Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240713

And i fix failing businesses. 2. 5 Million People visit key west a year, and you only sell 40,000 pies. I make tough decisions. Were closing the store. Were done. Im not talking about it anymore. And i back them up with my own cash. Check that out. Its not always pretty. Tired of this bull[bleep]. But this is business. Were gonna have a battle on this one. I do it to save jobs. I got to get some stuff done and youre gonna be our leader here. And i do it to make money. This the profit. [theme music] u. S. Key lime pie company is a pie maker located in beautiful and sunny key west, florida. Jim brush. Jeff and his girlfriend, alison sloat, bought the company, recipes and all, over ten years ago for just 1,200, and have grown the business from selling pies on the side of the road to having their key lime pie named the nations best pie by the american pie counsel. Even though they generate 1. 4 million in sales, they have yet to turn a profit. We really are a victim of our own success right now. Damn it, im tired of this and theyve stretched their resources over multiple locations, including a shipping facility thats not making any money. Today, im losing 1,000 by not being able to deliver pies. I cant do this every week. Jim and alison have a staff of employees that are beyond dedicated. Order it today, cause we need to get it into stores, cause were very low on that [bleep]. I know, i know. With increasing debt and mounting losses. Theres, like, three weeks of outstanding bills here. You owe 2,400 bucks. Key west Key Lime Pie Company is facing major cutbacks. I dont want to see the company destroyed. At 56 years old, what do i start over with . But with the right process in place and a product that you cant get anywhere else, i know this business will be successful. [parking brake cranks] hi, how are you . Hi, im marcus. Amber, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Is jim here . Yeah. Do you want me to go grab him for you . Thatd be great. Sure. The first thing i noticed about key west Key Lime Pie Company when i walk in, is there are a ton of random Brands Taking up most of the store. Wheres the pie . Greetings. Jim marcus. How you doing . Good, nice to meet you. Good to meet you. Pleasure. Well, theres no shortage of everything key lime here. No. And so is all this stuff as an example, is this yours, or no, thats not our product. Theres a lot of companies that do carry that. How about this one, floribbean . Is this yours . No, thats not mine. It seems like a bit of a key lime grocery store. It is. One thing people come to the florida keys for are key lime products. What kind of margin do you make on all this stuff . These cost me abouti think theyre 2. 30 and i sell em for 3. 25. These are 4. 50 and i sell em for 5. 50. The retail margins on these products are not great. Theyre between 20 and 25 , but they take up the vast majority of the floor space in the store, which is supposed to be a specialty pie shop. Can i try the pie . Sure. This is just athis is the basic deal . Just basic slice of key lime pie. What are the ingredients . We have the sweetened condensed milk. Second ingredient would be the key lime juice. Comes in 1gallon pails. Its already reconstituted, and we put a wet topping in there, which gives it the creaminess. Its actually the same topping thats on top of the pie. We put that in there and it fluffs in the actual in the actual pie itself, yes. And what is that made of . That is a powdered product. I was really surprised to find out that jims pie is made with a pie filling from powder. I would have thought that an awardwinning pie would have natural ingredients. Our retail price for the pie is 18. 99. Cost us 3. 75 to make a key lime pie. And how many slices can i get out of that . Typically, you get about eight slices out of it. Uhhuh. And a slice is 4. 50. Margins are good. Margins very good. Are you the only owner . The business belongs to myself and my girlfriend, alison. Were both 50 50. Is she here . Shes in big pine. Whats in big pine . Big pine, we have a retail store there, and we also do all of our shipping fulfillment. Okay. So how much will the business do in total revenue this year . The whole company, 1. 4 million. Oh. Nonbranded product will generate probably about 250,000 in gross sales. We still have payroll taxes that were past due on. How much is that . 70. 70,000 in payroll taxes . Yeah. So how much do you have in total payables . 66,000. Whoa. Its about 130,000 that you owe people . Yes. Between theand how much cash do you have toyou have 130,000 in the bank . No. No cash . We run on a daytoday, but and its almost been like that since day one. Of their total revenue of 1. 