Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240712

And while he and his wife have overcome great challenges together. Corey we have five children. Two of them are in heaven. Lemonis . He struggles with giving her a say in the company. Laurie, this is your project. Corey no. Lemonis if i cant push him to rise to the occasion. Corey im not prepared to say, some new guy came in, now its different. Lemonis . His grand plans will never get off the ground. My name is Marcus Lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not gonna wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were gonna wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everythings gonna change. Everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. One of the things that appeals to me about nyc bagel deli is that people know it. Its been around a long time. Carlos two dozen . Corey a dozen and a half, carlos. Carlos all right, dozen and a half. Corey yeah, buddy. Lemonis but i also know that bagels have unbelievable margins. Carlos thank you. We appreciate it. Woman thank you. Carlos gentlemen men thank you lemonis so im meeting up with the owners at their north avenue location to learn more. Corey [ chuckling ] hey lemonis hey. Im marcus. Corey i know who you are. Im corey. Its nice to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. Corey yeah, yeah, yeah. This is my wife. Lemonis how are you . Nice to meet you. Youre the boss . Corey thats laurie, shes a hugger. Lemonis whos the boss . Laurie he is the boss. Hes the main hes the main. Corey i dont know. Laurie yes. Lemonis hi. How are you . Carlos hey. How are you . Lemonis good. What are the types of bagels that you have . Carlos 13 kind of bagels, you can show them behind me. Lemonis im gonna have everything bagel. What do you sell one bagel for . Corey 1. 29. Lemonis what does it cost to make one bagel . Corey about 10 cents. Lemonis in materials . Corey in materials. Lemonis and another 10 in labor . Corey exactly. Lemonis so thats part of the beauty of being in this business. Corey of course. Lemonis its high margin. Take your half. Corey okay, thanks. Laurie [ laughs ] man what can i get for you today . Laurie now, i have a bagel every single day. Corey its a good bagel. If it doesnt hurt here from chewing after a while, its not real. Lemonis the flavors amazing. I love the size. I love the weight. Its the consistency. Its a little overcooked. Corey in your opinion. I mean, weve been here for a while. 19 years. Were doing something right. People wait on line to get em. I dont think im gonna change the recipe just because you said its you know what i mean . In all fairness. Lemonis when you invest in a business, youre investing in product, youre investing in process, but youre first and foremost investing in people. Some are collaborative, and some are less so. I dont know if coreys open to change, but im gonna keep pushing until we find out. How do you think about what you put on here . Corey the fruit started off banana, orange, apple. Lemonis you sell a lot of it . Corey we do sell small amounts. Lemonis the front counter was stacked so high. It was bananas and cookies. I couldnt even see anybodys face. And by the way, none of the items were new york items. I dont even see cheesecake here. So this is i should not think about this as like a new york traditional deli. Corey yeah. Lemonis dont Pay Attention to new york city bagel deli . Why have italian capers . Corey you use probably a couple cases a week with your lox sandwich. So the rest of em sit here. We need one, hey, dump it in the thing. But i cant tell you the last time we sold one of these. Lemonis look, bagels have amazing margins, but its the ancillary products that will actually build on to the size of the order if the products that are there are things that people actually want to buy. So what are the locations . Were on north avenue. Corey this is the original. And then the second one, which is Dearborn Dearborn and grant, and the willis tower. Lemonis like a kiosk . Corey yeah, a little bit more than a kiosk, but. Lemonis not a full store. Corey not a full store. Lemonis and then the revenue out of this location . Corey this is good for about 95,000, 100,000 a month. Lemonis and dearborn . Corey about the same. Lemonis and willis . Corey 50,000 a month. I want 10 more of them. Lemonis [ laughing ] yeah. Corey yeah. Lemonis the fact that the dearborn and the north avenue location generate over 100,000 a month is pretty awesome. Im impressed that hes been able to accomplish that number with what i see. It tells me that the potential is massive. Youre gonna teach me today how to make a bagel, right . Corey right now im gonna show you. Look, here. Come on. Lemonis lets go man lets do it. Lemonis everybodys fired up about bagels. Man lets do it. Corey so this the mixer. Its giving you the consistency that will allow it to run through the bagel machine. Go, look, right into that hopper. Go. Lemonis i mean, its not light. Corey go. Throw it. There you go. Okay, start. [ machine whirs ] there we go. It will go back and forth, and it will cut 4ounce pieces of dough. Its