lemonis: i actually have come to the conclusion that there are many moments where i think you actually set me up. amber: i would never do that. ♪ [ laughs ] ♪nis: this is yours. i was just opening for you. here you go, dear. you're not gonna eat it? amber: standard burger was better than this. lemonis: the burger or the drama? amber: the drama. lemonis: the drama was good. amber: our highest-rated episode. lemonis: i think it's the one you love the most. amber: well, it's the most... lemonis: uh-huh, let's hear it. why do you love it the most, amber? amber: it's the most drama -- lemonis: because you had the most compelling story? because the... amber: compelling characters. lemonis: ...transformation was amazing? amber: compelling characters. lemonis: or because they were bat-[bleep] crazy. amber: bat-[bleep] crazy. lemonis: okay, great. in the last five years, i've visited over 70 businesses. it's delicious. [ laughter ] and i've traveled the country trying to fix the people...

christina: i don't want to be that person that cries on tape. lemonis: ...fix the process... i don't think you guys have any idea what's in your inventory. holy [bleep] ...and create a few products... welcome to your new store. man: oh, my god. channa: i owe my life to this company. lemonis: that is the reason that i'm here. i spend hundreds of days a year working on these companies. why didn't you do it? man #2: i thought that we did. lemonis: holy [bleep] but we can't always fit everything i'm thinking into the show. tonight we're gonna do an "inside look" at one of my classics from season three -- standard burger. joseph: hey, that's enough. don't let this happen on tv. stop yourself. lemonis: "don't let this happen on tv." which means that when we weren't there, it was exponentially worse. amber: right. lemonis: over the next hour, i'm gonna take you behind the scenes to share with you what i was actually thinking during filming... if each of you are willing to kick in $15,000 apiece, i'll kick in $130,000. amber: you've never done that before.

lemonis: it was gut-check time. you want me to write a check, you guys write a check, too, because i didn't come here to carry your bag. ...share some secrets... joseph: i'm not arguing with my friends no more for tv. it's not gonna happen, so don't do it again. lemonis: first of all, don't talk to me that way. the camera doesn't lie. amber: no. lemonis: there was real tension, real discomfort. ...and give you an honest assessment of my decisions. todd: like we're opening our doors again as a brand-new restaurant. sammy: a brand-new us. fuji: a brand-new us. true. lemonis: to the burger boys. fuji: to the burger boys. lemonis: the mistake that i made is the concept was right, the location for the concept was not. i really fudged it up. my name is marcus lemonis, and this is "inside look." man: is the feeding roller on? man #2: audio speed. lemonis: who am i with? amber: oh, please! we don't have to introduce me every time. lemonis: i'm tired of introducing you. amber: i'm tired of being introduced. lemonis: why don't you introduce me for a change. amber: so... [ laughs ] i'm here with the profit, marcus lemonis.

lemonis: thank you. and tonight, we're gonna take an "inside look" from our favorite -- high-five -- our favorite episode from season three... amber: standard burger. lemonis: standard burger. buckle up! okay, let's just play. new york city has a ton of energy, and it's always been a place for dreamers. but when you get on the ferry and you land on staten island, it may be less hectic, but there's still a real sense of possibility. it's one reason that i'm excited about today. for two years, sammy lazoja has been bombarding me with e-mails asking for my help. he's been hyping this restaurant and how unique it is... and how it sets the standard. but to be honest with you, it's kind of ordinary. sammy: marcus. it's a pleasure to meet you. lemonis: are you sammy? how you doing? nice to meet you. sammy: it's a pleasure. lemonis: we've been e-mailing for -- what is it, two years now... sammy: two years. lemonis: ...you've been harassing me? sammy: marcus, this is my dream. this is -- this is it.

amber: stop. we made it sound like he hit you up for two years. lemonis: he did. amber: he hit us up for two years. lemonis: apparently, he was hitting everybody up. amber: he wanted your help. or he wanted to be on tv. [ chuckles ] lemonis: i'd say a little bit of both. come around front. sammy: i originally did the build-out. i put a lot of my funds in here. i put my life savings in here. lemonis: how much have you put in? sammy: around $250,000. joe: sammy! sammy: this is my partner joe covello. lemonis: joe c. joe: joe c., yes. nice to meet you, marcus. joseph: joseph tranchina. lemonis: joe c., joe t. joseph: that's right. todd: todd baslin. lemonis: and you're just todd. so, is it you're 25% and they're each -- sammy: no. so, i own a 45% share. joseph: 22.5%. joe: 10%. todd: 22.5%. lemonis: is the restaurant making money? all: no. lemonis: how much are you losing a month? joe: currently, $5,000, $6,000 a month. lemonis: pause. $5,000 to $6,000 a month isn't terrible. when you go into business, you have to anticipate that there's gonna be some amount of losses. and the one thing that i think business owners

make a mistake of is when they build out their original projection and they build out their cash flow model, you have to have money to do a build-out or make the acquisition, you have to have money for working capital, and you have to also account for a rainy day. you don't open the doors, and all of a sudden, everybody just comes running in to buy a burger. amber: right. lemonis: who acts as the owner/operator, the person that unlocks the door and locks the door? joe: nobody. lemonis: do you have weekly meetings, where you're sitting here going over what we sold for the week? todd: no. lemonis: how -- [ chuckles ] joseph: keep in mind, none of us have had any restaurant ownership experience at all. lemonis: oh, i don't have to keep it in mind. i picked up on it pretty quick. look, these guys all have full-time jobs, but in a business like this, you want to have at least one guy that's responsible for the business, one who opens it and closes it and manages it on a daily basis. what's going on with my tie there? it looks like -- it must have been like one of those late-night interviews. it's like the tie's not right, there's a gap up top. that's why i stopped wearing ties.