4 million, 80 of the revenue comes from selling pies, which has fantastic margins. The retail store generates 20 of their total revenue, which has terrible margins. I cant figure out why they think its important to dedicate more than 60 of their space to a part of the business that generates no revenue and no margin. Id love to see where the pies are made. Sure, come on in the back. Jeff, you got pies rolling . Yeah, i just started em. You cant use that on the yeah, you can. Okay. But what is this . Were gonna run out of shrink wrap today. Why . cause theyre out of stock because we waited to order until why did we wait to order . I dont know, i brought it up before. Jeff, do you have an answer for that question . When did you tell me to order it . Uh, i call bull[bleep] to that. Is there anybody that does anything competent down in the florida keys . I want you to order it today. If they have any problems with it, then they can call me. You want me to order it even though there may or may not be enough money to pay for it, and dont worry about that portion. Okay . Im tired of this bull[bleep]. Jim, whats going on . Well, every time i walk back here, i mean, things just dont get done. You unfortunately have not known me, except for a short time now. Yeah, i just got a little preview. And i just want things done, thats all, and i want it done my way. How we doing . Everybody happy . Youre not gonna have that baby today, are you . Two weeks. You excited . Well, i have eightyearold twins already, so you do . Tamis probably the only one that i say, okay, youre right, and i let it go. Shes a great employee. She does everything that needs to get done, and she works 2 1 2 days a week at her other job. She works two jobs . How much do you pay her . About 300 a week right now. I mean, shes got two kids. Shes got rent, everyi wish i could pay her more money, but i cant afford it right now. Im very worried that somebody who seems to be a key employee is only making 300 a week. I need to really understand tamis role. Can i chat with you for a minute . Okay. The inventory, are you managing that . Yeah, and every week, its a fight to find out what they need, which is just ridiculous. And what else are you managing . Staffing, any Human Resource issues. Right. Any customer complaints, scheduling, special events. Employee issues . Tami really impressed me. For 300 a week, shes doing everything. How do you get it all done . I dont. Have you talked to jim about this . Yes, but he believes that everybody should work really hard, and so its disheartening. Its hard. How are you . Good, hows it going . Im marcus. Stefanie. Nice to meet you. What are these for . For the key lime pie that we sell in the store. You guys dont make your own crust . No, we dont. Why would somebody buy from you when they can buy the crust . Jim, has thathave you ever gotten any complaints about that . Weve never had complaint one about the product that we have. I mean, weve won numerous awards with these key lime pies. We sell to macys, we sell them thousands of key lime pies every year, and the customers in new york love it. And i think what that proves is that youre a great marketer. The challenge that i have is, i cant invest in something that isnt proprietary, and heres why, if you make a pie and theres no secret ingredient or secret recipe, the next guy down the block can make it. I want to be able to look people in the face and tell them that i have something thats special and thats unique. Im on my way to big pine, the companys other retail location. Im gonna meet alison, jims 50 50 partner. I want to find out how this store is doing. The big pine key store. Big pine. Hello. Hey, how you doing . How are you . Im marcus. David. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Im alison. Nice to meet you. Its an honor to meet you. Nice to meet you. So what makes this location different from the one that i was at earlier on greene street . This store is a small percentage of our business, but we also do all of our shipping here. How much business will this store do, this location right here, a year . Retail sales as opposed to the whole company . 10, 12 . Okay. So what will i find in here . I mean, pretty much the same kind of stuff we saw at the other place . This has pretty much the same stuff. So youhow many pies do you make a year . 40,000. Do you make pies in this we do not make pies in this location. We only make pies in our greene street location. And this is our shipping area where david packs up our packages to ship. These are our products that we use for shipping, and we have dry ice here for shipping. This store costs more to run than it brings in, in revenue, but we need it because of because were doing our shipping out of here. Oh. The big pine location has two functioning separate businesses, a retail location, and the other is their shipping department. The retail location accounts for less than 10 of the total revenue, but after you add rent and labor and utilities, well that accounts for a lot of the loss. But when you have high rent factors, every one of these tiles, which is a square foot. Has a dollar on it. Costs money. How much are you losing a year . This stores probably losing about 20,000, 25,000 a year. And how much is your rent . About 25,000 a year. So its the same. So thats what you have to really be thinking about. Okay. Key west Key Lime Pie Company does 1. 