Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240713

It actually costs barb money to be in this business. Kurt well, thats. Yeah. Lemonis but i see spectacular potential here. Barb were nationwide at whole foods, and that is new, a sku. Lemonis youre nationwide . Barb we are, 168 stores. Lemonis pretty awesome. But if i cant get barb to toughen up. You should almost shut this business down. This business will be killed by kindness. Barb [ sobbing ] lemonis im marcus lemonis. And i risk my own money to help businesses. I love investing in american businesses. Woman 1 these people are here because they care. Lemonis its not always easy, but i do it to create jobs, and i do it to make money. We have a deal . Lets rock and roll. Man 1 yeah lemonis this is the profit. When i travel back and forth to los angeles, theres times where i visit different places, and it just so happens that b sweet is somewhere that i had been before, and i actually really loved it, and they contacted me because theyve been expanding into new areas and theyve hit some hiccups. When i walk in the store, i was surprised at how busy the place was. In fact, there was a line almost out the door, and you can see that people are enthusiastic about what theyre doing, and theres tons of sweets and desserts. Man 2 awesome, thank you. Lemonis im definitely, definitely excited. Barb hi, marcus. Lemonis hi. How are you . Nice to meet you. I was just ordering. I was just getting in line to order stuff. Barb okay. How are you . Lemonis do you know that ive been here before . I used to come here all the time to get different things, and every time i came, the menu got bigger and bigger. Barb ive got so much going on, marcus. Lemonis so these are all the items . Barb so these are all the desserts that we have, so i like to showcase them, so people know what they look like. So id started 10 years ago, and so i opened the restaurant because its something that ive always wanted to do. I was doing sweets. I have an amazing vegan carrot cake. Lemonis wow. Barb and then we also have ube. Its a filipino purple yam. Lemonis can i try it . Barb oh, please. Can i grab you one . Lemonis yeah, please. I love every kind of cake, but ive never had purple cake. Ive heard of ube, but i didnt know what it was going to taste like. Dont knock it until you try it. Barb in the philippines, its a big flavor. Lemonis its really good. What was your motivation to start this . Barb my husband, greg, says, well, you know what . You should open your own business, because everybody tells me and writes to me about this banana bread. He used to give it out to his clients every year instead of a bottle of wine. Lemonis is that the famous banana bread . Barb thats the chocolate chip banana bread. Lemonis my First Impression of barb is that shes effervescent. Whats it taste like . Shes bright and bold. Now, Everybody Knows that i love sweets and desserts. The question is, im not sure what exactly they want help with. Whats the ontap stuff here . Barb so the ontap, we have a coffee, a green tea, the matcha, and that is our thai tea. This is what we did first, so the nitro coffee. Its just coffee, water, and then a little bit of nitrogen, which is the nitro in it. You give it a good shake to activate the nitrogen. Lemonis nitro coffee is a manufacturing process that actually adds nitrogen to the keg or to the can that gives it a sense of creaminess. So this is just black coffee with nitrogen . Barb yeah. Lemonis ooh, its strong. Barb yeah . Lemonis so this is matcha tea . Its like green tea, though. Barb yes, a matcha green tea. Its very light. Lemonis okay, its different. Let me try this one. Barb yeah, the thai tea. It has oat milk and a little bit of monk fruit sugar. Its a fruit that grows in china. Lemonis its really good. Barb yeah. So this is the hibiscus. Lemonis its very different than what i thought it was going to be. Theres no calories in here . Barb theres no calories. Its coffee, water and nitrogen. Lemonis okay, this one has no calories, as well . Barb yeah. Lemonis so none in this. The thai tea has 45 calories. Barb yeah. The whole line is vegan. Were nationwide in whole foods, and that is new, a sku. Lemonis youre nationwide . Barb we are. You know where we have it . 168 stores back east called fresh market. Lemonis you guys make them here . Barb we do in camarillo. We have a brewery that we do it there, and they do it for us. They can, and they can there. Lemonis is it a copacker for you . Barb correct, yes, yes, yes. Lemonis okay. I just want to remind everybody that the Beverage Business is now a billiondollar business. Its one of the most competitive spaces in all of packaged goods in a grocery store. The fact that they do more than coffee is whats getting my attention. All these other flavors that are really exotic and different, honestly, now im interested. Are there others in development . Barb yeah, there are, so were working on an ube latte. Whole foods has asked us to work on a matchagreentea latte. Lemonis who comes up with all the flavors youve come up with . Barb kurt does. So my very best friend, our family friend whos like a brother to me, and i call him my business partner, developed the coffee. Lemonis do you own 100 of the equity . Barb i own 100 , yes. Lemonis but you treat him like a partner . Barb of course, yeah. Lemonis but the paperwork barb does not say that. Lemonis like, if you got hit by a bus, nobody would know other than you and him. Barb thats right. Lemonis okay. Barb this is kurt. Lemonis how are you doing, my friend . Nice to meet you. Kurt nice to meet you. Lemonis how did you guys meet . Kurt got the entrepreneurial itch, and i opened my gym with her husband 16ish years ago. Barb 16 years ago. Kurt so she came in every day and helped me for nothing. Barb the gym eventually closed down, but. Lemonis the gym lose a lot . Kurt total, probably half a million. Lemonis all gone. Kurt yeah. Lemonis did you invest, too . Barb 60,000. Lemonis gone. Barb