salena: yeah. ♪ lemonis: i'm marcus. cody: hey, marcus. how you doing, man? 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 businesses and seen what you've done. and for everything i've researched about you... lemonis: yeah. cody: ...i don't know if you're about the businesses anymore. like, are you just gonna turn this into a glorified chain skateboard store in the malls and stuff? lemonis: are you concerned that, if someone like me, that some monster, got involved, that it would lose its authenticity? cody: you could just come in and say, "oh, we're just about the dollar now." lemonis: is that what you think about me? cody: i t

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

-jack: hey, marcus. lemoniseck on the progress of their lower-priced gazebo for true value. -you had your baby. -simon: yes, i did. lemonis: congratulations, my man. what's happening? damion: myself and jack got the true value gazebo ready, built. lemonis: you did? damion: i'll show you it if you like. lemonis: okay. and so what changed? damion: the furniture and the inside of the roof. lemonis: and i love the way that looks. what's the inside of the roof? damion: so, before, it was the tongue-and-groove boards, like this, and now we've done a weatherproof, marine plyboard. lemonis: what did simon think of it? damion: he wasn't over the moon about was -- lemonis: that's too much of a cutting of a corner. what happened since i left? damion: we were all on board, and simon goes to england, so i had to run the business, get these made. lemonis: did you communicate with him? damion: yeah. sent him pictures. lemonis: he ignored you? damion: he could have just checked in a bit more. lemonis: we're getting back to the

lemonis: i'm ready to work. there you go. j: marcus-made. monis: now, it goes without saying that before i invest any money in any business, i need to have confidence in the product. -i love the concept. -j: thank you. lemonis: the bread was nice and soft. -the lobster meat -- great. -j: thank you. lemonis: why'd you start the business? j: when i was in l.a. in 2008, i pursued opening my own bar-restaurant. lemonis: where'd you get the money to open that? j: my dad gave me my part. he lost a little over $300,000 when it was all said and done. i was having partner issues. that was back when i was living in l.a. and trying to be the l.a. lifestyle. lemonis: so what does that mean -- "living the l.a. lifestyle?" j: everyone has to have a bmw, an audi, nicest clothes, go to the nicest restaurants. lemonis: were you living that lifestyle? -you were spending money? -j: yeah. lemonis: why'd you start this business? j: because i was so frustrated with that business, but i knew i still loved the food industry. lemonis: how much money did you invest to

lemonis: i'm marcus. brad: brad. nice to meet you. trevor: trevor. lemonis: trevor, nice to meet you. travis: i'm travis. lemonis: how are you? what are you guys doing? brad: just going over inventory. lemonis: is this the whole office? travis: you're looking at it. and then the warehouse is downtown. lemonis: okay. are those the watches? travis: yeah. so, we, basically, started with an interchangeable watch. so the face pops out of the band -- pull back, pop up. lemonis: it's a cool watch. what does a watch like that sell for? travis: $35. lemonis: these are nice looking watches at a great price point. travis: we wanted to do an accessory that was bright, that could match with all all different things -- hats, shoes. lemonis: this is a comfortable watch. travis: it's lightweight. it's durable. initially we had 10 colors. each color represented a different charity, that we partnered with to give back 10%. lemonis: that's pretty slick. travis: yeah, right? trevor: we wanted to do something different, and no one was doing charity in the the watch space.

-lemonis: congratulations. -dan: thank you, marcusnis: so, i wanted to get 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:

bernadette: nice to meet you, marcus. lemonis: nice to meet you. adette: thank you for being here. lemonis: i thought it may be a good idea for the three of us to go outside and talk, just, away from everybody. bernadette: yeah. lemonis: is that okay? let's head out. you have kids? bernadette: two. they're in there. lemonis: oh, they are? bernadette: yeah, stocked up with snacks and games. lemonis: how old are they? bernadette: 5 and 7. lemonis: what's the year been like for you? bernadette: we've worked really hard, and i'd hate to see what we've worked for, um, disappear. lemonis: he smiles a lot. bernadette: he does. lemonis: is that a real smile, or is that just for show? bernadette: it's a real smile. steve: i smile when i'm stressed, i smile when i'm nervous, and i smile when i'm happy. lemonis: well, that's good. steve: it's my default position. [ laughs ] lemonis: how hard has this been on him? bernadette: incredibly difficult. a lot of questioning himself. steve: i have taken a huge risk just to get here today, and i've pushed myself to the