what is this back here? sammy: so, this is where we prep our patties. lemonis: you guys have frozen burgers? sammy: yeah. we re-form them so it looks more handmade. lemonis: so, they're not really handmade? sammy: no. lemonis: huh. is everything frozen? sammy: yeah. lemonis: if you're telling me that your burger sets the standard, you kind of lost me at "frozen." well, what do you normally like here? sometimes i get a shake, which is really good. and i like the fries. lemonis: as i walked around and i talked to some of the customers, you'd think that people would go there for the burger and talk about it, how amazing it was. how was it? and they were telling me about a milkshake and fries. what do you recommend? woman: well, a lot of people get the texan. that's like the most number-one burger. the double standard. omg. lemonis: i'll take one of each. so, who here comes up with all the burgers? joseph: i did the initial menu. lemonis: you see, you go from $3.99 to $8.99. -- that's a big jump. so, why is an omg $7.15,

and a standard's $7.25? todd: there's no logic on it. lemonis: there's no logic. thank you. joseph: why are you serving that from right there when you can cook right there and give him a good one? todd: no, no, no. no, no, no. clean that grill so i don't get any of the burnt stuff on there. lemonis: i've been in businesses where controlled chaos exists. this place is chaos without the control. joseph: re-cook this thing. i don't want answers. i want results. don't be shy with the sauce. sammy: it's my burger. it's my burger. lemonis: everybody's kind of yelling and complaining and arguing. joseph: don't tell me why it came this way. just fix it. this is embarrassing. the whole restaurant's embarrassing. lemonis: [ laughs ] out of all the shows we've ever shot, i was always most entertained by these guys. amber: yeah. lemonis: because they had one level of behavior when i was standing there, and then when i wasn't standing there, their behavior was totally different. amber: yeah. lemonis: i mean, these are like "the real househusbands of staten island." amber: [ laughs ] sammy: so, that's the texan. you have bacon. you have fried onion ring, lettuce, barbecue sauce, american cheese, and cheddar. lemonis: which is -- which is this one?

joseph: that's the double standard. it's basically a double cheeseburger. lemonis: what's in here? sammy: that is the omg burger. jalapeños, american cheese, crunchy onions, and you have plantains. lemonis: honestly, i would say the burgers are average. [ chuckling ] i mean, i have to be honest with you. these burgers and the menu concoctions -- they sound like college-campus drunk-burger concoctions. sammy: we'd be painting a wall and talking about, "hey, let's do a brunch burger. let's do a burger with a fried egg on it." lemonis: "all right, great idea. sounds awesome. throw me another beer." joseph: kind of, sort of, you know. lemonis: so, most chefs, if they're creating a multitude of burgers, they're understanding how the flavors interact with each other. there's no sort of science. red velvet shake. you guys make those? todd: yes. a lot of people love our shakes. lemonis: for every burger that you sell, how many shakes are you attaching? todd: probably out of every three or four orders, there's a shake in there. lemonis: so a 25% attachment? todd: probably. lemonis: and what is the percentage of attachment for fries to an order? sammy: almost 80%.

lemonis: it's really no different than how fast food works, like mcdonald's or burger king. the anchor product is the burger, the sandwich -- we'll call it the sandwich, and the reason they create things like value meals and happy meals is because they can get the incremental price for a very low cost. amber: right. lemonis: so a drink -- huge margin. fries, same kind of concept. amber: to your point, you're not making the money on the burger, you're making money on all the things that come with the burger. lemonis: well, you'll make money on the burger, right, but the way that you should think about this type of business is the burger has a food cost, the fries have a food cost, the drinks have a food cost, and when you look at the overall margin of those products, you need the perfect blend of the meal to actually give you the desired result. if people came in and just bought burgers and never bought fries or drinks, i don't know how you'd survive. amber: right. lemonis: who came up with the red velvet idea? sammy: so, my brother, fuji, helped me design the whole burger place when we were first -- lemonis: then why isn't he here? sammy: the arguments, marcus. lemonis: between you and him or...? sammy: no, between todd and him. so it came to a point where they were watching the cameras 24/7.

