Anthony you think so . Lemonis . He might just get to the top. My name is Marcus Lemonis, and i fix failing businesses. If you dont like money, dont follow my program. I make the tough decisions. Were closing the store. Were done. Im not talking about it anymore. I back them up, spending my own money. Its not always pretty. Man perfect flavor. Lemonis . But this is business. You got to trust the process. I do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. Thanks for your business. This is the profit. Surfside beach is a picturesque resort town. A great place to vacation and a great place to call home. Anthony leggio. [ camera shutter clicks ]. And his girlfriend, kristen christian. Kristen good morning, asl signs. Lemonis . Moved here from long island two years ago to start a family. Anthony i know, you want daddy time. Lemonis . And a business asl signs. Anthony do you want to finish doing this estimate . Kristen oh, yes, please. Anthony oh, boy. Here we go. Lemonis with a 200,000 loan from his dad, louis, anthony was able to get the sign shop up and running quickly. Hes got expensive machinery to make the signs, and the trucks to install them. In their second year of operations, asl generated 300,000 in sales and made a 45,000 profit. Anthony come on. Come on, get some work done. Lemonis but anthony wants more. Much more. Anthony i want to go big. Thats why im here. To make money. Lots of it. Lemonis to get there, hes gonna have to do more than just talk big. Kristen he already told me that he will be in, so. Anthony stop arguing with me. Lets just get it done. Lemonis hes gonna have to start thinking smarter. Anthony i just want a deposit. And if you dont like us or our company, well refund you back the money. Josh yeah, but all of the other sign companies arent doing that. Lemonis as an owner of a lot of businesses, i spend over 1. 5 million a year on signage, and i know that this industry has explosive margins. If i can get anthony to focus on growing strategically while putting the best process in place, all signs point to making millions. Anthony hey. Lemonis how you doing . Anthony mr. Marcus lemonis. Its such a pleasure to finally lemonis are you anthony . Anthony yes, sir, it is. Lemonis nice to meet you. Anthony pleasure to meet you. Lemonis you know what i love about highway 17 . Anthony its a lot of signs . Lemonis [ laughing ] all the signs. Anthony yeah, new signs, we do a lot of. We just did one, the car wash. I dont know if you saw it on the way here. Big l. E. D. Board, it was about 32 grand. We just finished it. Lemonis oh, whoa. Anthony customers really stoked about it. Lemonis now, i dont know your business, and im excited to learn it. And so i know a little bit about it, cause i buy a couple Million Dollars a year worth of signs across all these businesses. Anthony i know a good sign company. Lemonis i know you do. Anthony [ laughs ] lemonis but i got to get comfortable with what youre doing. So, what exactly does asl signs do . Anthony we are a onestop shop manufacturing plant. So we do high volume, low labor. Lemonis banners . Anthony all day long. Lemonis forsale signs . Anthony as many as you need. Lemonis signs on the building . Anthony absolutely. Lemonis backlit, nonlit, frontlit . Anthony yep. Lemonis do you manufacture it . Anthony we manufacture the signs. We manufacture a larger scale of things, bigger things. Lemonis thats what makes you different. Youre not just a sign company. Youre a sign manufacturer. Anthony right. And thats what i try pushing. Lemonis i did not know that. I did not know that. Now im intrigued. Do you like the way this showrooms set up . Anthony i feel comfortable with it. Lemonis the showroom at asl is total chaos. The walls are littered with signs. What im seeing in here, honestly, as i walk in, is i dont know where to look. And in order to tell a story effectively to the customer, you need to be clear and give them options. But you have to do it in a way thats easy to follow. Yeah, thatd be great. How are you . Kristen hi. Lemonis im marcus. Kristen kristen. Lemonis and so, whats your relationship . Kristen this is my boyfriend. Lemonis and where did you guys meet . Anthony new york. Lemonis whos that . Anthony thats this goodlooking guy over here. I even got him on the back of my shirts. Its just a little branding. Lemonis whats asl stand for . Anthony that is actually my initials, anthony sal leggio. Or american sign legion, i like to call it. Kristen [ laughs ] lemonis why are you laughing . Kristen first time ive ever heard the american sign anything. Lemonis it just means hes making it up. Anthony no no, no, no. Ive had that. Lemonis youre totally making that up. Kristen ive never heard you say that, ever. Josh its always been asil to me. Lemonis [ chuckles ] kristen asil. Anthony asil. Kristen [ laughs ] lemonis who made the logo . Kristen josh. Anthony josh. Josh it was supposed to be a joke. Kristen [ laughs ] anthony well, jokes on him because now im using it. Josh now its everywhere. Lemonis and so, what happens when you get married . Does the signcompany name change or. . Anthony [ sighs ] if she wants. Kristen i dont need my face on there. Lemonis you dont need to be doing this . Kristen he can keep that. Lemonis building a brand in any business is the key to success. And building that brand around the owner is not a bad idea, as long as the owner is likeable and relatable. Its nice to meet you, by the way. Josh hey, nice to meet you. Lemonis im marcus. Josh joshua thomas. Lemonis so, you do the designs here . Josh i do all the design work, run the machinery, i do all the production renderings. Lemonis and do you do some of the design yourself as well . Kristen yes. Lemonis and does he . Kristen he tries to. Lemonis