Weight Watchers Woodbury, N.Y.

Weight Watchers International, now 41 years old, had phenomenal momentum when it went public in 2001. That year, the chain reported a 127 percent jump in sales from 2000 to more than $620 million. A client rep said the chain’s growth sparked the search for a new shop. Weight Watchers leads the category with nearly $944 million in sales in 2003, according to Hoovers.com. While the company maintains a “near global monopoly in classroom weight-loss services,” according to UBS analyst Andrew McQuilling, its growth slowed to 16.5