-lemonis: i'm marcus. -gary: i'm gary. lemonis: gary, nice to meet you. this is an unbelievable location. how long have you been here? -gary: 41 years. -lemonis: wow. -and who started the business? -gary: it was my dad. lemonis: and do you guys rent this property? gary: no, we own this property. lemonis: how much did you buy this property for? gary: way back when, it was $450,000, and i bought it from my dad for $600,000. lemonis: it's a really nice building. gary: well, it didn't look quite like this, 'cause it burned down. lemonis: remind me a little bit -- when did this fire happen? gary: 4th of july, 2009. it was 100% loss. lemonis: and how much was the total loss? gary: over $1 million. lemonis: how much did the insurance pay? gary: about $1.2 million. lemonis: so the loss was $1 million, but they paid $1.2 million? -gary: yeah. -lemonis: okay. -do you mind if i come around? -gary: oh, no. you're welcome. lemonis: do you have a mortgage on the property? gary: i do. lemonis: how much is that payment a month? gary: about $3,800. lemonis: so, those peop

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

lemonis: i'm marcus. nice to meet you. adelo: mr. lemonis, i mean. lemonis: no, marcus. adelo: oh, marcus, okay. lemonis: nice meeting you, adelo. adelo: nice meeting you. lemonis: this is a big place. adelo: it is. lemonis: what's all the wood for? adelo: we actually cook carne asada ribs and chicken. this is the wood oven. lemonis: oh, so you literally do it like a straight-up campfire. adelo: yeah. and this is it. this is our kitchen. i have this passion to cook. and i've been in the cooking business since i was 14 years old. i love it. you know, we're -- we're not the tex-mex kind of place. lemonis: yeah. adelo: we're more authentic. and we want to keep it that way. lemonis: yeah. adelo: the articles always talk about how authentic it is. this. this is when we first opened. lemonis: where did you get the money to open this? adelo: i worked 3 years. lemonis: saved up money. adelo: and saved all that money. i used to sleep for 4 hours. i had my route at 18, my produce route. lemonis: so you were delivery. adelo: yes. then i also had a full-time job as a deli clerk from

want you to meet marcus lemonis. lemonis: hi. how are you? i'm marcus. shauna: i'm shauna. you. lemonis: nice to meet you. father daughter working together? shauna: yeah, yeah. it's fun. lemonis: and have you been in the business a while? shauna: i have. i started right out of college. so, i'm the director of marketing now. lemonis: you're the person that gets everybody in the front door. shauna: yes, that's my goal. lemonis: what's it like working with your dad? shauna: i love working with him. i mean, my dad has always said that he started all of his businesses because he wanted to be able to pass something down to his kids, and, of course, i want to make him proud. mike: she's a huge inspiration for me and a motivation for me. lemonis: you can feel the affection between you guys. -shauna: yeah. -mike: oh, yeah. i'd like to have you meet my business partner, paul kramer. lemonis: okay. mike: want you to meet marcus lemonis. lemonis: how are you? i'm marcus. nice to meet you. paul: thank you for joining us here. lemonis: absolutely. how do you share roles and responsibilit

jeff: thanks, marcus. lemonis: you got it. taylor: thank you, marcus. nis: when i write this check, i really am 100% in charge. jeff: thank you, sir. taylor: thank you. lemonis: congratulations. jeff: thank you. lemonis: so i'll see you back at the shop, okay? taylor: okay. jeff: sounds good. lemonis: all right, everybody. ernie: good to see you again. lemonis: i thought we could get some of your staff together, and let's give everybody a summary of what's happening so that people aren't in the dark. for me, the first order of business is gathering the franchisees and letting them know exactly what's happening because if they're not on board, we might as well shut the door. jeff, where is -- where's taylor? jeff: that, i have no idea. lemonis: okay, okay. so, i wanted to let everybody know, jeff and i made a deal for me to invest $350,000. that money will be used to develop a one-store, singular concept that we can all say, "okay, this is what the model is supposed to look like." new product offerings, and we're gonna change the name. tea 2 go feels like