shes doing all the work . Anthony all the work. Every little bit of it. Shes doing everything. Lemonis whats mr. Asl do . Josh we like to keep him outside. Lemonis selling. Josh no, not selling. Like, installations. Kristen just doing the work. Lemonis why did everybody say no to you selling . Josh i think a lot of people see him as being overbearing. Kristen yeah. Anthony too much . Kristen hes overwhelming. Anthony i am not. Josh hes a hundred miles an hour. Kristen hes loud. Lemonis so who does sales around here . Anthony us three. Josh yeah, pretty much. Lemonis theyre kind of not including you in that sales loop. Kristen the two of us are always in the office. Most of the time, hes not in the office. Anthony we have a couple salesmen, and this crew right here that i have is phenomenal. Lemonis then how do you guys get paid . You get a salary out of the business . Anthony yeah, i just started taking a salary maybe a month ago, two months ago, now that Bank Accounts starting to fill up. And me and her kristen i dont get paid. Anthony well, she gets paid through my salary. If she needs money, i give it to her. Lemonis uh, let me see if i understand that again. She doesnt get paid. And if she needs something, youll give it to her . Anthony whatever she wants. Thats correct. Lemonis [ scoffs ] its surprising to me that kristen is okay leaving anthony in charge of her personal finances. Shes helping anthony run the company and shes not even getting a check. Anthony well, i just started taking a salary, too. I suffered for a long time, as well. Thank god my father helped me out with a decent amount of stuff. Lemonis is your father in the sign business . Anthony he was a long time ago. Lemonis right. Anthony and he just retired and gave up on it and just sold everything off. Lemonis oh, okay. You know, can we actually look at some of the machinery . Anthony sure, lets go up front. Lemonis anthonys got a great setup. There are machines that can blow up photographs. That can cut letters out of stainless steel. And hes got people that can work with the latest lighting technology. With all this inhouse manufacturing, anthony has to be generating some serious gross profit. Anthony done. Lemonis man, that would take hours to do it the other way. Anthony see, theres no bubbles in it . Lemonis theres nothing. Anthony its 450 bucks. Done. Lemonis whats this cost . Anthony what, 45, maybe . Kristen maybe 45 of labor. Anthony tremendous markup on this. Lemonis okay. If the sign costs 45 to make, and it sells for 450, the margin is 90 . Because anthony makes the signage in house, hes able to retain all of the margin. Seeing numbers like this makes investing in this industry a lot more attractive to me. And so, how does the chain of command here work . Anthony we all try to work very well together. Lemonis whos the boss . Anthony im the boss. I like to be and i hate to say it, i like to say, hey, im the boss, lets just do it the way i want to do it. cause at the end of the day, if i make the mistake, i cant yell at them. Lemonis youre laughing cause you want to say something. Anthony its true. Josh oh, me . Oh, yeah, hes just very stubborn. Hell get upset or frustrated when we say, cant do it that way, man. Anthony i do listen to all parties. Josh he does. But there is a finite line. Okay, im sick of talking about it. Lemonis should be interesting. I still dont quite understand asls process how they generate business and how those orders are executed. So i walked the floor to talk to some of the employees. Man sir, how are you . Lemonis nice to meet you. J. R. how you doing . Lemonis j. R. . Nice to meet you guys. J. R. nice to meet you. Lemonis how do you know where the jobs are . Man 2 we do all the work, so we pretty much know where everythings at. These signs here, i think, came in lemonis so, when these signs come in, do you know what salesperson they belong to . Man 2 no. Man 3 no. Man 2 that we dont know. Lemonis okay. The shop seems very disorganized, so i wanted to talk to the sales team to find out how these jobs come in. Do you know how to follow up on a lead, or. . Edmond i call back. Like, all of these that are here are people that ive talked to that said, call me in a few weeks, call me in this time. Lemonis i feel like 1985 called, and they want their sales prices back. Edmond i know. Mmhmm. Woman its definitely not 100 accurate. Lemonis maybe anthonys father, louis, can shed some light about how anthony runs things around here. Lemonis how much money do you have in here . Louis about 220,000, 225,000. Somewhere. Lemonis for real . Louis yeah. Lemonis he hasnt paid you anything back . Louis no, he has not. Lemonis oh, my gosh. Is there anything that i should know about him, be honest, that would drive me crazy that drives you crazy . Louis im from the old school. Im the old man. So, sometimes he thinks he knows it all, and you have to straighten him out, say, no, you dont know it all. When i was younger, hey, i thought i knew it all, too. Lemonis yeah. Its a terrible sign that anthony doesnt take advice from his father, especially since his father is his banker. I wonder how hes gonna take advice from an outside party . Todd how you doing today . Josh good. How are you . Todd pretty good. I need a sign refurbished. Do you do that . Josh we can do it all, pretty much. What kind of a sign are we talking about . Pirateland resort . Todd main sign out front. Josh okay. Todd so, are you the owner . Josh no. Anthony no, im the owner. Todd whats your name . Anthony anthony. Todd anthony. Todd. How are you . Anthony this is my card, too. Lemonis you would never do that. Todd is your private cellphone on here . Anthony i can put it on there. Kris, do you have a marker, please . Lemonis how do you get