lemonis: what cameras? sammy: the cameras in the restaurant. they were watching them from home, and he would get a phone call -- "why is the refrigerator door open?" you know? and he couldn't take the pressure anymore. he couldn't. and he walked away. when we lost my brother, marcus, we really lost the sense of a chef here. todd: his brother doesn't work here anymore because we've all had issues with him. lemonis: did he work? did he come in early and stay late? joseph: he lived here. he was like having you here when you're not here. todd: fuji can get the job done. the problem is, you need to give him that direction. sammy: micromanaging. they will micromanage you till they snap your neck, literally. lemonis: who will? sammy: todd in general. todd: "todd does this. todd does that. todd takes the shirts. todd does anything." sammy: no, no, no, no, no, no. joe: there was times where the store wasn't open until 1:00 in the afternoon 'cause he didn't open it. joseph: fuji was here developing sauces, coming up with ideas, staying till 1:00 in the morning, scrubbing the floor with toothbrushes. lemonis: look, depending on who you listen to, sammy's brother, fuji, is either the guy who ran this business into the ground

or the one who made it run. sammy: he helped me develop most of this restaurant on paper before we even came here. [ voice breaking ] and that's the [bleep] truth, marcus. that's the truth. and he's not here anymore 'cause of that reason. and it's -- and it's [bleep] ridiculous. [ sniffles ] lemonis: coming up... fuji: i was not one day late. i live three blocks away. sammy: what about all the times, "hey, nobody's at the burger place to open up. call fuji." so, what the [bleep] are you talking about? amber: every time we walked into this place, there was another drama. lemonis: there was drama.

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before we even came here. [ voice breaking ] and that's the [bleep] truth, marcus. that's the truth. and he's not here anymore 'cause of that reason. and it's -- and it's [bleep] ridiculous. lemonis: pause. the difficulty in a scenario like this is there's four guys, they all have different amounts of equity in the business. and the guy that has the most equity, that put in the most money at the time wants his brother there. and he's emotional about it. and, you know what, i gained a lot of respect for him in this moment for trying to fight for that. ♪ it sounds like you're more hurt that your brother was kicked out.

sammy: yeah, he -- he raised me. my parents are hard-working people, you know, first-generation, worked two jobs, sometimes even three. lemonis: first-generation what? sammy: from montenegro. he didn't have the opportunities i had in life, 'cause when he was 18, he was watching me. and this was my opportunity to set him up. lemonis: you really built this for him, didn't you? sammy: i built it for -- for my brother and for my family. [ voice breaking ] i feel i failed them. i really do. lemonis: why do you feel that way? it's open. sammy: he's not here. he's not here. the restaurant is falling apart. he's home for the last seven months. it's tough. it's really tough, marcus. lemonis: so, he doesn't have a job? sammy: he doesn't have a job, no. lemonis: does he live far from here? sammy: he lives in the same house i live in. lemonis: how far is that from here? sammy: right down the block. lemonis: let's call your brother just to -- sammy: yeah. lemonis: i'd love to meet him. the fact that sammy is willing to be vulnerable and be honest about why he started the business and how much he loves his brother gives me reason to want to dig in more. sammy: fuji's pulling in right now. lemonis: okay.

[ indistinct conversations ] sammy: marcus, this is my older brother, fuji. lemonis: how you doing, my man? nice to meet you. you got a good little brother here. fuji: yeah. lemonis: he's got a big heart. fuji: definitely. lemonis: how long have you been in the restaurant business? fuji: since 14. i'm 41 now. lemonis: since you were 14? fuji: yeah. my father was a chef. lemonis: did you develop a lot of stuff here? fuji: yeah. the sauces, the burgers. lemonis: why did you decide to leave? fuji: too many differences, too many bumping heads. like, instead of having one boss, i had like four bosses. there was too many cameras on me. it's just like, i would get a phone call. sammy: "why'd you leave the fridge open?" or sometimes, with todd, i'll push back against it, and then i'll just say, "you know what, todd, whatever." todd: marcus, it seems to be that the blame that you want to put is all on me. all i do is i try to make sure that it's not costing everybody more money. lemonis: yeah, by the way, he's not wrong. todd: my partners will just spend it, it don't matter. lemonis: todd's not wrong. joseph: walking around telling you, "we're not gonna let them get paid training. you have to train them all together as a group

while they're working." i don't spend 100% of my time here, but other people do. is this place 100% successful? lemonis: but, actually, none of you are here 100% of the time. all: no. lemonis: the only person that was ever here 100% of the time at some point was fuji. fuji: right. lemonis: why don't you make me a burger? let me see how different it is. what are you making here? what do you have in there? fuji: italian burger. i was, like, trying to make the "mona lisa" for them, and they were painting a mustache on her. lemonis: right. fuji definitely has a different process than what i saw earlier. not only is he using fresh meat, but he's taking the time to use the right spices and the right blends. joseph: wow. it looks good. sammy: this thing's bangin'. lemonis: i ate a lot that day. amber: how many burgers do you think you ate? [ laughs ] lemonis: i ate a lot. amber: for somebody who doesn't like red meat, that was a lot of... lemonis: well, yeah, but you told me i had to. amber: you didn't have to finish it. you were finishing that last one. [ laughs ] fuji: they're not bad.

