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John S. LaRosa – Founder of Marketdata & BestDietForMe.com

Mr. LaRosa is a graduate of the State University of New York with a B.S. in Education in 1976, and earned his M.B.A. in Marketing from Hofstra University in New York in 1979. He has worked for 39 years in the fields of Marketing Management and Marketing Research, and resides in Tampa, Florida. He is President of Marketdata LLC, and is a consultant to small, mid-sized, and Fortune 500 companies.

During his career, Mr. LaRosa has personally authored more than 70 major industry studies, primarily covering service and healthcare sectors. The diet market is his specialty, and Mr. LaRosa is the nation’s leading business consultant in this field. He performs frequent custom studies and consulting assignments for Fortune 1000 corporations, and writes articles for a variety of trade association publications, newsletters, magazines and journals, including The Bariatrician (the main trade journal of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians — MDs that specialize in treating obesity). Mr. LaRosa has appeared on CNN, Nightline, ABC, CBS, FOX-TV, and other stations, and is frequently interviewed by the media.

In addition, Marketdata has sponsored seminars exploring the future of the U.S. weight loss market. Mr. LaRosa periodically performs custom research projects and consulting for existing weight loss companies, pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs involved in start-ups in the weight loss field.

Marketdata’s diet industry market research has been quoted since 1989 by… The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, Entrepreneur, Research Alert, The Bariatrician, Nutrition Business Journal, LA Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun Times, as well as dozens of national trade groups, and hundreds of local newspapers nationwide.

Marketdata is the ONLY market research firm to regularly track activities in the U.S. diet/weight loss industry and ALL of its segments: commercial franchises like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig; medical programs based in hospitals and clinics; diet drugs; diet soft drinks and dinner entrees; diet books and self-improvement cassettes; exercise videos; artificial sweeteners; diet programs offered by health clubs; meal replacement shakes like Slim-Fast; dieter demographics; franchising; “cyberdieting” (web-based diet companies/programs), and more.

Note: Marketdata’s diet industry research is NOT and has never been funded or commissioned by any weight loss company. It is completely unbiased and independently prepared. Marketdata has no financial connections to or interest in any weight loss company.

Marketdata knows the most about this market because we were the first to analyze and define this market in 1989. Marketdata’s research was used as background for 1990 Congressional hearings about the industry’s marketing practices, and it has been quoted extensively in all national periodicals. Mr. LaRosa speaks with journalists and writers every week of the year who seek information on weight loss trends and programs, and Marketdata has more “inside” contacts than anyone. The company is unsurpassed in its ability to obtain hard-to-find information via phone interviews, detailed research, analysis of company press releases and UFOC Franchise documents, etc. Most competitors in this market are private firms, with no annual reports, and, there is no national trade association or magazine covering the industry. In addition, only four publicly owned competitors exist within the industry — Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, Herbalife and Medifast.

Consulting Services & Custom Research

Don’t see the information you need in our off-the-shelf reports?

No problem. We have the resources to obtain hard to find information, via our extensive database of competitor and market information. We can perform…

  • Market potential studies for specific states, regions or cities.
  • Market potential studies for a specific weight loss product or service.
  • Competitor analyses.
  • Obtain UFOC Franchise documents.
  • Conduct mail or telephone surveys.
  • Review of weight loss business plans.
  • Help building and designing your weight loss website.

Fees:

  •  $100-150/hr. for custom research at our offices.
  •   $199/hr. for teleconference calls
  •   $2,000/day plus travel & lodging expenses for in-person consulting by
    John LaRosa

Need to pick our brains about a weight loss company, the market, or your new venture?

John LaRosa holds teleconference calls where he’ll answer the questions of your staff or group in real time and follow up by email, for $199/hr., pro-rated for actual time spent on the call. Just let us know what topics you want to discuss ahead of time and we’ll arrange for a mutually convenient time.

New Business Analysis Service

Testimonial:

“The services Marketdata provided went far beyond what I expected.  The professionalism and the amount of information were excellent.  I would strongly recommend their services to others and will be a returning customer myself.”  Jerry Behar – Amherst, New York

Many people spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars developing their new product or company in a “vacuum” – without spending a dime on marketing research. Marketdata consultants have been advising small businesses and start-ups of all kinds for nearly 40  years. Marketdata’s strength lies in taking the emotion and personal feelings out of the equation and providing an unbiased analysis of the realistic potential.

We’ll play “devil’s advocate” with your business plan (all information submitted will be kept totally confidential, and we put that in writing) – showing you flaws and weaknesses, or incorrect assumptions. We know the sales growth and average sales per store, franchise, etc., for hundreds of industries. We know the right target markets, and how to best reach them. We know the proper advertising channels for your product, and low-cost promotional methods to conserve cash.

We’ll give all this to you BEFORE you present your business plan to the bank, angel investor, or venture capitalist, or before you purchase a franchise. We will “beef up” your business plan with objective statistics and data from government and trade association sources.

For one flat fee of $750 (paid in advance by charging to a major credit card) this is what Marketdata will provide for you…

* Analyze/review your business plan, product or program – with written observations and comments.

* Perform market research and provide statistics and information to back up your claims, market potential forecasts, using existing Marketdata studies, trade groups, etc.

* Recommend the best marketing approach, channels, methods.

* 3 hours (180 minutes) of phone consultations, scheduled at your convenience in as many sessions as you like (Monday-Friday 10 am-5:30 pm EST). Phone consulting with Marketdata’s President, John LaRosa (author of 80+ market studies, MBA, consultant and speaker). This is especially useful for holding teleconferences where you, your ad agency or PR firm and others all get together for brainstorming and question & answer sessions.

* An “Executive Overview” (15-40 pages) from one of our studies, if it pertains to the business you are starting (see list of available Industry Overviews on our website).

* Your industry’s typical income statement & balance sheet, profit %, if available.

Don’t waste months of time and lots of money developing a flawed business plan. Let an objective, experienced party “kick the tires” first so you have the best chance of success! Will your lawyer or other consultant give you all this for $750? Call us today.

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