lemonis: pasta is good? woman #4: yeah. lemonis: food was amazing. tad: thank you. lemonis: okay?'ll see you back at the office. tad: okay, thank you. ♪ lemonis: this is it? tad: this is our place. so, that's our hot side. and this is basically our cold side. this is my station here, where i work the ovens. some days, we do about 500 meals out here a day. lemonis: you do? who runs the kitchen? tad: i do. lemonis: and who runs the business? tad: i do. this is the office. this is jen. jennifer: hi! now i'm doing my real job. lemonis: so what happens in here? accounting? jennifer: everything. so... lemonis: who does the billing to the customers? jennifer: i do. lemonis: and so who does the books at the end of the month? jennifer: tad does. lemonis: and who does the bank reconciliations? tad: i do. lemonis: and who makes -- who cuts the payable checks to the vendors? tad: i do. lemonis: and who negotiates the terms? tad: i do. lemonis: and who cooks the food? tad: i do. lemonis: okay. every question i ask tad is, "i do, i do, i do it, i do it." what happens if he gets sick for a day?

lemonis: ever? tony: nope. lemonis: okay. that i invest in, for the owner to be there, so that he could protect my investment and his investment. i don't invest in businesses, i invest in people who operate businesses. and if he wants to be an absentee owner, then he's got the wrong guy. tony: hey, folks, how are you? woman: hi. tony: what can i get for you guys tonight? woman: can i get a milkshake, please? tony: milkshake. sure. woman: a mango milkshake. tony: mango? sure. absolutely. lemonis: how long does it take to make a milkshake? tony: five minutes. lemonis: five minutes?! lemonis: anything for you, sir? man: mango popsicle. lemonis: okay, do you want it dipped in chocolate? man: sure, yeah. woman: thank you. woman: hazelnut ice cream in milk chocolate. lemonis: you said "milk"? so it's gelato on monday, karate on fridays. what can i get ya? woman: i want the chocolate with the white chocolate. lemonis: thank you for your business. man: may i have a vanilla bean, shredded coconut? lemonis: thank you. good seeing you.

lemonis: okay. steve: all right. lemonis: can i get a tour? steve: let's do it. lemonis: awesome.ve: so, this is our roastery. this is where we roast it all. we're roasting fresh every day. and this is jared. jared: hey, i'm jared. lemonis: jared, i'm marcus. nice to meet you. steve: he's our head roastmaster. lemonis: so, can you walk me through the whole process, how it works? jared: absolutely. lemonis: okay. jared: so, this is green coffee. we start with the green, raw coffee. each batch is weighed precisely for consistency, and then you throw it into the hopper of the roaster. it roasts for about 13 minutes. lemonis: so, do you do all the roasting for the entire company here, or is it just for this shop? jared: everything for the entire company is on this roaster. lemonis: so, if you grew your wholesale accounts, how would you fulfill that demand? ronnie: we're almost maxing this thing out. so, we're like -- we're like right at the breaking point. lemonis: oftentimes, i go into businesses, and they have capacity, but they don't have the product. that is not their problem here

lemonis: wow.you're the one that taught 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.

lemonis: okay.ou're not in any retail? ramona: right. michael: we service salons door to door. lemonis: and when you say "door to door," go to a salon, meet somebody for the first time, shake their hand. michael: correct. lemonis: and what region do you do business in? michael: south carolina. that's where the bulk comes in. lemonis: if michael's going door to door, and that's how he's generating his revenue, it's kind of obvious to me why they haven't broken outside of the carolinas. door-to-door selling is wildly inefficient. taylore, what do you do here? taylore: a little bit of everything. lemonis: well, what is your actual job title? ramona: well, right now, taylore is a little in limbo. lemonis: what does that mean? ramona: deciding whether she's gonna work here or not. taylore: i was frustrated with not being able to actually implement things. like, we need to update all the computers. michael: well, we've never invested in next-age technology. lemonis: is a computer the next age, or is it to

