Jenny Craig goes under in Australia trends now
Iconic weight loss company Jenny Craig will cease to exist in Australia after its administrators failed to find a buyer.
Voluntary administrators Vaughan Strawbridge, Kate Warwick and Joseph Hansell of FTI Consulting have recommended the company be placed into liquidation.
The decision to liquidate the company comes after administrators sought to sell the business with the 'intent of preserving as many jobs as possible and limiting the losses for creditors'.
Despite a bidding and sales process resulting in 15 interested parties and four non-binding indicative offers, no buyers were able to be secured.
'Despite best efforts, the Administrators were unable to find a buyer for the physical stores and employees of the Australian and New Zealand business,' the administrators said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
Weight loss giant Jenny Craig's Australian and New Zealand operations have gone into voluntary administration. Pictured: Spice Girls popstar Mel B who was an ambassador for the company
'The Administrators have today advised all of the employees in Australia and New Zealand that a sale of the business with the stores continuing to trade and staff continuing their employment hasn't been achievable.'
Trading will cease immediately and employees will be made redundant, something the administrators described as 'an unfortunate outcome'.
It is expected that creditors will not be able to regain their losses after the company is placed into liquidation, but employees will receive their entitlements either through assets sold or the government's Fair Entitlements Guarantee.
In May, Jenny Craig's US and Canadian branches were closed as the company filed for bankruptcy.
The online services the business provides will be sold to Eucalyptus, a healthcare technology company, which will continue to offer online weight loss solutions to customers.
Eucalyptus is currently advertising at least 48 job openings on its website including health coaches, mental health nurses, nutritionists and general practitioners for weight consults.
The company describes itself as a 'diverse group: of software engineers, creatives and operations experts who 'who care deeply about patient experience, and simplifying the scary and complex world of healthcare'.
Featured prominently on Eucalyptus' website is that it is 'one of Australia's fastest-growing start-ups'.
Jenny Craig is pictured with her husband and company co-founder Sidney Craig
Incredible story of the REAL Jenny Craig - the impeccably dressed businesswoman who started a weight loss empire before a freak MOUTH accident left her unable to speak for five years... as it faces troubled waters
Ashley Nickel
The collapse of Jenny Craig's American business is yet another extraordinary challenge faced by the global weight loss empire that was founded by a dazzling woman of the same name in Melbourne in 1983.
Ms Craig, who has long since sold the business, faced remarkable personal challenges as she turned the enterprise into a household name in Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand.
The Australian government nearly smothered the business just days before its launch over an issue with 'vitamin packs' and for five years Ms Craig was mostly unable to speak because of a rare medical condition.
Now, Ms Craig would no doubt be looking on with concern as the company announced it was shutting down its American operations on Thursday after amassing a rumoured $250million debt, in a move that will not affect its Australian operations.
Jenny Craig (above) founded her namesake diet company alongside her husband, Sidney, in Melbourne in 1983
Ms Craig, an American, started her business alongside her husband, Sidney, with nine centres based in Melbourne in the early 80s; a franchise that grew to include about 600 stores around the world.
The couple had decided to settle in Melbourne after signing a non-compete order as part of the sale of their former weight loss business that banned them from the US diet market for two years.
Ms Craig explained she and her husband invested everything they had in setting up Jenny Craig and that 'failure simply wasn't an option'.
But a mistake over innovative 'vitamin packs' that were set to launch alongside the company's prepared meals saw Jenny Craig have a run-in with the Australian government just days before the business launched.
Mrs Craig