[ chuckles ] lemonis: it's time for us to sit down. i want to see the financials. joe: it's fairly accurate. lemonis: i hope it's more than fairly. you're doing about $600,000 a year in sales, and so you definitely have a revenue problem, because in this size of a place, you should be doing well over $630,000 a year. todd: i agree with you. lemonis: in the month of october, you did $47,000. $23,500 alone are food costs. todd: yes. lemonis: the reason that todd's having to snip you here and snip you here is 'cause he's looking at these food costs, and they're offensive. todd: that's exactly what the problem is. lemonis: while todd was being portrayed as the ogre of the group, he was really making good points. amber: he was the money guy. lemonis: your food costs can't be this, your expenses can't be that. and so he was taking a hard-line approach to how the business should be run -- maybe the most unpopular approach. amber: right. lemonis: but he was just trying to say, "this doesn't work."

amber: they would stop losing money. lemonis: you gotta -- yeah, you got to -- or not lose money. amber: right. lemonis: you start with the revenue, and you build this flow from here. go ahead. you're doing $47,000 in revenue. sammy: yes. lemonis: $23,500 are food costs. joseph: food's in there, yeah. todd: your rent and your taxes come out to like $10,700. lemonis: and labor's $13,000. it's right here. there's another $5,200 between insurance, workers' comp, and utilities. they're only like $64,800 away. so, we're not that far from making money. joseph: no. todd: and that's what i've always said. lemonis: if i hadn't come today, what would happen? joe: i don't think the place would be open much longer. lemonis: why? joe: money and then the personality issues. todd: if we don't fix the problem, we're gonna have to close the doors. lemonis: i'm gonna have to do a lot of work here. and i can't do the deal without a manager here. and so one of you has to be here all the time. joseph: all of us keeping our nose in this business, especially my brother-in-law, suffocates the [bleep] out of people. todd: okay, but i'm willing to step back. so, who wants to do it? joseph: okay. i'll do it.

lemonis: so, joe would be here as my manager designee, running the place on a day-to-day basis. we're gonna get our food costs right. we're gonna come up with some very creative ideas that are gonna make us different, and we're not gonna micromanage people. the business needs a manager, but i also think it needs somebody with restaurant experience. i don't do this deal without fuji in the deal for two reasons -- because it's broken his heart that his brother's not here, and his brother is the only one with restaurant experience. i can't do the deal without him. if your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to theprofitcasting.com.

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"why are you investing in a burger place that loses five grand?" i really felt like there was some sort of concept here. and out of the 10 concepts that i try, if two stick, it's all gonna pay for the eight that didn't work. amber: when you say concept, this would have been like, a franchisable model.

lemonis: even not franchisable, even just company-owned, i thought there could be more than one of those. it felt very americana. amber: yeah. lemonis: hamburgers, french fries, milkshakes -- with a different twist. amber: yeah. lemonis: i don't do this deal without fuji in the deal. i can't. i'm not doing it, not taking the risk. it's too dangerous for me. joe: i don't have a problem with fuji here. todd: listen, if you want to put fuji there and train him, then i think fuji will be great for you. lemonis: for me or for us? todd: for us. sammy: i think fuji should have some skin the game, get at least 10% -- you know what i mean? -- to make it serious. lemonis: so far, everybody's on board with some pretty big changes, but i have one more commitment that i want from them. i want them to put their money where their mouth is. here's my offer. amber: ooh, those eyes. "here's my offer." lemonis: if each of you whose businesses -- primary businesses -- are doing well are willing to kick in $15,000 apiece, i'll kick in $130,000. you guys know that when you take my check, i am 100% in charge.

and i get 30% of the business. show me that it's not just a hobby. put your money where your mouth is. todd: i do it every day, so you don't have a problem here. sammy: i'm good with it. lemonis: we got a deal? $15,000? joe: $15,000. lemonis: $15,000? $15,000? sammy: you got a deal. thank you. lemonis: full-time? joseph: yeah, full-time. [ laughter ] that's crazy. [ chuckles ] amber: you've never done that before. lemonis: what? amber: make someone else put up money. lemonis: it was one of those things that i didn't want these guys to think that i was their checkbook. it was gut-check time. you want me to write a check, no problem. you guys write a check, too. because i didn't come here to carry your bag. amber: why didn't joe t. put in $15,000? lemonis: because he was gonna actually work there full-time, and the business couldn't afford to pay him what that job would be worth. amber: got it. lemonis: and so i felt like he was gonna put in sweat equity.

amber: okay. sammy: so, you're back. you're back at standard burger, just to let you know, and you have a 10% equity. you love this place from the top to the bottom. you were here from day one. i think if anybody deserves this, it's you. fuji: thank you, guys. todd: fuje, congratulations, brother. fuji: thank you. [ smooches ] joe: congratulations. fuji: good times, man. lemonis: how's it feel to be back with your brother? fuji: it's good. i love him to death. sammy: [ crying ] ♪ ♪ marcus, y-you have no idea what you just did for me. you didn't just save my business, but you saved my dream, and -- and you let me repay my brother. lemonis: that's all it was for him. amber: mm-hmm. lemonis: pause. i thought it was a really telling statement for him to say you let me repay my brother, which proved the thesis --

which i honestly, amber, did not see so clearly while i was sitting there. amber: sure. lemonis: like, i could see it clearly after i knew everything that happened after it. amber: right. lemonis: that his pure motivation, opening that business, staying with that business is he had this unrelenting -- not guilt, but necessity to give something back to his brother. amber: right. lemonis: you five really are -- you're the backbone of this business. joseph: we're the burger boys. lemonis: five guys from staten island who have a burger place, who literally sent me an e-mail every f'ing day. [ laughter ] all right? sammy: marcus, thank you so much. thank you. ♪ lemonis: what's up, guys? sammy: i came in this morning, and the kitchen's filling up with water. the snow is melting in the back of the restaurant, clogged up all our drains.

