marcus: yeah. lemonis: and how about her? is she mean? arcus: [ laughing ] no, she's -- tamika: [ laughs ] woman: hi. how are you? lauren: what kind of cupcake would you like? girl: strawberry twist. lauren: you want a strawberry twist? all right, so, your total's gonna be $7.50. lemonis: how many staff members do you have? tonnie: 12. lauren will be the one who'll be in the front. -lemonis: hi. are you -- hi. -lauren: i'm lauren. lemonis: hi, lauren. how are you? -lauren: good. nice to meet you. -lemonis: very nice to meet you. -are you a baker? -lauren: when i have to be. lemonis: so what is your primary role here? lauren: i'm in the front selling the product. lemonis: okay, great. nice meeting you. lauren: you too. thank you. tonnie: there's a lot going on with tonnie's minis right now as we speak. i'm doing a project in newark that's close to being finalized. the people who are giving me the space, they're building out the store. lemonis: at their expense? tonnie: at their expense. so what i have to supply is equipment, the first month

dan: hey, how you doing, marcus? lemonis: how are you? na footwear, a popular retail chain in new york city. they're a big wholesale customer for inkkas. are you daniel? -daniel: daniel. -lemonis: i'm marcus. -daniel: marcus. pleasure. -lemonis: nice to meet you. -daniel: how are you? -lemonis: is this your store? daniel: this is my store, yeah. lemonis: supplying retailers like dna is a critical part of our business, but what's more important is to get feedback from the owner of the business and be good listeners and ask the right questions. what's the most popular seller of all of them? daniel: these did very well for us. that's the classic styles that are working. we call it the core of styles from them. lemonis: okay. what hasn't performed? daniel: this stuff. the seasonal stuff that they have -- you know, new products -- didn't take off like this one. lemonis: did you tell them that? daniel: i told them that. and that's why i said the classic should stay classic. and it's been working for us season after season. lemonis: staple, like

lemonis: how you doing guys? marcus. jack: jack hays. nice to meet you. onis: jack, how are you? -jeremy: jeremy felt. jed: jed hays. nice to meet you. lemonis: how are you? father-son? -together: yes. -lemonis: very good. and so, what's the plan here? maybe you guys could give us a summary and we could walk it? jed: yes. those buildings there, that's t.j. maxx. they're gonna open in the next few months. lemonis: let's walk the space. it's a construction site. what are they asking a foot? -jed: $777. lemonis: that's pretty strong. how many square feet? jed: 3,000. lemonis: so, over $230,000 a year? divide that by 12, you're talking about 18 grand a month? a good rule of thumb is that a restaurant's rent shouldn't exceed more than 8% of its total revenue. with an $18,000 rent factor, the restaurant would have to do at least $225,000 a month in sales. standard's current restaurant does about $100,000 a month in sales. if we were to open up a new location like this one, we would have to more than double our business. how many people live within 1 mile, 5 mile

-cristina: hi, marcus. -lemonis: your name? cristina: cristina. lemonis: cristina, nice to meet you. -miranda: hi! -lemonis: hi, how are you? -i'm marcus. -miranda: hi, i'm miranda. lemonis: hey, miranda, how are you? -is this your place? -miranda: this is it. lemonis: how long have you been in the business? miranda: 10 years. we started in my house. i had chronically chapped lips my entire life. and so my daughter was born -- she's now 11 -- and while breastfeeding, started using lanolin -- for breastfeeding -- on my lips. lemonis: the nipple gets chapped. okay. miranda: and i'm like, "oh, i'll put it on my lips," and they were healed for the first time in 30 years. lemonis: now, what is lanolin? miranda: lanolin comes from sheep. it's like an oil, like, a protective coating on their fur. lemonis: i think it's especially cool when somebody starts a business that is meant to solve a problem. sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. miranda: this is where we started. that's the lano lip. this is my original formula, and it's got medical-grade

sammy: marcus, i don't want you to feel that way. lemonis: i do feel that way. , marcus. i-i promise. lemonis: honestly, i think we have to close. sammy: [ sighs ] gomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. thope to see you again soon.. whoa, whoa, i got this. just gotta get the check. almost there. i can't reach it. if you have alligator arms, you avoid picking up the check. what? it's what you do. i got this. thanks, dennis! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. growwwlph. it's what you do. oh that is good crispy duck. something we'll show you. through small things, big things, and spur of the moment things. if you've gone to extremes to escapetry clarispray.ergies. new, from the makers of claritin.

