key lime pie company is a pie maker located in beautiful and sunny key west, florida.im brush... >> jeff! >> and his girlfriend, alison sloat, bought the company, recipes and all, over ten years ago for just $1,200, and have grown the business from selling pies on the side of the road to having their key lime pie named the nation's best pie by the american pie counsel. even though they generate $1.4 million in sales, they have yet to turn a profit. >> we really are a victim of our own success right now. damn it, i'm tired of this! >> and they've stretched their resources over multiple locations, including a shipping facility that's not making any money. >> today, i'm losing $1,000 by not being able to deliver pies. i can't do this every week. >> jim and alison have a staff of employees that are beyond dedicated. >> order it today, 'cause we need to get it into stores, 'cause we're very low on that [bleep]. >> i know, i know. >> with increasing debt and mounting losses... >> there's, like, three weeks of outstanding bills here. you owe 2,400 bucks. >> key west key lime

jim: seems like a bit of a key lime grocery store. jim: it is. g people come to the florida keys for are key lime products. lemonis: what kind of margin do you make on all this stuff? jim: these cost me about -- i think they're $2.30, and i sell them for $3.25. lemonis: terrible margins. jim: ...and i sell them for $5.50. lemonis: in a tourist environment like that, you're looking for customers to make impulse buys. quite frankly, i was expecting a 50%-plus margin. when you go to disney world and you buy a soda or you buy a t-shirt, you know that you're paying a premium for the product. that premium is because of the environment that you're in. i don't think jim necessarily understood how to capitalize on that environment. can i try the pie? jim: sure. lemonis: this is just a -- this is the basic deal? jim: just a basic slice of key lime pie. lemonis: what are the ingredients? we have the sweetened condensed milk. second ingredient would be the key lime juice. comes in one-gallon pails. it's already reconstituted. and we put a whipped topping in t

. ♪ so it's our filipino take on the key lime pie, and when you just cut it, it just melts in your mouth ube pie. ♪ it's like this purple color. has hints of vanilla, coconut, and it's just, like, delicious. the pies i actually launched at community events. of course, at that time, i was working full-time with the state. worked there for 14 years. and i always tell my family that i will start my business when i retire. and when my son told me, "why would you wait when you're older?" so 2017, that was my wake-up call. i quit my full-time job to start sweet condesa. when i first started, it was just me, one-woman operation. and then, with the demand growing, it's quite challenging to meet the demand. finally, during the pandemic, i was able to bring in a pastry assistant. all our products are 100% handmade, handcrafted. our pie crusts are hand-molded, and we make everything fresh. mixing the crust... baking it... making the filling... pouring the filling, and then baking it again, it's a long process for just a simple dessert. at this point, during a pandemic, it's just like i was just blo