From: goodguy@next03pg2.wam.umd.edu (Shen Kai Lew)
Subject: Re: cheap franchise in weight loss service
Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 15:29:31 GMT

In article <16d28bINN1nn@agate.berkeley.edu> abulloch@garnet.berkeley.edu  
(Anthony Bulloch) writes:
> In article <BstoxH.488@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> 
> yjohn@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (John Ross) writes:
> >
> >I recently came across an ad for a franchise in Entrepreneur magazine  
and sent 
> >for some information.  
> >
> >The franchise is run by Diet Guidance International, and for a $495 fee  
you
> >become a Director if you qualify.  Directors have their own companies  
and sell
> >diets to customers.  A customer fills out a form indicating his or her
> >favourite foods and gives this and $49 (suggested) to the Director.   
The
> >Director sends the form and $12 to DGI, who produce a customized menu
> >incorporating the favourite foods for 3 months of individual meals.   
DGI then
> >sends this off to the customer, imprinted with the name of the  
Director's
> >company. 
> >
> >For the franchise fee you get an audio casette training program, an  
initial 
> >supply of advertising brochures and some unspecified form of support  
from
> >the company.
> >
> >This is outlined in a 15 page brochure.  To get more information you  
fill in a 
> >biographical sketch and send it in (this is a thinly disguised ploy to 
> >determine your current salary and whether or not you can put your hands  
on
> >$500).  This gets you an audio cassette, a sample diet and a telephone 
> >interview with someone at DGI--still no obligation.
> >
> >There probably is a market for this sort of thing, but a number of  
things 
> >about the brochure disturbed me...........
> >I wonder if they are selling franchises or the service.  Also, $500 is 
> >probably below most people's comfort level, so if they do get burned  
they 
> >would tend to just forget about it.  There is a lot of pressure in  the 
> >brochure to apply quickly and an indication that only a limited number  
of 
> >Directorships are available, but I'll bet they don't turn down many who  
have
> >$500 available.
> >
> >Has anybody ever heard of this outfit (they are based in San  
Francisco)?  Does
> >it sound interesting? Any comments?
> >
> 
> I checked with the Better Business Bureau in SF today, and they
> report that this company is a member of the BBB, and that their
> file is in good standing with them. (They also add, of course,
> that this does not constitute endorsement, or anything like
> that.)   So they're real, and there have been no complaints
> registered with the BBB.
> 
> That said, the sign-up fee does seem pretty steep, and the return
> is low. (Don't forget you will have to advertise, too.)
> 
> 
> One thing occurs to me.  If you are interested in the weight
> management field (and this is a huge market now, and growing),
> then there is another option you might consider.  There's a
> new outfit called Interior Design Nutritionals which just
> started last month: it specialises in a weight management
> program and nutritional products aimed at the weight-loss,
> weight maintenance, sports nutrition and longevity nutrition
> markets. The program is based on research done at UCLA and
> U Texas at Austin, the products are top notch and state of
> the art technologically, and several things in the product
> line were/are used by the US Olympics swimming, cycling
> and sailing teams.  The cost to sign up with IDN is just $35 - a good
> deal less than $500 - and for that you get more than with
> Diet Guidance Int. (There's greater long-term potential, too,
> since with IDN you can build your own group of distributors
> and receive commission from the company based on your group's
> sales volume.)   I have more info if you are interested.
> 
> Anthony Bulloch
> abulloch@garnet.berkeley.edu
> 
> PS IDN has a personalized analysis of the kind offered by
> Diet Guidance, and for the same kind of price: IDN's
> analysis, and the recommended menus etc that you get, is
> performed by the University of California at Los Angeles.
> Also, IDN's program is strictly weight _management_ and
> not Diet.