gonna run through here, and its gonna be formed into a bagel. Lemonis how long you been doing this . Neto 16 years. Lemonis here . Neto yeah. Lemonis with him . Neto yeah. I was taught by a gentleman who was a fourthgeneration bagel maker. Lemonis all right, back out. Let me show you how to do this. Corey look at this. We got a replacement for you. Lemonis they look more like donuts. Holy [bleep] theyre moving too fast here, ill try to keep them corey now what are we gonna do . Theres too many coming out. Now to shut the machine shut it down. Shut it down. Neto there you go. There you go. Corey shut it down. There you go. All right. Now, get em into the water. The waters boiling, and then were stirring them up. You want to try it . Lemonis yeah. Corey this is actually going to cook the outside, which gives us the hard outside, soft inside. Its the traditional new york style kettleboiled bagel. And now youre gonna take as many as you can, walk em right over here, and dump em right here. There you go. Dump em there, and lets seed them. Go ahead. Seed em. And these bagels are put into the oven. Nice and easy. If we went to go look at this bagel and this bagel at the end didnt look good because it was maybe sideways, its up to us to throw it away. Lemonis why arent you making bagel chips out of all of em . Laurie amen. Thank you. Lemonis you agree with that . Laurie oh, we argue about it all the time. Laurie i would love bagel chips to be mass produced. Lemonis why are you arguing about it . Corey because theres a lot more involved. You got to cut em, you got to put em in and bake em, you got to bag em. Lemonis her point is is that she has an idea and shes just trying to. Corey oh, yeah. Lemonis we dont really need him for the bagel chips, do we . Laurie the bagel chips is a business of its own. Lemonis it could be lauries bagel chips. Laurie it would be its own business. Corey laurie and marcus. Lemonis no, lauries is fine. Corey no, no, take her with you. Go ahead. Laurie and marcus. Laurie i dont speak when youre speaking, so dont speak. Okay. Lemonis the fact that corey doesnt see the value of reusing existing product to make more money just tells me that if its not his idea, its not gonna go anywhere. Lets go to dearborn. Corey yeah, okay. Lemonis walking up to the second location, the first thing i notice is this lame, dinky awning that, by the way, doesnt even match the first location, and looks like it was here 25 years ago. How you doing . Corey good. How are you . Lemonis good. Corey whats going on . Lemonis this is a lot bigger. Corey its a little different. Lemonis do you mind putting your coat on for a second . Corey of course. Lemonis okay. I want to just go outside. Corey of course. [ horn honks ] lemonis on a scale of 1 to 10, and this is just me asking, how would you rate your facade, the light, the openness . Corey i see what youre saying. A zero probably. Lemonis yeah, its dark. Corey im glad you asked. Lemonis it looks old and not reflective of you because, i mean, youre corey aah i got you. Lemonis yeah. Do that again. Corey ah lemonis [ chuckles ] okay. Corey so look. Let me show you something. This is the cooler. Lemonis okay. Corey so ill fill this up. Lemonis but theres no mixing machine. Corey correct. Lemonis so where is the dough coming from . Corey the other store after i leave you tonight, im gonna go over there, me personally, put the racks of bagels that were made today in the truck, bring em over here. Lemonis you could do that over here, but you dont . Corey yeah, and is it really Cost Effective to have another machine and another staff . And then you dont have the consistency. Lemonis if corey wants to grow this business, hes not gonna be able to prep, boil, and proof mass production out of the very small kitchen on north avenue. Ultimately what this Business Needs is a commissary model a larger space that allows for the storage of Raw Materials, the prep of the dough, the boiling of the product, and the proofing of the product. And then it could be transported to individual locations in the chicagoland area, and the final baking process can happen there. The one big financial advantage to that is as he opens additional locations, they dont need to be as big. Im marcus. Ray hi. Ray. Lemonis nice to meet you. Ray nice to meet you, as well. Lemonis is corey easy to work with . Ray hes a good man. Knowing the type of guy he is and how kind he is, if you just break it down to him and let him know you need some help, hes the first one that wants to help. Hed make sure that the guys here are happy and they make enough money to take home for their family, and he might give them a little extra hours, and thats what makes him special. If youre not inside the doors with him, youll never understand. Lemonis can the three of us sit down for a few minutes . Corey sure. Lemonis i always want to understand the people side of it first. I mean, why are you in this business . Whats your motivation . Corey this is all i really have ever done. I started working at a bagel place that my father was working at in the early 80s in new jersey. And we went to florida with the first