lemonis: how you doing? i'm marcus. josh: josh. nice to meet you. lemonis: nice to meet you. : hi, marcus. julius. lemonis: julius, nice to meet you. julius: this is angela. angela: hi, marcus. lemonis: really nice to meet you. how long has the business been here? julius: in april, it will be 20 years. lemonis: in this location? julius: in this location, yeah. lemonis: but the company has existed for how long? michael: 1954. lemonis: and when did you guys buy it? michael: 16 years ago. we do kind of three businesses in one, so we have the retail shop. second one is online, and then the third one is a wholesale business where we sell to restaurants and hotels. we have 5,000 restaurants in manhattan that we can sell to. lemonis: how many do you service? michael: probably, like, 65, so 0.1%. lemonis: oh. a little smaller than i thought it would be. michael: yeah, but it still... lemonis: did you lose customers over the years? michael: that's the area that's, you know, spikes and valleys, depending on where we are in the time frames. lemonis: how many types of cheese are there? an

i could have just walked away completely at that point, marcus. lemonisd no control, and you 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? lem

jennifer: that's my baby, marcus. lemonisat'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

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

tom: hey, marcus. lemonisto go over that tailgate trailer that you guys were working on. tom: yes. lemonis: with the waycross facility getting sorted out, i wanted to head back to tampa to see what tom and nancy were working on. i gave them the task of coming up with a new product, and them working together is important to me. tom: all right, let me pull up the file here. lemonis: and so, did you do the sketches on these? tom: yeah, i did the sketches on these. i did a -- nancy: hey, guys. lemonis: what? amber: i can't get past your khaki pants. [ laughs ] nancy: hey, do me a favor. walk through the shop there and grab the guys, okay? real quick -- i want to go ahead and pass this out and let everybody take a look at it, okay? and then we're gonna go into some [bleep] right now. you see, this is a customer-service order. there's an imaginary tammy that works for this company in one of our dealers that he will not allow me to meet! whose phone number is tammy's?! whose number is this on tammy's piece of paper?

lemonis: i'm marcus. brad: brad. nice to meet you. trevor: trevor. s: 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, w

steve: marcus. lemonis: how are you? steve: i'm great. lemonis: are you steven?teve: i'm steve grafton. lemonis: nice to meet you. i was just trying out some of your furniture. steve: nice. lemonis: who do you primarily make your furniture for? steve: interior designers. lemonis: and so, a customer cannot come here and buy this stuff? steve: this is stuff that i've had from years ago, and i just put this showroom together over the last 6 to 9 months. and what i need is to merchandise this with current inventory that we sell today. lemonis: why do you laugh, stevie? stevie: now i know exactly what you were thinking. it's funny. amber: what was marcus thinking when he walked in? stevie: why all this? what is all this garbage here? amber: not garbage. stevie: no, but, like, older things that are clearly not things we're trying to sell. they're just over the years still have... amber: but this was also 5 years -- in all fairness, this was five years ago, so styles have changed. were you thinking... lemonis: what did it have to do with collecting a bunch of crap in a

lemonis: i'm marcus. breanne: breanne. lemonis: nice to meet you. breanne: nice to meet you. cey: marcus! thank you! it's so exciting you're here! lemonis: nice to meet you. lacey: i'm really happy you're here. thank you. lemonis: this is really cool. and the two of you own it together? lacey: yes. breanne: we do, along with my stepdad. lemonis: so, what would you guys call yourself? are you a van-conversion company? breanne: yeah, we're a van-conversion company or camper-van-upfitting company. lacey: or a dream-builder company is what i like to call it. lemonis: do you guys convert shells? is that how i should think about it? breanne: yes, so... lemonis: is this an example of one? breanne: exactly. yeah. so, a customer calls us, and they tell us what van they have, and then we work with them based on that. so we don't actually buy the vans. we work with the customers' vans, and we upfit them. lemonis: okay. breanne: this is our personal van. all of it is aftermarket. the inside is our conversion. lemonis: and when you say that's your van, that's the company van? that's kind o

lemonis: i'm marcus. nice to meet you. naim: pleasure. nice to meet you. you connect with them? travis: our office used to be two blocks away. lemonis: okay. travis: we came across this building, walked in, and said, "hey. how's it going?" within five minutes, we were creating a new watch. [ laughter ] damn it! amber: within five minutes. travis: there's so much good stuff in this. wow. i was so goddamn honest. lemonis: yeah. so why did you make decisions like that? travis: i really just wanted something to happen [snapping fingers] quickly, you know? i was impatient. lemonis: as they developed new products and they would come, sit down with you, show you a sketch. i want to see that whole process. naim: yeah. let's do a tour. so this is a family-run business. we've been doing this for about 15 years and all their product is here. i ship it out for them. lemonis: pause. this particular moment was the instant that i knew that i did not want to invest in the watch business. i was investing in them. brad: and this is the moment we thought we lost the deal. tr

