The influence of Weight Watchers on the food industry extends
from restaurants to grocery stores
What started as a weight loss plan has become a cultural phenomenon. Chances are you know someone in the South Valley who is following the Weight Watchers program; they’re everywhere. And for that very reason, Weight Watchers members are having a major impact on the food industry.
Though Weight Watchers offers two different ways to tackle weight loss, both plans are fundamentally based on eating foods that are low in fat and high in fiber. Depending on what plan members use, they eat foods from a set list that are “free,” or they eat foods and keep track of how many points they have each day, making sure to keep within their daily point allotment. Members attend weekly meetings where a leader weighs them, and people talk about how they’re doing following the program.
“At the weekly meetings, we invite people to share new products they’ve purchased, places they’ve eaten, what they’re finding online – anything that has helped them with the program,” said Diane Williamson, a Weight Watchers meeting leader in Gilroy and Hollister. “Sometimes people don’t know where to start, so hearing where other people go to eat, how they approach a menu or what they buy at the grocery store is very helpful.”
The restaurant chain Applebee’s began catering directly to Weight Watchers members in 2004, when it began offering Weight Watchers menu items, which are healthy meal options with the Weight Watchers point values precalculated and printed on the menu next to the item.
For example, the tango chicken sandwich is listed on the menu as having seven points, so members don’t have to estimate and calculate the points themselves.
“Three out of four Americans are concerned about eating right, so we are addressing a real need for healthier menu options,” said Jim Doak, Applebee’s executive director of menu development and corporate executive chef in a written statement. “Weight Watchers shares our commitment to offer guests a credible and healthy way to enjoy great-tasting food while dining out.”
Weight Watchers also sells guides listing point values of menu items at major food chains, but not every Weight Watchers member owns the guides or wants to pull the guides out at the dinner table.
“I know Applebee’s is a very safe place to go out to eat,” said Teresa Singleton, a Gilroy resident and Weight Watchers leader.
Trader Joe’s is another “safe place” members can go.
“We can’t wait to get a Trader Joe’s here in Morgan Hill,” said Ruth Mendes da Costa, a Weight Watchers leader in Santa Clara, Monterey and San Benito counties. “People find so many items at Trader Joe’s that are low in points and that still taste really good. We’ve been waiting for (Trader Joe’s) to come for a long time, but in the meantime people are willing to drive a good distance to get to the nearest one.”
Some of the most popular Weight Watchers-friendly items at Trader Joe’s include whole-wheat pasta, low-point cookies, soy products and fat-free snacks, said Crisdela Reyes, a manager at the Pacific Grove Trader Joe’s.
“We have lots of customers come in who say they found out at (a Weight Watchers meeting) to come in and get certain products,” Reyes said.
Other supermarkets are following suit in carrying Weight Watchers-friendly items. Stores such as Safeway and Nob Hill often receive special requests from Weight Watchers members to carry new low-point foods coming on the market, said Williamson and Mendes da Costa. For the most part, the supermarkets will accommodate the requests by ordering the requested items.
“I think the supermarkets are catering to our needs when we ask,” Williamson said.
And the products Weight Watchers members ask for are getting the best kind of advertising: word-of-mouth and free of charge.
“That’s what you come to meetings for,” said Lynn Potter, a Morgan Hill resident and Weight Watchers member. “You get information from people about what to buy. I learned the Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs are two points each, and they’re really good.”
Factor in the fact that Weight Watchers has 46,000 meetings in 30 countries and millions of members worldwide, according to spokesperson Wendy Yellin, and that’s a significant amount of free advertising. All companies have to do is make sure their products taste good and are low in points.
At one of Mendes da Costa’s weekly Morgan Hill meetings, she mentioned a 6-inch Subway sandwich or a Subway wrap contains two full servings of vegetables. One 6-inch turkey breast sandwich is five points, and the wrap is four points. Subway also carries Light Lays Potato Chips, which are one point for the individual size bag.
“That’s why meetings are such a key part of Weight Watchers’ success,” Singleton said. “There is that sharing of information. One person says, ‘Hey, I found this new kind of bread. Do you guys know about it?’ And everybody’s writing it down and looking for it at the store.”
“I was talking to one of my friends, and I mentioned I had gone to Fresh Choice for dinner,” said Esther Subia, a Weight Watchers member. “And my friend said she’d gone to Home Town Buffet and found enough low-point foods that she was able to have dessert, too. I told her I hadn’t even thought of Home Town Buffet, but that I would definitely go there next time.”
Subia is one of eight sisters, and six of the eight women are currently doing Weight Watchers. Four of them attend the same weekly meeting.
“We encourage each other so much, and listening and hearing that it’s not just you having issues makes you feel so much better,” said Lydia Rubio, one of Subia’s sisters. “Coming here (to the meetings) helps. You hear what everyone else is doing and what works, and you can take that advice and do it, too.”
Other products mentioned at a recent Morgan Hill meeting included Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, Grapenuts, Healthy Pop popcorn, Sarah Lee bread and low-fat Laughing Cow cheese.
Find A Weight Watchers Meeting Near You
Gilroy
– Forest Park Inn, 375 Leavesley Road
– 8:30am, noon, 4:30 and 6pm Tuesdays
– 8 and 9:30am Saturdays
Morgan Hill
– Villa Mira Monte, 17860 Monterey Road
– 8 and 9:30am, noon and 5pm, Thursdays
Hollister
– Ridgemark Golf & Country Club, 3800 Airline Highway
– 8 and 9:30am Saturdays
– 8am and 5:30pm Wednesdays