4 million a year in sales, but its losing money operating multiple locations. I know that if i can improve the product and consolidate all the operations to one location at greene street, well stand to make a lot of money. You guys should be very proud of yourself. I mean, you have a 1. 4 million business. Yeah. Thank you. Heres the problem. You guys know that im a people, process, product guy, and im a little disillusioned by the product. I thought, when i came down, i was coming to see a proprietary recipe. Thats why i came down. Okay. But im not impressed that i walked in to the kitchen and i found keebler premade pie crusts. Well, those products im not impressed that its prebought key lime juice. I want to partner with people that have the best product, that have a good process, and theyre good people. Well, right now, the process and the people we have. Well, who determined that you have the process . I do. I can tell you, you dont. Whens the last time you took a paycheck . Six, seven months ago. Okay. So your process has to be a little broken. Youre 130,000 in debt. Your business doesnt make any money today, but it generates 1. 4 million worth of sales. You cant produce more than 40,000 pies or the system really breaks. Correct. Things have to change. Oh, it all depends on what you propose. Give us your offer. So my offer is, i will up to 450,000 to satisfy the payables as needed, build out the greene street location, but the recipe has to be proprietary. I will have 51 . You will have 49 . No, thats not gonna happen. Never would i do that. Okay, so what are you opposed to . Giving up control of the company. Im not opposed to that. No, no, no, no. Ii just am. Ii am. I just dont like giving up what i started to somebody else. Im not interested. This is a bunch of bull[bleep]. Coming up. Box it up and get it out. I dont agree with that. Everythings a dollar come on in then later. Were closing the store. I dont like surprises like this i will have 51 . You will have 49 . Im not interested. This is a bunch of bull[bleep]. All right, so let me ask you a question. What if we make for a wage 1 for every pie that we sell . If we sell 400,000 pies, you make 400,000. You make a million pies, you make a million dollars. You will have 49 of the stock and you will have a dollar for every pie that we produce. For the rest of my life . For the rest of your life. I just dont like giving up what i started to somebody else. You want to be in control. What if we flipped it and you were 51 and i was 49, and i got a dollar a pie and you didnt . I would be more than happy to give up 2 Percentage Points for a dollar a pie. If that control is that important to you, its not that big of deal for me. I sounds different. Id be glad to work for you. I think its a but youre gonna pay me first. No, i think its a control iiim sorry to say this, but i think its a control issue for you. I guess i just dont want to wind up. Yeah, weve met in our being the face of the company and thats it. I want the dollar of the pie. I think you need to let go of the control issue. This is the way ive been my whole life. Okay, maybe its time to change. And how is that working for you . Oh, stop it. Take the offer. The original offer is better for us, and i like it. I think this is the right decision. Take my hand and take a leap of faith. Lets do it. Okay. Yes . Yes. Yes. We have a deal . We have a deal. We have a deal. We have a deal . Good. So believe it or not, im actually gonna write you a check today. Right now . Right now. Okay. Youre kidding. Check that out. Salud. [laughter] tami . Yup, yup. Everybody come on out here for a minute. Tami . Yup, yup, yup. Okay. I wanted to get you guys together to let you know that yesterday, alison and jim and i made a deal. I agreed to put 450,000 in this business. The purpose of that is to take care of all the bills, put some working capital in the business. Im 100 in charge. What i say goes. I believe in people, i believe in process, and i definitely believe in product. Were no longer gonna be pie assemblers. Were gonna be a piemaking company. If we dont make it, we will not sell it. Jim, hows this sitting with you . Yes . Yes, i agree with you. In addition to that, were gonna change the way this store looks. I actually think it looks awful. We want a Flagship Store where theres plenty of places to sit and that people walk an extra mile just to come here. The other thing is, were gonna pay a little bit better than everybody else in town, i have to be honest. Were gonna have high performance, high reward. Its my job to make sure that people feel like they can have one job, not two. And were gonna come up with a small incentive plan, just like i gave the two of you an