April 21, 2022

Profile by Sanford is now Profile Plan Nutrition + Wellness, one of several moves made in recent months following an acquisition by a North Carolina-based firm.

Ten Oaks Group, a family office investment firm, acquired Profile from a for-profit arm of Sanford Health at the beginning of the year.

The firm’s niche is in corporate divestitures, which is what drew it to the opportunity with Sanford and Profile, said Stephen Phillips, an operating partner who now serves as Profile’s board chair.

“The company has the attributes of a business that can grow and be successful for many years,” he said. “As a family office, rather than a typical private equity group, Ten Oaks can take a long-term view because there’s no timeline pressure from outside investors.”

Profile CEO Nate Malloy remains CEO of the new organization. There are 30 corporate employees based in Sioux Falls, plus store employees, and the organization is hiring, Malloy said.

“At our core, I’d say everything remains the same, and our mission to change people’s lives one relationship at a time and be a solution for people to live a healthier life, none of that changes,” Malloy said.

“What’s exciting is the opportunity for us to continue to invest in things that are going to evolve our model and allow us to reach more people with more programming.”

The Profile business model largely focuses on a science-based approach to weight loss and management with an emphasis on health coaching; a line of meal-replacement shakes, bars and foods; and a delivery service added last year offering freshly made meals.

“My initial impression of Profile is very positive,” Phillips said. “The Profile program works and achieves life-changing results for the members. The team is very capable and deeply committed to the company’s mission. There are a lot of great things to build on.”

Malloy and his team support 23 independent franchise owners representing about 70 of the 95 locations. The corporate stores now are owned by Profile Plan. The company is “not actively pursuing adding new franchisees currently, but that is certainly part of the process we’re going through to evolve our business model and first and foremost support our existing franchisees and their business and help them grow,” Malloy said. “As we get further along, certainly we’ll look at growing our franchise side of the business. What that looks like, we’re still working through that.”

Other opportunities include potential partnership with other health systems and health insurance companies, allowing for local operators or new franchise owners “to be the local operators in conjunction with those types of partnerships,” Malloy continued. “And we’re also exploring the idea of a virtual franchise opportunity.”

Profile continues to be a resource for Sanford providers, he added.

“I would say the relationship is still very good, and we would expect that to continue,” he said. “We’ve always had some sort of specific offer or perk for being a Sanford Health employee, and those same perks will continue, and we’ll continue to provide opportunities for Sanford employees to engage with our programming.”

From Ten Oaks’ perspective, “strategically, we see the Profile coaching and food program as the core and foundation for numerous channels of simultaneous growth,” Phillips said. “This will include further development of the company-owned stores, additional commitment to the franchise network, and new partnerships with health care providers, health care payers and fitness networks.”

The firm also was “very impressed by the virtual coaching capability” Profile created during the pandemic, he said, adding that nutrition coaching can be more convenient and open new paths to growth.

“It’s too early to say exactly where that will lead, but it certainly will be additive to the growth of the business,” Phillips said.

“Opportunities will certainly include a continued investment in the company-owned stores and the franchise network, as well as development of partnerships with health care providers and fitness brand networks. Because we have a program that really works, we have many potential avenues for growth.”

Profile’s corporate staff members are working out of office space at The Good Samaritan Society’s national campus but will be moved into office space north of 85th Street and Louise Avenue over the next few months.

The company is continuing to innovate, Malloy added. It recently introduced a beef jerky snack to its food lineup and a cookies and cream shake. The Profile Fresh line of ready-to-go home-delivered meals also is “off to a good start,” he said. “We have plans to continue to evolve that. It’s a great product, it’s convenient, and it tastes great, so I think we have a lot of potential with that line of foods.”

Malloy and his team largely operate autonomously, he and Phillips said. Malloy said the Ten Oaks team “focuses initially on value creation and helping myself and the leadership team identify what resources we should be thinking about adding, whether it’s new team members or external partners and resources, so we’re in the middle of that process now.”

The relationship has gotten off to a fast start, Phillips added.

“Profile has a great team,” he said. “Nate Malloy and his leadership team have day-to-day responsibility for running the business, and they have the autonomy and the authority to do so. Our Ten Oaks team is responsible for the initial stand-up of the company as an independent business and for helping provide useful guidance and support where we can. It’s a good combination of skills, experience and resources, and it’s working well.”