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: i'm marcus. howard: marcus, i'm howard. the nice guy, usually, and this is robyn, my partner. robyn: i'm robyn. lemonis: hey, robyn, how are you? nice to meet you. robyn: nice to meet you, marcus. lemonis: so how long have you guys been in business? robyn: 20 years. lemonis: how did you guys get in business together? howard: we knew each other since high school. lemonis: okay. howard: best friends. robyn: this is my ex-husband. we have two human children, and bowery kitchen is our first child. lemonis: you guys are 50-50? robyn: yes, absolutely. lemonis: who's in charge, between the two of you? robyn: howie. howard: i would say me. robyn: only because it's just like howie maybe started the business, but i'm not allowed to touch the knife wall. howard: yeah. lemonis: this place is big. howard: yeah, we can take you around and show you. lemonis: i would love to see. how many square feet is it? robyn: 4,000 square feet. lemonis: it looks kind of junky to me. customer comes in, no directional signage. howard: "holy [bleep] look

my name is marcus lemonis,

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,

-sam: it's deep, marcus. lemonis: i'm sorry. then you can walk away. annot -- -lemonis: mark, i'm telling you, for me to move forward with you, i need to understand it. mark: i don't know. mark: so our new collection, we tried to go with a traditional look with a little modern touch to it. scott: it may be beautiful, but we're not gonna see the results in sales that we all are hoping for. 'm telling you, for me to move forward with you, i need to understand it. what happened that causes you not to trust people? mark: i don't know. lemonis: i'm sorry that i'm making you do this, but i need to understand it. mark: i guess -- my parents got divorced... [ clears throat ] um... ...and a lot of fighting. lemonis: between them? mark: not my parents. lemonis: another family member. mark: yeah. it was just -- any time i was trying to do something, it really was, "oh, that's not it, you need to do something else. that's not gonna work, do this." or it's just telling me things about my looks or like "what's wrong with you?" and that still sticks in my head. lemoni

lemonis: let her know marcus is here. woman: okay. lemonis: thank you. 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 residential.

sammy: marcus, i don't want you to feel that way. lemonis: i do feel that way. mmy: we'll make it right, marcus. i-i promise. lemonis: honestly, i think we have to close. sammy: [ sighs ] when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. do not use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. including worsening of symptoms. serious allergic reactions can occur. now's your chance at completely clear skin. just as

good morning, marcus. lemonis: what's happening? colas: i made a new 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: hi, michael. marcus. michael: hey, marcus. e-mail that is quite concerning. so i wanted to give michael a call and find out what the heck's going on. the e-mail that i'm reading says that you specifically are making changes to the package that is slowing the process down. michael: we have to have the back of the container correct. lemonis: michael, i cannot believe that this product is not ready yet. i cannot believe it. it's got to be ready by sunday. i asked michael to make sure that the bottles were done and ready and produced for bronner. but now i'm hearing that he's making changes to them, slowing down the process and putting the process at risk. and this is a good example of him not being focused on one task. this is a big deal. it's a big deal for you. it's a big deal for me. you're confident that this stuff will be done for the event? michael: oh, yeah. i'm very confident it will be done for the event. lemonis: okay, buddy. i'm looking forward to seeing it. i'm excited. michael: yes. lemonis: see you there. michael: a

-lemonis: jack, i'm marcus. -jack: it's nice to meet you. -richard: he's our man here. gs 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 ric

bita: hi, marcus. lemonis: hey, how are you? this place is huge. bita: i know. monis: what is your name? bita: hi. bita. lemonis: bita? parker: parker. lemonis: parker? nice to meet you. what's special about the coffee? bita: it's roasted in-house. we have our roaster over there. lemonis: that's what that smell is. it's so strong. bita: we do also import as well. so, we have a whole warehouse that we can walk you through. lemonis: okay. great. i've been to a number of coffee "shops", but i didn't expect to see a giant window and 10,000 square feet of coffee beans piled to the ceiling. i didn't expect to see a roaster in the middle of the room. it was a mecca epicenter of coffee. steve: marcus. steve sims. lemonis: steve, how you doing? steve: great to meet you. lemonis: nice to meet you. lemonis: dude, i love your beard, bro. your beard is awesome. steve: thank you. lemonis: if you ever shave it off, you're gonna go out of business. steve: yeah, exactly. lemonis: what makes you different from the other big coffee people? steve: number one, we only source high-end

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. eet 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. lemo

chris: hey, marcus. lemonis: so, the raw materials come in here. who schedules the workflow that happens? chris: i schedule every order that comes through. lemonis: so who's in charge of sales? -mike: me. -lemonis: who generates the actual sale order, the quote? mike: i do. lemonis: and who makes sure that it's priced properly? chris: i created the pricing tool, and mike said, "these prices are too high." mike: i'm trying to be competitive to -- to get sales in the door. lemonis: so you're inefficient, and you're priced below market, which means you have high costs and no margin. death spiral. the guy who's manufacturing the product and knows all the numbers isn't allowed to price the product? we're gonna let the salesman price it? not a good idea. are these organized in a way or would you say it's a little jacked-up right now? chris: it's not too bad. lemonis: it doesn't look super-organized to me. disorganized materials equals loss of time, which equals loss of labor, which means money is leaking out the door. i see boxes everywhere. i see piles o

chris: thank you, marcus. lemonisince 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, man. how you bee