lemonis: i'm marcus. stephanie: nice to meet you. stephanie. lemonis: stephanie, nice to meet you. how are you? dave: hi, marcus. i'm dave. lemonis: hey, dave. how are you? dave: great to meet you. lemonis: nice to meet you. jill: hi, i'm dave's wife -- jill. lemonis: how are you, jill? nice to meet you. so, are you both in the business? jill: no, i work awm in athletics. lemonis: oh, you do? dave: but she has worked farmers markets for us. lemonis: okay. well, i've never been in a place like this, so i wanted to kind of get a feel for it. dave: all right. so, the line where they serve people. lemonis: what's the most number of soups you have in one day, offered available? dave: we do up to nine. so, we have soup, salad, sandwich. lemonis: what's going on on that board? dave: i bought a new one, but it's too big. so that's gonna be the new look, assuming it's not all faded like that. lemonis: i want to taste what you're known for. dave: okay, well, i would start with the african-peanut and chicken. lemonis: it does have peanuts in it? dave: yes, peanut butter. lemonis: peanut butter

lemonis: how are you? i'm marcus. mary: nice to meet you. lemonis: ...owns the other half. their key employee is louis, the general manager. louis, how are you? nice to meet you. i'm marcus. he understands the process better than anyone. louis: what you need to do is do it multiple times, 'cause you can see the difference, how this is smoother and this is still rough. lemonis: so why doesn't that machine do it all in one? louis: 'cause it's not, like, one of the best planers. lemonis: do they make one that would do it all in one shot? louis: yes. steve: some of the machinery here are 50 years old. lemonis: look, it's obvious to me now that the company isn't the only thing that's three generations old. and if this equipment doesn't work and it's not up to date with the right technology, well, you're wasting a lot of time. what does it cost to get a brand-new one that does it the right way? louis: a really good one, about, say, $3,000. lemonis: if it costs $3,000 to get a new one, how much time extra did he have to take to do it three times? multiply it times the number of fur

-lemonis: i'm marcus. -becky: i'm becky. lemonis: becky, nice to meet you. becky: very nice meeting you. john: marcus, privilege. john brown. lemonis: john, nice to meet you. john: nice to meet you, sir. becky: thank you for coming. lemonis: the smell when you walk in here is awesome. john: it is. that's what everybody says. lemonis: and so, is this whole warehouse -- is all the manufacturing? john: it is. everything is in this 3,500 square feet. lemonis: well, why don't we take a look around? john: please. please. this is our storefront. we have an extremely loyal customer base. people are coming in buying 7, 8, 9, 12 bags of coffee. there's a lot of locals that live maybe 20 miles from here. they don't want to drive the downtown, so we do ship. becky: we're in whole foods and earth fare and fresh market, as well, so they can just pick it up at the grocery store. -lemonis: oh, you are? -john: yes. lemonis: that's nice. who got that account? -becky: the previous owner. -john: previous owner. lemonis: and what will the entire business do? john: we did $840,000

-lemonis: congratulations. -dan: thank you, marcus everybody together and give you guys who are part of the team who were not at our meeting the other day a quick summary on what happened. the deal that i made with patrick is for me to invest $200,000 for 50% of the business. with that $200,000, we're gonna take care of our vendors, we're gonna invest in product development, we're gonna work on growing the women's category. kelly: i feel better now. lemonis: why? what did you think was 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 hav