incentive plan. The team is gonna get a piece of every pie we make, because every one of you brings something to the table. Tami, what ive noticed that you do for this business is overwhelming, dealing with employees and dealing with vendors. You dont make a lot. You work your fanny off. All of you work hard. Were gonna operate like a family. How soon . Tomorrow sounds good. [laughs] im ready. Ive been ready. [laughter] its time to clear out the smallmargin generic items from the store. The pies come with a huge 80 to 90 margin, but the retail stuff, it drags along a 20 to 25 margin, and so every square foot that we utilize to sell lowmargin product isnt gonna help us make money. What i need to do is to convert that space into fastermoving products like pies. So heres what we need to do, box it up and get it out. All right, box it up, get it out. Yup. No, we havent made a final decision on that. Have you done your demographics on people who want to come in and get slushies and pie bars and key lime soda . Im gonna get you whatever you need for amnesia. Remember what i said, if we dont make it, were not selling it. We all agreed on that. Tami, you dont think people should have opportunity to buy these things . Not here. Its all this same [bleep] that they have everywhere. I dont, uhi dont agree with that. If we dont make it, we dont sell it. Period, end of discussion. I mean, we need this to get done, like, today. Where are we gonna put it . Were gonna liquidate it, but we need to start but why dont we leave it on the shelves and mark down the pricing . As people come in, we get rid of it that way. Well, cause i dont want to wait till next christmas. Sort that. Well, marcus, what are we gonna do with this stuff now . Sell it. Why dont we put up a couple signs . And lets start working on that. Tami, make up signs. Everythings a dollar. If we dont make it we dont sell it. Everythings a dollar come on in get all of your souvenirs and save an amazing amount of money. How you doing . How you doing . Everythings a dollar. Were gonna make it easier for people to buy stuff. We have a store full of customers. People have been coming and buying stuff like its going out of style. Im gonna make you a millionaire, but you have to trust the process. [cash register dings] what i want to do is, i rented out this commercial kitchen and i hired three chefs. Weve got to figure out this recipe thing. Key west Key Lime Pie Company has been using powdered mixes and premade crust in order to save money. I hired three of the best pastry chefs in the key west area to help me come up with a new and better product. What we really want to do is come up with a proprietary recipe and know that we have a recipe that will last for the ages, something we can pass on. Well, i got to say, marcus, my recipe has stood the test of time too. This has been around for decades. When people come into the store, they expect to get the pie that was from scratch, and theyre not getting that, so we cant do that anymore. That is a triedandtrue product. Would you use a keebler crust . No, i would make my own. 2. 5 Million People visit key west a year. You only sell 40,000 pies. All right, guys, well, listen, can we get started . Oh, yeah. Sure. Thatd be great. Absolutely. What is this base . This is 50 graham crackers, 50 oreos, and macadamia paste. Its all well and good to experiment, but you bake the crust. Once the crust is set, then i have a pot here of chocolate. That gets poured across the bottom of it. Very laborious. So theres no sweetened and condensed milk in this. Yeah, its just straight eggs, sugar, and lime juice. I dont see it working. All right, so im doing a cereal crust. Its half honey nut cheerios, half graham cracker. For the filling, my secret ingredient is vanilla ice cream. Now, with the ice cream going in, i upped the number of eggs. That ones good. The crusti dont get a whole lot of flavor from the crust. Its all pretty and everything, but you cant do that for 100. You cant do it for 20. Mine was taken, like, right out of here with the scoop. Yeah. The idea is to have some of the crust on the side. My idea behind it, just let people play. To me, its key west in a jar as well. Its a pain in the ass. Well, jim, we can have our own preferences. I have mine, you have yours, but what matters is the consumers opinion, right . They sign our paychecks. They pay our rent. So id like to take these pies back to the store and let people taste em and see what they think. Were gonna have a battle on this one. Coming up. Were closing the store. Thats it. I cant put up with this [bleep] anymore. [glass breaking] sleep this amazing . Thats a zzzquil pure zzzs sleep. Our gummies contain a unique botanical blend, while an optimal melatonin level means no nextday grogginess. Zzzquil pure zzzs. Naturally superior sleep. Lets bring this other table together. With the help of three professional pastry chefs, weve come up with three original takes on