Jenny Craig opening Clay site; moving DeWitt location

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jun 15, 2007 by Palmateer, Paige

CLAY - A need to expand and a desire to have stores in both the northern and southern parts of Onondaga County prompted Central New York Weight Loss, LLC dlb/a Jenny Craig to open a new location in Clay on June 1, says franchise owner Richard (Dick) Herring.

"The new store will put two locations in Syracuse, two in Rochester, two in Albany, and two in Buffalo," Herring says. "It also puts us in close proximity to our competition in the area - L.A. Weight Loss Centers and Weight Watchers."

The new Jenny Craig location is almost 2,000 square feet and located at 8015 Oswego Road in the Shoppes at Seneca Plaza in the town of Clay. The Seneca Plaza facility will be Herring's eighth Jenny Craig location in Central and upstate New York. The store employs six women.

"We employ 43 women [over-all]," Herring says. "Our clients are women 35 to 45 years old from affluent economic back-grounds because this is a higher-end product than some other programs."

Herring is referring to Jenny Craig's patented portion-control system.

"The Jenny Craig philosophy is more about weight management than weight loss," Herring says. "Our business is to sell you a program that shows you what portions are appropriate for your body weight."

Fayetteville move

Herring says that he is also moving the DeWitt Jenny Craig facility to a location next to Robert's Liquor in the Wegmans Plaza at 6789 East Genesee St. in the village of Fayetteville.

The current 2,250 square-foot Jenny Craig is located at 3179 Erie Boulevard East in DeWitt.

Herring finalized the lease for new, nearly 2,000-square-foot Fayetteville location with owner Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. in early June. He anticipates that the move will be complete in 45 to 60 days.

Rochester-based Vasile Construction Corp. - the contractor Herring utilized for the new Seneca Plaza location - is also working on the Jenny Craig store in the Wegmans Plaza.

Jenny Craig has scheduled a grand-opening celebration for the Seneca Plaza facility on June 20.

How it all started

Herring became interested in Jenny Craig franchises after his wife Virginia experienced success with the program. Massachusetts residents, the Herrings flew to California to meet with Jenny Craig, Inc. executives to discuss the possibility of acquiring and opening new corporate centers in New York State.

"We realized it was a good opportunity so we took over the center in DeWitt in December 2004," Herring says.

In the Rochester market, Herring owns Jenny Craig franchises in Henrietta and Penfield. He acquired those franchises in February 2005. In September 2005, Herring opened locations in Clifton Park and Latham near Albany.

In the Buffalo area, Herring owns Jenny Craig locations in Williamsville and Hamburg. He is planning to relocate the Hamburg center to a new location in Orchard Park in 50 days.

Herring says that most of his centers are about 2,000 square feet and employ six people - center director, client-care specialists, and consultants.

A year's membership to Jenny Craig costs about $400 and includes weekly consultations and the cost of food.

Herring says that independent research claims that if you attend 90 percent of your consultations, you will lose an average of 16 pounds in 10 weeks, 24 pounds in six months, and 30 pounds in a year.

He doesn't perceive fitness centers or gyms as competition.

"We don't look at physical fitness as competition," Herring says. "We encourage places like Curves and gyms that have nutrition programs, but they don't focusexclusively on food as we do."

Herring says that he paid for a lot of the expansions out-of-pocket. His Jenny Craig franchise locations generate in excess of $4 million in total annual revenue - double the revenue generated in 2004.

"We've had a little over 100 percent increase in revenues," Herring says.

According to entrepreneur.com, the start-up costs for a Jenny Craig franchise range from $165,000 to $350,000.

Herring is a former chair of the Washington, D.C.-based National Small Business Association (NSBA). On May 9, he was honored at the 70th anniversary gala for the NSBA in Washington, D.C.

Jenny Craig, Inc. was founded in the mid-1980s by Genevieve Guidroz, who headquartered the company in La Jolla, Calif. in 1985. In 2006, she sold the company to Nestle for $600 million. Nestle is the largest food and beverage company in the world.