You dont how to treat people. Andrew oh, yeah, i do. Lemonis no. But today, im a proud partner in over a dozen companies. Stephanie whoo lemonis tonight, im gonna tell you how they do it my best deals, my worst deals. Steve id rather be in more debt than have you running my company. Lemonis this is the profit a progress report. My name is Marcus Lemonis. Change is difficult. And over the last 18 months, ive introduced you to 23 Small Businesses across this country, many of them in pretty bad shape. This is a bad scenario. Woman we dont have the money to pay them. Larissa just everything all the bills and everything thats just been piling up. Its just so much. Lemonis thats fine. And i fix failing businesses. Its been an interesting journey. Well, this looks a lot better in here. A tough one. I took you at your word gary bull[bleep] lemonis cause when each episode ends, my work is just beginning. There you go. To date, ive invested almost 20 million of my own money to help these Small Businesses reach their full potential. Stephanie wow. I mean, im blown away. Lemonis along the way, ive taken a few hits. You kind of [bleep] me all along the way. But the real story here is that many of these companies have really flourished. Child i wanted vanilla. Woman vanilla . Lemonis ive always loved candy, and earlier this year, i went to jacksonville, florida, and i met another sweet tooth, master chocolatier peter behringer. Lemonis you look like youre a Mad Scientist with that lab coat. Peter i guess you could say i am. Lemonis . Who opened up sweet petes, a candy store with a small mailorder business, in 2010. Peter its the most awesome business there is. It brings joy to my life. Lemonis when i first met pete and his wife, allison, their company was generating 400,000 in sales but still posting a 17,000 loss, and it wasnt hard to see why. Their store was a small house. Its in a residential location with no foot traffic and not a lot of business. Can i see the kitchen . Peter this is it. Lemonis and the kitchen, it was small less than 150 square feet. And the equipment well, it was better suited to bake a couple cakes rather than making product for a National Candy company. And despite those facts, petes candy was really good. Yeah, thats good. Peter were actually folding air into it. Were not using a pump. Lemonis i didnt really get a good taste. I need another one. But before we could do a deal, i needed to untangle pete and his wife, allison, from dane baird. Peter how do we buy you out . What do you want . Dane so, i dont want to sell. Lemonis dane had put up only 2,000 for his 50 share and had invested no sweat equity. And while pete and allison were collecting a check that they could barely live on. Allison we made 10,000 combined. Lemonis you cant live off 10,000 a year. Dane, who owned the building sweet petes operated out of, was collecting a healthy rent check. And how much rent did you get . Dane i think its 1,400 a month, so. Lemonis their relationship was toxic. Peter im calling you out on your integrity. Its crap. I dont care how [bleep] hard it gets, i will be here. Where are you . Lemonis so, i bought dane out for 50,000 25 times his original investment. Peter i never thought i was gonna get dane out of my hair. Lemonis a lot of money, but it allowed all of us to move forward and make a deal. For my 750,000, i will own 50 of the business, you will own 50 of the business. And with that money, we would start with some small moves, like improving the packaging, launching a new website, purchasing some mobile candy vehicles. Peter oh, my god allison oh, my god lemonis but the big move . Well, that was to find a new retail location and build out an industrial kitchen. Peter this place that im thinking of is right across from city hall. Its right near public transportation. Lemonis and while i was skeptical at first. It feels like im going into a haunted house. And we found a 110yearold historic mansion in Downtown Jacksonville and purchased the property for 500,000 and started the renovation. Its been four months since we took ownership of that property, and ive spent 2. 3 million renovating it. Were just a few weeks away from our grand opening, and i couldnt be more excited. Allison marcus. Lemonis hey, how are you. Allison im doing wonderful. How are you . Lemonis this place looks ridiculous. Allison thank you. Lemonis this was a dark and very dingy room. Im shocked how much light is in it. Im blown away. The new sweet petes will be a destination, and its got a candy bar thats not only gonna excite kids, but its gonna delight adults. The molds looks different. You bought some fancy ones . Allison yeah, were getting fancier around here. Lemonis very cool. And our new Packaging Design is as playful and as elegant as our new store. Allison this is my favorite. Lemonis this came out great. [ chuckling ] those are huge. What do these sell for . Allison those are 22. Lemonis what does it cost to make . Allison 6. 