the guy to want to come in, other than just giving him a Business Card . Anthony i can offer some, you know, free Business Cards if he signs a sign with us. Thats one of the things lemonis no, no, no, no. Like, he came in to get what . Anthony a reface on a sign. Lemonis okay, so, what could you do right now that would get the guy to realize youre serious . Anthony im thinking. I dont know. Lemonis his business is a mile down the road. Kristen i would go there. Lemonis why are you not going there . Anthony i dont know, marcus. Lemonis this isnt a test. Anthony no, i know. We usually would follow it up tomorrow or the next day. Lemonis i wasnt asking you to change your process, i was asking you to tell me what your process was. Anthony i think we have a good system. Kristen i think he doesnt know what to do. Lemonis i see a customer walk in, i see potential business, and anthonys not doing anything to hustle the sale. Id like to go over the financials with you. Kristen this is the Financial Statements through 12 to 13. Lemonis oh, okay. Lets start with that. How much cash is in the bank right now . Kristen right now, id say about 75,000. Lemonis thats pretty good. Kristen yes. Lemonis and how much in receivables . Kristen in receivables, we have 60,000. Lemonis so, 135,000 in assets. And then how much do you owe people . Credit cards, bank loans . Kristen about 25,000. Lemonis okay. Theres 135,000 on the books between cash and receivables, and theres only 25,000 in debt. For a new business, theyre actually doing pretty good. Any other debt on the books . Kristen just our debt with lou. Lemonis anthonys dad . Kristen anthonys dad, yes. Lemonis okay. And how much is that . Kristen roughly about 200,000. Lemonis and so, i dont see that on the balance sheet. Is that not on your books, but its in reality, or. . Kristen yeah, its not listed within the company. Lemonis okay, so its not a company asset, and its not a company debt. Kristen right. Lemonis so, what im noticing is, pretty good increase in sales. 2012, 105,000. 2013, 278,000. Where are you at year to date now . Kristen right now, were at 441,000. Lemonis okay. And what would you say youre gonna finish at . Kristen im hoping, you know, between 600,000 and 700,000. Lemonis thats pretty good growth. Really good growth, actually. How much is the rent here a month . Kristen 2,000 a month. Lemonis okay. And you guys pay that . Kristen lou gives us 1,000. Lemonis he pays half the rent . Kristen yeah. Lemonis i mean, thank god hes here. I mean, you couldnt have started this business. Kristen no way. Lemonis . Without him. Kristen nope. Lemonis and does he own any shares in the business . Kristen no. Lemonis you and anthony own the equity . Kristen anthony does. Lemonis not you . Kristen no. Lemonis okay. Looks like youre involved in pretty much everything. And youre not getting paid. Kristen right. Lemonis everybody else thinks that theyre just owed something, and you seem to just want to just put your head down and work for it. Kristen yes. Lemonis i dont get that same sense from anthony. Kristen i can only say hell always work as hard as i do. Lemonis yeah. No, no, no. I know him and you are very different. Kristen hes rare. And he loves to have fun. You know, hes not trying to be rude all the time, its just sometimes it comes off that way. But hes really just trying to have fun. Lemonis the problem is, peoples demeanor rub anybody the wrong way, its a problem. His dad had said that hes a knowitall. Kristen mmhmm. Lemonis that can really affect the business. This is a healthy business, and its got real potential to grow and to grow quickly. And with any partner, i need to be comfortable. And i have to be honest, with anthony, i have some real reservations. You guys have done a great job. Anthony thank you. Kristen thank you. Lemonis i mean, think about it. Its a 500,000plus business in 36 months. Anthony yeah, very short period of time. Lemonis youve got money in the bank. Anthony, whyd you call me here . Anthony i called you here because im looking for that next step in my business. I want to deal with a lot of national companies. I dont want to deal with momandpops anymore. With as many businesses that you own and all the people that you know, that you can bring that. Lemonis but for you to say, i want to be your partner because you can bring me all your businesses, we could just have a relationship and you could earn my business. Anthony right. Lemonis we dont have to be partners for us to do that. I dont see a need for me. I dont think youre gonna listen. I think you think you know it all, and so, thats gonna be a challenge for me. Anthony no. You dont know me that much well. Lemonis well, i dont know you that much. But everybody else, including your father, told me youre a knowitall. Anthony well, you shouldnt listen to what everybody else. Like you said, you should listen to what you feel. Lemonis well, i feel that way, too. Yeah, i mean, look, i think you have a bright future. And youre gonna be fine whether im in the deal or not. Youre gonna be fantastic. Youre gonna be in first place. Anthony eventually. Lemonis what is this time thing for you . Anthony im a now type of guy. Lemonis but its a marathon and not a sprint. I want to be in the sign business because i believe that every Single Person needs a sign. So im getting in the sign business. Question is, am i getting in the sign business with you . Lemonis im getting in the sign business. Question is, am i getting in the sign business with you . Anthony you will be. Im gonna prove to you. Lemonis how do i overcome you not being the most process, structureoriented guy . How do i overcome you thinking youre right more often than you are . How do i overcome all that . Anthony well, if youre