lemonis: where is it coming in? sammy: i'll show you. we have drains underneath here, but they're clogged up. every time we get heavy rain or a little snowmelt, same problem. lemonis: the issue is that you got all this garbage here, and you got stuff clogged up. it's got nothing to do with the snow. oh. you remember that? amber: pause for a second. it was crazy because, like, this really happened. you know, this was supposed to be a down-to-business "b," where you kind of -- you get there, and we just start work, we start changing stuff and fixing stuff. and, like, we got there, and you have to fix that. lemonis: look at this. i got trash everywhere. i got milk crates everywhere. i got an old fence. you guys got to be out of your minds. this is why your business is in trouble. it isn't 'cause of your broken relationships. are you kidding? sammy: i was telling you -- we need help. lemonis: my job is to work on the numbers and margins and the process, not to come up here and clean trash. you know anybody that's got a dump truck? we can load this stuff up? sammy: yeah. lemonis: call them up. get somebody here now. come on, man. seriously.

this is a restaurant, not an auto-repair center. when's the last time that you guys took everything out of this place and cleaned it? joseph: we -- we clean every day. lemonis: you're telling me that everything's cleaned every day? joseph: yeah. lemonis: guys, this isn't clean. i mean, look down here. that's not clean. dude, that's disgusting. i'm frustrated, because what i signed up for wasn't this. joseph, what is this? joseph: yeah, that's our current filing system for our p.o.s. receipts. lemonis: i mean, this is a [bleep] joke. pause. what happens when we go into these business, it's like peeling an onion back, right? we get there on day one, and we learn a little bit about what's out on the surface. and some people have argued with me that i don't understand why you don't peel the whole onion back before you make your deal. and in some cases, if you peel everything back, you may choose to walk away and not give it a chance. amber: right. lemonis: in this particular case,

the fact that there's a box of receipts there, the fact that there's junk in the back, that's easy to fix. it's frustrating, but it's easy to fix. amber: right. lemonis: i want you to take that off. sammy: "we set the standard"? lemonis: yeah. you don't set any standard. get the razor. take that [bleep] off. i don't want that standard. this may have been a mistake for me. sammy: marcus, i don't want you to feel that way. lemonis: i do feel that way. sammy: we'll make it right, marcus. i-i promise. lemonis: honestly, i think we have to close. sammy: [ sighs ] lemonis: coming up... joseph: i'm not arguing with my friends no more for tv. it's not gonna happen, so don't do it again. lemonis: first of all, don't talk to me that way. there was real tension, real animosity, real discomfort. lemo diarrhea? pepto diarrhea to the rescue. it's 3x concentrated liquid formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea.

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sammy: [ sighs ] joseph: i mean, how long you talking about closing for? lemonis: i don't know. however long it takes. look, three days ago, i thought we could fix the process and improve the food. but honestly, it's gonna take way more than that. if we really want to set the standard -- and i truly believe we can, 'cause these guys have the heart and the passion -- then we're gonna have to tear this place all the way down to the studs and start over. outside, i'm busting up the concrete, redoing the parking lot, and creating a whole new seating area --

more tables, more chairs, more money. so, you're gonna build a shake bar, and it's a radius counter. joseph: i like that bar a lot, man. ♪ lemonis: with the restaurant closed for construction, it is time to make some changes. standard burger is good, but i want to be the best. our burgers are gonna be made with the best meat. fuji: that's a lot of beef. i'm in heaven. lemonis: and they're gonna be served on the best bun. woman: welcome, everybody. give it a taste. lemonis: thank you. woman: yes. joseph: it's unique, delicious. lemonis: that's how you set the standard. i love doing business on staten island. but you still have to make sure that the business and the community have a price point match-up. so you can't serve caviar on staten island. amber: it's more blue-collar. lemonis: it's more blue collar. you gotta deliver them value, not fancy food. it's not gonna work. amber: right. lemonis: but i feel like i misjudged the mark by a few dollars on a product. and that, i think, put a little bit of pressure on the business.

♪ sammy: so, we'll see. let's see what we do. marcus. lemonis: hi, guys. with some major changes to the burger and the building, i feel like we're making a lot of progress. i just want to make sure that we stay that way. this looks a lot better. as you went through this process of cleaning this place, what did you learn? sammy: i think we had a good start. joseph: yes. and we need to get back to basics, yeah. sammy: we went off track a bit, 'cause we used to stay two hours past when we were closing to make sure the floors were scrubbed down and things were put back together. lemonis: what is that? sammy: that's a camera. lemonis: there's one in here, too? sammy: yeah. fuji: there were more added cameras... lemonis: they added more after? fuji: ...and more and more. lemonis: and who added them? fuji: todd. lemonis: fuji, i have to ask you -- every time this camera thing comes up, you look like you're about to freak out. fuji: we were trying to run a business, and the phone would ring every 15 minutes.

