Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig Turn to “Store in a Box” Concept to Efficiently Remodel Hundreds of Stores

Back in early 2000, Jenny Craig, the leading international weight management firm, was acquired by ACI Capital.

That year, Lou Mancuso joined Jenny Craig as its vice president of real estate and construction. During his second day on the job, he called up an old friend—Bruce Olans of Total Resource Group, now the vice president of franchise store build-outs at Triad MFG. The two had worked together years ago while Mancuso was at Weight Watchers as the vice president of real estate, where he called on Olans to improve the brand’s product sales by implementing a new merchandising system. Olans and his company additionally provided Weight Watchers with everything they needed to rebrand their stores—from custom millwork, seating and graphics to flooring, a new merchandising system and kiosks. Within the next few years, Weight Watchers product sales skyrocketed into the millions of dollars.

But this time, Mancuso had a different task for Olans. Mancuso had since moved from Weight Watchers to Jenny Craig. As a result of A Jenny Craig acquisition, all 500 company-owned stores needed to be completely remodeled. The stores would close on a Wednesday night for renovations, and needed to reopen for business the following Monday morning. This included demolition, new carpeting and paint, new flooring, new graphics and new custom chairs. And it all had to be done within two years.

“My company didn’t say no to Lou—it was a matter of just figuring out how to make this happen. This was a challenge that my team knew we could take on—we had the resources and expertise in place and ready to go,” Olans said.

Olans set up five installation teams that would move across the country weekly. They took care of the store layout plans and permitting in-house. At the time, OLANS warehouses were also filled to the brim with everything needed for the remodeled stores.

“We were in the process of doing major rollouts throughout the entire Jenny Craig system. Through Bruce and his company, Store in a Box, he would supply us with everything we needed in the store—custom millwork, restaurant equipment, graphics and flooring. Then, when everything was ready, a truck would roll up and it was as easy as unloading,” Mancuso said. “Everything we needed came from one, simple source. The common problems a brand might experience during a new store roll out—like missing chairs, delayed carpet installation or damaged millwork—were all avoided because of Bruce’s work. And nobody else was doing what he was doing at the time.”

Starting on Wednesday nights, Olans’ team came to the store to start interior demolition. By Thursday, new paint covered the walls and new carpeting was laid out. On Friday, new custom millworking was installed. Then, on Saturday, all new graphics went up. By Sunday, his team put everything back in place, such as file cabinets and computers. By Monday, the stores were up and running. Today, Olans is proud to say that throughout those two hectic years, his team ensured that Mancuso never missed a single opening.

And the best part? The original plan for ACI Capital was to fix up its Jenny Craig locations and sell the company for $200 million—nearly double what they originally paid for it. But because of the celebrity endorsement of their new spokesperson, Kirstie Alley and their brand new stores, things didn’t quite work out as ACI planned. Because of the popular celebrity backing, ACI sold Jenny Craig to Nestle for $600 million instead.

“More than anything, working with Olans and Store in a Box gave me the peace of mind that I could deliver on the stores I was promising. We did not miss a single opening,” Mancuso said. “Rather than me having to go out and collect all of different elements that go into a store remodel on my own, Olans sourced everything out. We knew exactly what we were getting and when we were getting it, and if anything were to ever go wrong or get mixed up, he was right there to offer a solution. Working with Olans was ultimately a great way to mitigate any kind of damages. You can imagine how difficult it would be to remodel 500 stores in two years—and you can imagine how many things can go wrong. But with Olans and Store in a Box, everything went smoothly. And in the end, he really saved me a lot of headaches.”