willing to take a gamble, im willing to prove that to you. Lemonis i dont want to gamble. Thats the wrong closing line. I like to bet on people that i know i can count on. I like you as people. I like your product. I just dont know if i could change the process, cause im not sure youre willing to let that happen. And so, i havent done this. Im not prepared to write a check tonight. Im willing to dedicate time, roll up our sleeves, look at the process, and fix things. And at some point, im either gonna write a check. Anthony or youre not. Lemonis . Or im not. So im gonna put my checkbook away. Anthony mmhmm. Lemonis . But im not walking away. Anthony thats fine. And i respect that. Lemonis okay . All right. Ill see you in the morning. Josh how did it go last night . Kristen it was interesting. Josh like, what kind of interesting . Kristen i guess hes having a hard time with thinking he can do business with anthony, and he thinks hes a knowitall. Josh did he make an offer . Kristen no. Josh i cant believe that he didnt write a check. Anthony he didnt want to write a check, so i think. Louis well, hopefully youll clear up any issues he might have. Anthony you want me to be honest with you . I dont want his money. I dont want his check. I want the business that he can bring. Louis well, if he can bring you the business anthony i can always make money. I can always make more money. At the end of the day, if i dont have the business, i dont have the business, whether hes my partner or not. Louis thats true. Anthony i want him to figure out im a gogetter. Im a gogo guy. Theres no you know, theres only one speed with me. Its just go. Louis well, tell him how you feel. Anthony and if hes willing to give me 1. 5 million a year in what he says he has, keep the money. Louis okay. Hopefully i can anthony im not begging him. I just want the business. Louis well, let me clean this floor. Anthony yeah, get to work. Im overpaying you. All righty. Louis oh, boy. Lemonis im not ready to do a deal with anthony. Not yet at least. But im willing to start working on the process to improve the experience for customers. First impressions are everything. If im a customer and im pulling up, i look at all this crap. Look at all this stuff back there. Anthony mmhmm. Lemonis it looks like a disaster. I called in a Salvage Company to come clean up all the junk thats lying around anthonys building. While the crew is working on the outside, i want to begin clearing up the clutter on the inside. Im a customer. Welcome to my store. Louis looks trashy. Anthony yeah, youre right. This can be moved. This can be moved. Okeydokey lemonis and its also beneficial that the sales presentation has a central focus or a starting point. Whats whats that down below . Kristen this is a little guide. Some people dont know what type of sign theyre looking for. They dont know what its called. Lemonis i actually think its awesome. Id like to see that thing be this big. And when people come in, what kind of sign are you looking for . Anthony boom, here it is. Lemonis thats the first place they come to. And then they want to see a sample of it, then we take them to what it is they want to see. Once we have this, we have the start of building a sales presentation over here. I wanted to understand how an order actually went from the beginning to the installation, so i spent a little time with josh while he was working on an order from a tanning company. Who picks the artwork . Josh i try to point people in an appropriate direction. People also have their opinions, though. Lemonis let me tell you what my issue is. This is not a good sign. Who created that logo . Josh anthony picked the font. Lemonis anthony picked the font . Josh yes. Lemonis why is he picking the font . I thought you were the designer. Josh thats what he wanted to see. Well, ill show you what i started with. Lemonis this is your original design . Josh yes. Lemonis very clean. I can read every letter. And the customer didnt like it . Josh the customer never saw it. Lemonis okay, so anthony came in, not a designer, not years in the business, right . Josh right. Lemonis and said to you, i dont like that design. This is the design i want. Josh yes. Pretty much. Lemonis when were doing creative in the sign business, your odds of getting the customer to come back or refer somebody else are exponentially better if the sign brings in business. Josh right. Lemonis i have to tell you, i can read that. Can you read that . Josh yes. Lemonis can you read that . Josh no. Lemonis no. Josh no. Lemonis so let me grab him. Hey, anthony, i need to borrow you real quick while theyre working. Anthony sure. Yes, sir . Lemonis so, im trying to understand, who is the designer in this building . Anthony josh is the designer. Lemonis perfect. So you trust his judgment 100 . Anthony i trust his judgment, but sometimes, when i get that vibe off the customer, i like to put my two cents in. Lemonis you had a vibe from this customer . Anthony yeah. Lemonis they saw this logo . Anthony that was the. No, they didnt see that one. Lemonis okay, so heres the issue. This is a good example of how our business can fall off the rails. We start having you in the design department, and all of a sudden, i have no idea what that says. Anthony okay. Lemonis do you. . Anthony it just looks nice. Lemonis does it look nice . Anthony i think its fancy. I just think its pretty. Lemonis truthfully, which one can you really read . Anthony the top one. Top left. Its the one josh did. Lemonis and so, you got in here and started changing the artwork. The outcome is, even if the customer likes it, its bad for their business. They cant see it. Youre not a designer. Youre not an artist. Let everybody do their job. Yesterday, a customer came in, and anthony wasnt able to seal the deal. So today, were gonna go to them and find out what they need and see if we can make the sale. Josh we could definitely do a cloud. Illuminate the logo itself, the pirate. Anthony well, i would definitely sorry, josh, to interrupt you, but it needs more pop. Josh well, if we went with illumination, youd definitely get your pop. I probably wouldnt do the yellow face. I would probably go with white, give you more contrast. Anthony you need as much contrast as possible. Todd but then how would you do that with that type of logo . Josh well, that would be a cloud sign. Anthony this would be the cloud, and this would be cut vinyl. Josh one inch thick, so youd be looking at the same. Lemonis let him talk. Todd so, how long does this take . Lemonis no, just yeah, just let him talk. Josh youre looking at probably about three weeks from beginning to end. Anthony i beg to differ. We could definitely knock this sign out in a week with no questions. Lemonis josh, do you believe that a weeks possible . Josh not 100 . Todd okay, now im lost. Lemonis you guys got to get your story straight. Anthony in my eyes, youre late. Lemonis i dont work for you. Anthony right. And i dont work for you. Im trying to show you what it takes to put a sign together. So i would appreciate it if you were here a little earlier. Lemonis who do you think you are . Rowithout the Commission Fees and account minimums. So, you can start investing wherever you are even on the bus. Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. danny after a long day of hard work. You have to do more work . vo automatically sort your expenses and save over 40 hours a month. danny every day youre nearly fried to a crisp, professionally vo you earned it, were here to make sure you get it. Quickbooks. Backing you. Todd so, how long does this take . Josh probably about three weeks from beginning to end. Anthony i beg to differ. We could definitely knock this sign out in a week with no questions. Lemonis josh, do you believe that a weeks possible . Josh not 100 . Todd okay, now im lost. Lemonis you guys got to get your story straight. Anthony sure. There you go. Todd okay, were gonna go for the small letters. Lemonis you got to let people do their job. And so, let josh do his job. When hes talking and youre jumping in and youre jumping in, it confuses the guy in the middle. Anthony yeah, youre right. Lemonis he doesnt know who hes supposed to listen to. Anthony im overwhelming him. Lemonis yeah. And so, josh technically knows his job better than better than you do, to be honest with you. Anthony okay. Lemonis so let him do his thing. Let him do his job. Anthony thank you. Todd how much is that sign . Josh um. [ sighs ] anthony josh, id feel more comfortable if you didnt say a price because i dont want you to shoot yourself in the foot. Because if youre too low, its bad business, and if youre too high, its bad business. Todd really . Anthony yes, sir. Lemonis anthony cannot stop himself from interrupting, let alone the fact that he doesnt want to give the customer a ballpark estimate. Hes got a lot to learn. Todd i need something to look at. Josh ill get you something to look at tomorrow. Todd okay. Anthony thank you for your time, again. I appreciate it. Todd thank you guys. Lemonis i repeatedly see anthony micromanage his employees, and he doesnt seem open to change. So i want to get him oneonone to find out what his issue really is. You have to let people do their job, and youre not doing that. I think what you need to tell me is, what are you looking for me to do . Anthony im not looking for money. Lemonis so you dont need any money . Anthony i mean, the moneys gonna help grow the business more, but if you say, ant, im not giving you a damn penny, but ill give you my business, im gonna make the money that way. And thats one of the main reasons why we called you, because i know you can shove more work down my throat than i can handle. Lemonis so, really, what im hearing from you is you dont really need me involved unless im gonna give you my business. You really dont care if we do a deal or not. Anthony no, i care, because id love to have you as a partner. We do need to grow bigger and better. Lemonis but you have money in the bank, so what do you need money for . Anthony because if i buy the things that i need, ill have no money. Lemonis i didnt come here just to give you money. My job is to help fix businesses. But im not convinced that i do or dont want to do a deal yet. Im just i dont know yet. Anthony i would love for you to do a deal. Lemonis would you be willing to do a deal with me if i said youd never get my business . Ill just help you fix your process, and thats it . Anthony no. Lemonis you would not . Anthony no. Lemonis today, i got a facebook message from a previous customer of asl. He heard i was in town, and he wanted to share some Important Information about anthony. How you doing . Im marcus. Jeff jeff hype. Pleasure to meet you. Lemonis hey, nice to meet you. So, whats up . Jeff i wanted to meet with you in person so that i could talk to you about your potential investment in asl signs. Lemonis okay. How did you know that i was potentially investing . Jeff surfside beach, in itself, is 2. 2 miles long. Lemonis small world. Jeff unfortunately, the owner of asl signs, anthony, actually has a very Bad Reputation in this town. Lemonis really . Jeff yes. He came down here with daddys money and thought that this would be something that was profitable and needed here in myrtle beach. And it would have been if he kept his temper under control. Lemonis and youve used him before . Jeff i have. The work that they did was very subpar. The lettering was all crooked, it was bubbled up. Lemonis did they try to make it right . Were they apologetic . Jeff no. Lemonis did you end up paying for that sign . Jeff well, he actually sued me. Yes. I lost 600. Lemonis and he sued you over 600 . Jeff exactly. Lemonis [ scoffs ] jeff i dont think that theres anything that can be done to remove the tarnish of his name and his likeness being associated with that company with the reputation that he already has. You know, hes gotten up in peoples faces. Lemonis thats a big risk. Jeff yeah. Lemonis jeff was sued by anthony, so their history has to be taken into account. But ive been around anthony, and hearing this story, it doesnt surprise me. Anthony try to get them as close as you can. Man 3 yeah. You want them all to be the same, okay . Since this is the top, thats fine. It needs to come down some. Do you understand . Man 2 yeah. Man 3 okay. Theres a lip there, okay . Should be good there. Anthony hey, josh. How come you didnt put the box line on here this time . Josh cause i anthony hey marcus. Lemonis how you doing, buddy . Anthony youre late. Lemonis im not late. I dont work for you. You work for me. Anthony i dont work for you yet. Lemonis actually, as a customer, you work for me. Anthony yes. Lemonis right. So you work for every customer, right . Anthony thats correct. Lemonis okay, so dont tell me im late. Anthony well, when you tell me yesterday lemonis dont tell me im late. Were not partners. Anthony dont yell at me. Dont yell at me. Lemonis dont commence the showboating, telling me im late. Anthony im not showboating nothing. In my eyes, youre late. Lemonis i dont work for you. Anthony right. And i dont work for you. Lemonis if you want to start going at it this morning, we can do it. Anthony no, no, im done. Lemonis cause ill make you look stupid. cause youre coming at me already. Anthony im not coming at you. Youre telling me roll up my sleeves, lets get some work done. Lemonis good, get your work done. Anthony we are. Were cranking all day. Lemonis thats good. Awesome. Awesome. Anthony i want to show you. I want you to be a part of it. I want you to be a part of it, marcus. Im trying to show you what it takes to put a sign together. So i would appreciate it if you were here a little earlier, and i would like to show you how lemonis who do you think you are . Robinwithout the Commission Fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Rowithout the Commission Fees and account minimums. So, you can start investing wherever you are even on the bus. Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Anthony . So i would appreciate it if you were here a little earlier. Lemonis who do you think you are . I dont talk to you that way, so why are you talking to me this way . Anthony im trying to show you so you know the business a little bit better, okay . cause you said you dont know the business that well. Lemonis i want to learn. But i want to learn from somebody who actually understands the business and has a good attitude about it. Anthony i have a great attitude. Lemonis right now, your attitude isnt good. Anthony i wanted to show you this morning how we put things together. Lemonis im gonna go take a walk. Anthony okay. Take a walk. Lemonis ive seen anthony disrespect his employees, his girlfriend, and at least one of his customers. Now that ive cooled off, i want to talk to him about some of the accusations i heard from his customer jeff. Its a small town, right . Anthony youre right. Lemonis and so, if a customer has a bad experience, people know about it. Anthony yeah. Lemonis so, i got contacted on facebook by somebody that says that you guys sued him. His name is jeff. Jeffrey. Kristen yeah. Anthony i bent over backwards for that son of a. Lemonis im trying to point out to anthony that his style can be abrasive, but im not sure he gets it. Quite frankly, all i hear him doing is blaming everybody else. And in the end, hes gonna be the one that loses. He owed me money. We tried getting our money. He refused to pay us. Lemonis once in a while,. Happens, and you let it go. But you do not want to have a reputation in town that, if you hire asl to do a job and the job doesnt go perfect and theres a discrepancy, the sign companys just gonna sue you. Thats not a good idea. Anthony no, thats not how it happened. Lemonis im not saying thats how it happened. Im saying that the perception exists that youre aggressive, that youre a knowitall, that you tell people that theyre wrong, that you tell people, you get what you pay for, and that you sue your customers. Right, wrong, or indifferent, thats their perception. As a potential customer, i have to worry that youre gonna sue me. Anthony well, Marcus Lemonis and you told me in the car last night, i dont want to do a deal with you if youre not going to give me your business. Anthony theres things behind that. Its not just saying, well, if you dont give me business, marcus, i dont want to do a deal with you. Lemonis thats what you said to me. You think you know it all. You think you have all the answers all the time. Its always everybody elses fault. Anthony no. Lemonis everybody else cant always be wrong. Anthony but theres some things that theyre not right about. Lemonis this is about business for me. Anthony yeah, i understand that. Lemonis and i came here to help you fix your business, not give you a handout by giving you my business. And im concerned about the fact that your customers, who are the people in this town, dont like you. Anthony you cant make everybody happy, marcus. Lemonis yes, you have to make everybody happy. Anthony i try. I try, but i cant make everybody happy. Lemonis not in your personal life, you may not be able to make everybody happy, but in a business, you have to make everybody happy. Which means that sometimes you got to take a pile of poop and stick it in your mouth and shut up. You called me for the wrong reason. Anthony you think so . Lemonis i know so. You dont want to change. Anthony no, i do want to change. If i didnt want to change, i wouldnt have start doing lemonis youre not going to convince me. I dont want to be your customer, because i feel like ive gotten an inside view, from the guts inside out. And you told my crew that if i offered you a check, you didnt even know if youd take it. Anthony yeah, because i want lemonis well, good news. Youre not getting one. I hope that you guys learn this lesson. You have potential. Its not about being the biggest. Anthony right. Lemonis its not. Okay . Anthony mmhmm. Lemonis thanks. Anthony thank you. Take care. Lemonis there are hundreds of thousands of business struggling in this country, and they would benefit from help and an investment from anybody, let alone me. But anthony didnt call me for help, and he didnt call me for a partnership. He called me for a piece of my business. Well, that was the last straw. This is just one that i was not gonna do a deal with. Anthony i was actually shocked. I didnt think he was gonna do that. I made a lot of mistakes. I apologize to all of you. Little upset because marcus kicked me right in my ass, and i needed it. I needed this. Inside. Lemonis . The followup the deal that i had to walk away from. Trust and integrity are everything to me. Im not gonna do business with you. And maybe a shot for a second chance. Sharla i dont want people to think that i was [sniffles] unethical. I started looking back at everything you said and thought, im gonna figure out how to make this right. Lemonis every time i go to a new business, i go with the intention to make it work. Like asl signs, not every deal works out. But some may deserve a second chance, like this one. I told you that trust and integrity are everything to me. Quite frankly, you blew it. Thats sharla mcbride. Sharla makes gourmet popcorn out of a small shop in southern california. She sold her popcorn at disneyland and out of three concession trailers. Good morning. Im marcus. Sharla how are you . Nice to meet you. Lemonis when i first met sharla about a year ago, her company, planet popcorn, was generating about 2. 5 million in revenue. Despite low overhead, she was still unable to make a profit. Wheres accounting . Sharla shes counting. Lemonis no, wheres accounting . Sharla oh, wheres accounting . Uh. Lemonis but i liked the product. Oh, my god. This is amazing. Sharla thank you. Lemonis i loved the profit margin. The goal is to go from a 2 Million Company to a 10 Million Company. And i agreed to invest 200,000 for 50 of the business. Lets get to work. But this was a business that was wildly dysfunctional. The problem is, theres 319,000 missing. Where is the cash . Sharla couldnt tell you. Lemonis there were inventory issues. Are you kidding me . This is ridiculous. There were production issues. She wasnt tracking or protecting her cash. Cash, to me, is the most important thing in business. And protecting it is the most important thing. And her Accounting System was like nothing i had ever seen before. Do you guys just leave money out . Sharla yes. Lemonis this would be a cool place to rob. My plan was simple. I wanted her to open up a gourmetpopcorn shop in a good location, good systems, and track her revenue. We were gonna redesign her website and build a bustling online business. We were going to expand her presence at disney and liquidate her trailer business. Were getting out of the carnival business. But sharla pushed back. Sharla i am not comfortable selling off the concession side of my business. Lemonis and she was unwilling to change. Sharla this is my company. Lemonis she even went behind my back to try to purchase a website that i already owned. Sharla i wanted to secure it for us so we could do the brand. Whats i dont understand whats wrong. Lemonis but i told you that i already owned it. I walked away. I wish you a lot of luck, but im not gonna do business with you. And when the show aired, sharla was not only devastated by the story that played out, but she lost her numberone source of revenue, her disney contract. It was a big hit. But rather than getting angry, she took stock and began making changes. A few months ago, we began emailing and talking again, which is why i decided to go back to planet popcorn, to see if this is a deal that deserved a second look. How are you . Sharla how are you . Lemonis good to see you. Sharla good to see you, too. I believe when you and i met, it was quite disorganized. Lemonis and your desk was a mess. Sharla it looks pretty good, huh . Lemonis it does. Sharla i have a babysitter that keeps me clean. Its called my bookkeeper. Lemonis okay. Sharla and my mother still comes in. Lemonis and how are things with mom . Sharla great. My mother and i have a great relationship. Lemonis how much money has she borrowed from you . Woman oh. I took a sharla no, she took a second out on her house, and the total was about 100,000. Woman well, i dont know. I owed 125,000 on my home, and now i owe 250something. Lemonis so thats more than 100,000. Woman and then she owes me 10,000 from my personal account. Lemonis have you paid her anything back . Sharla yes. Ive been paying her mortgage, and thats how i pay her back. Lemonis okay. Thats good to hear. Sharla want to see the rest of my beautiful office . Lemonis yeah. Sharla this room, it was a mess. Our cash room. [ laughs ] lemonis and i dont see any money on the floor. What are you doing differently . Sharla i put in security cameras to keep an eye on the cash room, and cameras in my trailers. At each location, we have a cash form, and the manager will z out the register. And it goes from the venue were at into that safe, and then into my hands and into the bank. Lemonis okay. Sharla it doesnt stay here. So, this is our inventory system. Lemonis a good inventory system. Sharla this is where we package up all of our popcorn. Lemonis and then youll what . Open from here and fill the order from here . Sharla yes. Correct. Lemonis and then this is the finished goods . Sharla mmhmm. And then we have our popcorn tins over there. Lemonis what does Something Like this retail for . Sharla that size is 48. This size is 38. Lemonis okay. So lets start with this one. What does the tin cost . Sharla 6. 73. Lemonis and what does the popcorn cost that goes in in . Sharla 5. Lemonis what else needs to go in here . Sharla a divider. 45 cents. Lemonis okay. Sharla shrink band, another 45 cents. Sticker, 28 cents. Lemonis okay. How much does the labor cost . Sharla a few dollars. Lemonis and so youre right under 17. Then you got to pay for shipping. Sharla we have a flatrate shipping of 5. Lemonis so, what are your margins . Sell it for 48. Sharla if we sell it for 48 and it costs me. Lemonis including shipping, call it 24, 25. What are your margins . Sharla well, its almost 50 . Lemonis this is a new sharla. She knows her numbers and shes tracking her money. But more importantly, she took responsibility for the things she did, and shes turned it around. Sharla, what happened to disney . Sharla what happened to disney . Lemonis what happened to that account . Is it fair to say that the disney relationship just didnt work out . Sharla is that what were here to talk about . Lemonis if i ask you, theres a reason im asking. Im trying to understand it. Sharla, you okay . Lemonis sharla, you okay . Sharla [ clears throat ] sorry. Lemonis no, im being honest with you. I want you to look in my face. No one is here to do anything but help you. Sharla if i hadnt been on tv, marcus, i would not be where i am today with my contracts. After you and i met, some of the contracts that i had. Lemonis got terminated. Sharla . Were terminated. It was a media nightmare. But i dont want people to think that what happened to me was because i was [sniffles] unethical or dishonest. I started looking back at everything you said, and thought, okay, im not a loser. Im not a failure. This is a great company, and im gonna pick it back up. Im gonna pull myself back up by my boot straps, and im gonna figure out how to make this right. Lemonis when i first came to planet popcorn, the business needed a lot of help, but sharla wasnt willing to make the changes. Since then, shes reflected and learned. And i think if you can be humble enough to own up to your mistakes, then you deserve a second chance. Most people will scratch their head, wondering why in the hell were sitting together. Its very rare that i come back to the table again. Its rare. And so, why did you think it was a good idea for us to meet . What can i do for you to help your business . Sharla i was hoping you would make an investment. I really want to focus on planetpopcorn. Com. Lemonis let me see what you have to show. Sharla i just brought you some information and some quotes. We need more packaging, i need equipment. Lemonis so, its almost 50,000. What would i get for 50,000 . Sharla 10 . Lemonis 10 . Youre in the popcorn business. Im not. Its a commodity. I can buy it anywhere. And so, 50,000 is a lot of money, especially in a deal that i walked away from. Sharla how about 20 . Sharla 10 , 20 , its been awesome to see you, and i think that youve made a lot of strides sharla do you have a number in your head . Lemonis i wouldnt do it for less than 50 . Sharla 50 . Lemonis yep. Sharla how about 25 . Lemonis ill do 25 if i get 1 a package. Sharla you wont go any lower than 50 without a royalty . Lemonis no. Because i have no guaranteed return. What percentage is important to you . Sharla i would like to own at least 60 . Lemonis okay. Ill give you my final offer. Ill do 40 , but i get 50 cents a bag. Sharla you have a deal. Lemonis okay. Sharla okay. Lemonis i made this deal with sharla because i believe shes changed. But im also going to make money on this deal. With my investment of 50,000, i can make a 10 annual return by only selling 850 bags of popcorn a month. If i were to put that money in a bank, my annual return would be less than 2 . And while im happy that sharla made all the changes, what im really happy about is that were gonna make a lot of money selling a lot of popcorn. Sharla, the fact that i. Sharla [ sniffles ] im supposed to be tough. [ chuckles ] no tears. Just. Thank you for helping. Now lets go make money. Lemonis we got to get it right this time, okay . We have a lot of work to do, but i want you to get it right. Im gonna help you make money. Sharla okay. Lemonis lets go make some popcorn. Andreas meat in the gyro . Tonight on the profit. Lemonis . My big fat greek gyro is a small franchise with a growing footprint. Are you guys still in love with this business . Mike i am. Kathleen i am. Lemonis already, there are five locations up and running. How long have you been here . Jace a little over 3 years. Lemonis and as the business has grown, so have the problems. Mike youre my partner. You can pick up the slack, as well. Kathleen youre gonna put it on me now . Lemonis husbandandwife team who started it have no idea how to run it. Rich ive lost respect for mike as an individual. Lemonis their food misses the mark. Theyre actually terrible. Andreas you dont like them . Lemonis no. Their branding is all over the place. Hamburgers and hot dogs . And the franchisees arent getting anything close to the help they need. Kane the only help we ever got from them was on the first of the month, they came and picked up their royalty check