lemonis: okay. lemonis: grace, thank you so much.only thing that i can think of is that maybe i made a mistake with this guy. ♪ it's been about 10 days since the grand opening, and i'm back in chicago at work. [ phone rings ] hello? then i get a phone call from somebody in milwaukee. grace: marcus? lemonis: yes. grace: hi, marcus. this is grace. lemonis: oh, hey, grace. how are you? grace: well, i kind of wanted to keep you in the loop of what's going on. my employment at the soup market has been terminated. he walks in and says, "you are fired for insubordination." he said, "you need to go now. you need to go now." and i refused to accept that. i said, "no, i'm not going to leave." he took out his phone, he dialed 911, and he had the police come and escort me out. lemonis: literally, the police came? grace: literally, the police came. lemonis: after all of this, now he fires her? grace: i want to give you a little bit of a back story because, unfortunately for him, he does have the eeoc hanging over him. two years ago, um, he made a

-lemonis: right.already put in like 80 hours and so i told sam that i needed to go home, and she told me to get back now or she was firing me for job abandonment, and i said "it's not job abandonment when i've already put in my time. i've completed my work. i need to go home. i'm just done" well, then they came in and said that they talked and since i couldn't make a financial commitment that they didn't want me to be an owner. lemonis: so after we made the commitment... dede: mm-hmm. lemonis: ...and you were happy about it, and they seemed happy about it and all that sort of huggy and lovey "i love everybody" -- they basically said to you, "if you don't put money in, -you're not getting anything." -dede: right. right. lemonis: what do you think they ultimately wanted from me? -dede: money and publicity? -lemonis: and that's about it. dede: and to get max out without having to actually do it themselves. -lemonis: have me do it. -dede: yeah, because if it was coming from you, he would go. they also sai

lemonis: okay.ust wanted to clarify that. it doesn't say, "swim by charlie handy." chuck: no. lemonis: do you have a business card? charlie: yes. lemonis: vice president, that's you. and then... mary ellen: fit, tech production, and sometimes sales at the trade shows. -lemonis: how about yourself? -mary lou: i'm a teacher. -lemonis: okay. -mary lou: full-time teacher. lemonis: this is a side job. mary lou: this is nights. lemonis: and so how did you get into the swim business? -chuck: great question. -mary lou: chuck got a job with another company to do their sale. they wanted to expand to their swimwear. he was there 20 years. he made a lot of money doing really well in sales, so he came up with a concept that's a swimwear with a matching cover-up. and they didn't want that, so he's always had this dream to have his own company with his children working with him. i'm overweight, and i always used to lament, "there's not fashion suits for larger women." chuck recognized that, so he said, "let's focu

lemonis: okay?laborating with partners, the idea is to sort of let everybody have their opinion. instead, he just wants to battle. we just went to shoprite. people told you that they thought it was bad, and we're gonna meet as a group. we're gonna get everybody's opinion on this. michael, you and i worked on that sweet sesame package. michael: i think this is a step in the right direction. it needs, obviously, a lot of time to -- lemonis: it doesn't actually need a lot of time. -michael: you don't think so? -lemonis: no. i have this background that's the same. i didn't change the fonts on here. this is so subtle that even you would be tricked. richard: no, you had to look twice to realize that wasn't there. michael: with just the logo on the top, it could be confused for a generic brand. richard: i don't think i have a problem with it at all. lemonis: michael, you seem frustrated about some-- michael: i'm very -- yeah, it's just -- it's a frustrating day 'cause i thought we all agreed with this. lor

lemonis: what does this retail for? thom: $1.69. lemonis: what's it cost? thom: $44. lemonis: wow.s, and suvs, there's almost 10 million r.v.ers in america. 75% of r.v.ers have pets. thom: wow. lemonis: have you been in here a long time? thom: six months. lemonis: and where were you before? thom: we were at libertyville. lemonis: why did you have to get this building? because you couldn't -- thom: we needed to grow. lemonis: pretty cool. how are you? i'm marcus. eva: nice to meet you. lemonis: are you eva? eva: yes, i am. lemonis: nice to -- there, nice. brand-new building, and all he gives you is a paper tag. thom: our fancy name tags. yes, that's it. lemonis: how long have you been here? eva: for just over four years. lemonis: and what do you do here? eva: i do a little of everything. [ chuckles ] lemonis: who's the shop foreman? who heads up manufacturing? thom: that would be eva. lemonis: does the sales team report to you? eva: no. no. thom: it reports to alex, my son, and bill dittman. lemonis: so, eva, you're here. where's bill? thom: bill dittman is in libertyville. lemonis:

lemonis: cork. woman: oh, okay. lemonis: amanda... amanda: yes? lemonis: ...come on out.ome on over here. what does amanda need to do better to get people in the store to understand about queork? woman: maybe stand out here and talk to people as they're walking by and get them to feel it. amanda: right. lemonis: on that idea, i'm going to grab an apron. woman: nice. lemonis: would you like to feel my apron? woman: yeah! i know. lemonis: anytime you can engage with a customer, a little bit of enthusiasm may actually turn into more sales. so how would you describe your selling style? amanda: i'm not a bubbly sales person. julie: she's way more quiet and introverted. she wouldn't go out there and drag somebody in here. amanda: i don't like being pushy. lemonis: i'm not asking you to be pushy. amanda: right. lemonis: it is true that you'll have to come out of your shell, but i need you to have enthusiasm. amanda: right. lemonis: we saw a lot of people in one hour. amanda: mm-hmm. lemonis: how much do you think we did in an hour? amanda: probably -- lemonis: is there a way to

lemonis: okay. jeff: i didn't get to do a lot of stuff that i wish i had while he was growing up. just wasn't around. lemonis: where were you? jeff: messing around, trying to figure out my life. i didn't get to watch him play t-ball, softball, soccer. taylor: i mean, it is weird. we started kind of going fishing when i was about 18. we're trying to learn each other. this has allowed us to build a relationship. jeff: you know, i wanted to bring my son on board not only to teach him -- lemonis: so you guys started this business together? jeff: well, i started it in 2012. lemonis: so, when did you come on board? taylor: the summer of '13, i left school. lemonis: you left college to start a tea business with your dad? where'd you go to college? taylor: university of texas in austin. lemonis: why did you think it was a good idea to leave college? taylor: because he asked me to. lemonis: that's why you left? taylor: i mean, that was the start, but then ultimately, i saw opportunity. lemonis: so, how far a

-lemonis: and be open-minded. -giovanni: you've got it. lemonis: richard, i'm marcus lemonis.: this is lisa. -we'd love to get a tour. -giovanni: yeah. scott: we need to get you guys suited up. giovanni: holy [bleep] ♪ lemonis: what we saw when we walked into that place is the most professional, state-of-the-art food-manufacturing facility that i had ever seen in my life. giovanni: wow. scott: this is our q.a. lab. lemonis: so, this is chicken, beef, salmon, and egg. scott: all basically no byproducts, no corn, wheat, soy. lemonis: we saw their attention to detail, and we saw the great pride they have in making sure that pets stay healthy. i could tell this is having a real impact on lisa. man: check it out. lisa: it's awesome to see it in action and how it goes from this to the actual product. it's very impressive. lemonis: what i hope lisa learned from this trip is in order to grow your business, you have to be open-minded and learn and do research. freshpet is an opportunity for them to grow their business. if they hadn't gone, they'd have never found that opportunity. do y

lemonis: okay. i'll see you guys back at the office. thom: hey. thank you. ♪ lemonis: you ever had shaved cream? a young entrepreneur dreamed up a fresh take on an asian-inspired dessert. tony: it's a very unique flavor. lemonis: it's really good. eventually bringing it to four shops across new york city. east village did $329,000, down from $600,000 the year before that. it's down almost 50%. but four years in, snowdays is melting. owner tony quach grew his business so fast, he failed to figure out the fundamentals. so, the mold's plastic. tony: mold's plastic. michael: you can't do that. with the new fda laws, you'd have to test that those chemicals aren't breaking down the plastic, which they probably are. lemonis: now he's letting down his customers... carolyn: there would be like five flavors out. lemonis: that'd be like going to baskin robbins or 31 flavors and them saying, "sorry, we only have 20." ...he's letting down his employees... ovie: it'd be nice if my own opinion mattered. lemonis: i