50 to make it, with the packaging. Lemonis and then 20 with petes labor. Allison right, yeah. Depends on whos making it. Lemonis lets go find pete. Whats up, pete . this place looks great. Peter this is kind of like what you see in the movies. Lemonis this is the heart of sweet petes a sleek, modern industrial kitchen. Peter well, this will hold 450 pounds of dark chocolate. And this is a cooker. Lemonis we bought stateoftheart mixers, refrigerators, toffee makers, and candy cookers, costing over 300,000. Now, these tables are made specifically for making caramel . Peter really, any type of candy. Lemonis theres storage, so we can have plenty of inventory to anticipate the demand, and theres an amazing workspace where pete and his staff can not only produce new product, but they can experiment. So, this is a little different than that like, we were at the kettle. Peter yeah, its a little different. Lemonis its quite a change from the old kitchen they were working in just four months ago. I noticed on the architectural plans i signed off on that theres an event center, theres party rooms. Allison you can do candy cocktails, beer, wine, anything from a corporate luncheon to renting out the entire building for a huge party. Lemonis why dont you guys give me a tour . I want to see the restaurant. So, this is the candy apple cafe and cocktail. Lemonis this looks so cool. Allison its still whimsical and fun but in a very sophisticated way. Lemonis sweet petes will offer much more than candy. It will also offer a fullservice restaurant, factory tours, and candymaking classes. We have space for birthdays, corporate events, and even weddings. Well generate revenue in many different ways, and weve already seen a jump in sales. Right after the first show aired, what kind of volume were you seeing on the internet . Allison oh, it was crazy. We would normally do 15,000 that month. We did 100,000 in a week, basically. Lemonis while its an expensive proposition, this was the right play for us. Allison it feels very right. Lemonis to date, ive invested over 3 million in sweet petes, and weve gone from generating 30,000 a month in sales to over 100,000 a month in sales. And were just getting started. Im excited about the future. I dont know how you guys are, but. Allison that means a lot to us to hear you say that. Lemonis i feel like ive put on 15 pounds since i met you guys. Pete i mean, i cant think of anything that could possibly top this this is amazing. Lemonis you guys did a great job. Peter we couldnt have done it without you. Lemonis all right, guys. Ill see you in a couple weeks for the grand opening. Allison all right. Awesome. Lemonis thank you so much. And send me my christmas order. Allison [ laughs ] lemonis im out of candy. Like every deal i do, sweet petes started with a handshake, and that brings me to a question that i get all the time why do i deals on a handshake . Do we have a deal . Jon im in. Richard we have a deal. Lemonis lets go to work. I believe that deals are built on trust. Nancy we got a deal. Lemonis we got a deal . Pete we have a deal. Woman we have a deal. Lemonis thats more valuable to me than a piece of paper. Its worked well for me so far. But at the end of the day, you ultimately meet people who dont honor their word, and thats where i get burned. It happened on our second episode. Do you know where i find hank . Maarse flowers was an institution in pasadena, california. When the companys founder, jacob maarse, died, his son, hank, took over the daytoday operations. Hank marcus, nice to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. And he didnt have the touch that his father did. The front of the store was in a state of chaos. [ chuckling ] like, you dont even know where to look first. And they were hemorrhaging money. How much money will this business lose this year . Hank close to 200,000. Lemonis with an infusion of cash and some fresh thinking, i believed maarse could become thriving once again. Im gonna give you a check for 100,000, but for this 100,000, i want 25 of the profit. Hank all right. Im okay with that. Lemonis we have a deal . Hank this is all done on a handshake . Lemonis is your handshake not good . Hank mine is. Lemonis do we have a deal . Hank deal. Lemonis over the course of about two weeks, i installed a system to track inventory, reorganized the warehouse, wrapped the vans and put in gps systems to make delivery more efficient, brought in designers to reimagine the front of the store and make the Customer Experience way better. And i even taught them how to properly price an arrangement. These margins arent acceptable. We cant make money that way. Lemonis i invested 150,000 and could already notice business improving. Woman i love shopping here. [ chuckles ] lemonis but that wasnt enough for hank maarse. Hank between you and me, im not gonna take your deal. Lemonis whys that . We had a handshake on it. Hank well, you said you were gonna give us 100,000. Lemonis i spent over 100,000. Hank well, i dont know what you did spend. Lemonis hank, are you [bleep] kidding me . Hank yeah, no, im not [bleep] kidding you. We had a deal, and you didnt do it. Lemonis you better call your mama and get my money back. I had a handshake deal, but the contract wasnt done yet. If you want to change the deal, you should be a man about it, but to tell somebody they did nothing . Hank im not saying you did nothing. Im saying you didnt do what you promised. Lemonis get out of my face. Hank fine. Lemonis youre a thief and a liar and a cheater. Hank walked away. And at that point, i had lost 150,000. Two weeks after the episode aired, hanks mother called and sent me a check for 150,000. That deal just cost me time, but thats not always the case. Peter marcus, im peter. Steve marcus, im steve. Lemonis nice to meet you. Steve nice to meet you, too. Lemonis skullduggery, a familyrun toy design and Manufacturing Company in anaheim, california, was exactly the sort of company that i felt had great potential. The company had generated 1. 