lemonis: okay. barb: thank you, marcus. ♪ lemonis: what's up? barb: hi, marcus. how are you? s this your commercial setup? kurt: it is. lemonis: any time i go and invest in a business, i'm looking for the people, the process, and the product. i clearly love the people, and the product is amazing, but it's still unclear to me what the process is, so i wanted to visit their commercial kitchen to understand how they develop ideas and how they bring them to market. kurt: so because the oat milk market is really growing... lemonis: yeah. kurt: ...you know, there's some that we've worked with before. these guys are local, so they're willing to kind of work with us on, like, size. lemonis: califia is in california. kurt: they're here in l.a. lemonis: you got a hibiscus, a green, a coffee, and a thai. what's the next flavor? kurt: i have an ube latte kegged and ready to go. lemonis: that [bleep] is purple. kurt: yeah, so you see how that comes out. lemonis: feel like i'm drinking barney. [ laughter ] is there oat milk in here? kurt: that one is almond and coconut. that's what we've be

my name is marcus lemonis, and this is an inside look at "the profit." man: [ speaking indistinctly ] woman: rolling. lemonis: now, the reason that i brought john on is because he has seen and experienced everything in the tiny-home world, except what i've gone through, and i know you have a lot of questions. john: yeah. lemonis: are the questions gonna be like, "why did i do a deal here?" john: maybe. no, no, we'll see. lemonis: oh, this is gonna be good. john: alright. so many questions, let's start. lemonis: with my ownership in camping world, i've been in the rv space for over a decade now, and i feel that investing in tumbleweed would allow me to make a huge splash in the tiny-home market. amber: marcus, why were you interested in tiny homes? was it because of the rv business? lemonis: no, i think i was mostly interested because i saw the parallel between my primary business, camping world. john: what do you think the biggest difference between an rv and a tiny house is? lemonis: the quality of craftsmanship. john: 100%. lemonis: that a tiny home is

i'm marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to help businesses. love investing in american businesses. woman #2: i work here because i care. lemonis: it's not always easy, but i do it to create jobs, and i do it to make money. do we have a deal? let's rock and roll. man: yeah! lemonis: this is "the profit." ♪ i've always been interested in investing in the multi-billion-dollar leather industry because it allows for great margins and great sell-through. about a year ago, i received an application from a company called lumillamingus, which was started about 6 years ago and continues to struggle. how are you? lulu: hi! i'm great. how are you? lemonis: i'm marcus. lulu: oh, it's so nice to meet you. lemonis: are you lulu? lulu: thanks for coming. i am lulu. lemonis: nice to meet you. where are you from? lulu: guess. lemonis: wherever heidi klum is from. lulu: no, denmark. she's from germany. lemonis: okay. lulu: yeah. lemonis: it's not that far. lulu: close enough, close enough. so this is actually the production facility, and they have a couple of dif

sam: i'm fabulous, marcus. lemonis: what's new? sam: oh, lots of good stuff. s strange that sam was acting pretty perky, as if nothing had changed or nothing at all had happened. it smells like a marshmallow factory now. i don't smell all the spices. what's happening? alexa: the smell! lemonis: your hair is different. oh, no! hold on. amber: her hair is different. oh, god. no, i'm not eating that. i'm not playing this game. lemonis: i would have thought that they would have said something like, "hey, do you remember your favorite employee, the one you decided to give equity to that we all loved? well, she's gone." i saw dede. she quit? sam: she quit. lemonis: okay. why did she quit? sam: not everyone is set out to be an entrepreneur. lemonis: i thought she was a great employee. alexa: she was a good employee. sam: she was a good employee. alexa: and then we were discussing going to take a loan. sam: it was our understanding that she wasn't comfortable with that. lemonis: did you ask her to sign the paperwork and she wouldn't? sam: no, we did not. we actually st