-lemonis: $7.-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. 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

lemonis: okay. lemonis: grace, thank you so much.grand opening is in full swing, and the 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 hangin

lemonis: damn. chris: yeah. lemonis: that's a lot.a little odd to me that they have no working capital to buy boards, but when i look around this giant showroom, there is merchandise everywhere. so, did they buy the wrong stuff? i'm gonna walk around this store and kind of study it some more. jess: okay. cool. go for it. salena: salena. lemonis: salena. what do you guys do here? salena: i do everything from sales associate, retail -- this is my passion, so -- lemonis: it is? salena: yeah. ♪ lemonis: i'm marcus. cody: hey, marcus. how you doing, man? lemonis: nice to meet you. what is your name? cody: cody. lemonis: nice to meet you. you run this basement? cody: yeah. what i do is -- we do the shipping down here. lemonis: are these online shipping orders you're sending out? cody: yeah. lemonis: how long have you worked here? cody: six going on seven? lemonis: do you love it? cody: i did. everybody has to do so much that there is no fun time. but i miss that part and the three p's, i guess -- the fun part. i've looked into your personal

-lemonis: how are you, sir? -lemonis: i'm marcus. -armik: armik. -lemonis: nice to meet you.ice to meet you, too. -mark: we've met before. -armik: oh, yeah. mark: yeah, he used to pour candles for me. armik: mm-hmm. mark: but, uh, there were some issues. lemonis: what is mark doing? i just told him two minutes ago not to lead with the disagreement that they had. you know what i think the problem is? he doesn't want to give up control of making candles. he wants to continue to be a one-man band and keep this business in his garage. mark: instead of you doing the two blends -- it was a blend, remember? it was like a 75-25. there was a pom and a soy. you only filled it with the pom. you didn't blend it. armik: this is not the way which we agreed. based on our papers, we did right. and i had asked him, if you want, you know, just send it back. send it back. we are gonna correct it. mark: okay, see, i didn't want to get into it. lemonis: stop for a second. question i have for you is can you accept that there was a difference of opinion? mark: yes. i'd love to move forward. lemonis

-lemonis: no.shouldn't be embarrassing, because the reason that it exists is because of the sacrifice you've made to be an entrepreneur. i would say it's the opposite of embarrassing. i would say i'm impressed. and that's why i'm sitting here today. now, let's talk about business. you have a good idea. there's a need for the product. this business could use it. so i know it fills a void. and the people around you are loyal. so i'm willing to make an investment in the business. i'm willing to put up $200,000. that'll go towards providing a wage of each of you making $1,000 a week, a reasonable amount of working capital to ensure that raw materials can exist and inventory can be made. and i'll give you all the resources you would possibly need. but it's a big risk for me. so i'd like to own 50%. and i want the two of you to share 50%. brad: so each of us would have 25%. lemonis: it's not for me to decide. you guys work it out between the two of you. brad: to give up more than 50%, because really that

to-lemonis: wow!profit"... this thing's beautiful. ...two english gazebo makers are chasing their american dream. you guys build these from scratch? damion: everything. we design it, we manufacture it, and we install it. lemonis: but while their product is a thing of beauty, the business is anything but. damion: patronize me like that. -that's what you do. -simon: i'm not patronizing you. damion: little things like that -- that's what pisses me off. lemonis: their process is amateurish. damion: we have to drive a mile down the road to use the restroom. lemonis: their marketing is misguided. how do you acquire your customers? damion: 99% of our business comes from these fairs. lemonis: and their relationship is at a breaking point. damion: you're making it out that you just sat back... simon: i'm not making it out at all. he asked me, so i told him. damion: ...drinking a whiskey, smoking a cigar. lemonis: if i can't help them get their house in order, this company will fall to pieces. damion: it's so hard for me