6 million in sales the previous year, but they were still losing money. Steve its a big loss. Lemonis and while they had one or two products that had real potential, most of their products were missing the mark and collecting dust. I dont get this game. Its not fun. But if i can increase their visibility on the toys that were selling and push them to create new toys, i knew i could turn skullduggery around. So, i did a deal, and i invested 1. 1 million for 30 of the company and an ongoing sales royalty. So, i want to be able to have control over the financial side. I dont want you taking on any debt or taking on any other partners without me being okay with it. Steve i think thats fair. Peter you want to shake on it . Lemonis and do we need to run this by your dad . Steve no, i dont think so. Lemonis we have a deal . Steve i feel good about it. Lets do it. Lemonis so i went to work. I spent 105,000 to redo their facility. Were in the toy business. Lemonis . And built a stateoftheart design room. So, this whole room is gonna turn into a lab. And we found a 3d printer that allowed us to create prototypes for new toys. Will you take a credit card . Man well take a credit card. Lemonis it was a 240,000 investment, this is printed . Man that was printed. Man 2 layer by layer. Lemonis and i got them a meeting with nascar, and the plan was to do a licensing deal to make the products more appealing to bigbox retailers and sell their glowinthedark racecars to a much bigger audience. Man what about your company will help the nascar brand . Steve let me go first. [ laughing ] hey, steve, why do you think nascars good for skullduggery . [ chuckles ] lemonis and thats where things began to fall apart. Steve you know, i just met with toys r us, walgreens, and kmart. Man yeah. Steve and. They didnt think nascar was a good idea. No interest at all. Lemonis i was furious. You absolutely embarrassed me. When you talk, youre a reflection of me, and i dont operate that way. And when i asked them to begin working on new ideas, they came up empty. I asked for one thing. Steve if you could come up with a good idea, i would love to do it. Lemonis honestly, i just feel like youve basically just said, [bleep] you. Im just not gonna do it. They didnt want to take creative direction, and they also didnt want me to control their finances a condition of the original deal. Steve id like you to sit down and talk to my father. Lemonis okay. We had a handshake, and we had agreed to the terms of the deal, and i had spent time and money. But they were no longer interested in honoring our deal. Pete i can tell you right now, we are not gonna iron out those deal points no way. Lemonis youre asking me to throw a Million Dollars in and be subjected to whatever fate you decide. Go stand in the corner, and shut the [bleep] up. Thats essentially what youre telling me to do. Steve we dont like the fact that you can say no. Lemonis i dont see it working. Steve then, we can just [exhales sharply] if you want. Lemonis yeah. Steve, honestly, you kind of [bleep] me all along the way. You just did. I walked away, and while i was out the 105,000 i spent, i managed to get the 3d printer returned. People ask me all the time how it feels when people take my money or the deal falls apart. Look, it stinks. I work hard for my money. And i didnt always have money. And so the money that i do have, i take very seriously. Hey good seeing you. Pete hows everything . Lemonis welcome to jacksonville. This place feels really good. Lemonis now we get to go inside and see tinas bars. Michael awesome. Thats why im here. Richard how you doing . Lemonis so, this is it . Richard so, this is it. What do you think . Lemonis i was blown away. danny s voice of course you donte because you didnt . Your job isnt doing hard work. Its making them do hard work. And getting paid for it. vo snap and sort your expenses to save over 4,600 at tax time. Quickbooks. Backing you. Lemoniwoman we have a deal. Lemonis when i invest in a business, i have a pretty good idea of what im gonna do with it. Carolyn itll be the best haircut youve ever had. Lemonis but sometimes, even im surprised of what opportunities come up along the way. [ laughter ] in 2013, i went to new york city to meet jon and andrew baron, the owners of carcash, an autobuying service. They were hanging on by a thread. Jon were dangerously low on cash right now, which means i cant buy cars. Lemonis the brothers had taken over the business when their father died. And by the time i arrived, their relationship was falling apart. Jon next time you want to make a 7,500 purchase, you better come to me first. Lemonis sales were slowing, the losses were mounting, and they were 200,000 in debt. Without help, a business that had lasted for decades would be gone within a matter of weeks. Andrew ill do anything to fix this business. Lemonis the Auto Industry represents several hundred billion dollars to the american economy, and i felt like carcash was a great place for me to start. So, i struck a deal with the brothers 200,000 for 100 of the company, and they would become licensees and maintain their ownership of the original location. Lemonis do we have a deal . Jon im in. Lemonis all right. Do we have a deal . Andrew absolutely. Thank you so much. Lemonis lets get to work. And i made the manhattan location the model for what i envision to be the National Brand. This whole place is getting redone. I spent 350,000 to renovate the space and dramatically