store and then even the second store. Then i met laurie. From florida to here we we have five children, two of them are in heaven. They had polycystic kidney disease, and basically its a disease that captures and covers your organs with cysts. But we came here because they promised us that there was a better chance to be on a list for transplant. So we literally left the house and the businesses. We rented a house here immediately. Lemonis how old were they when all this was happening . Corey my daughter was 19 months when she passed, and my son only made it a couple days, so. Lemonis im sorry. Corey yeah, no, its sad. Its horrible, you know . Lemonis im really sorry. Lemonis and your son, what was his name . Laurie corey. And my daughter was corri. Lemonis howd you survive that . I cant even imagine that. Laurie [ voice breaking ] when a child dies, theres like a 90 percent chance of people divorcing and it. Corey it made us stronger. Laurie . Brought us closer. Corey most people would have quit, but we had three other kids. Lemonis candidly, i am not a parent, and so i dont know what that feels like and cant even begin to imagine it. But even if i tried to imagine, i dont know that i could push through, and i give them credit for that. If i couldnt meet him and you were gonna try to describe him to me, how would you describe him . Laurie lovable, larger than life, very generous, kind, loyal. Lemonis great husband . Laurie yes. Lemonis great father . Laurie yes. Lemonis good boss . Laurie definitely. Lemonis nice to see you. Laurie hi. Good to see you. Corey whats up, boss . Lemonis my man, whats happening . Corey good to see you, man. Lemonis good seeing you. What is this chain youre wearing . Corey its a whole solid gold bagel with diamonds for the salt. Lemonis whered you get that . Corey laurie got it for me 25 years ago. Lemonis thats how long youve been in the business . Corey probably longer than that. Laurie youve been in the business since the day you were born. Come on. Its in your blood. Corey probably. Lemonis youre a bagel man through and through. Corey thats where it started. Originally, the stores were coreys bagels. Laurie which i like better than nyc, but thats okay. Corey but im gonna come back to that, okay . Coreys bagels for years and years and years. When we came here, it was new york bagel deli, which id purchased from a friend of mine. The name came with it. Lemonis you bought one location. Corey i bought one location. Lemonis and then you duplicated it and put it up again. Why didnt you just call it coreys . Corey i left well enough alone because it already had a you know, it had a presence. Laurie i wanted it to be coreys. Corey laurie, stop. Lemonis now, dont do that to her. Would you stop . Did you bring your financials . Corey i did. Lemonis can we look over em . Corey of course. Lemonis okay. North avenue 2015, 1,296,000 in revenue, made 152,000. In 2016, 1,335,000 in revenue, 181,000 in profit. Lets look over at dearborn, which is the second location. Thats the larger location. So in 2015, 1,255,000, made 191,000. 2016, 1,293,000 in revenue, made 210,000. Dearborn and north avenues. Corey yes. Lemonis . Both making money, and the willis location . Corey well, its just a pop up. Lemonis so well just focus on these two. Corey i agree. Lemonis and when i look at dearborn, i say to myself, how much more revenue can be drawn through there . How do i get promotional to drive traffic in . How do i make sure that when people come in, i raise the average order . That store should do 2. 5 million. Laurie easily. Lemonis not 1. 5 million. But sometimes i meet people that say, we cant keep the lights on, and we help them keep the lights on. In this case, its about growth, not about survival. So my offer is 200,000 for 25 percent. Corey a couple hundred thousand dollars is not gonna make a difference here where we are. Were in a very good position right now with the stores. Im very happy. And then honestly, i have to listen to somebody else for a couple hundred grand. I mean, youre making that face, but isnt that true . Youre gonna put money in and not just gonna sit back. Were gonna go at things together. Laurie but anything he says would be an asset. Corey well, i mean, again. Lemonis i know where the market is in chicago for this product. I know how poorly branded the business is. I know what loose ends exist in the business. I know how poorly merchandised it is. I know where the margins should be. Corey i just dont know. Im still thinking. Im just being honest with you. Lemonis what are you thinking about . Corey youre not just gonna say 200,000 and im not getting anything. What am i getting . Youre not just putting that in to say, okay, this is what were gonna do. I want to hear the rest of it. I want to see what all. Lemonis oh, you want my sales pitch . Corey i want your sales pitch. Lemonis im not selling you on anything. But im not opposed to putting in more money. Sometimes if the business is really working, i may fund up to two times, even three times the amount of the original deal. Corey but im in a position right now where i have to really weigh it