the key lime pie. Ive asked the employees to not only taste but give us feedback on the Creative Process while we develop new recipes. Lets try this one. No. Tastes like a cereal, um um, it is, its, um yeah. I like the crunchiness, but the flavor of the crust isnt that exciting. All right, lets go to the next one. Okay. It tastes like lemon meringue pie. Its too sweet. This, you could put the lid back on. Its all on social right now too. Yeah. Everything in a mmhmm, in a jar. Salads in a jar, and oh, boy. Okay, did you like that crust as Something Different . I like when jim makes his crust, like, for special events and stuff like that. Jim, i didnt know you made a crust. Yes, he do. I do, for special events, sometimes well make em. I like his crusts. Do you like his crust . Absolutely. Tami, do you like his crust . Yeah, yup. Why am i just finding out now that you make your own crust . I did not know that. I cant massproduce my own. Its my job to figure out how to massproduce it, so i want to taste your crust. Okay. Today, im headed to hogfish bar where tami works her second job. It is shocking to me that shes able to hold all of her managerial duties at key west Key Lime Pie Company and do this. Tamis one of those amazing employees who goes above and beyond. Without tami staying involved in this business and staying dedicated, wed be in real trouble, and i have to figure out how to keep her motivated, not just financially, but emotionally. Hey, tami. Marcus how are you . Good both good to see you. Can i get a iced tea . No problem. How long have you worked here . A little over three years. Hard with having the kids . It is. How many days a week do you work here . Two nights. Wow. Hey, thanks. I try and take one day off a week. A ninehour day on my feet is hard. Im not 25 anymore. [laughs] so youre gonna have three kids and two jobs . Yup, got to make the money, pay the bills. Ii hate to ask you this, but if you could make good money here, why wouldnt you just quit that job . Its 300 bucks a week. I think you could probably make that here. I could make that here in a night, but you could . Yeah, absolutely. So why do you stay there . Because i love the people. I love the idea of the company growing. I think that its got the potential. Youre a trouper. [laughs] i am. One of the biggest problems facing key west Key Lime Pie Company is the losses that its incurring from their big pine retail location. Ive asked jim and alison to meet me here so we can over the numbers and the plan of action. Hi, marcus, whats going on . Hows it going . Good, whats going on . Okay. Well, i wanted to dig in the financials of this location. How much business do we do here . This store does about 85,000 to 100,000 a year. And you did how much last year . The whole company . 1. 4 million. So its less than 10 of your business . Correct. Big pine is doing 85,000 a year in sales, but the cost of operating the store is more than the gross profit thats generated on that 85,000. Between rent, utilities, labor, et cetera, theyre losing 25,000 a year. To have a store open that doesnt make any money, it just doesnt make any sense. So were gonna close it, and were gonna close it today. What am i gonna be doing . Youre gonna make a pie crust. Youre gonna go out on the road and youre gonna help us sell pies commercially to Grocery Stores and other people, and youre gonna be the face of the business, but i do not need you making decisions, cause i dont want another store that loses 25 grand ive got a threeyear lease left on this, how uhhuh, well, we got to sublease it, we got to figure it out. This business doesnt have the working capital to withstand it, and im not putting up to 450,000 in the business so i can fund losses. Uh, david, youre out of a job right now. How do you feel about that . What am i supposed to do . I took the bus up here. David, youre not out of a job. You got to finish the shipping over there, and then were gonna figure out the transition plan. Youre coming in here, and youre telling me look, jim, were closing. No, wait, youre coming youre coming in here and youre telling me youre closing the store. Thats right. Okay, what are you gonna pull next . I mean, whatwhatwhats gonna happen tomorrow . Whatever it takes to be very successful. Yeah, but are we whatever it takes, because the plan that you guys have had didnt work. So i get to but, our iii get to go to sleep at night and, you know, its, like, lay there in bed and go, what the hells gonna happen heres what you get to do, you get to go to sleep at night and know that your i. R. S. Bills paid. You get to go to sleep at night and know that your payables are paid. You get to go to sleep at night and know that youre actually gonna make money. Im gonna do whatever it takes to put a manager in charge that meets my standards so that you dont have to be there seven days a i dont like surprise like this well, you know what . Youre gonna continue to be surprised. Youre