gone. Lemonis heartbreaking . Barb the money wasnt the heartbreaker. It was seeing my friend lose everything that he worked really hard for. That was the most difficult thing, so it was like, how do i help him . My husband, greg, hes like, you should have kurt help you with the business. Lemonis you guys are like brothers and sisters. Barb pretty much. Kurt 16 years, weve been best friends now, so she is one of a kind, for sure. Lemonis youre kind of awesome. Whos in charge between the two of you . Barb hes my ceo. Kurt has really huge dreams, and so hes like, you know, weve got to get our own trucks, and i said, how are we going to afford this, you know . With what, your good looks . And. Lemonis you are goodlooking, so maybe itll happen. Kurt im the work husband, basically. Lemonis look, its clear to me that barb and kurt have a longstanding relationship. He kind of has equity, but it is not documented, and she invested in his business, and it went bad. Its not really conventional. So should i think about the business as this location . Barb i have another store, you know, eight doors down. Lemonis oh, you do . Barb . Which is big boi. Lemonis what is that . Barb its a filipino restaurant. Lemonis what . Another store . Okay, hold on, cannedtea business, a dessert business, a food truck business. Now shes got another shop a couple doors down . What is that . Barb its named after my late father. These are my parents. So angel is my dads real name, but boi is his nickname. Lemonis is that a filipino thing . Barb yeah, all the recipes are my moms. Sorry, she just passed away in april. Lemonis aw, im sorry. Barb so thats a tough one to talk about, so i still cant do it without a lump in my throat. My dad has been gone for six years. Lemonis oh, my gosh. Barb yeah, its tough. Lemonis when i meet somebody that has such a strong love and commitment to family, theres a sense of honesty about that. Can we walk down to the other counter. Barb yeah, please. Lemonis . So i can see this . Were going this way . Barb this way, yeah. So welcome to big boi. The logo, which kurt created for me, are the two bees, but theyre the three hearts entwined, so its my mom, my dad, and me. Kurt everything is made inhouse. Lemonis holy moses, look at all this. Who does all of this, the pictures and the graphic . Who does all that . You do . Wow, you guys are busy. I think big boi looks like an amazing concept, but while i am super impressed, honestly, its too much. Barb i mean, kurts wanted to open two or three stores by now. Lemonis and you said, why dont we do this ourselves . Kurt yes, but thats the thing. Lemonis because we dont have enough going on. We need more distractions. Kurt thats always my thought. Barb im so glad you understand me. Lemonis kurt, what are you doing to me . One of the challenges that exists with solid entrepreneurs is that they have more ideas than they have hours in the day, and i dont want to dismiss any of the ideas, but it is important to understand that you can only pick so many at a time. What does this retail for . Kurt the coffee is 3. 99. Lemonis what does it cost you to make . Kurt 1. 40. Lemonis and what do you wholesale it for . Kurt 1. 77. Lemonis so not a spectacular margin. Barb its not. Kurt not yet. Lemonis even at his current cost and current retail, the margins arent great, and so if you had to bring the retail down to find your way into more markets, that means the margins are even going to get worse. Hi, sir. Greg how you doing . Barb and theres greg. Lemonis oh, its your husband barb yeah lemonis how you doing, sir . Nice to meet you. You have an awesome wife. Greg oh, i know. Yeah. [ laughter ] lemonis and whos in charge between the two of you . Greg shes definitely in charge. Lemonis do you have the financials for the separate businesses . Barb yeah, joe can print them. Lemonis so why dont you guys gather those up . And then we can sit down in here and go through it. Does that work . Barb yes. Lemonis okay, so b sweet has catering, big boi, and the b sweet shop. Last years financials, business did 2. 1 million in revenue, all the businesses combined, and lost 17,000. This is yeartodate for this year, nine months. So, so far, b sweets done 1 million, then big boi is. Its only done 352,000. So lets say another three, four months of business, its going to get to 550,000, 600,000, so for the year, itll probably get to 2 million for everything, and its lost 100 grand year to date. Greg you spent a lot of money on the coffee this year, havent you . Barb thats correct. Lemonis so thats why i asked about separating the financials, because the original core business is being tasked with research and development all for the nitro can business. Greg exactly. Lemonis and thats putting capital pressure on the b sweet, big boi business. When you keep opening things, it just keeps leapfrogging, taking the capital out to put it in the next one, taking the capital out, and putting it. And unfortunately, the challenge is, if you dont have a plan for the one thats sucking up the most cash, it could kill all of them. Now, the catering business is inside of b sweet, and so there are three distinct entities that operate here. Theres the b sweet sweet shop, theres the big boi filipino fastcasual restaurant, and theres the canned business. The b sweet business makes money and does quite well. The thing thats making the most is actually funding the other things that are not. Barb its just been a struggle. Im so tired of this coffee thing. Im so exhausted, but i know its good, but im dying. Im tired. Im exhausted, and i dont know what to do. [ sobs ] lemonis what barb and kurt have to realize is that in order to come up with new ideas, you have to put in fresh working capital. Theres just not enough working capital and not enough Human Capital to go around. The brewer that makes everything, do you owe them some money today . Barb uhhuh, i do. I owe them 50,000. Lemonis and do you have other payables that are backed up a little bit . Barb i think maybe the coffee but not so much. I think its about 10,000. Lemonis so you owe 60,000 to your vendors in the nitro can business. Barb correct. Lemonis and how much is your receivable that youre owed . Barb im thinking about 30,000. Kurt probably. Lemonis so right now, youre upside down 30 grand. Kurt for this month, yeah. Lemonis so why dont we do this . I feel like i understand the financials. Im going to take a minute and just sort of look around myself, and then we can sit down, and well figure out if theres something here. Its a bit of a danger for me to invest in something where i feel like the person is all over the place. She is spread way too thin. If it costs you 1. 