out, and theres just a lot more that goes into it. Lemonis 200,000 for 25 percent. Corey and i said, no. Lemonis okay. So whats your counter . Corey we cant decide that at the coffee shop. That, we cant. Lemonis so, a week from now, youre gonna know more . What are you gonna know differently . Corey i dont know. Lemonis until we start going to work, how the hell are you gonna know . Corey i dont know. Lemonis i dont think that either of us are going to come to a deal tonight that youre gonna live with. Do you want to determine it now . You said you dont want to. Corey i dont. Lemonis its like, okay. Nice meeting you. Corey you, as well, sir. Pleasure and honor. Honestly, i mean that. Thank you for your time. [ door closes ] lemonis if your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to. My job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. Im having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. So were using a speakerphone in the store. Is that a good idea . One of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. Youre looking for a grout brush, this is garth, did he ask for your help . No, no. No. We all see it. We all see it. He has blue hair. Okay. Blue. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Keep it coming. You dont know him. When you bundle with us. Oh yeah, you going to place it . Not until im sure. Why dont you call Td Ameritrade for a strategy gut check . Whats that . You run it by an expert, you talk about the risk and potential profit and loss. Couldve used that before i hired my interior decorator. Voila maybe a couple throw pillows would help. 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Welcome to camp tonsafun on xfinity its summer camp, but in your living room. Learn how to draw with a minions expert. How to build an indoor Obstacle Course plus. Whatever shes doing. And me, jade cattapreta. The host of es the soup camp tonsafun. Its like summer camp, but minus the poison ivy. Unless you own poison ivy. In which case, why . Just say summer camp into your xfinity voice remote to join. Are going to come to a deal tonight. Nice meeting you. Corey you, as well, sir. [ door closes ] laurie i dont think you heard a word he said. You didnt hear a word he said. Lemonis to be honest with you, i never thought id hear from corey again, but a week after we met, i got a call from him asking me if we could meet. Corey ive asked you to call me because, first of all, i mean, without kissing your butt, i think youre wonderful with whatever you do. Ive looked you up, ive learned a lot about you. I think what you do to help people is awesome. Lemonis so i drove out to one of the suburbs of chicago and met him at his warehouse. How you doin, my man . Corey good, how are you . Lemonis good to see you. Corey its great to see you. Lemonis i wanted to hear what he had to say. We both left red beard that night a little confused about what happened, and youve had a chance to think. So for me, if you want to have this brand mean something, it has to really be a transformation. Corey okay. Lemonis and i really like you. Youre fun to be around. Corey yeah. Thank you. Lemonis okay. Laurie wow. Lemonis and at the end of the day, you love your family and you love your kids and you love the history so much. Laurie thats super sweet. Lemonis . That that is really what needs to be celebrated. Corey wow. Lemonis and i think you guys should change your name back to coreys bagels because i think its a better name. Corey we dont have to the sign doesnt have to say coreys bagels. Lemonis new york city bagel deli is generic. In order to scale the business, it needs to have an identity that is really marketable here. Corey so look, coreys bagels, look. Thats what it was in florida. I dont want it again. Laurie does. Lemonis do you want to move forward . Corey i do want to move forward. My gut says a business with Marcus Lemonis is a Better Business than without. Lemonis okay. So, my offer was 200,000 for 25 percent, and i had an 800,000 valuation. Corey ive put the valuation at 1. 2 million. Lemonis okay. So lets meet in the middle. Corey at a million. Lemonis yep. So now, every 100,000 represents 10 percent. Corey 10 percent, but i want to understand if you need to have a certain percentage. Laurie im gonna steal marcus jacket because im freezing. Lemonis here, here, here. Corey look at this. Laurie how is everyone like standing around . Corey look at this. And im just gonna reiterate for the same question. Lemonis yes, sir. Corey . I want you involved at a percentage thats gonna make you as. Lemonis pick a number, and ill react to it. Corey 25 percent, 250,000. Lemonis does that work for you . Corey it works. Lemonis great. Corey all right. Welcome aboard. Lemonis we got a deal. Corey lets go to work. All right, so, guys, as you guys know we have great months, we have okay months, but in order to go to the next level, we need to redo things. And one of the big things that we wanted to do, were gonna start to make bagel chips. Lemonis corey, you know this is actually this is actually what i do. Corey well, then go ahead, sir. Lemonis okay. My name is Marcus Lemonis. And