"why is this this?" every time the phone rang, it was like, "it's todd." todd: who was it that called you? no, it wasn't todd that called you. fuji: and we couldn't run a business. todd: that wasn't todd that called you. fuji: it was just nonsense. todd: yeah, he can tell you anything he wants. joseph: fuji's had a bad experience. todd: fuji wasn't an angel here. lemonis: look, cameras are always important in a business because you want to monitor traffic patterns, and you want to prevent theft, but these cameras -- they seem to have been put in place for one reason, and that was to watch fuji. joe, what do you think? joe: towards the end, fuji was coming in late, and then the girls were calling. fuji: fuji coming in late? joe: the staff would call us. the staff would call me or todd and say, "we're waiting outside. we can't get in because fuji's not here." joseph: that's happened a number of times. and i think that started happening once fuji was fighting with todd. joe: and then once he would walk in, he would edit the time clock so that we wouldn't know that the time was [bleep] with. fuji: who told you -- that -- are you kidding me? joe: i'm not kidding. fuji: i was not here one day late. joe: okay. fuji: that was kristin. joe: and don't say it's not true. fuji: are you kidding me? i was not one day late.

i live three blocks away. sammy: what about all the times, "hey, nobody's at the burger place to open up. call fuji." so, what the [bleep] are you talking about? fuji: i was late every day, and i'm switching the time clock? joseph: all right, listen, guys, guys, guys, that's enough of this. i'm not gonna go in for this. this ain't gonna happen here. hey! hey! fuji: that's the [bleep] that i left this place. joseph: that's enough. fuji, that's enough. don't let this happen on tv. stop yourself. lemonis: "don't let this happen on tv." which means that when we weren't there, it was exponentially worse. amber: right. sammy: get the [bleep] out of here. i'm done with this conversation, too. joe: okay. okay. lemonis: you know why he doesn't like it? 'cause he doesn't want to argue. but i know there's more issues 'cause i see the reaction. sammy: this is why i walked away from it. this is why i abandoned this place. lemonis: all right. sammy: this is the reason. lemonis: pause. at the end of the day, it was all about they felt like, "well, he may have been good in the kitchen, well, he may have come up with the sauces, well, he may have made some recipes," he wasn't managing the place. they didn't feel like he was reliable. and i couldn't understand why they kept having to rehash it. it was like certain guys just couldn't let it go.

amber: right. lemonis: i'm a believer that everybody that's standing in this room is committed to this. and so i think from this point forward, there's gonna be six guys who are gonna own a burger place, and we're gonna kick ass. todd: let's go. joe: and i think the dynamic will work the way you had set it up. lemonis: i know they have the right intentions. they just need somebody to -- to get them in line. need somebody to kick their asses, is what they need. all the cameras are gonna go except for the one over the register. ♪ sammy: yeah. amber: [ laughs ] you went a little aggressive with the cameras. lemonis: i couldn't get the thing down. and i tried to use the back of a -- amber: well, also, how -- how -- what do you feel about cameras in a business? lemonis: if you're using it for loss prevention, that's one thing. if you have people stealing or they're lying, i get it. amber: right. lemonis: but it's not a good idea to always use the cameras as a threat -- "i'm watching you, i saw you come in late." it's not comfortable. can you imagine if somebody was just watching what you did all day?

amber: no. lemonis: we don't need cameras to trust each other. this is the start of something new. joseph: the best part about this whole process for me was you fixing this. lemonis: this is just getting fixed. joseph: right, but i don't want to do that no more. lemonis: you don't want to do what? joseph: i'm not arguing with my friends no more for tv. it's not gonna happen, so don't do it again. lemonis: first of all, don't talk to me that way. joseph: don't embarrass my friends and family like that again. lemonis: first of all, don't talk to me that way. i'm not here for television. i'm here for you. i don't care about television. amber: stop real quick. why was joe t. getting so upset? lemonis: i think joe t. thought that i was trying to stir up something... amber: for television. lemonis: for television. and the reality of it is, the camera doesn't lie. there was real tension, real animosity, real discomfort. and when you poked, you heard from them what the reality was. amber: it's funny that joe t. is like, "oh, for tv, for tv," but, like, every time we walked into this place, there was another drama. lemonis: there was drama. this guy annoyed me for two years because he said he wanted to save his friendship with you.

you guys feel like you lost your friendship with each other, right? joseph: mm-hmm. lemonis: and it was more important for me to come here and fix you guys first, because the business will fail if you guys aren't right. sammy: our relationship -- what it used to be to now are night and day. we used to come here because we wanted to be here. it was like we were drawn here. there was a love and commitment here. we had something that nobody had, and nobody could take it away from us. and it [bleep] went to [bleep] it went to [bleep] and that's what i want to [bleep] fix. that's why i bothered me for two years -- 'cause i still [bleep] believe in it, still. i'm willing to do all this 'cause i believe in that [bleep], that opportunity, what we had, that dream we all had together. joseph: [ sniffs ] lemonis: i know it's upsetting, but i need you guys to move past it, or this thing's never gonna work. joe: we need to just put this behind us. lemonis: you guys are gonna be friends or family long after this place is gone. todd: marcus, you're gonna get to know me well, and you're gonna get to understand that...