83 to make it, and youre selling it for 1. 77, it actually costs barb money to be in this business. Kurt thats. Yeah. woman no matter what business you are in, Digital Transformation never stops. Verizon keeps business ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. third man and could even build ai into their customer experiences. We also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. 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Lemonis i feel like big boi is a labor of love thats you and your family, and i feel like b sweet is like your baby, and honestly, i dont think either of those businesses need me. I only have interest in investing in the Beverage Business. Barb okay. Lemonis i think we have to work on flavor development, drink development, and i dont like the name b sweet on it. It doesnt describe what it is. It creates an illusion of something that isnt really there, like calories, and its not actually sweet. Barb i am concerned about changing it. People recognize the name because they recognize b sweet the brand. It has made a name for itself. I feel strongly about that. Lemonis well, you dont do much business today. I mean, its not out there. Barb it is out there. I mean, its nationwide. Its a nationwide product. Lemonis i think the Business Needs to clean up its debt. I think it has to clean up its copacking potential selfmanufacturing process, a real business plan. Barb i need that help. Lemonis . A legitimate process. Barb i dont know how to do all those things. Lemonis for that business, we need people that have specialty in all those areas. I want to invest in the Beverage Business, in a standalone entity that doesnt have the restaurant or the sweet shop inside of it. I think if you could relieve yourself of the burden and know that thats not putting pressure on those two businesses and you could sleep at night, i think you would feel different. Barb i believe thats true. Lemonis okay, so i want to make an offer. My offer is 250,000 for 50 of the business. Only in the cannedBeverage Business. 50,000 would clean up the pastdue stuff thats keeping you up at night, and then the other 200,000 would be dedicated to Product Development and inventory. Barb ive never had to make a decision like this before. Im nervous, you know . Lemonis you should be, and its a big decision. Think about it for a minute. If you want to call greg. Barb i need to feel good about what i say yes to, and i dont think anybody can tell me that, not even my husband. Lemonis i love the fact that barb said that to me. If im good with it, it dont matter how everybody else feels. She understands the importance of the decision and the fact that ultimately, its her call. What i love about what youve come up with with the beverages is that i think theres a lot of crossover with other businesses that i have, and i think the ability to scale it could be pretty exciting. Barb okay. Lemonis we have a deal . Barb you have a deal. Lemonis okay. Barb thank you, marcus. Lemonis whats up . Barb hi, marcus. How are you . Lemonis is this your commercial setup . Kurt it is. Lemonis any time i go and invest in a business, im looking for the people, the process, and the product. I clearly love the people, and the product is amazing, but its 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, theres some that weve worked with before. These guys are local, so theyre willing to kind of work with us on, like, size. Lemonis califia is in california. Kurt theyre here in l. A. Lemonis you got a hibiscus, a green, a coffee, and a thai. Whats 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 im drinking barney. [ laughter ] is there oat milk in here . Kurt that one is almond and coconut. Thats what weve been doing on tap so far. Lemonis well, what is your proposed for cans . Kurt probably oat milk. Lemonis so then why dont you test it the right way the first time . Kurt i havent gotten to the ube part yet. Lemonis well, yeah, you are. Its right here. Kurt were testing for sure. Like you said, im the impatient one. I would love to keep launching. Lemonis if oat milk is going to be the premise behind it, then fine. If its not, then thats okay. I just want to know what the process is. So if i said to you, i want to make ube with oat milk the same way you make everything else, could you do it . Kurt yeah, so oat milk and a little bit of sweetener. That was completely eyeballed so far. Barb its good. Lemonis i kind of like it better now. I dont like the fact that kurt is starting to show that theres a little bit of inconsistency with his process. So whats still not clear to me is how you actually develop a flavor, and what the written process is to do that. Barb we dont have one. Lemonis so we cant have a business where we dont have one. Kurt mmhmm. Lemonis hey, barb. Barb oh, hey lemonis how are you . I asked barb and kurt to meet me at the copacker in california. I wanted to understand, whos making their product, whats the process like, how sophisticated is it, and is is scalable . If we want to sell a million cans a month, can this place do it . Jay so this is our canning machine. Our coffee goes into this buffer tank. It uses pressure to push the coffee out through the bottom. Lemonis putting a little nitro in there. Jay the bubbles of nitrogen are