Introduction/History/CEO

Co-founder Jenny Craig developed an interest in fitness and wellness in the 1960s. With her own effort to lose weight after a pregnancy Jenny Craig teamed up with Sid Craig, owner of Body Contour Fitness Center. Sid and Jenny Married in 1979, and together turned the company into a thriving business. The Craig’s eventually sold Body Contour to a subsidiary of Nutri-System, and with the money made from the deal, they opened up Jenny Craig. The first center was opened in Australia, and after becoming a leading player in the countries diet industry, Jenny Craig expanded to the United States. Today Jenny Craig is one of the largest weight management service companies in the world. Jenny Craig is a chain of weight management centers that focuses on a meal plan made by their own prepared meals. Jenny Craig provides a combination of weight management tools and advice, which make it easy and practical for clients to lose weight, stay motivated, and change their eating habits. The main focus of the program is to help maintain a healthy approach to food, have an active lifestyle, and create a more balanced approach to living.Today, the CEO of Jenny Craig is Patti Larchet, "who first joined the company in 1985" as a consultant. Her "impressive record" and hard work earned her many high positions with the company such as the Chief of Operating Office or Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Patti Larchet graduated from University of Illinois, Chicago. Throughout her career with Jenny Craig, she was able to “turn around of the business down under," increasing revenues by nearly 90% over six years, and greatly enhancing earnings”. She is a hard working woman, who is also a wife and mother. She joined Jenny Craig because she dealt with the weight problems as well as any other woman out there. She wanted to face the problem and help others.

What ethical and social responsibility policies are in place? Jenny Craig takes its clients very seriously and therefore they provide additional support online or 24/7 support on the phone by calling a toll-free number. Jenny Craig’s staff members take the social responsibility to heart and are available any time to keep clients satisfied with the services. Its’ ethical policies take place as well by not discriminating against any race, religion, age or sex. Jenny Craig provides a safe and healthy way to lose weight and build a more active lifestyle. It is scientifically proven to approach weight loss and build several positive attributes through its team of dieticians and medical advisory board. Since Jenny Craig is a food-based program, it is designed to promote a healthy weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week. Its menus reflect the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and references intakes issued by the Institute of Medicine. In addition, one of the major goals of the company, besides weight-loss, is to educate people that losing weight is part of a healthy chain reaction such as managing stress, developing a positive mindset, and especially encouraging people to do physical activities. This whole process is advised not only for weight losing, but also to provide a better lifestyle to the costumer in the long run. Thus, being part of this team is providing itself a healthier and balanced lifetime change.

What type of security and risk management do they practice? Jenny Craig is using firewalls and Secure Socket Layers to protect any personal information of clients. However, Jenny Craig “may share information collected through transactions …like names, addresses, and purchase history, under contracts with non-Jenny Craig companies such as printers, mail houses, and list management companies that help Jenny Craig inform you of products or special offers to which you may be entitled. All companies with which we do business have agreed to be bound to these Privacy Policy restraints and will not sell, rent, or otherwise transmit [client] personal information.” Jenny Craig was formally operating on a cumbersome PC network, and in 2007 changed its’ operating systems to Wyse thin clients in all centers throughout US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The company also upgraded its Wide Area Network (WAN) in North America to integrate new technology, servers, and security products. This operating system was easy to incorporate into all the centers while still being cost efficient. The company also wanted to be able to access each centers computers and information remotely through the centrally managed IT staff. Jenny Craig wanted to streamline and manage all operations by regimenting on Wyse V90, Microsoft Windows XP Embedded (XPe), thin clients and Wyse Device Manager (WDM) software. This program made it easy and accessible for Jenny Craig employees to get information on the spot without compromising security or performance.