[ laughter ] ...money never comes in between my friendships or my family. lemonis: what i'm noticing is that they now are starting to believe that my intent is to have them work together, and they are starting to trust the process. we've taken a step forward. now we have to finish the rest of it. you guys have to trust this process, okay? are we clear? sammy: clear. joseph: can we start making some burgers and some money, please, and get past this crap? [ laughter ] lemonis: coming up... well, i wanted to bring you guys to umami burger. we fought about this, too, by the way. amber: why, 'cause you didn't want to go? lemonis: yeah. amber: we didn't fight about umami burger. lemonis: yes, i didn't want to go here. amber: i don't remember that fight. lemonis: yeah, and you were like, "it's cool." amber: it's a good burger.

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fthe prilosec otc two-weekymore. challenge is helping people love what they love again. just one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. because life starts when heartburn stops. take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. lemonis: well, i wanted to bring you guys to umami burger because it really has established itself. it's kind of a real benchmark in fine dining for burgers. there are a lot of changes that have to happen at standard burger -- the pricing, the look, the presentation. what i wanted to do is bring them to umami burger to see how a good idea actually gets executed. pause. we fought about this, too, by the way. amber: why, 'cause you didn't want to go? lemonis: yeah. amber: why is it a bad idea to take someone to, like, a model? lemonis: because the lesson -- amber: that's working very well. lemonis: the lesson doesn't have to apply to the exact same kind of business. amber: well, if you thought we were so on-the-nose, why didn't you have an opinion back then? lemonis: i did, we fought about this. amber: you have an opinion about it. we didn't fight about umami burger.

lemonis: yes, i didn't want to go here. amber: i don't remember that fight. lemonis: yeah, and you were like, "it's cool." amber: it's cool. lemonis: see? amber: it's a good burger, too. lemonis: to me, the lesson loses its oomph when you draw the parallel on the exact same business. amber: i would argue that it -- lemonis: well, you did argue, and you won -- which is why we went there. as usual, you won. so, when you look at the prices, which are a little more premium -- what's our opening price point? sammy: i think our opening price point should be around 8 bucks. todd: i think 7 bucks. lemonis: $7. we want to deliver a high-quality burger with the freshest and finest ingredients. a $7 burger isn't gonna work. we want to average a 25% food cost. if the burger costs us $3.50 to make, then the retail price is gonna have to be around $12. we're gonna operate with the food cost as our basis, not our gut. the mistake that i made is the concept was right, the location for the concept was not. what i was suggesting, like, what the fries were gonna sell for, what the burgers were gonna sell for.

and in manhattan, that would have been fine. in brooklyn, it would have been fine. in miami, in chicago, in new york, in l.a., it would be fine. on staten island, the price points and the concept that was in my head... amber: right. lemonis: i wasn't building the concept for staten island, i was building the concept to be scalable. unfortunately, the first location was in staten island. my mistake. i really fudged it up. what is the first thing that somebody will order? fuji: a burger. lemonis: and how are we presenting it? fuji: lettuce, tomato, and ketchup and cheese. that's gonna be the standard. lemonis: we know that, with the margins on fries, right, it probably costs us somewhere around 50 cents with packaging and everything. and we're gonna sell our fries for $5. think about the margins on that. today, 70% of their revenue comes from selling hamburgers. and so we want to drive the product mix to have hamburgers not be more than 50% of all the product that we sell. the other 50% of the products that we sell have to be products

with margins of 80% and 85%, like fries, potatoes, ice cream. we're looking for everybody that we possibly can to order fries with their burger and to get a shake with their burger. that's the way this place makes money. todd: bon appétit, guys. lemonis: this looks great. thank you. this looks amazing. in order for this relationship to be successful and not have the kind of nonsense that happened yesterday, you can't crash into each other. and you have to respect each other and trust each other. todd: clean slate, like we're opening our doors again as a brand-new restaurant. sammy: a brand-new us. fuji: a brand-new us. true. lemonis: to the burger boys. fuji: to the burger boys. joseph: salud. ♪ lemonis: after a month of renovation and $400,000, i've seen pictures, i've seen video,

but nothing compares to being there for the first time and seeing it all done. sammy: so, marcus, what do you think? lemonis: this patio came out great. [ laughing ] this was big, big, big balls on both of our parts. amber: everyone who did the makeover was precise graphix, it was a company that we had on "the profit." but we didn't really show them because we hadn't aired the precise graphix, yet. lemonis: no, so we were filming the precise graphix episode in pennsylvania. amber: right. lemonis: at the exact same time we were shooting standard burger. but we had started precise like a month before. and so my relationship with them had already accelerated. and when standard burger came up and i needed to figure out how i was gonna do the renovation... amber: right. lemonis: keith and dean essentially did all the work inside. amber: right, and i remember it was awkward because i remember that we needed on the precise graphix end of it, we needed to see, like a real business. and they're like, "oh, we're really doing standard burger," we're like, "we can't exactly"...