increased our advertising to bring in volume. I improved the margins by fixing the appraisal process so we could buy lower. Jon i noticed the wheels are a little scuffed, also. Lemonis i also eliminated the wholesalers so we could sell higher. Theyre taking margin right out of your pocket. Do you not see that . Jon who the hell am i gonna sell my cars to . Lemonis dealers. Previously, they were buying 70 cars a month at an average gross profit of 1,100 per car. Today, they buy an average of 220 cars a month with an average gross profit of 2,300 per car. On an annual basis, theyre generating more than 5 million of additional gross profit. Thats why changing the process was important. Jon after marcus came, business increased substantially and the Profit Margins increased, as well. Andrew marcus has imagination, and thats what really propels businesses forward. Lemonis what i love the most is that the baron brothers are closer than ever, and theyre secure, debtfree, and making a lot of money. Theyre each making over 200,000 a year, with the opportunity to make a lot more. Andrew you gave us hope. Lemonis im really proud of you. Jon the man built an entire National Brand in one week. Its the most impressive thing ive ever seen. Lemonis to date, ive invested over 1. 5 million into whats now known as 1800carcash 350,000 for renovation, 300,000 to eliminate liabilities and debts, 450,000 for working capital for the manhattan location, and 450,000 for marketing and expansion efforts. Man where do i get started . What do i got to do . Lemonis now im taking the carcash brand and opening up locations all over the country, buying over 7,000 cars a year and generating over 100 million in sales. Were now becoming one of americas largest autobuying services. But as 1800carcash continued to grow, i started thinking i was leaving money on the table, and now it was time for me to take the next step and get into the Retail Business for myself. I was given that opportunity when i found athans motors a highend usedcar dealer outside of the city of chicago. Owner pete athans has spent millions turning his dealership into a man cave. How much debt do you have on the business . Pete 6. 9 million. Lemonis im sorry how much . But he didnt know the auto business at all. The reason youre taking a 5,000 loss is cause you bought the car wrong. And he often failed to listen to people who did. Do you trust tony . Pete no. Lemonis as a result, athans motors was losing 1. 8 million a year. What matters is that you make money, these peoples jobs get saved, and the business survives and it thrives. Thats the goal here. Pete youre right. Lemonis what do you stand to lose if this business closes . Pete i would lose my house, my dream. It would be catastrophic. Lemonis so, i made a deal with pete 3. 5 million for 50 of the company. Lemonis automatch usa. Woman i love it. Lemonis ive rebranded the business, and ive stocked it with affordable cars. Luckily, i knew where to find them. Today, im headed to jacksonville, florida, to check out one of our new locations. This place feels really good. Hey good seeing you. Pete hows everything . Lemonis welcome to jacksonville. What do you think . Pete looks great. Lemonis while pete is still a 50 50 partner in automatch and collecting a nice profit every month, he is no longer an employee of automatch. The one thing i noticed is that hes a lot happier. Pete in warren grove, theres a general manager running it. Better off having somebody there with everyday experience to run the operations of a big corporation, who has car experience. Lemonis do you feel like youre better off today than you were . Pete i feel my stress level has diminished. My wifes pregnant our first baby. Dream to be a milliondollar company, now to be a billiondollar Company One Day my dreams could never dream that high. Lemonis when i first arrived at athans motors, the sales were around 6 million a year, but the losses were close to 2 million. Since then, ive invested 12 million to open up new locations my biggest investment to date. By the end of 2015, well have nine automatch locations, and i expect them to generate close to 200 million in sales and make a very healthy profit. And the best part is that automatch gets over 60 of its inventory from 1800carcash. Now, thats a winwin for both companies. If your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to. Lemonis when i come to check out an investment, i usually know what im getting a candy maker, a car dealer, a pie shop. Sometimes, theres an even bigger opportunity hiding in plain sight. And that was certainly the case with profit, a small gym in indiana owned by married couple tina and michael sena. Michael thought his gym was oneofakind, and, well, it kind of was because it didnt offer the equipment and services that most people like to use. So, i would need to join anothgym if i wanted to swim or use the elliptical or ride the bike . Michael yes, sir. Lemonis i would only come here for specific michael results. Results. Lemonis but for michael, the biggest reason to join his gym was, well, michael. Michael im a book author, fitnessproduct inventor. Its really been the michael sena show. Lemonis not only did he keep tina out of the spotlight. Michael nobody would recognize her name. They would recognize my name first. Lemonis . He kept her out of the financial decisions, as well. Michael lets you and i have a mantoman about the numbers. Id rather well, well, shes not familiar with them, so. Lemonis i