i could have just walked away completely at that point, marcus. lemonisou are leaving here today because nobody is paying your bills. thank you for coming. mike: i wish you the best. lemonis: yeah. good luck to you. ♪ mike is now gone for good, and so is paul, by the way. he hung around for awhile and tried to work on little things, but in the end, it didn't work out, and candidly, it's probably for the best. now, they're still technically investors and my partners, but that's in the name only, not the operations. ♪ travis: so this is where we're standing here. this is gone now. lemonis: in an effort to drive more traffic to farrell's, we are redoing the entire floor plan to allow customers that just want to enjoy ice cream without food to come. we're expanding the entire candy store to improve the retail area, and we're adding a candy-making space, and we're also extending the ice cream bar. ♪ if everything goes according to plan, we'll be open in the next two weeks. ♪ hey, guys. how are you? shauna: hey. shauna: good. how are you? lemonis: good to see y

jeff: thanks, marcus. lemonis: you got it. taylor: thank you, marcus. 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, co

lemonis: why don't we head over there. tony: thank you, marcus. thank you. nis: as i drove an hour and a half from new york city to his distribution facility, it dawned on me that, yeah, this is one of the problems. you're not in the business of delivering food, and you're spending 3, 4 hours a day driving. tony: can you just rinse this out real quick? hey, marcus. lemonis: oh, hey. tony: so, this is bill. this is actually my wife, stephanie. lemonis: oh, hi. tony: she's transitioning jobs, so she's helping us out. lemonis: you mean she's saving your ass? tony: i mean, yeah. lemonis: okay. as wives normally do, right? tony: absolutely. she's the boss. lemonis: and so what is this area? tony: this is where our deep freezers are. so this is like... lemonis: and all they do is get made in here? tony: yep. lemonis: and then they pop out and go into the bag? tony: correct. all these hold different flavors. so this is the yeti tracks, and this is what they're pulling from for delivery. lemonis: what's in this one? tony: it should be green tea, but we're making gree

-lemonis: i'm marcus. -gary: i'm gary. lemonis: gary, nice to meet you.his 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 people

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

jennifer: that's my baby, marcus. lemonis's your baby. [ both laugh ] chandler: depends on the day. lemonis: i love the passion and the commitment that she has to what she makes with her hands. you want to invest in people, you invest in people that have passion like that. chandler: i guess my position is, i'm just trying to find a way to do that super high quality responsibly as we grow. lemonis: but what do you mean, as you grow? chandler: i mean, we need more locations. lemonis: why? chandler: because we've got to achieve some sort of scale, because even though it is a little riskier to go to another store, it creates cash flow stability. i think about 100 stores in more densely populated areas. i don't think we can do enough in sales out of here to support two families. lemonis: i'm seeing the first conflict, with chandler wanting to open up stores all over the world, and mom falling in love with what she's making in lexington, kentucky. i don't know how those two worlds could actually come together. how are you, sir? i'm

lemonis: i'm marcus. brad: brad. nice to meet you. trevor: trevor. nis: 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. so,

lemonis: amanda, marcus. amanda: hey, marcus. you guys got ransacked. what the...? geez, what did i...? and this is a real person named mackenzie book. amanda: is it important to you guys hi, i'm mac book. so mac, which laptop lasts longer? surface laptop lasts longer. hmm, interesting. and which one's faster? this one's faster. really? amazing. which one has a better touchscreen? the surface has a better touchscreen. because it actually has a touchscreen. oh, right. macs don't have touchscreens. you should get a surface. trust me, i'm mac book. well, there you have it. mac book says, "get a surface." there's so much scent in new gain scent blast detergent... ...you'll either love it or... mmm... i guess not. new gain scent blast. love it or hate it. it's intense. we really pride ourselves on >> temaking it easy for youass, to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait

-lemonis: well, sam. -sam: well, marcus. xcuse 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. ♪ but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too