that's a hard story to tell right now. like, now, it would be, like, "great." we can tell that story. 'cause it's always fun to see businesses that you buy into that help other business. lemonis: it needed to be like in a different season. amber: yeah, but it's a little wonky. sammy: the place looks beautiful. i could have never imagined this. thank you, brother. lemonis: all right, my man, let's get in there. sammy: yeah. lemonis: i am blown away. sammy: blown away, right? lemonis: for exclusives, extras, and business advice, visit theprofit.cncb.com. dealing with our financesn, really haunted me.ttle cranky. thankfully, i got quickbooks, and a live bookkeeper's helping customize it for our business. (live bookkeeper) you're all set up!

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i am blown away. sammy: blown away, right?

lemonis: the space is warmer, friendlier than i thought it was gonna be. i've done other, larger projects when we're building from the ground up, but in terms of transformation, this is by far the biggest yet. i spent over $400,000 re-branding and re-concepting standard burger. everything's different inside -- the lighting, the tables, the kitchen equipment. honestly, it's a whole new business. amber: that's a good makeover. lemonis: it's one of our best. there's one thing that you and i don't argue about, and that's the severity and the significance of these makeovers. because these are not "tv makeovers." amber: no, they're not. lemonis: where they come in and they paint and they throw some carpet down. amber: right, and they do it over 24 hours, and they have a whole art department do it. lemonis: this makeover is not a makeover. this total renovation took six weeks. sammy: what do you think? you like it? lemonis: i think it looks amazing. what i can't believe is how many people are here.

that's the comment right now, it's packed. boy: i had the standard burger. lemonis: you had the standard burger? we've dramatically changed the menu to not only five signature burgers, but we built an entire business model off of potatoes. check it out, this came out nice. sammy: it came out beautiful. lemonis: pick your potato, pick your toppings, oven, go. sammy: simple. yeah. lemonis: we built a very high-margin, very popular baked-potato bar. it gives people the chance to buy a baked potato or a sweet potato stuffed with all their favorite toppings. we've also added an ice cream bar. not only is there scoops of ice cream, but what we have now is a cake shake. it is so good. it costs us about $1.78 to build the shake, including all the products that can go in there. we sell that shake for $5. so we know the margins are spectacular. woman: ah! lemonis: you guys are the only ones with red velvet ice cream on the island. what is this, all the orders? sammy: yeah. lemonis: let's see how high we can make it.

the energy level, the enthusiasm level, the vibe in here -- compared to the first day i met you guys, it's like i'm in a totally different place. are there any cameras here we should be looking for? todd: hidden. [ laughter ] i had them install them. joseph: you can't take them all away! lemonis: i'm proud of what these guys have done. and in the end, they recognize that being together as friends -- almost like family -- is the only way to be. and now they have a business that's been rebuilt, and their relationships are being rebuilt. all right, so let me show you. oh, remember we did that caricature? amber: the big surprise. lemonis: that was cool. [ cheers and applause ] i started with investing in a small place in staten island, and what i've ended up investing in is a national concept that i think is portable. you guys are the faces of the business, and you should have some fun with it. joseph: i love it. thank you, marcus. thank you very much. [ applause ]

sammy: thank you. lemonis: i think my investment was definitely worth it. amber: when we left and there were no cameras, what were they like to work with? lemonis: for the first six or seven months, it was actually fun. they would text me every day on how the numbers were. there was a saturday where they did like 10 grand and ran out of food. i don't know if you remember this, but i remember having to end up asking you to make a second episode 'cause a lot of good things were happening. and then i found out that a lot of good things were not happening. amber: right. joseph: i'm the guy that's here every day... sammy: right, what's your problem? joseph: ...and you're the guy that shows up once a month, that's what it is. that's the problem. lemonis: the aura wore off. amber: right. lemonis: the fun, the honeymoon wore off. and today, we're not in business together. the dynamic that we saw early on in the episode came back. i couldn't give it the kind of family therapy that it needed, not the business therapy that it needed. i just didn't have that -- just couldn't do it. i ended up spending like $400,000 there, and lost it all.

amber: so who owns standard burger? lemonis: todd and a couple other guys. amber: well, we'll have to do another "inside look" on the second episode. i like the tv of it. lemonis: "i'm not doing this for tv!" ♪ er. come on. amber: [ laughs ] i can't. lemonis: is it getting hot in here? amber: no. lemonis: come on. amber: let's do another intro. lemonis: ♪ it's getting... what? come on. amber: hot in here. no one's gonna know what you're talking about. lemonis: they will. watch, watch. it's getting hot in here, so don't write a check. amber: tonight on -- lemonis: tonight on one of the most controversial episodes -- right? controversial? amber: right. lemonis: i don't even have to say the name, do i? amber: swanson's -- lemonis: swanson's fish market. mm-hmm. in the last five years, i've visited over 70 businesses. it's delicious. [ laughter ] and i've traveled the country, trying to fix the people... christina: i don't want to be that person that cries on tape. lemonis: ...fix the process... i don't think you guys have any idea