lemonis: i'm marcus. lisa: how are you doing? lemonis: nice to meet you.l me what's going on here. cory: okay, so today we actually have a pop-up shop and customers come, they get a cookie. they sit down and wait for their car. lemonis: are we generating revenue? or are you giving them away? cory: the company buys them and then we give them. lemonis: very smart. whose idea was that? cory: both of our ideas. lemonis: okay. now more importantly, i love cookies. cory: so you got to try them. lemonis: so i'm a really tough judge, though. cory: okay. okay. i got you. lemonis: okay. cory: okay, this is the chocolate chip. they're all natural, and they have no preservatives added. lemonis: the chocolate chip was amazing. cory: thank you. second, this is a double dark. this is like the brownie. nice and soft in the middle. lemonis: it's delicious. cory: and sugar cookies. lemonis: is there orange in this cookie? orange peel? cory: it's a secret recipe. lemonis: okay. let me just tell you right now. lisa: oh, no. lemonis: if we do a deal, i'm gonna need to know the

lemonis: what's happening? i'm marcus. taylor: what's up? taylor. nice to meet you. nis: taylor, nice to meet you. parker: parker. good to meet you, yeah. lemonis: so, is this your house? parker: yeah, i live here. taylor: this is the place of residence. lemonis: where's the office? taylor: right here. lemonis: and what is this batmobile? taylor: this is a car that i made a bet with a big youtuber that if he could sell 20,000 pairs of socks, i'd give him my car. he ended up selling like 18,000 pairs, and it brought him like $500,000 of revenue. i got to keep the car. lemonis: what do you when it rains? taylor: umbrella. nah, i just take an uber. lemonis: so, this is the headquarters? taylor: this is it. we'll do a couple million dollars out of here. here's a box of socks. so, it would be nine pairs. lemonis: what's one pair of socks sell for? taylor: depending how discounts -- we always have discounts floating -- they sell for anywhere from $7 to $15. lemonis: and what's the cost? taylor: it's $2. lemonis: what does the box sell for? taylor: that sells for 100 bucks.

my name is marcus lemonis, and i fix failing businesses.f you think that i can launch you in a direction to make you a profit, then you should do a deal with me. i make tough decisions... how am i supposed to trust you? and back them up with my own cash. it's not always pretty. i have to know for sure that the partner that i have has the same goals as i do. this is business. i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. this the profit. [hip-hop music] ♪ sharla mcbride started planet popcorn with a single cart and 250 bucks. 13 years later, they now have 30 employees, three flavors, products ranging from kettle corn to churros to crepes. their popcorn sells at fairs and farmers markets all over southern california. but the bulk of her money is generated through downtown disney. planet popcorn generates $2.5 million in revenue, but it still can't turn a profit. this year, they're about $200,000 in debt. sharla's mother has mortgaged her house and loaned the business almost $200,000 to keep planet popcorn afloat. planet popcorn is an all-c

[laughter] >> by the time he's done. >> yeah. >> have you guys met marcus lemonis? 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 other, es

at 7:30, the path forward, your business with marcus lemonis we'll talk about the challenges facing independent us your questions. >>> american smul business anxiously awatsi ingawaiting th relief bill. tha they've got that passage one sector was left out. we'll tell you when we return. we see harnessing natural gas unleashing the promise of clean energy. at emerson, when issues become inspiration, creating a better world isn't just a result, it's a responsibility. emerson. consider it solved. there's one thing you can be sure of. they're changing by the nanosecond. that's why cognizant created a unique engineering approach to design and build new digital products. learn how cognizant softvision designs experiences and engineers outcomes. ♪ cool. ♪ that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. [ sigh ] not gonna happen. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment please... [ finger snaps ] hmm. the kohler walk-in bath features an extra-wide opening and a low step-in at three inches, which is 25 to 60%

lemonis: i'm good. i'm marcus. ethan: yeah, welcome. nice to see you. lemonis: what is your name?: i'm ethan. lemonis: ethan, nice to meet you. this is cool. ethan: yeah. lemonis: so, smithfly, tell me a little bit about the company. are you a fly fisherman? ethan: oh, yeah. and i was just frustrated with what was on the market at the time. i started doing some of my own design work. so, this was the core product line, which is based on kind of the military concept of modular packs and bags. like, this is molle webbing, which stands for modular lightweight, load-bearing equipment. you can mount multiple pouches, too. i sort of introduced it to the fly fishing side of things. so, like, i brought it to them. lemonis: so, what is this bag used for? ethan: uh, so, it holds tippets, spools, and like, fly boxes and kind of everything you need to be on the water to fish. lemonis: this is for fly fishing. ethan: mm-hmm. yep. lemonis: and are these straps right here? ethan: those are for, like, a belt. but the cool part is, straps mount to here or a padded like waist belt that you can moun

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

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