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Exclusive: Jenny Craig saved by Juniper in “brand partnership” deal

Posted: 7 June 2023 5:19 pm

News

Eucalyptus founder Tim Doyle has confirmed with Finder that Australian weight loss firm Juniper has acquired Jenny Craig following its liquidation.

It's been a busy day in the Australian weight loss industry. On the morning of 7 June 2023, the Australian wing of Jenny Craig followed the American arm into administration.

Founded in Australia 40 years ago, Jenny Craig has remained a prominent brand in the diet industry, despite the rise in weight loss meal kit delivery services.

Staff at Jenny Craig told Finder this morning that no buyer had been found, as they hurried to get undelivered food out to customers before close of business.

Administration firm FTI Consulting even issued a statement saying: "Despite best efforts, the administrators were unable to find a buyer for the physical stores and employees of the Australian and New Zealand business. This has resulted in a decision to immediately cease trading from stores and employees being made redundant."

However, by the end of the day, the situation had changed. Juniper, a weight loss company founded in Australia, had bought Jenny Craig in a last-minute deal.

Juniper is a subsidiary of Eucalyptus, and founder Tim Doyle confirmed the deal.

"We're excited to combine an iconic, trusted Australian brand that has helped hundreds of thousands of people lose weight with our best in class medical weight loss services in Juniper," Doyle told Finder.

What is Juniper?

Founded in 2021, Juniper combines medical advice and a line of "Nourish Shakes" for weight management. Its program includes health coaches, dieticians, personalised treatments and check-ins with Australian GPs.

That's a more complex approach than Jenny Craig, which provides food menu programs, with calorie-counted offerings for 1, 2 or 3 meals a day. This is supported by a member program that includes weight loss coaching.

Jenny Craig's future

It's unclear at this point what Juniper intends to do with the Jenny Craig brand. Initial reports suggest it's the online part of the business Juniper has acquired, with the bricks and mortar component still set for liquidation.

"To begin with it will work like a brand partnership," Doyle told Finder. "In the future we are looking at how we might bring a food offering to life." It's not clear yet what will happen with existing inventories of food stock.

When asked if he knew what the purchase of Jenny Craig by Eucalyptus meant for existing customers, Doyle told Finder he was "unsure at this point."

Jenny Craig owned 73 centres in Australia, 18 in New Zealand and over 700 in total worldwide. It had 306 local employees (plus 71 in New Zealand), as well as an online business.

A key attraction for Juniper is Jenny Craig's database of customers, which is reported to extend into the hundreds of thousands.