also gonna be surprised when you get a check at the end of the year and you can actually put it in the bank. Thats enough, youre out of here, youre gone. Its my company. Yeah. You dont like it . Get out. Okay, if i youre a minority partner. Im 100 in charge. When you took my check and you agreed that id have 51 , and i told the employees that i was 100 in charge, i wasnt kidding you better be right. You better be right. You better be right. I know im right. Because if not, ali and i are [bleep]. Wewewalking back on the street. We lose our home. We lose our cars. Were done. So lets get this hesheshes the oneis responsible for the rest of our lives right now. You understand that . Well, no, youre responsible for the rest of your lives. No, but ifif youre take im responsible for your key lime pie business. Okay i am not responsible for your life. But if we want to shut something down, youre gonna go with it. Thats it. Were closing the store. Were done, im not talking about it anymore. I cant put up with this [bleep] anymore. [glass breaking] if your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to theprofitcasting. Com. Jimmys gotten used to his whole room smelling like sweaty odors. Yup, hes gone noseblind. He thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this. Luckily for all your hardtowash fabrics. Theres febreze fabric refresher. Febreze doesnt just mask, it eliminates odors youve. Gone noseblind to. And try Febreze Unstopables for fabric. With up to twice the fresh scent power, youll want to try it. Again and again and maybe just one more time. Indulge in irresistible freshness. Febreze unstopables. Breathe happy. Were closing the store. Were done, im not talking about it anymore. I cant put up with this [bleep] anymore. [glass breaking] he better be right. Jim is really struggling with the fear of the unknown. In order for this business to be successful, i need him to trust me and get on board with these changes. Even the fact that i am a control freak, i know we are hemorrhaging so [bleep] bad, it hurts me to see this. It really, really does, and when i wake up every day and i know that this [bleep] store is losing this much money, and i walk into duval street, im like, this place looks like [bleep]. Because im very proud and passionate about what we do, it [bleep] hurts. Its below your standards. It is, but because of the resources that weve lacked, i get up and go, why cant i fix this . Im a smart person im not [bleep] stupid, but i cant fix it. And so the way you do that is that you shrink things down. What we have to do is bring it all back together and tighten it down and go to one facility and really refine the process, and honestly, jim, youre not a failure. This locations a failure. This business idea was a failure, but that doesnt make you a failure. Okay . I know youre struggling. Youll be all right. Okay . Mwah. I know. Start packing this [bleep] up. Im gonna want to have reclaimed wood everywhere. Okay. cause that feels to me a little more natural and island like. I like that. We have cypress, aged. Its readily available. We can get it on a truck tonight. Now that weve liquidated the lowmargin generic products and closed big pine, its time for me to renovate the greene street location so that we have 100 of our focus on selling fresh, handmade, allnatural pies. And i want the half drywall to go all the way down, and the difference between here and here. Yup. Is glass. When we get down to here. Yup. I actually want to do a counter of just four seats. Okay. The glass will stop wherever the production stops. Right. Im changing the layout to maximize the floor space for pie sales. Im also bringing the kitchen up front so the consumers can see that its handmade and allnatural. By expanding the seating and adding a viewing station, i want consumers to be able to have a unique experience watching us make pies and understand what goes into each one. With the change in our product and the change in the process, key west Key Lime Pie Company will start to increase revenues dramatically. With our margins being between 80 and 90 , were gonna start to see big money on the bottom line. This all gets blown out cause all this will be gone. Youre not gonna have the dry goods. Look at all the space you just picked up. Right. Well put coolers and refrigerators along that back, so itll be pies, pie bars, whatever we want to do. And then along that back wall, derek, is the menu wall. Not only are we changing the look and feel of the store, but were also changing the pie so that its allnatural and proprietary. I learned from the employees that jim actually makes his own crust. I want to taste it. So you know, it costs 1. 30 to make it fresh. Mmhmm. Versus 98 cents. Its 32 cents more. Mmhmm. On a product you sell for 19. 00. A guy like you, who knows how to make a crust, doesnt need a 98cent piece of garbage when its 30 cents more. With the extra cost of labor and materials, the new pie crust is gonna cost 1. 