very small, and they provide a sweetness and texture element, so like a guinness. Lemonis [bleep] what was that . Kurt oh, uhoh. Lemonis snafus like that dont normally. I was not impressed. The place did not look as organized as i wanted it to be. I want to be able to eat off of a productionfacility floor. I want to know that the machinery is the most sophisticated automated facility that i can find. I feel like laverne shirley. So this machine can do how many an hour . Kurt 2,000 to 3,000 cans an hour. Lemonis so it seems like if we got to a million cans a year, i think they would fumble a little bit. Kurt yeah, no, i mean, we have had our ups and downs over the years. Lemonis have you looked for alternatives . Kurt yep, weve been making some calls. Lemonis i would have alternatives even if theyre not if you have a west coast one, a midwest one, an east coast one. One of the most important things in identifying and selecting a copacker is, who are their current customers . What does their facility look like . What standards are they adhering to, and what capacity do they have . Im looking to check all those boxes because the fact that they used this copacker before is fine and nice, but in the new company, i want to know that its going to be right. This so far, it doesnt look so right to me. Do you have enough demand to warrant increasing production . Kurt yes. Right now, weve wanted to do a couple million cans per year. Lemonis how much does one can cost . Kurt 1. 40. Lemonis great, so of the 1. 40, break that out for me. What are the parts and pieces . Part one, how much does the can cost . Kurt sleeved and ready to go is 0. 32. Lemonis okay. Whats the next thing . Kurt box, so 0. 02. Lemonis whats the next component . Kurt lid, 0. 04. Lemonis all right. Whats the third thing that goes into this . Kurt uh, the coffee. Lemonis okay. Kurt i would say 0. 60. Lemonis whats the next thing . Kurt its brewing cost. Jay yeah, brewing cost. It ends up being about 0. 55 for small batches. Lemonis whats next after that . Kurt the canning. Lemonis how much is that . Jay canning right now is 0. 30. Lemonis lets add that up. Kurt so right now, it says 1. 83. Lemonis so where did you get 1. 40 from . Kurt the cost of canning, i think, threw me off. Lemonis threw you off . Kurt yeah. Lemonis what do you wholesale this can for . Kurt that can is 1. 77. Barb im losing money. Jay youre losing 0. 06 per can. Lemonis if it costs you 1. 83 to do it, and youre selling it for 1. 77, it actually costs barb money to be in this business. Kurt thats. Yeah. Lemonis not only is the company losing 0. 06 per can every time they wholesale the product, but kurt was 30 off with his assessment of what it actually costs them to make versus what he thought it cost. Thats a big problem if you start to do millions and millions of dollars of business. Youll be out of business. And so right now, you should almost shut this business down. If we really want to grow the brand, i think we need to have a team effort. Im going to bring them in with me. Barb im not open to changing that at all. To feel exhilaration. It all starts with an invitation. The invitation to lexus sales event now through march 31st. Get 0. 9 apr for 60 months on all 2020 models. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Yeah, ive had some pretty prestigious jobs over the years. News producer. Executive transport manager. And a beverage distribution supervisor. Now im a director at a Security Software firm. Wow, youve been at it a long time. The thing is, i like working. What if my Retirement Plan is i dont want to retire . Then lets not create a Retirement Plan. Lets create a plan for whats next. I like that. Get a plan thats right for you. Td ameritrade. Get a plan thats right for you. In getting key nutrients peopfrom food alone. One a day, covers all of them. In just one serving. One a day, and done. I started to spend more time out with the family. The army has been an awesome experience, but after we had roman, we wanted to move closer to home. I found this job as an Operations Manager on linkedin. They were recruiting veterans with my experience. I applied, and i ended up getting the job. Im starting a new chapter in my life and its all about family. Somewhere youll never find. Sike we put them everywhere. Grocery stores and supermarkets, gas stations, and chiropractors offices, bowling alleys, and grocery stores, which we already mentioned. Not sorry, reeses. Barb looking at those numbers, almost my stomach sank. Ss down. These are the things i fear every night. This is the stuff that keeps me awake. This is my only debt. Lemonis in order for this company to stay in business and to prosper, theyre going to have to dramatically drive down their cost of manufacturing the product. Today at 1. 77, it doesnt work, and in order to make real margins, youre going to have to be down closer to a dollar. The way youre going to get there is by knowing your cost in each particular area the cost of the can, the cost of the coffee, the cost of the copacker, the cost of delivery, each part and piece to get us close to that dollar number. Jay, thank you so much. Jay yep. Barb thank you so much. Lemonis thank you. Barb thanks, marcus. Lemonis okay, guys. Its now clear to me that kurt is as overworked and spread thin as barb is, because these really big things are slipping past him, and i want to spend some time with him to understand whats inside of his head and whats causing these problems. Whats at stake for you if this doesnt work out . Kurt this is everything to us, but. Lemonis no, just to you. Youre not a partner today, right . Kurt not on paper, no. Lemonis and what do you get paid there . Kurt nothing. Lemonis excuse me . Kurt nothing. I mean, at this. Lemonis what do you mean nothing . Kurt i dont. Lemonis you dont have a paycheck . Kurt i dont have a paycheck, any salary. Lemonis come on. How long has that been going on . Kurt 10 years. Lemonis youve worked for free for 10 years . Kurt