Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
SlimFast history
SlimFast company history timeline
To counter the loss of earnings that had been generated and then lost by the Slim-Fast product, Abraham engineered a public offering in 1979 of approximately 4 million shares of Thompson Medical stock.
They’d also learned a valuable lesson from the criticism and controversy that had led to the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit against the Cambridge Diet in 1982, and the company’s subsequent bankruptcy filing.
Slim-Fast has been studied more often than most comparable diet products, having been used in at least 30 clinical studies since 1982.
In late 1987, just after the October stock market crash, Abraham decided to make the company private once again, and began repurchasing shares of Thompson's stock.
1988: Tommy Lasorda becomes a Slim-Fast spokesman.
1990: Slim-Fast is spun off; Abraham remains a majority stockholder.
The product’s success skyrocketed after receiving a series of influential celebrity endorsements, so the company launched a $100 million advertising campaign in 1990, which reportedly reached 23 million people within the year.
By 1991, in response to Slim-Fast's rapid growth in the diet and nutritional foods segment, Abraham spun-off the division to become its own company, although he retained his position as chairman and majority-stockholder.
In 1992, about a year after Slim-Fast separated from Thompson Medical, Ron Stern was promoted to the position of president of Slim-Fast.
Heber, D, J. M. Ashley, H. J. Wang, and R. M. Elashoff. ‘Clinical Evaluation of a Minimal Intervention Meal Replacement Regimen for Weight Reduction.’ Journal of the American College of Nutrition 13 (December 1994): 608–614.
Over $46 million was earmarked for advertising in 1996.
The company launched a $10 million campaign in May 1997 for its new quick diet product, Jump Start, which claimed consumers could lose five pounds in five days. "Give us a week, we'll take off the weight" was a popular tagline during this time.
Slim-Fast now held a 46 percent share of the diet liquid/powder segment of the weight loss market, selling over $611 million of its products in 1999.
Slim-Fast Foods, the manufacturer of the diet products, was acquired by Unilever N.V., a company headquartered in the United Kingdom, in 2000.
Abraham sold the weight loss and meal substitute company to Unilever for $2.3 billion in cash in 2000.
The Slim-Fast plan and products were also shown in a study published in 2001 to be safe and effective for patients diagnosed with type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes.
Winick, C., D. Q. Rothackher, and B. L. Norman. ‘Foir Worksite Weight Loss Programs with High-Stress Occupations Using a Meal Replacement Product.’ Occupational Medicine (London) 52 (February 2002): 25–30.
‘Meal Replacements—Bars and Liquid Drinks—Are They Effective in Producing Lasting Weight Loss?’ Shape Up America! Newsletter, August 2003.
Following the high protein, low-carbohydrate diet craze that swept the United States in 2003, the Slim-Fast has been forced to rethink its product strategy.
By 2003, intense competition forced the company to launch a line of convenient-meals, including pastas, soups, and a new frozen novelties line that included a low-calorie fudge bar.
In 2003, the company's sales fell by 21 percent.
Rothacker, D. Q., and S. Watemberg. ‘Short-term Hunger Intensity Change Following Ingestion of a Meal Replacement Bar for Weight Control.’ International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition 55 (May 2004): 223–226.
The Slim-Fast products themselves are tastier and appear to satisfy hunger better since their reformulation in 2004.
Jargon, Julie. ‘Food Makers Troll for Aging Boomers: Recasting Metrecal as the Red Bull for the 50+ Crowd.’ Crain’s Chicago Business, April 25, 2005.
The Optima diet plan follows the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2005 dietary guidelines.
LMR diet products themselves are a major business in the United States, reported in 2006 to account for over $1 billion in consumer purchases each year.
Available online at http://www.boomerproject.com/news_crains.html (accessed March 1, 2007).
As of 2007, there are five separate lines of Slim-Fast diet products:
The Kainos team was introduced to Chris Tisi, founder of Heathy Natural Solutions (“HNS”), in 2013.
Abraham donated $3 million to Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 presidential run.
"Slim-Fast ." The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition. . Retrieved June 21, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/slim-fast
Rate how well SlimFast lives up to its initial vision.
SlimFast jobs
Do you work at SlimFast?
Does SlimFast communicate its history to new hires?
SlimFast competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quaker Oats | 1877 | $3.8B | 10,000 | - |
| Wise Foods | 1921 | $320.0M | 876 | - |
| PepsiCo | 1898 | $91.9B | 267,000 | 568 |
| Pinnacle Foods Group LLC | 1998 | $3.1B | 4,900 | - |
| Utz Brands | 1921 | $1.2B | 1,800 | 71 |
| Kwalu | 1984 | $32.0M | 350 | - |
| Gerber Products | 1927 | $610.5M | 350 | - |
| A.W. Chesterton | - | $280.0M | 1,000 | 13 |
| RG Barry | 1947 | $141.8M | 154 | 20 |
| MasterTag | 1949 | $5.0M | 100 | - |
SlimFast history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of SlimFast, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about SlimFast. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at SlimFast. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by SlimFast. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of SlimFast and its employees or that of Zippia.
SlimFast may also be known as or be related to SlimFast and Slimfast.