lemonis: what's happening? i'm marcus. -mary ellen: hi, i'm mary ellen. -lemonis: mary ellen.mary ellen: nice to meet you. -mary lou: mary lou. -lemonis: mary lou. chuck: call me chuck. lemonis: chuck, nice to meet you. -chuck: pleasure to meet you. -charlie: charlie. lemonis: okay, so you guys are brother and sister. -mary ellen: yes. -lemonis: is this your dad? -charlie: correct. -chuck: c.e.o., designer. charlie: when i go home, at the dinner table, he's my old man. he's my dad. i love him to death. in business, it's chuck because i'm going to get a little emotional. lemonis: and who's in charge? charlie: i kind of run the show. mary ellen: i mean, the loudest person usually does. lemonis: the loudest person. charlie: i think everyone can agree. -mary lou: no. -mary ellen: [ scoffs ] charlie: everyone comes to me. i'm the one person that you all communicate to. lemonis: and whose name's on the door? -chuck: oh, my name. -lemonis: okay. just wanted to clarify that. it doesn't say, "swim by charlie handy." chuck: no. lemonis: do you have a business card? charlie: yes. lemonis

my name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. we're not going to wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. we're going to wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. it's not always pretty. everything's going to change. everything. but i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. this... let go to work. ...is "the profit." ♪ it's hard to believe that i've been doing "the profit" for several years now. and i've done a lot of deals with a ton of businesses. we have a deal? we got a deal. partner? i think most people are under the impression that if the deal ends well, then it's, like, "millions for everybody! and it's going to be great." wow. congratulations, guys. thanks again. get your ass to work. it just wasn't true. i'm not sure who to be pissed at -- myself for doing the deal, or you guys for letting this stuff just sit here. in order to understand how i look at wins and losses, i have to probably define for you how i look at them. a "win" isn't always about money. it can be somebody's personal de

[laughter] >> by the time he's done. >> yeah. >> have you guys met marcus lemonis?laughter] >> private label products like 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-h

. >> 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

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

-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

my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses. this business will never function well under the "green tea" name. i make tough decisions... >> it was a mistake. >> this is never gonna happen again. and back them up with my own cash. that's a real check, by the way. it's not always pretty... >> do you want to come over here? >> no. >> but this is business. i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. this the profit. [upbeat music] ♪ this week, i'm going to keyport, new jersey, a town that was devastated by hurricane sandy in 2012. i'm going to meet the owners of mr. green tea, a gourmet ice cream company. for nearly 50 years, mr. green tea has been hand-crafting exotic ice cream flavors and supplying the asian restaurant trade in new york city. >> so delicious. >> way ahead of their time, mr. green tea was producing flavors like green tea, ginger, and red bean. this family business was founded by richard's dad, santo emanuele, in 1968, who ran it with richard's older brother, james. richard's dad passed away, and then his brot

lemonis. it is a pleasure to have you -- marcus.ut in order for these businesses to be successful or not in the long term, real business has to happen like, after the cameras go away. that brings us to rule 8, it's all about follow-through. i think people have this -- this misconception that i'm going to come in and run their business for them. i'm not there to run your business, i'm there to push you along and point out things to you so that you could do it when i'm gone. and there has to be consistency and a following of that process, not the day after or the month after, but years after. seems pretty straightforward to me. and yet, i have to grapple with this lack of consistency and follow-through again and again and again. -i can't be here every day. -i know. and these people want a leader and i don't know if you have what it takes. lemonis: the business has a ton of potential. i think the worry i have and i didn't tell this to anybody else, is that i don't think you want to do it. i want to see them get their systems in order.

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

much this helped our family >> you know, that's a big deal for me >> that is the profit with marcus lemonis. eastern time and pacific. "squawk on the street" is back in a moment. i'm sue herera here's your cnbc news update charlie rose has been suspended by three networks following accusations by eight women that he sexually harassed them. rose apologized in a statement while saying some charges are inaccurate cbs colleague gail king addressed the issue today on cbs this morning >> what do you say when someone that you deeply care about has done something that is so horrible how do you wrap your brain around that? i'm really grappling with that that said, charlie does not get a pass here. >> federal prosecutors are charging an iranian nafl in the hbo hacking case the u.s. attorney's office in new york says the man allegedly tried to extort hbo for $6 million in bitcoin after obtaining unreleased information, including skriments for the hit series "game of thrones. >> an explosion at a new york state cosmetics factory has killed one worker and injured 33 more, including seven firefighters wh

. >>> hey, everybody i'm marcus lemonis from cnbc's "the profit. i have your first look at the new season of my show. >> the business is upside down, insolvent to the tune of 1-6, okay >> how did all this get funded >> originally the customers were paying up front. >> essentially kansas financed this whole business. >> also in addition, i put some money in that was $1,500 >> 1,500 bucks >> correct >> okay. from an outsider's perspective looking in, you put very little money in the business. whatever money the business made, you took out the hole in this business is 1-6. that's not even to provide any more working capital, that's to get the payables current and all the debt paid off. where you're sitting today is in a business that quite frankly is out of business. and i have a real problem with the fact that you took $600,000 out of the business in a business that's growing. why did you take it all out? >> i didn't see this coming. i didn't know it was going to happen >> is this really a smoke and mirrors business >> no, we have a real product. >>