lemonis: okay. anna: marcus, this is susana. lemonis: oh, hi, susana. susana: hi. lemonis: marcus. susana: hi, marcus. nice to meet you. lemonis: how are you? nice to meet you. susana: yeah. lemonis: don't be nervous. you guys manufacture your own stuff? anna: yes. susana: yes. anna: we manufacture in our new jersey factory. sue is responsible for design, and i'm responsible for all operations and sales. lemonis: so you handle production and sales? anna: yes. i'm very capable. lemonis: that's interesting. susana: the front stuff is too emotional for me. anna: sue is the creative engine of the company. susana: yeah. anna: so we don't want to expose her to all the -- you know, all the unpleasant stuff. susana: i don't like to be in the front of things. lemonis: okay. susana: i like to be in my world working. lemonis: you're the artist. susana: yes. i just... anna: she's very -- takes everything very close to heart. and, you know, in operations, every day there is a problem. there is -- i mean, every second there is a problem. not every day -- every five minutes. lemonis: right away i

dan: hey, how you doing, marcus? lemonis: how are you? bringing these guys to dna 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: i'm marcus. nice to meet you. erik: nice to meet you. it's kind of a slower event, but it'll work out pretty good. lemonis: small businesses rarely have the budgets to do big marketing campaigns. so taking over a corner where you can pass out samples and brochures and talk to customers about your product, it's a good idea. so, how many customers do you have in total? erik: we have a total of 300 customers we service. we have 3,000 in the system. lemonis: and how long does a typical customer stay? erik: about three months. lemonis: so, your typical customer stays three months? erik: yeah. now, i have customers for life. lemonis: i want to see you do your marketing thing. erik: yeah. 20 new clients this week. lemonis: let me see it. make it happen. erik: [ laughs ] so, chicken and spinach, or do you want gourmet, delivered health food? there's two servings to a snack for $7.50. diana: if there's any type of allergy, we can actually help you with that. erik: hello, dessert samples. key lime pie? lemonis: erik's idea of healthy eating is a gr

lemonis: i'm marcus. toni: toni. nice to meet you. -lemonis: nice to meet you.jennifer: i'm jennifer. lemonis: jennifer, nice to meet you. jennifer: nice to meet you. welcome. tad: tad. nice to meet you. lemonis: tad, nice to meet you. tad: we're getting ready for lunch. lemonis: is corporate events primarily what you do? tad: most of our work is film production -- about 80%. lemonis: oh, really? 'cause i don't normally think chicago film production. when tad walks me through how he allocates his business revenue, with 80% of it being concentrated to one industry, what happens if that industry goes away? what does he do? well, i'm just gonna take a step back and kind of watch the process. tad: okay, we'll get all set up. you park the van. we'll start getting this thing all set up. need a spoon for that. vince: what about these coffee pots? tad: get them in the conference room. fire hazard. how much time do we have? woman #2: 12 minutes. lemonis: have you ever visualized trying to herd cats? that's what i feel like i'm watching. tad: i mean, this is ridiculous. l

-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

lemonis: how you doing guys? marcus. jack: jack hays. nice to meet you. is: 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,

lemonis: let her know marcus is here. woman: okay. lemonis: thank you. i didn't really understand when i walked into pacific, why i was seeing residential furniture. i thought this was a hospitality business. if this is a showroom, i don't think they're showing the right stuff. ana: hi, marcus! lemonis: are you ana? ana: yes. lemonis: how are you? ana: nice to meet you. lemonis: it's really nice to meet you. ana: yes. very nice to meet you. lemonis: how long have you guys been here? ana: we've been in this location about 13 years. lemonis: wow. ana: yes. lemonis: how are you, sir? i'm marcus. how are you, sir? nice to meet you. gilbert: me too. lemonis: how long have you guys been in business? gilbert: 40 years. lemonis: 40 years? and what is your business primarily? is it hospitality? ana: mostly hospitality. we do guest room furniture, public space furniture, as well as restaurant furniture. lemonis: and how much of your business is hospitality? ana: probably like 90%. lemonis: 90%. what's the other 10%? ana: a mix of like retail, as well as residentia