lemonis: my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses.f you don't like money, don't follow my process. i make the tough decisions. we're closing the store, we're done, i'm not talking about it anymore. i back them up, spending my own money. it's not always pretty... man: perfect flavor. lemonis: ...but this is business. you got to trust the process. i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. thanks for your business. this is "the profit." fairfield, connecticut, is a pretty new england town right on the coast of the long island sound, and swansons fish market is one of fairfield's local institutions. for over 40 years, they've been selling fresh fish, hot soups, and doing a little catering and, along the way, got their fair share of critical acclaim. gary: okay, you're getting the works today. lemonis: gary swanson jr. took the market over from his dad and worked alongside his wife, sue, and they made a comfortable life for his family. but on july 4, 2009, a fire destroyed his original store. [ siren wails ] dispatcher: code 6. gary

lemonis: wow.aught everybody everything -- i would like you to be the one to turn the sign. -george: okay. -lemonis: okay, are you ready? george: i'm ready. ♪ [ bells jingle ] -zoe: hello. welcome. -lemonis: go around. you can sample anything you want. welcome. this is zoe. zoe: hi. very nice to meet you. pantelis: we have a hazelnut for you. it's hazelnut with roasted hazelnuts on top. you like that? good, good. lemonis: there are tons of people coming through the doors, and for me, this is the start of something really big and new. petros did an amazing job with the new flavors. zoe did an amazing job getting the store set up. and pantelis put in a great process. how were the pretzels? were the pretzels good? -woman: amazing! -man: potato chips were better. lemonis: potato chips were better? and the pretzels were? -woman: oh, awesome. -lemonis: pretzels were good. -zoe: awesome. pantelis: we'd like to take a quick second to say thank you to you, big guy. -pantelis: thank you. pantelis: means a lo

lemonis: okay.hose recipes are these? jennifer: mine. lemonis: and who's in charge of what? chandler: she's the art, and i'm really the business side of it, right? i'm trying to make sure we're able to scale -- like, we can't scale her, so i need to have something that is makable by a properly trained employee. if it was 100% her way, it would be we make everything that we can from scratch. jennifer: that's the problem, is that we're very much both control freaks about stuff. i'm in charge of operations, the daily running of the store. lemonis: okay. chandler: i'm the ceo. i get the final call. lemonis: what does that mean? [ both laugh ] it's a barbecue restaurant. chandler: yeah. lemonis: it seems to me that chandler maybe takes himself just a little too seriously. it's almost like he felt like he needed to put a label on himself. "i'm the ceo, just wanted everybody to know, which makes me the man in charge." i thought it was a little unnecessary. and if he's the ceo of this business, what's he do

lemonis: $5.d value difference between plain one and this, it's got to be $15 or $20. flex's watches used to cost them $5 to make, and they would sell them for $35. licensing printed village designs will cost as additional $5, bringing the total to $10. but it will also boost the perceived value of the watch, allowing us to raise the price of the watch by as much as $20. so that $5 investment will end up yielding the company an additional $15 in gross profit. trevor: all right. like this. i like that it's different. i think the skull thing is kind of fun. brad: i don't think skulls and the edginess and the darkness -- i-i'm not a fan of it. just don't like the skulls. travis: it's a "no" for me. brad: no. trevor: i still like it. brad: how does that have to do anything with who we are? trevor: well, people love halloween, though. i could argue that this is a fun thing to launch in october. travis: in october. you lost your mom to breast cancer, so i don't think we want to push skulls. trevor: i th

lemonis: my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses.f you don't like money, don't follow my process. i make the tough decisions. we're closing the store. we're done. i'm not talking about it anymore. i back them up, spending my own money. it's not always pretty... man: perfect flavor. lemonis: ...but this is business. you got to trust the process. i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. thanks for your business. this is "the profit." coopersburg, pennsylvania is about an hour north of philadelphia, in the heart of amish country. and it's home to coopersburg sports, a novelty-and-sports business. scott pino started the business in 1991... scott: i can't find the yankee order out here. lemonis: ...shortly after he secured the coveted license from major league baseball. he eventually was able to place his mini bat, his top seller, in every major league baseball park. business was great, and they were pulling in over $4 million a year and making a hefty buck. but in 2008, a major sporting-good company entered the novelty game, and