my job is truly to get in and help Small Businesses. In some cases, the businesses are struggling. In other cases, theyre doing just fine, like this place. Place makes good money. Corey doing well. Lemonis . The staff is amazing, the products good, but does everybody agree that it could get better . Man yes. Man 2 yeah, definitely. Lemonis and so i agreed to invest 250,000 to become a partner in the business. One of the things that we want to do is bring more authentic new york style products. We want to be different than everybody else. Its the best bagel place, but we dont just want to just be a bagel place. And also, the name of the store is definitely changing. Corey oh. Oh. Lemonis in order to really scale this business, i have a number of initiatives that i want to put in place. First and foremost, i want to develop one Concept Store that really accounts for a Better Process for the customer and a higher register ring for the company. Thats gonna be the dearborn location. Number two, i want to understand how this companys gonna grow by developing a commissary model that allows the business to open more locations and wholesale. I also want to work with laurie to develop the bagel chips. And most importantly, i want to bring in new york citybased products so that we really can feel authentic. What do you guys think about whats happening . Lamale excited. Im ready to get it started, get it moving, and up and running. Lemonis i say we get to work. Lets get back to work. Corey lets do it. Lets rock and roll. Lemonis the kaplans and i have a ton of work to do, and i dont want to waste any time getting started. One of the most popular things when i go to a bagel shop is bagel chips. And so laurie and i are gonna develop them. First, were gonna decide how thinly they should be sliced. Which stack do you like . Laurie this one. Corey i like this one. Lemonis i hope that corey will let laurie take the lead here. But clearly, i was overly optimistic. You know what, lets make a couple small bagels. Corey we choose this for a true traditional bagel chip. Lemonis lets do three or four minis. Corey no, dont do that. Laurie no . Corey thats very. Lemonis how would you like to do this . Im gonna follow your lead. Laurie okay, so lets do the mini bagels. They look really good, too. Cheers. [ bagel chips crunch ] lemonis theyre good. Laurie that is delicious. Lemonis youre gonna need to come back to me and say, it costs this much to make the fullsize bagel, this much to make the mini bagel. Our next task is meeting with the contractor to discuss the dearborn renovation. Everything generating revenue has to happen from this wall to this wall. We need new light fixtures, gonna brighten the place up, paint it, put the floor in, build the cabinetry. In 10 days, we want everything to look jazzy new. Its a tight schedule, but i feel like getting this blueprint right gives us the ability to launch new locations. And finally, i want to set up corey and laurie with designers to work on a new logo and new signage. So im bringing them to kieffer co. , a company that makes signs for some of the biggest businesses in america. Nyc bagel and deli, theres probably one in every city. Theres nothing that makes me want to go there today. Corey if a customer sees a change, theyre wondering what else changed. They just know nyc bagel deli. Tyler do we have a solid name that were looking at, then . Lemonis so, were we want coreys in the name, so lets establish that. Tyler right. Lemonis corey may not like the idea of changing the name, but it has to happen. Corey, i want you to find a caricature person like you see at, like, a carnival. Corey yeah. Lemonis you guys have some logo work to do. [ birds chirping ] lemonis the sole purpose of coming here is to really start to put thought around the proper way to package the bagel chips. Corey okay. Lemonis now that weve started developing the bagel chips, its time to figure out how were gonna package them. So im taking corey and laurie to a local Packaging Company that specializes in making pouches for food companies. Corey so do different lines do different things, like some have a gusset, some dont, because thats been my biggest thing with having that bagel stand up. Bob yes. Corey biggest flaw with. Lemonis so this is important to me that this is your product. And so, this is your thing, not his thing. Its important to tell him. Corey . Retailer, wholesaler, how its gonna end up. Bob exactly, so. Corey and easy resealing. Bob well its zippered. Right. Corey zippered. Laurie do you do any type of chip now . Bob yeah, weve done pouches for pita chips, bagel chips. Laurie okay, so theyre always with, like, a little foil on the inside. Bob yes, its polyester metallized polyester. Laurie okay. Corey on the inside of the bag, is you have a choice if its foil or if its different material . Bob you do. You do have a choice. Laurie right. I just asked him that. Corey oh, okay, i wasnt listening. Lemonis the bagel chips are really her thing. Hes not as involved in that even though he likes to be involved in every single thing. And so this is really a learning experience for her