Medifast Plans To Open More Weight Control Centers

MSN Money:

Diet-products company Medifast Inc. said Friday it will open more of its weight control centers after seeing good results over the last few months.

Medifast said it plants to open 10 new corporate-owned centers in Texas and Florida, and expects further expansion in 2010 and beyond. The company opened a weight control center in Austin, Texas, in mid-April and said the facility had a “strong opening.”

In March, the multilevel marketing company said it planned to open five corporate centers this year, four of them in Austin. Medifast said it had opened 10 facilities in 2008 and wanted to be cautious because the openings are expensive and the economic environment is difficult.

The company also plans to expand the franchising of its weight control centers. It has sold the rights to 19 franchise-owned centers, 10 of which are already open. Medifast currently has 22 corporate-owned weight control centers.