-katie: bye, marcus. -lemonis: bye. ♪ is it warmer in here than it was in there even? h. the thing is the press runs at 390 degrees, so it's always hot. lemonis: yeah, but, i mean, they could pump some cool air in here. marci: it would be a little more enjoyable. lemonis: it's odd to me that marci is out in the warehouse standing and working with this very hot machine -- i mean, really hot. and right on the other side of the wall are a bunch of guys sitting in cubicles with plenty of light and plenty of air conditioning. so what is -- is this printed on paper? marci: yeah. so, this is printed on special paper. lemonis: okay. the girls inside were telling me that the business is somewhat disorganized. marci: it is a little frustrating, though, to kbe able to make payroll.hint lemonis: as opposed to getting on the phone, -selling, making money. -marci: mm-hmm. fishing is more important. i actually have a video on my phone of a friday afternoon i think you would probably find pretty interesting. so this is just me. it's a quarter after 1:00. let's go see what's going on in

-lemonis: jack, i'm marcus. -jack: it's nice to meet you. -richard: he's our man here. s 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 rich that michael deserves equity.

lemonis: lilian, nice to meet you. lilian: yeah. peter? peter: hi, marcus. i'm peter. lemonis: peter, nice to meet you. i'm marcus. r: 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 murchison-

ben: hi, marcus. lemonis: how you doing? i'm marcus. -ben: nice to meet you. ice 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 frustratin

petros: nice to meet you, marcus. lemonisou've been in the chocolate business for how many years? -george: almost 40 years. lemonis: and how long ago did you meet? eleni: 39 years ago. he was in greece. lemonis: oh, you were in greece. who are these pictures of? -zoe: that's my mom's parents. petros: yeah, and a little push cart in baltimore. zoe: in baltimore, where they were hand-rolling chocolates, and my dad came over. he learned the trade. george: i love to work for my kids. lemonis: it's nice to have your children support you. george: oh, yes. i think that's the most important, to love each other. lemonis: this place is -- it got a lot bigger. -petros: yeah, right. -lemonis: it goes back even -- petros: it goes back farther, yeah. lemonis: holy... petros: this is the kitchen, where we manufacture everything. lemonis: oh, my gosh. i just want to see the process. petros: so we're boiling the cream, and we have our raw chocolate, a little butter. lemonis: can i stir it? oh, yeah. petros: so this is gonna cool. after it coo

lemonis: marcus. christine: hi, marcus. christine. lemonis: nice to meet you.ne: this is thom. thom: hello. lemonis: hi, thom. i'm marcus. thom: marcus, nice to meet you. lemonis: nice to meet you. how long have you been in business? thom: i bought it in 1995. in fact, when i bought it, it was three people, and there's almost 50 people here now. my son is our sales manager. lemonis: how long has your son been in the business? thom: six years now. lemonis: how's that working? thom: well, the -- one of the things that we did was, when we started this, we said he doesn't report to me because there's always family dynamics that come into play. lemonis: you guys talk about business? thom: no. he doesn't report to me. we have a better balanced communication. lemonis: uh-huh. can i get a tour... thom: absolutely lemonis: ...see inside? thom: why don't we start off over here on the welding side? ♪ lemonis: what gets manufactured in this building? thom: all of the ramps, right from zero to finished product. this is what we call a portable access ramp. lemonis: how do pe

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

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. 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

my name is marcus lemonis. i fix failing businesses. this month you lost $150,000. i make tough decisions... you're not gonna come behind every single person and change the deal. >> i didn't agree to this [bleep]. >> and i back them up with my own cash. if you're not gonna put your pride away, well, then i'm not gonna do the deal. it's not always pretty. >> are you okay? >> end it. >> but this is business. you gotta trust the process. i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. >> that's all you. >> yeah, buddy. this the profit. [hip-hop music] ♪ 10 miles outside of my hometown of chicago, located in morton grove, illinois, is the home of athans motors. in 2009, pete athans, a car enthusiast and successful real estate investor, who made millions flipping houses, sunk his entire life savings into building his first car dealership. >> i created a place where you want to hang out, buy a car, sell your car... car's worth 30 all day, wholesale. service your car, or just come by and have a cup of coffee. >> the project took 18 months and cost more than $4 million to