sammy: marcus, i don't want you to feel that way. lemonis: i do feel that way. : we'll make it right, marcus. i-i promise. lemonis: honestly, i think we have to close. sammy: [ sighs ] dearthere's no other way to say this. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪ yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day men's complete with key nutrients we may need. plus heart-health support with b vitamins. one a day men's in gummies and tablets. watching this breath savers protect mint neutralize the plaque acids in my mouth. i can't see anything! that's because it's working so hard. hey, what are you guys doing? karen. we're neutralizing. maybe i want to neutralize. you ever think of that? i am totally blind. i lost my sight in afghanistan. if you're totally blind, you may also be struggling with non-24. calling 844-844-2424. or visi

lemonis: thank you. let him know that marcus is here. i really didn't know what to expect when i went to vision quest, and when i walked in, there were some really interesting pieces. larry: hey! oh, my god! -lemonis: how you doing? -larry: bring it in, man! -lemonis: how you doing? -larry: oh, my god! you're here! -lemonis: are you -- -larry: oh, my god! look at you! -lemonis: are you larry? -larry: i am. lemonis: 'cause if you weren't larry, i'd be worried. larry: [ laughs ] -so nice to meet you. -lemonis: nice to meet you, too. that's a pretty cool light. -larry: yeah, thank you. -lemonis: the strainer. larry: it was for a national account. everything you see here is all for national-account work. lemonis: so no retail products. larry: no. lemonis: so, i don't just think about vision quest for just this. larry: no, no. -lemonis: design? -larry: that's the least of it. -yes. right. -lemonis: they say to you, "we have this space, and we're looking for x, y, and z -from a design standpoint." -larry: exactly. -lemonis: "can you make it?" -

good morning, marcus. lemonis: what's happening? version of the duster with the different type of trim. lemonis: okay. nicolas: you talked about the trim was fraying. -lemonis: can i see it? -nicolas: yeah. let me get it. lemonis: noemi, can you come on down? nicolas: the weaving is a little tighter, so it feels slightly different. lemonis: who's the one that actually changed this? nicolas: i did. lemonis: nicolas, why are you working on the duster? nicolas: because i had the resources to do it. lemonis: but you didn't include your mom? noemi: no, because we went through that. lemonis: it sounds like you have a problem with that. nicolas: i don't have a problem with that. noemi: it's the control. i told you. this is another problem we have. nicolas: so, are we talking about the past or the future or -- i don't understand. noemi: future. -nicolas: okay, so -- -noemi: we already decide. why are we going back and talking about it? nicolas: so, if we're talking about the future, what happened in the past is irrelevant. lemonis: nicolas,

-lemonis: well, sam. -sam: well, marcus. n lens, -so you'll have to excuse me. -lemonis: i don't have a lens. i just see things through what actually happened. sam: now, no one's perfect, but i try really hard to make sure that when i get up in the morning, i am the type of person that makes the world a better place. and that is a decision i make. now that doesn't make me perfect. lemonis: i totally get it. sam: i have tried to be honest and i have tried to be forthright -- lemonis: you haven't been honest at all. sam: do you know what? we're gonna be honest. lemonis: good. it's about time. sam: i didn't think we were a good fit for you. i wanted you to come here and help max. thank you for helping with that. you applied to the show for max to solve max's problem. -sam: i did, didn't i. -lemonis: and you took my money. -sam: and i wanted it -- -lemonis: and you took my money. sam: that is moot in this instance. lemonis: yes or no. ♪ always wins. especially in my business. with slow internet from the phone company, you can't k

-lemonis: jack, i'm marcus. -jack: it's nice to meet you. -richard: he's our man here. hings that i wanted to accomplish is to improve our margins because the dairy -- the cream that goes into the ice cream -- is the single most expensive item. what do you actually produce here? jack: we produce over 80 different variants of ice-cream mixes. lemonis: what makes it sort of the different variations? jack: usually butter fat, sugar, and fat content. a haagen-dazs is a 16%. lemonis: and what are we? michael: a little bit above 12%, yeah. lemonis: okay, so our ice cream is lighter because it's got less butter fat. our flavors are more pronounced. and that's why our quality is so good. let's take a tour. jack: this is where all the raw milk and cream comes in, marcus. right now what you're seeing is they're filling this up with cream. we fill the totes. lemonis: so does it come to you like this? richard: exactly like this. lemonis: it's like a water bed. what does this cost? richard: today, $2,100. last week, $2,800. lemonis: i have a lot of work to do in building a case with