-lemonis: well... while i appreciate keith recognizing his brother's experience, i'm not quite sure that 50/50 is exactly the right formula. if i asked most of the employees here who is in charge, what would they say? matt? -your name is matt, right? -matt: yes, sir. lemonis: who's in charge between the two of them? if the building is burning down, who do you go ask? matt: i call 911. [ laughter ] lemonis: when you have a situation where there's 50/50 partners, you also have 50/50 leaders with no one clearly in charge. what is the total revenue of the business? keith: last year, our revenues were down a little bit. -we did three and a half. -lemonis: $3.5 million? keith: yeah, just over $3.5 million. the two years prior to that, we were $4.3 million and $4.4 million, respectively. lemonis: so, business is down. keith: one of my bigger customers, they slowed down for a couple months. -lemonis: what's the name? -keith: weis markets. lemonis: weis markets? okay. of the $3.5 million, how much do they do a

lemonis: for how long? -tamika: like a year. -lemonis: wow.tonnie's basically relying on free labor. and the fact that his sister is willing to help out shows that he has real backing from his family. that's a big advantage when you're struggling. so, who's doing the quality control on this kind of stuff? -tamika: myself and tonnie. -lemonis: yourself? and so do you think this looks right? tamika: no, that one's not going out. lemonis: i don't want to see paper. this wouldn't clear. tamika: and the more we go through, we realize how much is wasted. lemonis: when this happens, two from the same batch at the same time, there's no process. tamika: and let me tell you, i have fought with my brother on this process. lemonis: why are you fighting with him? why aren't you just fixing it? -does he listen to you? -tamika: no. -lemonis: no? -tamika: no. lemonis: that looks nice. are you a professional cake decorator? marcus: yeah, i am. lemonis: it's a small space to work, no? and is tonnie easy to work with? marcus: yeah. lemonis: and how about her? is

-lemonis: 10 days? -joe t.: more than that. -lemonis: 100? -joe t.: no. -lemonis: 30?is: 60? -joe t.: yeah. -lemonis: 60 days? -joe t.: yeah. lemonis: there was 60-days time between you terminating the person and you stopping your communication with her? which means, joe, that it still happened inside of the window that you and i were partners. this discussion is about you making a decision that put the business in jeopardy. joe t.: i know, that's what you're saying. lemonis: you put your partners in jeopardy, you put me in jeopardy. why did you fire her? joe t.: she was being evaluated over time, and so was everyone else. lemonis: when i first got there, you never said to me, "there's a list of employees. they're problem children. i'm having to coach them." joe t.: i am not the person who's gonna say, "hey, i'm done with that person." i'm going to try to put them through my training program and see what i can do to make them better employees. lemonis: did you do that with the young lady? joe t.: as a group? absolutely. lemonis: i'm not saying as a group. we're not hav

-lemonis: right.s back was i had 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

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: $5. i think that the perceived 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

lemonis: yeah.an #2: have you figured it out? 'cause we don't know. woman: she's off saturday, sunday, and monday. woman #2: she should be here on saturday. our biggest day she's not even a part of. i just don't... lemonis: how does this affect you in doing your job? woman #2: mis-booked appointments, lack of assistance, and just customer service and lack of product. woman #3: we have never seen her once come up anything about inventory, about putting things in the computer. lemonis: nobody in here has ever talked to carolyn? woman: i think she has some idea. woman #3: but she's the type of person that thinks with her heart. she never wants to, you know, hurt anyone. she wants to give someone the benefit of the doubt, you know? lemonis: communication doesn't exist here. it's like the inmates are running the asylum. i'm hoping that she has a better feel for her financials. i need to understand the revenue. what's the total revenue, and how does that break down per store? carolyn: annually? lemonis: y