its a family thing. Lemonis no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. How do you pay your bills . Kurt i moved back in with my dad. I mean, i can save money. Lemonis well, you dont have any money to save. I mean. Kurt yeah. I mean, i. Lemonis youre not getting paid. Thats crazy. Barb and kurt have 16 years of history of working together, and theres clearly a loyalty that each one is demonstrating to the other, but as a new investor in a new entity, i need to be sure that all the is are dotted and all the ts are crossed and that everybodys taken care of. I love the fact that this small can that just started less than a couple of years ago is nationwide in places like whole foods and fresh market. To get into these kind of retailers is really impressive. One of the things that i wanted to do is see how the product was displayed on the shelves and how their whole process works. So what are you competing with here . Tons of stuff. What is this . It looks very similar. Who came first . Kurt we did with the black can. I mean, thats one of the things that whole foods talked to us, too. Lemonis they want you to change because of them . Kurt they would like us to. Lemonis theres another black can. Kurt . Adjust. Lemonis so wheres your guys . Kurt they are loading it. Lemonis why were they out . Kurt uh, our distribution, theyre saying its a hiccup, but lemonis i went to a whole foods last night on my way home, and they also didnt have it. Kurt super frustrating to us, as well, because for us, every time. Lemonis well, whos ultimately responsible for it . Kurt i mean, me. Lemonis this isnt something thats been missing for a day. Kurt yeah. Lemonis how long have you been off this shelf . Kurt i dont know. Lemonis a week, a month . Kurt i. Lemonis six months . Kurt i dont know. Lemonis i dont know doesnt work because the retailer, theyre not going to accept i dont know. Barb i think its been hard, and its frustrating because its almost like you have to visit it every day because they move things around so much. Lemonis ultimately, if the retailer doesnt feel like youre fulfilling the product fast enough, guess what . Theyre going to find somebody else who will. Ill see you guys, okay . I knew that when i invested in barb and kurt that i had the perfect kind of company for them to learn from. Mike how you doing . Lemonis great to see you. Mike long time no see, hows it going . Richard how you been . Lemonis i wanted you to meet barb. Richard hi, barb. Barb hi. Nice to meet you. Lemonis now, mr. Green tea is a business that i invested in about seven years ago. Man 3 we physically cannot fill our orders to the distributors. Lemonis in the early years, the distribution wasnt right. The product didnt show up right. The packaging wasnt perfect. Michael, you and i worked on that sweet sesame package. Mike i think this is a step in the right direction. Lemonis and it took us several years to figure all that out, so i think it may be time to introduce these two parties together. So barb is an amazing entrepreneur. Barb ive got a lot going on. Lemonis i want to jump into the factory. I want to show them how the process works. It was about a 1 million, 1. 5 Million Company when i first invested. Today, its close to a 20 millionayear business and going nowhere but up. Mike so ice cream, like beverage, as well, temperature control is critical. Lemonis barb, whats the single biggest difference that you see in being in this factory versus the copacker that you took me to . Barb number one, the cleanliness. Kurt professional machinery . Barb yeah. Kurt to see all that beautiful equipment, brand spanking new, we call this stainless envy. Lemonis precision, thats really been their key to success, and precision is what kurt needs to learn the most. Maybe we can test some of the flavors . Mike it looks creamy. Youll see it cascade like a guinness beer for about 30 seconds, and youll get a head on top. Lori thats really good. Mike this to me is thin and empty. This is fantastic, and this needs work. Kurt the thai tea is our newest baby. Its the only naturally colored thai tea out there. Lori its much sweeter than the others, also. Mike it has a sweetener in it thats not sugar. Kurt yeah, we use monk fruit sugar in ours, yeah. Lemonis would you buy it at the store . Lori in decaf, 100 . Mike how much . Kurt 3. 99. Lori how much of it would i buy . Mike per can . Kurt yeah. Mike weve got to get that down. Lori 3. 99 per can . Kurt yeah. Lori i would not spend that much money. Mike i think the concept is good. I think theres a lot of refinement needed. Obviously, we havent seen the manufacturing process yet. Id like to dive into the recipes and look at that a little more, see where theres inefficiencies. Lemonis if we really want to grow the brand, i think we need to have a team effort, so what id like to do, im going to bring them in with me so that youre partners with all of us because i believe that they bring a Technical Knowledge of Food Processing and science to the table plus distribution, plus manufacturing. Are you okay with that idea . Barb i do absolutely love that idea. Kurt yes, the copacking alone, lets see what we can do together. Ill work with you on it. Lemonis look, i feel like kurt having somebody like michael on board will really help him. Michaels a scientistengineergenius, but when i first met him, he was also rushing through things, like kurt. Kurt weve been working with whole foods on making the cans pop a little bit more. We love the black. Mike the logo is very busy. Its difficult to see from a distance. Barb im not open to changing that at all. Its either i mean, the heart itself, the b, like, i love that. Lemonis oh, gosh, shes defensive. I mean, its clear to me whats important to barb, her and her parents, and i want to respect it, but were just trying to get it right. Mike give it to a graphic artist that knows better than all of us put together. I think its way more attractive in white than it is in black. When i