my name is marcus lemonis,

lemonis: makes stuff for whole foods and costco. kenny: marcusith 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-purpose fl

lemonis: lilian, nice to meet you. lilian: yeah. peter? peter: hi, marcus. i'm peter. lemonis: peter, nice to meet you. i'm marcus. ter: yes. lemonis: how are you? hannah: hi. hannah. lemonis: hannah, nice to meet you. taylor: i'm taylor. good to meet you. good to meet you. these are the dogs. this is domino and zeus. lemonis: are these greyhounds? taylor: no, they're actually whippets. max: who's for tea? i'm making some. oh, you're here! hi! taylor: this is max. lemonis: how are you? max: lovely to meet you. lemonis: i was meeting the company mascots. max: oh, yes, our fur babies. lemonis: they normally have this kind of disposition? max: yes, they're very calm. lemonis: do they take on their owner's disposition? max: probably not. [ laughs ] lemonis: okay. max: kathleen, she is working as our sort of interim cfo... lemonis: great. max: ...to help me with numbers. lemonis: this is nice. taylor: it doesn't look like much from the outside. lemonis: but it's pretty inside. taylor: yeah. lemonis: what is -- max: oh, this? this is my mood board and my inspiration board. and it's the kater family. it's kind of murchiso

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: i'm marcus. -lisa: marcus, this is kacey. -kacey: nice to meet you. 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. lemonis

-lemonis: i'm marcus. sasha: i'm sasha. nice to meet you. -lemonis: nice to meet you. -rich: hi, marcus. -i'm richard. how are you? -lemonis: nice to meet you. market square serves gyros, but beyond that, there are few similarities to the other locations. the color scheme and seating are different. even the layout's different. same brand, different experience. not a good idea. how's business? tell me a little bit about it. rich: well, as far as business is concerned, we do about a half a million a year. lemonis: half a million in sales? rich: well, to break even. lemonis: so, how often do you see mike and kathleen? sasha: the first of the month, like clockwork. rich: they're here to get their royalty check. lemonis: do they stay for a day and work on your business and help you? rich: no. we put $175,000 of our own money into it. we just gutted this entire building. lemonis: so, you put in all this equipment, the floors, the ceilings, the whole thing. sasha: everything. lemonis: $175,000's a lot of money to invest without getting support. sasha: yeah. lemonis: after visi

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: we'll go with "athletic." lady: [ laughs ] marcus, how you doing? lemonis: these feel -- so, the problem with these -- they feel big on me. lady: i like the leg shape on you. lemonis: no, i can't fit in 34s. lady: do we have the size 36? amy: we don't have them anymore. lemonis: these have too much stretch in them. i feel like i'm in, like, grandma pants -or something with leg stretch. -lady: yoga pants. lemonis: same issue. so these actually got even wider. lady: yeah, those are actually way too wide. you got to take those off. [ laughs ] lemonis: you want me to take them off right here? -just like -- -lady: well -- lemonis: they didn't have my size in most instances, and they didn't have much inventory for me to choose from. i felt like i was being given the leftovers. why is it called blujean bar as opposed to blue jean bar? lady: i'm from new orleans, and so i came up with this idea that it was gonna be, like, a blues bar, like a new orleans blues bar. lemonis: does it feel like a blues bar in here? lady: it does not feel like a blues bar. lemoni

my name is marcus lemonis, and some of you have seen me around.nd i'm here to help fix this business, so people don't lose their job. there are 32 employees relying on this business for their livelihood. and ever since jacob's passing, they're starving for leadership. for the next week, i'm in charge. so what we're gonna do is we're gonna make some massive changes, and, at the end of this week, we're gonna have a grand reopening. we're gonna let our customers tell us if we've gotten it right. i need to get rid of excess inventory, make time-saving changes, and i need to organize what's left. in order for that to happen, i need to put in the right system, like a bar-coding system. this building looks terrible. maarse has a viable product here, but, in order to make it good, we need to display it to the customers in a way that's appealing. they need to see it, and it needs to be presented in a less-cluttered, less-disorganized manner. the entire store needs to be re-merchandised. we're gonna become profitable together. so, marina, you have something