30, 32 cents more than the premade one, but our product will now be a real stand out. Because of that, i know well sell more. That was good. The issue that i had before is that the filling had a powder substance. Our pie filling also has to be revamped. I want an allnatural pie filling that tastes amazing. So this is the big difference. This is the big difference. A dairy, allnatural whipping ingredient, okay . More expensive . It is more expensive. Its about three times the cost. Okay. Oftentimes in business, people think you can make money by raising prices. In this case, were gonna make money by raising volume. Im actually gonna lower the price of the pie. Everybody in town sells their pie for 18. 95 and everybodys crust is premade. Ours is homemade, our ingredients are allnatural, and our pie is 16. 95. Im gonna beat em on all fronts. I think were almost there. I think thats good. Okay. Okay, thanks. All right. What are you doing . [laughs] inventory. Inventory . So you take the inventory too . Of course. Is there anything you dont do . No. Look, i continue to be amazed by tamis work ethic. Shes making 300 a week working two jobs, two kids at home with a third on the way, and she has to deal with jim, which is no picnic. I need to make sure that she knows how much we appreciate her, and although a pat on the back is often good, giving somebody Financial Stability goes a lot further. I have to tell you, we need you here, and this is more important than any pie well ever make, but im gonna need your help before you leave, cause i gotta get some stuff done and youre gonna be our leader here. Okay . Okay. But in order for you to be able to have good peace of mind, i wanted to give you some money. Im gonna give you six months worth of pay. Okay . [laughs] cancan i sit down for a minute . Seriously, no, seriously. I really dont want to be filmed during this. I really dont. Im not feeling good right now. In order for you to be able to have good peace of mind, im gonna give you six months worth of pay. Okay . [laughs] when you come back, you will be fully in charge of this location, and im gonna pay you 1,000 a week so you dont have to bartend, okay . [sobs] okay . Im gonna give you a check and it should help you just kind ofjust be able to rest, take care of your baby, and then, when you come back, youre gonna bust somebodys ass. [laughs] all right . Okay . [sniffles] wow. Thank you. I wont let you down. Ilisten, you havent let anybody down. Just. Wow. Take care of the oven. Okay. It means everything. Knowing i have a salary when i come back, a salary that i can live on. [laughs and sniffles] and still save money, like, thatsive never had that. Hey, whats up . Marcus wrote me a check for 15,000 so that i can have some time for maternity without being stressed out over my bills, and im gonna be the manager, and that i will be paid 1,000 a week so that i dont have to have a second job. [sniffles] uh how many times through the years did i tell you i wanted to do that for you . I know. [sighs] all this time you put up with all my [bleep], i was hoping one day, itd pay off for you. Yeah. [sighs] [kiss] youve stuck with me all these years. I havent killed you yet. [both laughing] days not over. I know. [both laughing] i brought in a team of workers to completely gut this place. This is one of our biggest renovations to date at just over 200,000. Were renovating all the walls and floors at just over 38,000. Well, we can also run it along there. Since we now make everything from scratch, i want to showcase the kitchen with a sheet of glass. This is where its all gonna get set because this is where the customer pickup areas gonna be. The kitchen has been totally renovated and updated with new equipment and new appliances at a cost of 95,000. I know these changes will draw in more customers, which ultimately means more dollars. [indistinct chatter] wow. Tami youre back. [laughs] and the baby. Congratulations. Thank you. Do you like my green sweater . Im thrilled with the renovations. Ive spent over 200,000 to convert what used to be a key lime minimart to now a key west oneofakind destination. The cluttered retail space has been replaced with a comfortable seating area to accommodate more customers and more profits. I brought the piemaking process to the front of the store to put on a show for customers while theyre being made. No more keebler crusts and no more powdered mixes. The biggest change are our products. No longer do we sell any product made from other companies. Instead, weve added a new dessert station and a beverage bar, using only the freshest ingredients. If we dont make it in the store, we dont sell it. And as far as our pie is concerned, jim has spent weeks perfecting our proprietary recipe with allnatural ingredients. No more keebler crust, no more powdered filling. Its really good. Your original pie wasnt bad, but the fact that we didnt make all the ingredients was an issue