell to us, buy us out, or you take half the
centers and we’ll take half.” The partners were unreceptive to all of the
offers, and so the Craig’s sold Body Contour, which was bringing in $35
million in sales by 1982.
The deal, however, carried a two-year non-compete clause in the U.S. So, the
Craig’s took their idea to Australia, a country they thought was similar to
America and presented no language barrier. “We were both fifty when we went
to Australia in 1983 and laid everything on the line,” says Craig. After
writing down twenty different names and presenting them to as many
Australians as they could, everyone picked Jenny Craig. “When we asked why,”
says Craig, “they said because we like dealing with a person rather than a
corporation.”
By 1985, Craig’s Australian chain was earning more than $50 million through
its 69 centres. The two year non-compete clause had also ended; it was time
to enter the U.S. They opened 13 centres in Los Angeles, followed by an
additional six in Chicago. In 1991, the company went public and generated
$73.5 million in capital. Five years later, after having expanded into the
U.S., New Zealand, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Guam, the Craig’s decided to
sell their company to Nestle for $600 million.
Together, Jenny and Sid Craig proved that it is never too late to get
started on your dreams. |
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