Nestle weighs Jenny Craig India debut

NEW DELHI: Nestle, the world’s largest food company that makes KitKat chocolates and Maggi instant noodles, is looking at bringing its weight management programme Jenny Craig to India.

Jenny Craig, popular in the US, involves coaching by personal consultants and pre-packaged meals that costs about $100 per week in the US besides a membership fee.

“Jenny Craig is a successful programme in markets where it is operating. We will evaluate the potential for it in India,” a Nestle India spokesman said. While he refused to give any timeline for potential rollout of the programme, a person close to the company management said Nestle India CMD Antonio Helio Waszyk is upbeat on the India story and would check out every growth opportunity in the booming economy.

The person, however, said even if it is brought into the country, Jenny Craig may be restricted to the metropolitan cities as it is an expensive product. “Also, Nestle India would have to build competencies for the service-based product from scratch.” In September ’08, Nestle had announced investments of Rs 600 crore in India for a year – doubling the previous year's investments.