for me. Do you think thats an awardwinning key lime pie . I do. What happens if macys says, its not the same pie, we dont want it anymore. Then ill take the 600 pies that macys bought and sell em to somebody else, because i think theres a bigger market for an allnatural dessert than there is for a chemicallyinfused dessert. I know that change is hard, but the new pie tastes great. Our allnatural ingredients are gonna translate into real revenue increases. These look good. Yeah. So what is happening . The window panes to go up on the front doors here. Oh, these came out great. Jim, what do you think . Whats that . What is that . Its the new logo. Really . Yeah. Okay, that you obviously dont like it. Uh, thats an awful big persian lime. Do i have any sayso in whether or not we can use the old logo . Uh, sure, we could talk about it. Well, just talking about its not gonna do anything. Well, its right there. Yeah, i know, its right there. And so theres a little bit of history, right . Oh, its a lot of history. Its a lot of history. And a little bit of new. I want people to know we dont have keebler pie crust cancan i sit down for a minute . Seriously, no, seriously. Im looking at you and your hands are turning red on me. Seriously. I really dont want to be filmed during this. I really dont. Okay. Im not feeling good right now. I really dont want to be filmed during this. I really dont. Okay. Im not feeling good right now. Okay. Do you want some air . Want to go get some fresh air . Yeah, let me walk outside. Okay. Walk outside with me. I know that change is tough, but to jim, its absolutely terrifying. Ive turned his world completely upside down. Hey. Youre putting yourself under too much stress. Yeah, i know. Okay, and so heres the dealand i know you know this. You put yourself under a lot of pressure. You remind me a lot of my dad. I think the place looks pretty darn good. I think it looks beautiful. And i think you should be proud of yourself, so let it go a little bit, and take a deep breath. Were gonna make a lot of money, and everythings not perfect, but thats okay. But i want it that way. I know you do, but im very proud of you. I tell you that from the bottom of my heart. You guys excited . All yeah. Todays the grand opening and if jim can just let go and enjoy it, its gonna be great. Are you guys ready . Im ready. Okay. Lets do it. Lets open. Yes, were open. We are, come on in. Come on inside. Were officially open. Whoo hows everybody today . I would like a piece of key lime pie. Do you want one too . Yeah, a slice. Looking good, looking good, guys. So far, the opening is going great and the team is working very hard. More importantly, people love the new pie, especially the filling and the crust. This is great pie. Best key lime pie ever. Mmm thats good. Weve had to make adjustments here and there. This counter can be moved back just a littlecome out this way a little bit more. Im gonna do that right now. Go. And were gonna get it right, but its a model that will become a key west destination forever. Hows this feel to you . Its a lot. Its, you knowits awesome. I have a hard time believing that i deserve it. [chuckles] you do. [laughs] thank you. Im proud of you. Thank you. I am really proud of you. I am so incredibly grateful to marcus. Having one job and being able to spend more time with my children, its unbelievable. I cant. [laughs] [sniffles] kids are working well together. You know, they are. They are. Its a good vibe. Your idea of having this, i mean, its not a new concept, but i have to agree with getting rid of all the other stuff. 20 of our sales was 80 of inventory. Yeah. Which ievery time i looked at that, im like, i have to keep buying this stuff. Its like a dead weight. It wasit was a vortex that i just couldnt get myself out of. Yeah. But now, its like people are coming in and theyre going, this is all i want. I really believe that in this particular business, weve changed the product, and its now fantastic. Weve really improved the process, but weve probably had the greatest impact on the people. Bye, guys, thank you. Bye, thank you so much. See ya. Thank you so much take care. Jims a totally different person, and he realizes that if he lets go, things will always work out. I would say this ones a success. Im extremely excited. I havent had anybody tell me what to do for 20 years. Yeah. [laughs] well, now, tamis telling now tami tells me what to do. We have work to do, guys. No, no, no. Come on you are a pain in my ass, you know that . [laughter] lemonis one second, okay . Ramona i love this man. Lemonis so where did ramona go . She went to eat . Ramona one sec. One sec. Lemonis did she go eat . Thats not right. Ramona no taylore i know, right . I am starving lemonis so tonight, im going to bring you an inside look at an episode from season 4 ashtae products. Its in greensboro, north carolina, and this could be. Hold the phone for a minute. This could be maybe the most fun family