Hi Erin!
 

........No , I was talking about "weigh in meetings"..........such as WW and TOPS..................but for Low Carbers!

I am just surprised someone hasn't started meetings for Low Carbers to weigh in each week.............such as Weight Watchers. Lots of money to be made there. :D No telling what Weight Watchers makes off of millions of women weighing in each week at appx. $12.00 a whack! :bash: :D

Just my 2 cents worth! :wave:
Jo Ann in TEXAS

way to go!!!!!
 

I don't care what it's called, i would use the store no matter what. I am glad that someone is also thinking of us LC'ers in Canada. LC stuff is hard to find here.

:cheer:

:thup: That is a FANTASTIC idea!!!! If a store &/or restaurant opened in T.O. or the GTA I would DEFINATELY make the trip!!! I also have worked in commercial kitchens since I was 12 and LOVE cooking LC. Perhaps... :idea:
-Nolly

Hhhmmm
 

Well, it seems like getting a line of low carb foods into national distribution, such as Super Wal Mart, would be the safest way to go. Or getting a low carb section to the menu at, say TGI Friday's. We may be very good at low carbing but may not be so good at marketing and distribution.

There are a couple of ideas floating here; a weight watchers program for LC, a LC restaurant, LC line of prepared foods and a LC grocery store.

To be clear about it, Dr. Atkins has been at this for 20 or so years and only recently have I seen my local safeway add a few Atkins items to the "health food" section.

The question also becomes, is there a critical mass of low carbers and a good network of suppliers to make any of this work? It seems that the manufacturers of LC items today are in a low quantity market with a very high profit margin. For example, $4 or more for a tiny 10 oz jar of jelly means that these items are not going to be accepted by the mainstream dieter. They're just too expensive. That's why these items are relegated to mail orders outlets. And if you're going to open a LC restaurant, you're going to have to charge a fortune to cover the cost of having a jar of LC jelly on the table for the breakfast service.

I think a better marketing plan would be for LC food manufacturers to market their items as low calorie rather than LC. For example, there are a couple of BBQ sauces that boast zero calories per serving, that's good news for anyone trying to lose weight.

Finally, LC is not an easy diet to pick up. Frankly you have to read a book or two and really get knowledgeable about how this stuff works. Perhaps a "Mary Kay" type of multi level marketing program would be a good fit for a distribution channel for LC foods. That way the seller is someone who can have meetings with buyer and explain all this stuff.

That's just my thoughts.

I had to reply and tell you that I think this is an awesome idea!!! My husband and I also keep wondering why there isn't a fast-food restaurant for low-carbs... We keep saying "Man, I wish there was an Atkins instead of McDonald's... LOL!! I get tired of telling the waitress that I don't want those hash browns... can I substitute bacon please? LOL! I hope you all come up with something... I have been talking to all my friends about how low-carbing has really made me feel good... And I would be willing to help out...

Take care,
Christy

I have my mother's original Weight Watchers Book from the '60's I think. Here is how Jean Nidetch (sp) started Weight Watchers.


She was overweight and had tried everything. She remembered a health clinic for obesity. She went there and got put on a diet written by Dr. Norman Joliffe. (We also have his book, very into calorie counting.) She was doing good, lost 20 pounds, but she couldn't ditch her cookie addiction. She decided she needed to talk it over so she called 3 of her fattest friends to come over and talk. The friends all agreed that she was doing good losing weight and why shouldn't she have those cookies if she was still losing. Somehow, she managed to give up those cookies, (with friends like those???) and lost weight faster. The next week, the friends brought friends and the old ones talked and the new ones listened. Every week more and more people came to her living room. She got worried about everyone following the diet she was prescribed and had the people sign-off saying that they were coming to her meetings to be encouraged to avoid eating fattening foods. It probably wasn't legal though because they signed it petition-style, one after another. They eventually got too big for her apartment, and they met in the cellar of the apartment building. Then, she was asked to come to another families house and give a lecture a week to some couples. She didn't accept cash, and gave out expensive pins. One of the men of the couples was a buisnessman (I can't believe I can't spell that, well it is 4:30 in the morning.) man, Al Lipman. He talked her into accepting money and making up a cheaper pin that she could give out. They discussed that she shouldn't be running all around, she should be a buisness (it still doesn't look right) and make people come to her. They rented a back room of a synagog??? Eventually they had to use the whole building. They decided on a $2 admission. They figured that that was the price people were willing to pay for a movie, they would have no problem paying for a meeting, though Jean wanted them to get more for their money than just once, so she said they could come back every day that week for that $2. (Must have made a headache keeping track.)

I believe, Al's sister Elaine, became the next franchise, she had lost weight their way and was a schoolteacher and well spoken. They opened another franchise and then another and another. Jean insisted that their people who run these must have lost weight on their program (a much different program than it is today) and not gain more than 2 pounds (later 5 I think) over their goal weight.

Later, she got into frozen foods, etc.