mean refine it like that, i mean like that, maybe take the weight of certain lines down. Lori dont get upset. Lemonis come here, come here, come here, come here. [ barb sobs ] if hes responsible for the daytoday operations, pick a monthly wage. Barb 4 grand. Lemonis okay. This is where you have to put your bigboy pants on. If youre looking to take your business to the next level, log on to theprofitcasting. Com. Okay, guys, the bus is down, but weve got a spot follow coach kevin. Lets go, guys. Sorry again that were fully booked. This is the best we could do on such short notice. This is amazing. Thank you so much. announcer treating others like wed like to be treated has always been our guiding principle. Lobster fan like wild caught lobster, butter poached, creamy and roasted. Or try lobster sauteed with crab, shrimp and more. So hurry in and lets lobsterfest. Or get it to go at red lobster dot com stand up to moderate so hurry in and lets lobsterfest. 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I want a sugar cookie. Wait. I want a bucket of chicken. I want. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. That knows better than all of us a put together. T i think its way more attractive in white than it is in black. Lori dont get upset. Lemonis come here, come here, come here, come here, come here, come here, come here. [ barb sobs ] i love the logo and the thought that she put behind it that its her and her mom and her dad, and its something from the heart, but when people are talking about improving their packaging when its their own, its a sensitive topic. Lori its very, very hard. I mean, weve been through this, you know . But when marcus says, trust the process, its really, really important. Barb youre making changes to things that are very, very important to me. Lori important to you, i understand. I totally get it. Barb when he said it needed a little refinement, i was just kind of done. Lori you know, hes looking at it in terms of to make it as successful as possible. Barb absolutely, and that lori and he doesnt have the emotion attached to it that you do. Barb yeah. Mike im sorry, barb. Barb no, you do not owe me an apology. Lemonis i think its just about making sure that you preserve the integrity and your identity, so theres a process to it, and its not a ripping the bandaid off. Its an evolutionary process. It isnt just me. It isnt just you. This beverage thing could be huge, and the idea that you guys came up with is pretty freaking great. Kurt yeah. Barb the partnership, i think, is going to be so great because theres so much that we can learn from you. Lemonis awesome. Well, you guys are connected now. Kurt yeah. Lemonis michaels gonna come out. Were going to go to califia almond milk, oat milk plant in bakersfield. Mike yeah, mmhmm. Lemonis michael will help mentor you. Itll be good to have michael there because hes going to ask questions that you dont think about. Kurt right, it would be awesome, yeah. Lemonis okay . Kurt yeah. Lemonis thank you, guys. Hi, guys group hi. Lemonis whats the good word . How are you . We here at Califia Farms in bakersfield, california, because i want to show kurt and barb how they can drive the price of their actual final product down by sourcing almond milk and oat milk directly from the manufacturer. Greg im kind of a lifelong entrepreneur, and back in 1980, i started a Little Juice Company called odwalla. I just bought one box of oranges and started squeezing orange juice and just getting up earlier than anybody else did. All right. Lemonis all right. Greg lets do it. Lemonis were excited to go in so Califia Farms is a stateoftheart facility that really shows people how the refinement and the process needs to be established to keep consumers safe, to maximize profitability, and to maximize production. Mike so this product that youre making now, is it pasteurized beforehand or once its in the bottle . Greg beforehand. Kurt and this machine can do multiple sizes . Greg well, different lines are set up. This one is set up just for the big one. Kurt how many hours do you do one sku at a time . Greg a couple of days, but sometimes, were doing three products in one day. Kurt really . Wow. Greg i pay a lot of attention to as many details as i can. Kurt i mean, this is unbelievable. For us, were still at the point where were opening each individual container and would definitely love to talk to you guys about bulk sizes. Greg we like to support entrepreneurs, and well try to make it happen faster for you. Lemonis one of the benefits of having a direct relationship with Califia Farms is, currently, barb and kurt use distributors to buy those products, and its obviously driving up their costs. By having a direct relationship with Califia Farms, theyre going to be able to drive down the cost of their raw ingredient by 35 . Now, that may not sound like a lot, but every single penny costs in our effort to drive the final cost down to a dollar a can. Kurt awesome, yeah. Greg very cool. Lemonis thank you so much for taking time tonight. Kurt unbelievable. Lemonis this is great. Hey, guys. Kurt hi. Lemonis hi. So i thought it would be a good idea to talk about how kurt could frame his future. Look, now that were making a lot of progress on the manufacturing side, whats most important to me is the business relationship and arrangement between kurt and barb and the company. Kurt has made great progress in taking his time and making decisions and being more collaborative, and in order for me to be comfortable to move forward from this point, i want to know that barb sees it, as well. If she doesnt, i dont know that im going to be comfortable moving forward. What are the things that are important for you specifically . Kurt for me . Lemonis yeah, you cant continue to work for free. Kurt id love to have pocket money to go around and go on a date or move out. Lemonis so, you have to have a wage, you have to have a title, and you have to have opportunity to make more. So if thats