[laughter] >> by the time he's done. >> yeah. >> have you guys met marcus lemonis? this will dramatically 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 othe

-lemonis: my ass really hurts. [ laughter ] -i'm marcus, by the way. -lauren: lauren. auren. and, so, you handle... lauren: i take care of phones, and then i keep track of all the refunds. lemonis: "sender was not happy with the bouquet. not enough color. flowers were dead." lauren: it's either a complaint or having trouble placing something online, on our website. lemonis: so, let me look at that. lauren: yeah. they're gonna type in the zip code of where they want the flowers to be. -lemonis: i just put mine in. -lauren: so you put in yours? pick any of the goodies or anything if they want any. lemonis: add. okay, now i want to check out. checking it back after i was checking out. lauren: yeah, i saw that. lemonis: it's not a great website. it's kind of ironic to be in silicon valley and have the website sort of be...average. well, i was hoping that i would find an unbelievable technology platform that would allow any product to be delivered through that infrastructure. i placed an order online. -christina: mm-hmm. -lemonis: it wasn't easy. christina: yeah, it's defini

lemonis: how are you doing? i'm marcus. keith: marcus. keith lyden. lemonis: nice to meet you, keith. how you doing? dean: i'm good. dean lyden. -nice to meet you. -lemonis: dean, how are you? keith: my brother. lemonis: oh, this is your brother? okay. when did you start the business? keith: 2004. lemonis: and who put in all the money? keith: all the finance came from me. think we're up to about $160,000. lemonis: $160,000? dean: originally, i had some screening equipment and some sign software, but not much. he primarily got us going financially. lemonis: and what is the equity split? 70/30? -keith: 50/50. -lemonis: 50/50. dean: i had a graphics background and i had been doing this. i didn't have the financing to do it, so it was a perfect match. lemonis: so, you have a good brother, right? dean: if you can't trust your family, -who can you trust, right? -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, wha

my name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses.e'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." ♪ amazing grapes is a combination wine bar and store in southern california. when i first visited, amazing grapes did just under $3 million in revenue. but it was anything but successful. the store was bursting with inventory that wasn't selling. why is there crap everywhere? -too much inventory? -man: exactly. lemonis: and the bar, which had the best margins, was relegated to a hidden corner in the store. after nine years, the owners were still looking for a winning formula. man: we have never seen a profit from this store. lemonis: i actually thought it might be better to just shut the doors. i don't know that i have a deal to make. cut your losses, liquidate your inventory, pay your vendo

>> 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. >> if they don't make changes,

my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses. i'm willing to write a "half a million dollar" check. i make tough decisions. i'm not willing to do the deal if you're in charge of sales. back them up with my own cash. it's not always pretty. i'll take the shower. jen, you take the toilet. >> i don't do the toilet in my own house. really? >> but this is business. i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. this the profit. [upbeat music] ♪ eco-me is an all-natural cleaning product started by robin kay levine in 2006. with the partnership of her childhood friend jen mihajlov, a 12% owner, they built eco-me up from a small, do-it-yourself cleaning kit to a 17-piece cleaning line, including dog-grooming products. this product is sold nationwide at stores like whole foods and target, and last year they did a half a million dollars in sales, with only six employees. i personally use this product in my own home and find that it works extremely well. to stay in business, robin has leveraged friends and family to find every penny she c

. >> 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