ben: hi, marcus. lemonis: how you doing? i'm marcus. -ben: nice to meet you. nice to meet you. and so, what's your role here? ben: i mainly help manage these guys in here, keep things moving. do a little bit of everything right now. lemonis: and where's your raw materials? ben: raw materials are in the warehouse. we run out to the warehouse, grab the raw materials, bring them in here, and we allow that to dry. and then they return to that room again. lemonis: that sounds kind of... ben: yeah, it's all over the place. that's what i want to change. lemonis: you know what i feel like when i'm in this building? like a mouse looking for his cheese. you start in one room, and you have to visit at least eight of those rooms to finish the product. this place is wildly inefficient. ben: there's not a flow. lemonis: why doesn't your dad want to get it fixed? do you ever talk to him about it? ben: he's kind of just like, you know, stuck in his old ways. it's just how we've been doing it for 20-plus years. lemonis: right. how frustrating is that? ben: it's pretty frustrat

lemonis: makes stuff for whole foods and costco. kenny: marcus shared with me your formula and your process, and i love it, and i've had the biscuits. the kids have had them. they think they're great. i've heard rave reviews about the watermelon cake, also. lemonis: i just wanted him to come down and spend some time with you. lynn: okay. that sounds good. lemonis: any time you mass produce a product, you have to make changes not only for the size of the batch, but the amount of shelf life the product will have. kenny: in the restaurant here, are they generally not uniform shape? -lynn: right. -kenny: which is okay. lemonis: well, here's a bag of them. and, see, they're all different. kenny: because, certainly, when we go to commercialization, one of the keys is that it's consistent size, shape, and weight every single time. so they fit in the packages, so the nutritional data matches. i'll walk you through what we did. instead of self-rising, we used all-purpose flour. we find commercially is that everybody's self-rising flour is different. all-p

chris: thank you, marcus. lemonisit's been a week since i shook hands with mike and nikki, and i've arranged for them to meet me in los angeles. all i've told them is that we're gonna do some market research. -nikki: hi. -lemonis: hi, guys. nice to see you again. -mike: marcus, good to see you. -lemonis: how are you? -mike: doing well. -nikki: good. -lemonis: so, i'm friends with this guy by the name of rob dyrdek. does that ring a bell to you? mike: oh, yeah. [ chuckles ] lemonis: rob dyrdek is an entrepreneur who's also a professional skateboard rider. he's one of the best out there. man: all right, guys. welcome to the fantasy factory. -nikki: thank you. oh, cool. very cool. mike: holy [bleep] lemonis: i think rob's gonna shed a lot of light on what the right price points are in the marketplace. he knows the industry. i also think he's gonna give us great feedback on the demographic. mike: rob, mike maloney. nice to meet you. rob: good to meet you. rob dyrdek. -lemonis: what's happening, my man? rob: appreciate you

-lemonis: i'm marcus. -lisa: marcus, this is kacey. -kacey: nice to meet you. meet you? how are you? pet food experts is one of the largest distributors of pet food in the united states. not only do they carry a ton of brands, but they carry a wide variety of price points. that's why we're here. do you have your mission statement? lisa: this is our food promise that we go off of. lemonis: "no byproducts, corn, wheat, or soy." -"no chemical preservatives." -kacey: mm-hmm. lemonis: why don't we walk and just kind of get a feel for it? i need lisa's expertise and her brand promise to determine what foods are gonna work and not work, but i also need her to be open-minded. -do we carry this nutro? -lisa: no. lemonis: does it have byproducts, corn, wheat, or soy? lisa: this one i don't know. no, this one doesn't. lemonis: chemical preservatives? lisa: doesn't look like it. lemonis: so, this has the food promise, but you won't carry it. -lisa: no. -lemonis: why? lisa: when we actually first opened, they were the biggest ones that had all the recalls and stuff, too. le

[laughter] >> by the time he's done. >> yeah. >> have you guys met marcus lemonis?ramatically improve your margins, but in order to make room for these kind of products, we need to clear out the stuff that's been sitting there for years. so when we get back to the store, i'm gonna have dan lower the prices and liquidate some of the slow moving merchandise. thanks, guys, appreciate it. >> thanks again, marcus, appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thanks, marcus. >> thanks, guys. all right, let's head home. >> this end's coming all the way out, correct? we're gonna move this all the way down? >> well, you want to move it out enough to accommodate for that. don't go any further than that. so i would be very technical in my measurement to not go past that. >> understand. >> yep. >> put a pedestal here-- >> hey. >> hi. >> how are you? >> i'm good, how are you? >> good. >> i'm a little shocked. we're out of business. >> we were out of business before, we just didn't know it. >> i believe we're still partners, correct? >> mm-hmm. >> partners should talk to each other, especiall

my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses. >> we're out of business. >> we were out of business before, we just didn't know it.

. >> my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses. >> we made $10,000 together. >> i makeough decisions... we'll change the recipes. >> i mean, that would be the

. >> my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses. >> we made $10,000 together. >> i make tough decisions... we'll change the recipes. >> i mean, that would be the last thing i'd want to do. >> and i back them up with my own cash. it's not always pretty. >> do you want me to get in your face? 'cause that's your face. >> but this is business. >> i've lost faith. we need to change dramatically. >> i do it to save jobs. awesome. and i do it to make money. this the profit. sweet pete's is a candy store located in jacksonville, florida, specializing in chocolates and candy handmade by master chocolatier peter behringer. >> so you guys like candy? >> mm-hmm. >> pete's love of sweets began at the age of 12, when he started making candy for his mom's shop-- peterbrooke chocolatier. >> i wouldn't do anything else. >> family business was thriving, and life was good for pete and his wife, allison. but after a dispute, pete left the business and was forced to start over from scratch. >> the last $10,000 we had, we put into this business. >> starting over required the help of a financi