the case, whats the title . If hes responsible for the daytoday operations, is he a cofounder of the business . Barb yes, he is. Lemonis so lets start with that. You like that . Kurt yeah, oh, yeah. Lemonis okay, now you need a title that reflects your decisionmaking. So, you know, maybe its cofounder and president. Kurt ooh. Lemonis now we need a wage, and we need to know what his opportunity is to make more. Pick a monthly number. Barb 4 grand. Lemonis okay. Kurt i mean, its crazy to think about, but at the same time, i dont want to take too much out of a company that were trying to grow. Lemonis i appreciate that, but i wont invest in a business where the guy thats running it isnt getting paid. This is where you have to put your bigboy pants on. Mike whats going on here . Barb i wanted to keep that name. Mike im just a little worried that if were going to pitch gelsons today, and we dont have the clear understanding of what the branding is. Barb this is unbelievable. [ sighs ] lemonis for exclusives, extras, and business advice, visit theprofit. Cnbc. Com. woman no matter what business you are in, Digital Transformation never stops. Verizon keeps business ready for whats next. man we weave security into their business. second man virtualize their operations. third man and could even build ai into their customer experiences. We also keep them ready for the next big opportunity. Like 5g. woman where machines could talk to each other and expertise could go anywhere. woman when it comes to Digital Transformation, verizon keeps business ready. Weve all been here before. 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Ameriprise financial that were trying to grow. Too much out of a company lemonis i appreciate that, but i wont invest in a business where the guy thats running it isnt getting paid. So i think there should be two components from your cash compensation. There should be a base pay, and there should be something directly associated with the volume of business that is being done. Barb correct. Lemonis and i would say a half a percent of sales. So if the company does 2 million, youll make an additional 10,000. We good on that so far . Barb yes. Lemonis okay. Opportunity. Barb i mean, i have 50 of the business right now. Lemonis so do i. Barb right, but id like to take my 50 and make him an equal partner, give him 25 . [ chuckles ] why is there silence . Lemonis is this hard for you . Kurt yeah. [ chuckles ] lemonis whats hard about it . Kurt i feel appreciative, of course. 10 years weve worked on b sweet. Just talking about wages is awesome. Lemonis i think kurts emotions really demonstrate how much he really has committed to barb and this company. Well do the 48,000. Well do the percentage of sales and then the 25 , which is amazing. We have a deal . You two shake on it. Barb hugshake. Kurt thank you. Lemonis you gave him way more than i would have. Thats what i love about you. Barb thank you. Lemonis kurt and barb let me know that they were able to arrange a meeting with gelsons, which is a really Great Grocery store in california, and they carry luxury items, and they carry all sorts of great new foodie items. Barb set up the glasses, yeah . Kurt sure. Lemonis the primary benefit in this gelsons presentation is not only picking up a Huge Customer but also to see how the company has evolved, what their process is, how they deal with objection, and to get them into a rhythm and a flow to always be successful when they stand in front of somebody. Mike so whats going on here . Barb so in thinking about everything and when we were in new york talking about it, b sweet, that name has stuck for me. I wanted to keep that name. That was very important to me. Ive never really thought of the name b sweet as something that was about sugar, sugar and. Mike yeah, but its not about what you think. Its not about what we think. Its about what the potential customer thinks, and i do think that there are consumers that were targeting that were kind of confusing. Im just a little worried that if were going to pitch gelsons today and we dont have, like, a clear understanding of what the branding is, that might send a little bit of the wrong message. Barb yeah, i also have a lot of concerns about what the product thats already been out there, has been out for the last two years, how will that affect the stores that im already in. You know, big markets that im already in . If i just do this change, how is that that name going to affect me . Mike no retailer is going to be bothered by a product that sells better, ever. I think weve got to talk to marcus and see what he thinks. I have a feeling that marcus is going to agree with me. Barb this is unbelievable. Okay. [ sobs ] lemonis whats happening . Barb [ sighs ] man 4 i have to say, one concern is the term sweet. Some customers dont spend the time to read the label, and i think some people might make the assumption that theres some sweetener in there. paul do you get confused by i dont blame you,laims . The most reliable, the most awarded. The best, the fastest, the best and the fastest. Enough. Sprint is doing things differently. Theyre offering a 100 total satisfaction guarantee. So you can try out the network and see the savings for yourself. And now, get the new Samsung Galaxy s20 5g for just 0 a month. Its 5g ready for people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay. Com. Whats going on . Its the 3pm slump. Should have had a p3. Oh yeah. Should have had a p3. 