mean, shes a part owner, right . It just wasnt working. I mean, wwhere is everybody . Tina from 11 00 to 3 00, were empty. Lemonis you dont know much about business. What was working was something that michael was taking completely for granted. Did you come up with all these recipes yourself . Tina i did. Lemonis sidelined by her husband, tina began to make and sell a collection of allnatural protein snacks. Tina i just started throwing some stuff together, see how it tasted. Lemonis they taste good. Tina [ chuckles ] lemonis i saw a lot of potential in tina and her snacks, and i also saw incredible passion in michael. Michael chest up. Attaboy. Nice, high thighs lemonis so, i decided to make two deals with the senas 50,000 for a 50 stake in tinas protein snacks. Tina thank you. Lemonis . And 250,000 for a 75 interest in profit. But michael resented his wifes new business venture. Michael when we met a long time ago, we said we would do everything together. Me sitting out here like im some chooch. Tina ive done a lot of [bleep] for you. Michael you talk too much. Tina this is no. Lemonis and i decided i could no longer trust him with my investment. Youre off distracted looking at somebody elses business. The deals off. It was the wakeup call that michael needed. Michael [ voice breaking ] do you think i like to stand next to a man like you, in front of my other people, and admit that i cant be successful . You got to be kidding me. Lemonis listen to me. Money is a byproduct. Its not the purpose. And you have a purpose. Michael i just feel ive gotten in the way, maybe havent always respected you the way i should have, and im sorry for that, honey. Lemonis but he realized that his businesss biggest asset had been standing next to him all along. Tina oh, my god no way aah michael we even went as far as to change all of the business cards, the letterhead, everything. It was time. Lemonis im amazed at how far michael has come. The deal was back on. Ill give you the money you need to kind of grow the business, and well perfect the model. Michael thank you. Lemonis okay . Im proud of you. Michael thank you so much. Tina welcome to the new profit. Michael yeah lemonis today, the gym is thriving. Theyre offering new classes like yoga and spin, and they regularly sell out. Membership is up over 10 , and the profit is, as well. Still, i wanted to make sure that michael would treat tina like the valuable partner she is. The healthier the relationship, the healthier the business. Michael hey, marcus good to see you tina hi lemonis how are you . Tina im good. How are you. Lemonis whats new . You guys seem, oddly enough, more at peace with each other than you did the first time we were together. And if you guys werent healthier, the business, honestly, wouldnt be healthier. Michael thats correct. Lemonis i spent about three months working on getting us into gnc. Michael wow. Lemonis so, now we get to go inside and see tinas bars. Michael awesome. Thats why im here. Lemonis you want to go take a look at it . Michael congratulations. Yeah, lets. Awesome. Lemonis this is the real opportunity i found at profit tinas bars. And theyve taken off. Tina [ gasps ] oh, my gosh. Michael look at that. Unbelievable. Tina wow. Lemonis in nine months, weve gone from a brownie sold in a gym in indiana to a new bar sold in over 3,000 gncs across the country. For me, the holy grail was gnc. Tina for me, too. Are you kidding me . This is where i shop. Lemonis and its exclusively at gnc for a while. Michael my wifes product on these shelves is just amazing. Lemonis with her at the center of attention, he couldnt be more proud. Michael my wife and i have a wonderful marriage. Its solid, and its now helped our business go to the next level, as well. Lemonis are you proud of her . Michael very proud. Very proud. Marcus coming into our business and helping us go to the next level was the single best thing thats ever happened to us at profit. Lemonis michael and tina are gonna make a lot more money with the profit bars than they do with the profit gym, and over the next year, we plan on selling about a million bars, generating 900,000 in revenue and 200,000 in profit. And were gonna launch a number of new product extensions. Tina oh, my god michael good job, honey. You did great. Tina oh, i cant believe this michael [ smooches ] tina ah michael well done. Tina amazing. Lemonis i believe in the three pillars in business people, process, and product and its been my mantra in life and on the show. Improving the product is rarely an issue. Noemi voila. Lemonis at courage. B, we took a womansclothing line that was all over the place. Noemi i never approved this design. Nicolas you approved this. Stephanie are you kidding . Lemonis . And often poorly made. Its disturbing. And we reinvented the business and created a new line around a few welledited pieces. Woman i love this top. Lemonis and there are always ways to fix the process. My big fat greek gyro was a collection of mediocre restaurants masquerading as a wellexecuted franchise concept. It became a true franchise concept when we standardized the look, refined the menu, and changed the way the food was made and served. All opa lemonis but changing people that can be tricky. Some are eager to jump on board, but others needed coaxing. And then there are these people. Andrew what are you talking about . woman dont even go there. Andrew im not going anywhere. Gary bull[bleep] i didnt. Lemonis bull[bleep] when . John im not