lemonis: yeah. paul: it's a lie. lemonis: okay.e bank of him authorizing me to close that account. lemonis: do you have that letter? paul: i do. the day before he resigned, and i have some e-mail backups, too. what he presented to you a couple of days ago i knew was wrong. lemonis: hello. so, mike, you know, paul came by and brought me a bunch of files and a bunch of paper. paul: and what you brought a couple of days ago was not true. i didn't have the proof. you do this to me time and time again. mike: well again, you've got documents there. i've got e-mails. let's take a break. lemonis: no. mike: i've got e-mails. lemonis: just deal with this issue, please. well, i'm just saying. all i can tell you, paul, all i can tell you -- paul: first, it's not the financial stuff. you brought that up again on monday. that's a lie. mike: paul, i'm not gonna go back 6 months and try to remember... there was so much that's happened. i don't know. lemonis: he did not defend himself, as usual. he's bringing this letter to the table now showing pr

lemonis: you need to cut the... my name is marcus lemonis.nd i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. we're not gonna wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. we're gonna wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. it's not always pretty. everything's gonna change. everything. but i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. this... let's go to work. ...is "the profit." ♪ in 2008, california native max kater founded murchison-hume, a maker of nontoxic cleaning products. max: this is an all-purpose plant-based cleaner. lemonis: a former fashion editor, max was living in australia when her son became allergic to ordinary cleaning products. max: i just needed something that i could clean the house with that looked good, that smelled great, that i could trust. lemonis: she saw the need for products without harsh chemicals. murchison-hume was born. max: can you send me the new images that i did? taylor: yeah, that you shot over the weekend? max: yeah. lemonis: the business grew fast. and as revenue approache

lemonis: hello? -justin: hello. hi. -lemonis: hi. -justin: how are you? -lemonis: i'm good.'m justin. lemonis: justin, how are you? i'm marcus. -justin: that's ray. -lemonis: nice to meet you. -ray: hi. -lemonis: hey. -how are you? i'm marcus. -ray: good. -nice to meet you, marcus. -lemonis: nice to meet you. so is that what ray and jus is? -ray: exactly. yep. -justin: that's right. -lemonis: okay. -justin: it's a little bit of a play on outrageous. -lemonis: okay. justin: jerseys and crazy stuff we make. lemonis: they don't seem so outrageous. justin: if you wear it to the store, people kind of look at you funny. lemonis: you guys have, like, a boat dealership in your garage. justin: yeah, that's my boat and his boat. ray: my roomate-in-college's boat and then two other rentals. lemonis: you guys do a lot of fishing, obviously. -justin: as much as we can. -ray: yep. [ laughs ] ♪ justin: we are kind of geared towards the fisherman and the boater. -sun-protection designed. -ray: completely custom shirt. so, this starts as plain white fabric. lemonis: so a customer calls you a

-lemonis: don't like it? girl: not necessarily. lemonis: ...and poisoning their relationship.and you love him, but i need you to be on my side. lemonis: if i can't fix their process... man #2: eight [bleep] pounds! it's not a gallon!

lemonis: and the owners need to lose their self-righteous attitude.n on their own and not for them. giovanni: oh, my gosh, that -- i'm -- lemonis: if these owners can't take control, their dream of creating a retail empire

my name is marcus lemonis. in the past ten years, i've bought hundreds of failing businesses, turned them around, and i've made millions doing it. i'll write whatever check i need to, even if you won't. if you want people to listen, you put money on the table. i'm gonna give you a check for $500,000. i found six struggling businesses, some weeks away from closure. my plan is to turn them around. for the next week, i'm 100% in charge. >> all right. >> let's go get to work. can't run a business if it's not clean. but i'm not just giving them advice. i'm putting up millions of dollars of my own money. if you don't know your numbers, you just don't know your business. i'll work by their side... i'll put in the hours... 'cause i have the same risk that they do. where's accounting? >> she's counting. >> no, where's accounting? >> um... >> oh, my god. this business is a total mess. i judge businesses based on three things: it's pretty damn good. most often, businesses fail because of people. >> i trusted people to man

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