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Ive always dreamed of seeing the world. But im not chasing my dream anymore. I made a Financial Plan to live it. Every day. At Northwestern Mutual, our version of Financial Planning helps you live your dreams today. Find a Northwestern Mutual advisor at nm dot com. Helps you live lemonis barb [ sighs ]g . Lemonis how are you . Barb hey, marcus. Can i talk to you for a second . Lemonis you want to chat . Barb i do. Lemonis okay, lets go chat, you and me only, though. Barb yeah. Lemonis okay . Barb [ laughs ] so ive been going back and forth on the name change. Lemonis is it the name or the font on the can . Barb its the name. Im not married to the font. Lemonis youre open to a modification. Barb oh, absolutely. Lemonis . On the cans for that. Barb absolutely. Lemonis perfect. Barb 100 . Lemonis so you want to keep the name of the product b sweet . Barb i do. Lemonis great. Barb what . [ laughs ] lemonis im open to that. In this particular case, because she feels so passionate about it and it has such deep meaning for her, im willing to give her one, as long as theres a compromise of cleaning up the logo and the way it looks. What i think youve learned through this process by me being tough is that you have to be tough with me. You have to stand up for what you believe in. Im willing to compromise on this, and im not willing to compromise on this. Barb its pretty incredible to feel that ive grown that much in just a short time. Lemonis unbelievable how much youve grown. We had a cryfree conversation theres nothing else to do here. Lets go home. Barb hey, we get to keep the name. Kurt which name . Barb b sweet. Kurt what . Lemonis what do you think . Barb and i think. Kurt a pleasant surprise. Its a lot cleaner. Lemonis i wonder if theres any other surprises on the cans because you get what you want, and now kurt and i get what we want, right . Barb what do you mean . Lemonis so this is what will be on the back of the can. Barb so thats still a nocryfree zone . Lemonis you can cry if you want. Barb wow. That is beautiful. Lemonis this will be the back, a picture of your family and your mom and dad, and this will be the front. Barb im totally surprised. Like, i didnt. I wasnt expecting any of that. That is. Lemonis all kurt. Barb . Pretty cool, thank you. Kurt i had a little help. Barb thank you. Lemonis okay, so now that everybody has had their whole lovefest, can we sell something and make some money . Barb yeah. Lemonis how are you . Man 4 hi, guys. How are you . Lemonis im marcus. Nice to see you. Barb thank you for having us today. We really appreciate being here. Man 4 certainly. Lemonis how many locations are you guys up to now . Man 4 we have 27 stores, all here in southern california. Right now in the store were in, this is the cold brew and kombucha holy land, we call it. Barb ah. Lemonis okay, yeah. Man 4 this store actually sells more kombucha and cold brew than they sell milk, okay . Barb wow. Lemonis this could be a huge account, and with their 30 stores, could be a quarter of a Million Dollars a year. I am fired up about the opportunity. Barb b sweets been around for 10 years. Kurt and i worked to get the nitro, the first nitro coffee in l. A. That was canned. Kurt we tried to call out the calorie count. And then also, like, its no sweetener. Man 4 i have to say, one concern is the term sweet. Some customers dont spend the time to read the label, and i think some people might make the assumption that theres some sweetener in there. Barb the name for me, my name is barb batiste, so thats what the b is for, and sweet is what my father always called me. That name means a lot of me. Man 4 im not saying that its wrong. Im just saying that its something that you need to combat, make sure people know that its not sweetened and really push that part. Can you crack one open, and we can try it . Kurt none of them have preservatives. Theyre as crisp and clean as we can make it. Man 4 thats great. Lemonis this was the first time that i really saw kurt and barb step up and take everything that weve learned along the way and put it together in one pitch. Its clear to me that gelsons is definitely interested in the tea line because they realize its a total differentiator in the market. Ive got to be honest with you. Its a huge deal for me, and the way this company is going to grow is, you have to pick up these kind of accounts one at a time. Man 4 thats great. Its almost a great alternative to a juice. Kurt and its a good mixer too. Weve had a lot of people that. Man 4 now, youre talking. Kurt yeah, weve had a lot of people that have had fun mixing it with drinks, too. Man 4 i can imagine, yeah. Mike yeah. Man 4 we can definitely see what we can work out here in the next few weeks. Lemonis awesome. Mike thats fantastic. Kurt we appreciate it. Lemonis look forward to it. Man 4 thank you. Appreciate it. Mike thank you very much. Man 4 thank you, thank you. Barb thank you. Lemonis i thought their level of professionalism and the fact that they got the account right there and then shows that this thing is. Its off to the races. You have landed on the brand. You have somebody that can help you through the process. Barb excited for that. Lemonis you are looking at new distributors and new retailers, and i thought your presentation was very tight. I honestly think this business could be a 50 million business no problem, and if it takes a few extra years like mr. Green tea did to fully blossom, im okay with that. Thank you, guys. Barb thank you. Mike see you later. Lemonis slow and steady wins the race, and theres no kleenex required. Cryfree zone, barb. You did really well. [ laughter ] mike you kick ass. D are you . Cory 13. Lemonis really . Cory yep. Lemonis a pintsized entrepreneur and his mom have created a popular cookie brand. Cory would you like to try a cookie . Jennifer these are really good. Cory thank you. Lemonis but now their company is going through growing pains. Lisa when you dont have the right resources or the brain, this is what happens. Im back to square one. Lemonis the c. E. O. Struggles with the fundamentals. How much does it cost to make a dozen . Cory a dozen is around. Lemonis you dont know. Cory oh, no. Lemonis his mother struggles with selfdoubt. Lisa i dont think i can take the company where it needs to be. Lemonis you can. Im positive. I wouldnt be standing here. Their product tastes great, but it cant be sold in stores. Whats the shelf life . Cory two days