GNC: The start of something big

MANILA, Philippines - Great things begin with small beginnings. After all, today’s small step is the future’s giant leap. Such is the case of GNC, as the multimillion company all started with yogurt.

That’s right, in 1935 David Shakarian launched a dream of his by establishing a little health food store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania called Lackzoom. A disciple of science, he specialized in yogurt, a food his father helped introduce in the United States, while also selling other healthy foods such as honey, grains and “health sandwiches.”

Even though “health food” was thought to be a passing fad back then, people embraced the Lackzoom store. From his first day’s receipts of only $35, Shakarian was able to make enough money to open a second location six months later.

Unfortunately, disaster struck with the 1936 St. Patrick’s Day flood that wiped out both of Shakarian’s stores. However, he reopened both locations and went on to own a total of a half dozen Pittsburgh area stores within five years.

By 1947, he decided to get the Lackzoom word out to the people, by advertising in newspapers and on the radio, even personally writing the ads.

The 60s, 70s and 80s saw many changes. People began to embrace the whole concept of natural foods and better nutrition, so Shakarian decided to open stores in other states and changed the company name to General Nutrition Centers (GNC).

As store count continued to grow, GNC began producing its own vitamin and mineral supplements as well as foods, beverages and cosmetics.

Expansion

Although the company lost its founder in 1984, GNC has steadfastly continued to expand upon Shakarian’s humble beginnings. It moved into the 21st century with more than 5,000 company and franchised stores in all 50 states and in over 54 international markets, including the Philippines.

In fact, GNC is now the largest company solely devoted to vitamins and nutritional supplements.

“Our product development and quality control teams work closely with leading experts such as toxicologists and former Food and Drug Administration personnel. They respond to new scientific studies and customer trends to reformulate and develop cutting-edge products. Currently, GNC offers over 1,500 different product formulations, and still growing,” said international office head Karen Kuehneman.

GNC products are made to the highest standards possible, owning one of the largest and most modern vitamin and supplement manufacturing facilities in the US, the Nutricia Manufacturing in Greenville, South Carolina.

“At Nutricia, we go above and beyond the standards that are required by law through manufacturing according to GNC’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards,” Kuehneman said.

Safety begins at Nutricia when the raw materials arrive at every production facility. Before the ingredients are approved for use, they undergo rigorous scientific testing by quality control experts, and then are quarantined for 10 more days. Only after all tests have been completed and the material has been approved does manufacturing continue.

“GNC performs 150 quality checks in their products. This practice is unique in the sense that the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require this much frequency in checking. Whether they are manufacturing a single bottle of vitamin C or a comprehensive multiple with over 40 ingredients, every product shares the same quality values. In fact, it may surprise you to know that GNC performs over a hundred quality checks on its multiple vitamin supplements,” said GNC doctor Dr. Victor Vesuna, an accomplished medical pharmacologist in complementary and integrative medicine.

Health Notes On-line

Most GNC stores now feature the Health Notes On-line. These consumer-friendly interactive programs give you access to the latest nutritional research on over 200 ingredients and a variety of health concerns.

In addition, the quality control lab performs over 30 types of tests (approximately 1,000 samples are tested weekly) throughout the manufacturing process. Every single GNC product is tested for both purity and potency and an actual best buy date is established.

Moreover, a dedicated team of specialists from physicians, scientists, botanists and nutritionists are behind every product.

GNC has highly qualified and trained doctors and pharmacists that are equipped with the knowledge and understanding of every product and health condition.

All of these, along with all ingredients and potential allergens, are listed on each one of the GNC product labels. As an extra measure, the brand even provides safety-sealed, tamper-evident packaging, providing an additional barrier of protection.

Finally, products are shipped in temperature-controlled trucks to one of three distribution centers: either in Anderson, South Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and/or Phoenix, Arizona. This enables the company to maintain control of the quality of every GNC product from start to finish.

GNC offers the widest health solution of nutritional supplements from vitamins, minerals, and herbs, to beauty, preventive, sports nutrition, diet and weight management products for every individual, health condition and lifestyle, compared to any other natural and health food store in the country today.

From start to finish, science plays a major part in producing GNC products.

Total Nutrition Corp. is the exclusive franchisee of General Nutrition Centers (GNC Live Well) in the Philippines. Incorporated on Jan. 6 this year, it is one of the newest subsidiaries of TAO Corp., one of the Philippines’ premier holding companies specializing in supply chain and distribution services.

Founded in 1995 as TAO Commodity Trader, Inc., it is perhaps the country’s fastest growing companies belonging to the top 50 corporations with an annual consolidated group turnover of more than P30 billion ($652 million).

In the Philippines, GNC is the largest natural health food specialty retail store with over 29 stores nationwide.

It is backed by almost 30-year experience in the natural and health food retail business and possibly considered as the pioneer in the Philippines. For more information, visit http://www.taocommunity.com.