lemonis: okay. mike: want you to meet marcus lemonis. lemonis: how are you? i'm marcus.t you. paul: thank you for joining us here. lemonis: absolutely. how do you share roles and responsibilities? paul: operations for me. i have restaurant background. lemonis: what are the numbers here? paul: we're doing $4 million. -i can go back and -- -mike: no, we weren't that high. -paul: don't think so? -mike: nope. paul: we did, yeah. lemonis: so the numbers aren't crystal clear? -paul: yes. -mike: yeah. lemonis: i don't know what just happened. paul answers my question, and then mike says he's wrong. and quite frankly, they both look totally lost. -how many stores exist today? -mike: there's five stores. bob farrell started the company back in 1963. when we started the company, he came up to the opening. he goes, "guys, you did it. -this is farrell's." -lemonis: oh, that's awesome. paul: my uncle would take me to farrell's growing up. and farrell's is part of families. it was part of mine, and it's part of millions as they grow up. lemonis: lot of childhood memories. mike: when w

lemonis: why?going to happen? kelly: i don't know. i was nervous. patrick: she's always paranoid about everything. kelly: i'm -- yeah. lemonis: well, you should be paranoid about it a little bit. a little more paranoid -- it will be good for you. that you didn't think everybody else was gonna clean up your mess, because they've been doing it for years. kelly: he's the little brother. we're always trying to take care of him. lemonis: why do you help so much? dan: i -- i don't know. [ sighs ] just something i've always done. lemonis: why? dan: because my mom would have taken care of him. [ voice breaking ] she's not here. lemonis: patrick, you're a lucky guy, because i have rarely seen family businesses where you have a brother and sister that makes tons of sacrifices with no -- there's no reward for them. patrick: i know i'm lucky. but i would do anything for them, too. lemonis: i can see the talent in you, and my job is to rip it out of you. even if it hurts. okay? patrick: mm-hmm. lemonis: [ claps

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 they may get a little bruised, okay? mary lou: thank you. lemonis: yeah.

my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses. i make tough decisions... i will not do it if you're managing the people. and back them up with my own cash. it's not always pretty... first time you ever emptied out poop? but this is business. i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. this is the profit. la dogworks is an upscale dog boarding facility located in the heart of hollywood, california. >> you're stinky dogs. >> founded by andrew rosenthal in 2004, this 24-hour full service center with 36 employees has everything from grooming to training... >> sit. >> in a state-of-the-art indoor dog park. this business generates $1.3 million a year, but recently, their numbers have started to tumble. sloppy business practices... >> i don't want to waste your time, and please don't waste mine. >> together with lax management... >> there's inventory missing? >> well, you know, it's hard to tell, because stuff slips through the cracks. >> has driven down sales and piled up $150,000 of debt. >> you know, i could lose everything. >> i

lemonis: ...and now, there's no money left either.have put their finances into running this company. i don't want to see you guys lose everything. mary lou: i don't want you to worry about me. lemonis: if i can't help them swim with style, it won't be long before they go under. -mary lou: i'm afraid. -lemonis: listen, listen. listen, come on. -mary lou: i'm afraid.

it has a lemony edge. it's not sweet. it tastes like real ingredients because it's made with real ingredients. i don't think there's another mayonnaise that compares to duke's. virgina mother missing with two young children. the search happening right now in loudoun county plus - a new chief of staff taking the reigns today. the challenges john kelly is facing at home and abroad as he moves into the west wing. and you can't ask for much better than this - sunny, warm, and low humidity. veronica johnson is tracking a near perfect start to the week. good morning washington. i'm scott abraha. last day of the month, first day of the work week. and i'm adrianna hopkins - autria and larry have the morning off. toss to veronica

it has a lemony edge. it's not sweet. it tastes like real ingredients because it's made with real ingredients. i don't think there's another mayonnaise that compares to duke's. giant has unbelievable pro tip produce prices. : so you'll never have to choose between your favorites. i thought i was your favorite. take a fresh look at giant's produce prices. summit gets underway the protests raging overnight - and what president trump just tweeted about his meeting today with vladimir putin. plus - a frightening flight. the alleged attack that sent this delta plane back to the airport. and a few showers this morning - but it's tonight you'll want to watch out for. stormwatch seven is watching another round of rain. good morning washington. toss to eileen