selling my soul to anybody to put up with your [bleep] lemonis the owners of key lime pie, jim and alison, had three pie stores, but business was bad and they hadnt taken a check in months. I wanted to shut down one of the stores. It was losing 25,000 a year and it was a nobrainer. Jim youre coming in here. Youre telling me youre closing the store. Lemonis thats right. Jim what are you gonna pull next . I mean, whats gonna happen tomorrow . Lemonis whatever it takes to be very successful. Whatever it takes, because the plan that you guys have had didnt work. Were closing the store. Were done. Im not talking about it anymore. Jim you better be right. Lemonis i know im right. Jim i cant put up with this [bleep] anymore. Lemonis and then, there was andrew rosenthal, the owner of la dogworks a fullservice grooming, boarding, and training facility. I thought the staff was fantastic, and i loved the business. And i thought it would be a great investment, but there was one big problem. Andrew whos the top dog . Whos the alpha male . Me. Lemonis oh, my gosh. I hate him. I spent six very long days with andrew rosenthal, and i thought there was ways to improve his brand. But there were rants. Andrew email me the. Schedule lemonis . And abuse. Andrew who the. Do you think you are, staring me down . Lemonis . And more rants. Woman thats not fair. Andrew what are you talking about . woman dont even go there. Lemonis you dont know how to treat people. Andrew what people . The staff . Lemonis us people. Andrew [ laughs ] lemonis and this was one that i simply just had to walk away from. But every once in a while, Difficult People do surprise me. Nancy whose phone number is tammys . whose number is this on tammys piece of paper . Tom you want to start airing the dirt, nance . Maybe you shouldnt have been at a wedding and [bleep] some guy in a bathroom lemonis remember these two . Nancy the deals off lemonis Tom Etheridge and nancy pappas. They owned worldwide trailers. Nancy nancy pappas. Nice to meet you. Tom hey, marcus. Tom etheridge. Lemonis when they werent fighting and backstabbing, this former couple ran a company that made custom concession trailers. And so, this is essentially a commercial kitchen. Their product was good, and they were generating about 4 million in revenue. And they were even making a profit about 400,000 a year. I wanted in. The check that i write will be 700,000, and i get 50 of the business. Nancy we got a deal. Lemonis we got a deal . Tom we got a deal. Lemonis i knew with a few adjustments, this business could grow quickly. They built the trailers in georgia, but tom and nancy ran it from an office 300 miles away in tampa. Tom were paying two mortgage payments. Thats like 2,300 bucks a month. Lemonis if they could consolidate, they would be much more efficient and save a lot of money. Nancy 60 grand is what were paying in a year to transport them just down here. Lemonis would you move . Nancy absolutely not. I live on the beach. Lemonis but there were other warnings. They were careless with inventory. Why is there stuff everywhere . They didnt track it. Man to be honest with you, this is one of the worst inventories ive seen. Lemonis and they didnt know their numbers. Nancy, you should know down to the nickel what it costs you to make an 8. 5x20. But in the end, it was their relationship. Tom you dont need to threaten me, nance. Nancy im not threatening you lemonis . That drove me away. Nancy cause youre a [bleep] scammer and a liar tom [bleep] thats you. I cant work with you. Nancy the deal is off tom i dont give a [bleep] nancy the deals off lemonis but in the end, i was there to be a business partner, not a mediator. I cant do business with you guys. But this is a story with a twist a happy one. A few months after the deal fell apart, tom reached out to me, and he told me that the show forced them to look at things differently. Many of the ideas that he actually discussed with us have taken place since the show aired. Lemonis they moved the entire business to georgia, saving them about 100,000 in expenses, turning it into instant profit. And they finally put in a muchneeded inventory system. Tom we can actually keep track of when a p. O. Goes out and an order comes. We have the means of verifying that the orders been fulfilled. Lemonis most importantly, they figured out how to let go of the past and move forward together. Tom i sent you that email, right, nance . Nancy we knew that we had some areas that we needed to be a little better at. Were still pushing along and pumping out trailers growing every single year. Lemonis we didnt do the deal, but im truly happy that they took something away from our experience. And they turned a negative into a positive. What do you think it takes to get it all the way to open . Michael 600,000 mark. Lori whoa. Richard what a mess. Lemonis the building isnt gonna cost 600,000. Its gonna cost 1. 