The original WW plan, I think was rather like an Atkins maintenance plan. ie, you were on the plan for life and would always eat that way. For women they got 2 slices of bread per day, must be eaten by noon, so many glasses of milk (powdered skim was promoted) and 3 fruits, along with low cal (or is it carb?---just a thought) vegetables and a variety of meats and fish, some cheese and eggs. High fat foods were limited to so many times per week.

I did a modifyed version of this plan when I was in high school and was sucessful with it, but I didn't eat all the fruit and didn't drink all the milk (and I never used powdered skim) and limited my bread to 1 or 2 before noon.

Just some reading for those interested.

Elihnig

Someone PLEASE open one in Tucson!!!!!!!

I want to start a LC FOOD CHAIN
 

Let's go for it :thup:
I was looking in the phone book for low carb restuarants and saw none. Like you said, we have to order on-line paying those expensive shipping charges. I was just thinking about a low carb restuarant the other day. My sister said that if I came up with a sure proof deal she would invest and isn't it funny that her husband is a lawyer. Works for a firm in North Carolina.
I'm with Brandon on the name:
LOW CARB EATERY
Maria

I know where they are
 

I know this will sound like"DameMeow is homesick again", but in South Florida, particularly Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton it is a low-carb mecca. We had several stores that sold low carb foods, ice cream, fresh bakery products, frozen pre-packaged meals etc. Now that I dont have it I really miss it. If you want low carb ice cream here in the Poconos, the closest thing is called "snow" :(

P.S.- I know at least one of the stores has a website, but I won't plug them unless anyone asks

The LC food chain
 

As someone said on the first page, "The LC Cafe", sounds like a catchy name to me.

Perhaps we could get all the recipes from everybody here. All types from full on meals to deserts and come out with a cookbook to raise the capital for the first resterant. Make a flashy cover with dishes of foods, veggies, steaks, and deserts on it. Have some success stories on the back of it, saying eat all these foods and lose weight / feel great, etc. Include the basic idea of this WOL.

The best way to go about this is to do some demographics first. Find an area in the states or around the world where there is a high concentration of LC'ers. Make the first resterant there, so it has the best chance of success. I too am tired of asking for veggies instead of potatoes or fries with my meal.

From there we could also prepare the frozen dinners and deserts etc for shipping to LC customers like us as well as, sell LC-instant dinners / products, to walk in customers to take home and eat during the week. (Store front / shipping division) I saw a resterant in Geogia years ago that was made out of an old Stop and Shop store. It was big. You could have a shipping and receiving in the back and resterant in front and a store front for walk in's on the side.

Have the cookbooks and promo type information handouts there as well as a "Start your own LC cafe (TM)" handout offer. This could attract an investor(s) with some real $, to hop onboard with us.

I think to idea of having people who follow this WOL as workers of the cafe is an excellent idea too. You could have before / after pictures of the people who run that store on the walls. Folks could see the results for themselve. That way, nobody could ever say the pic's are touched up or fake.( See for yourself.)

I have always wanted to open a resterant / bar type of place myself but went into the automotive repair and warehouse distributorship instead.

If this was to come about, I would to happy to include a LC ad, in my mailers in the northeast area of the USA. My territory is from Maine to Conn, New York, Penn, and down as far as the Carolina's. The mailers only go to automotive garages and muffler shops but we would get coverage to 4-6000 shop owners / managers. I would also be happy to add the cafe's info to my web site too.

I think Karin was working on something a while ago with LC in mind. Will have to find out how she's coming along with her idea.

Perhaps we could find out, via a poll, where everybody on this site is located, by state or region and see where the most dense area's are for deciding where to place this store.
Wherever it is, the others could do something like advertizing for the store front / food distrbution end of the operation and promote customers to call in / email in orders for foods / products to futher make the store a success.

Ok, I'll stop now. Can't type fast enough, the ideas are blowing thur my mind to fast. :daze:

Cheers, John

PS: Someone should move on this idea soon, the LC info is becoming more or more popular recently. More infomation is on the news about these plans. If we don't move on this, someone else will and we will be going to their resterant / cafe's.

Well the location seems obvious
 

Does anyone know if there is a LC restaurant across the street from the Atkins Center in NY? If one can't make it near the Atkins Center, I doubt it would make it anywhere else.

Man I don't know why there isn't a restaurant INSIDE the Atkins center and I wonder why they haven't started weighins there either...

I'm still looking into it,
E

:roll:
May I just say.....FABULOUS!
I think rustpots idea of Thinbucks is great.
This could work, this could really, really work.

What a great idea - that would be and since I am just starting this low carb thing - being an tax accountant , a wellness consultant and taking college course on alternative medicine - it is really tough to plan what to cook
- I am still fighting the urge for the carbs and it can be any carbs - I am not even fussy.

Frozen dinners would be nice, LC restaurants would be great - even a weekly meal plan with the recipes would be great - can anyone tell that I am stressed??

THAT SOUNDS GREAT!!!! ESPECIALLY HERE IN CANADA BECAUSE IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND LC ANYTHING (OUTSIDE THE INTERNET). AT LEAST HERE ON THE WEST COAST!!! :Party: