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Log inGetting an Old Family Remedy Out Into the World
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Getting an Old Family Remedy Out Into the World
by Outspoken on Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:02 pm
Getting an Old Family Remedy Out Into the World
By Thomas Heath
The Washington Post
Staff writer Thomas Heath's Value Added column appears Tuesdays on the WashBiz Blog. Most weeks, it profiles local entrepreneurs, discussing how they make money and what they do with it.
One of my favorite movie lines comes out of "Citizen Kane," when Everett Sloane tells Joseph Cotten, "It's no trick to make a lot of money . . . if what you want to do is make a lot of money."
Matthew Siegal made me think of that line when he told me how easy it was to expand his father's diet cookie business, which could earn him millions if everything goes right.
Siegal, 43, has taken his father's Florida-based, weight-control medical practice and, from a tiny Tysons Corner office, is masterminding an international retail and online diet cookie campaign that will earn $3.9 million this year on $11 million-plus in revenue.
He opened a kiosk Aug. 1 at Tysons Corner Center mall.
"It hasn't been tough," said Siegal, a University of Maryland dropout. "It's been a lot of fun. My father is quite famous throughout the country. He has such a reputation. It's very easy to get media."
His father is Dr. Sanford Siegal, 79, who has three thriving clinics -- and two bakeries -- in South Florida, where he bakes his weight-control cookies and sells them to obese patients and to other doctors, who then sell them to other patients. He has been doing this for 32 years, licensing his name and practice under Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet.
The cookies sell for $62 a box, which includes one week's supply of 42 cookies. You eat six a day. Skip breakfast and lunch, and then eat a calorie-smart dinner. Pick a flavor: chocolate, oatmeal, blueberry, banana and coconut. (I have no idea whether this works.)
Matt, who lives in Arlington, is a software geek who saw the Internet possibilities for the cookies. He co-founded several companies that comprise Lanham-based Vocus, a publicly traded software service firm with a market capitalization of $700 million. Siegal and his family received about $4 million in cash and stock when they sold their interests to Vocus. That stock is now worth nearly $10 million.
He has kept most of his stock in Vocus but used some of the earnings to buy homes in Arlington and one in the District.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/17/AR2008081701976.html?wpisrc=newsletter
By Thomas Heath
The Washington Post
Staff writer Thomas Heath's Value Added column appears Tuesdays on the WashBiz Blog. Most weeks, it profiles local entrepreneurs, discussing how they make money and what they do with it.
One of my favorite movie lines comes out of "Citizen Kane," when Everett Sloane tells Joseph Cotten, "It's no trick to make a lot of money . . . if what you want to do is make a lot of money."
Matthew Siegal made me think of that line when he told me how easy it was to expand his father's diet cookie business, which could earn him millions if everything goes right.
Siegal, 43, has taken his father's Florida-based, weight-control medical practice and, from a tiny Tysons Corner office, is masterminding an international retail and online diet cookie campaign that will earn $3.9 million this year on $11 million-plus in revenue.
He opened a kiosk Aug. 1 at Tysons Corner Center mall.
"It hasn't been tough," said Siegal, a University of Maryland dropout. "It's been a lot of fun. My father is quite famous throughout the country. He has such a reputation. It's very easy to get media."
His father is Dr. Sanford Siegal, 79, who has three thriving clinics -- and two bakeries -- in South Florida, where he bakes his weight-control cookies and sells them to obese patients and to other doctors, who then sell them to other patients. He has been doing this for 32 years, licensing his name and practice under Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet.
The cookies sell for $62 a box, which includes one week's supply of 42 cookies. You eat six a day. Skip breakfast and lunch, and then eat a calorie-smart dinner. Pick a flavor: chocolate, oatmeal, blueberry, banana and coconut. (I have no idea whether this works.)
Matt, who lives in Arlington, is a software geek who saw the Internet possibilities for the cookies. He co-founded several companies that comprise Lanham-based Vocus, a publicly traded software service firm with a market capitalization of $700 million. Siegal and his family received about $4 million in cash and stock when they sold their interests to Vocus. That stock is now worth nearly $10 million.
He has kept most of his stock in Vocus but used some of the earnings to buy homes in Arlington and one in the District.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/17/AR2008081701976.html?wpisrc=newsletter
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