3 million. Michael it was a mistake. Lemonis but its a mistake with my money. Michael it is never gonna happen again. Lori god, do you believe this . Lemonis it looks fantastic. Lori unbelievable. Ank you for everything. Woman thank you, marcus. Mike heres to mr. Lemonis, and heres to the simple greek. [ cheers and applause ] lemonis for me, these investments are about much more than money. I get a lot of satisfaction helping businesses help themselves. But i wont let people take advantage of me, and if they try, things can get messy. When i first went to brooklyn to see a. Stein meats, i was excited. For over 75 years, theyd been selling Quality Meats to new yorks finest restaurants and butcher shops. So, how much revenue will you do a year . Alan we should do about 50. Lemonis 50 million . Alan 50 million. Lemonis thats a big business. Lemonis owners alan buxbaum and howard mora had taken over a. Stein from their fathers who founded the company, growing the company from 5 million to 50 million. Woman thats beautiful. Lemonis and their hamburger, the Brooklyn Burger, was a staple at new yorks three biggest sporting venues. Howard good burger. Lemonis its the best. But it soon became clear that all their success was going to waste. How much do you think youll lose this year . Howard about 400,000. Lemonis a. Stein was a mess. They owed people a lot of money, and then when they sold product to other customers, they didnt even collect that money. Still, with some significant adjustments, i felt like i could help alan and howard save the company that their fathers built. So we struck a deal. Come here, big guy. And im putting in 1 million. Theres the money. Alan thank you. Lemonis so, in return, i was gonna own 50 of a. Stein meats, but then i learned that the company was in way more trouble than i had been led to believe. Woman their payables are about 3. 8 million. Lemonis thats several million more than i thought it was. And i learned that this company was more than 5 million in debt. Guys, this is bad. This business is two weeks away from closing. I knew i had to withdraw my offer, but i also knew that alan and howard werent gonna be able to make payroll unless they got help immediately. They needed 200,000. So we made one last deal. Im gonna help you as much as i can, but in order for me to give you that money, im gonna need to get a return on my money, and the only thing that i can think of is that i buy Brooklyn Burger from you. Alan were willing to do whatever it takes. Lemonis on a handshake, i wired them the money that very day, and seven months later, i still dont have the burgers that i paid 200 grand for. But what i do have is a very expensive lawsuit. People always ask me how seriously i take this show. Well, why dont you google Marcus Lemonis and stein meats and see what you find . See, i was happy to take care of those employees. They deserved to get paid they did the work. Alan and howard are the ones i have a problem with. They took my money and chose not to honor their end of the deal. Unfortunately, alan and howard werent able to save a. Stein. A few months ago, the bank foreclosed on their business, and a. Stein no longer exists. Sometimes deals fall apart, but sometimes things just fall into place. In season one, i made a deal with mr. Green tea ice cream. That green teas good. Lori isnt it good . Lemonis the company, run by the Emanuele Family rich, lori, and their son, michael primarily sold their ice cream to asian restaurants in the new york city area. Richard you know, my dad started this business 45, 50 years ago. He saw the need of highquality ice cream for the restaurants. Lemonis unlike some of the other companies i work with, they were not struggling financially. 2 million in sales, and they made a healthy profit. Richard we have grown 20 every single year for the last five or six years. Lemonis but this was a company that was stuck in neutral. Richard we physically cannot fill our orders to the distributors. Lemonis they ran their business out of a small test kitchen, and they didnt have a factory to produce ice cream. Instead, they would go to a third party, a copacker, to make the product for them. And because of this, on an annual basis, they would give up about 22 of margin, close to 500,000. And michael had a grand solution to this problem. Michael we want to build a facility and bring all the manufacturing under one roof. Lemonis but richard, who owned 100 of the company, liked to play it safe. Lemonis and whats held you back from doing it . Richard im very, very conservative. Michael conservative to a fault. Lemonis this was a company in crisis. Michael you are strangling the business. Richard back up. Youre crossing the line between father and boss. Lemonis ice cream is a 10billionayear industry, and its a crowded market, but i felt like their product was unique, and, despite their challenges, i made an offer. So, do we have a deal . Michael [ exhales sharply ] lori its a nobrainer, as far as im concerned. Richard we have a deal. Lemonis we were ready to move forward. Michael had already found an old, abandoned factory. Lori whoa. Michael isnt it beautiful . Richard you know, michael, the more i look at this place, the more scared i get. Lemonis wed buy it. The building is officially ours, as soon as rich signs. Renovate it. What do you think it takes to get it all the way to open . How much money . Michael 600,000 mark. Lemonis our plan was simple, but it wasnt cheap. The building isnt gonna cost 600,000. Its gonna cost 1. 3 million. This was going to be a big renovation 250,000 to buy the building, 50,000 just to get rid of the garbage, 100,000 to put on a new roof, 400,000 to build out the interior of the space, 100,000 to build out the exterior, and 300,000 for stateoftheart italian icecream manufacturing equipment. Michaels numbers were off by 700,000. Michael it was a mistake. Lemonis but its a mistake with my money. Michael i know that. It is never gonna happen again. Lemonis it was a hard lesson for all of us. But a few weeks ago, i saw the new facility, and i was blown away. I saw mr. Green teas new facility, and i was blown away. The building was almost unrecognizable. Inside, we exposed the ceiling to reference the buildings history, but the floors are polished concrete, which gives it a modern and sleek look. The walls, not my first choice. But this is mr. Green tea, so it all makes sense. Hey how are you . Lori oh, my god. Do you believe this . Lemonis it looks fantastic. Lori unbelievable. And the color is not its not bad. Lori yeah, i love this. You guys need your. Lemonis how are you, buddy . Michael whats going on . Lemonis how you doing . Richard how you doing . Lemonis whats happening . You look a little too relaxed. Richard i know lemonis so, this is it . Richard so, this is it. What do you think . Lemonis its interesting to see how different it looks. This place last time was a war zone. This is our biggest makeover to date an 11,000squarefoot facility and a stateoftheart icecream factory. With all this new equipment, im excited to see how it works. So, what does this do . Michael this is a pint filler. This takes a pint, drops it into the carousel, fills it with ice cream, heatseals it, datecodes it, and ejects it out the other end. Lemonis what does a machine like this cost . Michael this is about 150,000. Lemonis just for this little thing . Michael yes. Lemonis 150,000 . Michael youll make it up in waste. Lemonis well, arent you in charge anymore . Can i see the process . Michael we can, yeah. Lemonis lets do it. [ machine whirs ] this machine is our future, and it can fill up to 4,000 pints per hour. We get 2. 50 for every pint that we sell. That means we can generate up to 10,000 an hour, or 80,000 in an eighthour day. Come on, lori lori were doing it. Lemonis holy. [ laughs ] lori you want to taste it . I mean, it is just beyond beyond, right . Lemonis so much smoother. This is mine. Lori you got it. Lemonis since i did this deal, mr. Green tea has more than doubled their revenue, and theyre gonna do about 5 million in sales. But with this factory, it has the capacity to do between 25 million and 30 million worth of sales. Ive already given them a huge account to make ice cream for crumbs, and theyve added new flavors to the mr. Green tea line. And over the next six months, mr. Green tea ice cream will be in over 6,000 Grocery Stores nationwide. What do you guys see as next . Richard were working with another company. They have food service. Business was probably 13 million. And theyre very interested in us taking that over. Michael when they contacted us a few weeks ago, her opening line was, were done fighting mr. Green teas distribution in new york. And that i think that shows, you know, the the real the real actual labor and work weve put in the distribution end of the company. I think probably the highest moment to date has been knowing that were finally independent and not relying on other companies to manufacture our products, other companies to make money. That really is the heart and soul of the business. Lemonis look at how different his game is. You really have your act together. Im telling you, just cause im not with you. Lori and hes gorgeous, isnt he . Michael okay. Very good. All right. Lori the process of working with marcus has been wonderful. Its just something that i never even could have imagined really, really a dream come true. Lemonis did you just wipe the kiss of your mother off . Michael i wiped the lipstick off i didnt want to have lipstick on me. I didnt wipe the kiss off. Lemonis yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Richard im very excited about the future. With marcus name attached, the show, the amount of companies that have come to us for help or copacking or taking over their brand has been unbelievable. So, you know, whats happened in the last two or three months hasnt happened in the last 20 years. Lemonis im very proud of you guys. Richard that means so much to me. Lemonis and im really proud mostly. Of michael, just so you know. [ laughter ] richard yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lemonis you know, when you come off green tea, that thats really the success that i love. And the successes are what keep me going. Peter oh, my god allison oh, my god lemonis and you can take somebody who has lost their way or who is struggling, and you can set them in a new direction. Im gonna give you six months worth of pay, okay . Take care of your baby. Woman thank you. Lemonis the real heart and soul of what we do here on the profit is helping people. What what else is there . Cheers. Man guys, to a new beginning. Lemonis cheers. [ glasses clink ] woman oh, yeah. It is. Lthat was pretty good. Mike [ laughs ]. Lemonis . A custom drum company cant find the rhythm to meet supply and demand. Mike our turnaround time is six to seven months. Lemonis six to seven months . Mike yeah. Thats created a backlog of unpaid bills and serious cashflow problems. Chris we dont have enough money to cover payroll for next week. Lemonis i mean, youre kind of closed. Chris yeah. Lemonis the owner and his righthand man are out of sync. Louie the lack of communication, i think, between chris and mike, its like its just. Exactly. Lemonis and the two brothers who started this business have split up. Scott what did i ever do to you . Mike i really dont want to get into all that. Lemonis . Causing a whole nother layer of crippling issues. If they cant fix their process and their relationship. Mike fixing the business and this [bleep] is hard enough