on what exactly it takes to execute. Every time laurie has asked a question, corey always feels the need to come in and step over her. And in order for this business to grow, shes gonna have to be an active participant, and hes gonna have to be quiet. Bob so, the different style options. Something like this. This is your standup bottom gusset pouch. Or we would do a side gusset pouch with more of a flatstyle bottom. Lemonis bob, were just gonna chat for a minute. So well see you on the way out. Bob okay. Great. Lemonis thank you so much. Corey thank you, bob. Laurie thank you so much for everything. Thank you. Lemonis so what is the name of the bagel chips specifically going to be . Laurie coreys bagel chips. Instead of nyc bagel deli, even thought theres nothing against nyc bagel deli. Corey so why would you change it now . Laurie youre the originator of the bagels. Corey the idea behind it was calling it new york, and thats what this is gonna be. Laurie no. Coreys. I love that name. Youre telling me to drive, im driving. Lemonis im following you. Laurie okay. Corey no. This is what were doing. I dont want to take a chance of losing the reputation, the yelp following, the reviews. Im not prepared to say, some new guy came in, and now its different. That helps you master your backhand. Then you should be able to get a bank account that helps you master your budget. Virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking account. Clearly see the big picture of your finances. And easily manage and grow your savings. Did you see that . Virtual wallet® for Digital Banking from pnc. Its time to get more from your bank. If they dont feel comfortable on your sensitive skin . New all free clear clean and care. It actively cleans with a keratinenriched formula. Free of perfumes and dyes, its a comfortable clean your skin will love. From the 1 doctor recommended brand for sensitive skin. From the 1 doctor recommended take the good, with the bad live the life you want to have send it off, with a bang whistling [ indistinguishable muffled words ] preorder now and get up to 150 samsung credit. Bibill assumed his mayo was the best choice. Assume nothing. Just like the leading brand, kraft real mayo is made with high Quality Ingredients at a price you can feel good about. No wonder kraft is so good. Jake from state farm. After you saved me so much dough on insurance with that parker promo i devised a promo for you. Heres the deal parker, state farm offers everyone surprisingly great rates. Yeh, right. Pepperoni pocketz, atomic brownie, cuckoo crustiez. Theres no promo. Just great rates. And a side of ranch. Youre the man, man. When you want the real deal. Like a good neighbor, state farm is there. When you want the real deal. Like a good neighbor, corey no. This is what were doing. Laurie i definitely want the name coreys bagels. Lemonis corey, its very important for her to drive this process. Corey okay. Lemonis . And to own it. And laurie, hes used to normally just stepping in front of everybody and just solving it. But this is your project, and if you let him do it, hes just gonna do it. Laurie i know because he always like, ill think something one way, and then hell say the other way, and its always that way. Lemonis and so i dont want to move forward with bagel chips if hes gonna drive it. Laurie okay. Lemonis i just dont. Corey you need to drive. Laurie okay. I will drive. Lemonis i invested in your concept, and hes got his thing. If we want to open up 15 of these and have a hubandspoke model and a commissary and theyre all around chicago and youre really, truly investing millions to do that, he is not gonna be able to be distracted by bagel chips. Hes just not. Corey i agree with everything youre saying. Lets you need to take control. Laurie okay. Corey because your ideas behind the scenes and at home and in the stores are very vibrant, so lets let you take control. Laurie okay. Corey lets do that because it is your idea, and it is your baby. Laurie okay. Lemonis lets boogie. Laurie all righty. Lemonis okay, so the reason i brought you guys to Highland Park. Corey okay. Lemonis . Is because i want to show you something. Corey okay. Sure. Lemonis im taking corey and laurie to Highland Park where i own a big warehouse. And today, im using it to sell offprice merchandise in the fashion industry, but ive always had bigger plans for it, and i think this business may be a perfect fit. This is just an overflow warehouse that i use to bring things in and out and process returns from online businesses here. Corey wow. Beautiful building. Lemonis yeah, isnt it gorgeous . Itd make a really cool bagel factory. Corey it would. Laurie are you kidding me . Lemonis no. Laurie am i allowed to scream . Lemonis you can scream. Laurie because im being serious, it would be amazing. Lemonis my idea for this building is to build a big commissary bagel factory, bagel chips the ability to do all of it here bag it. Theyre gonna start ripping up the floor next friday. Corey wow. Lemonis the commissary will not only support additional new locations, but can support a wholesale market, as well. And so if i end up putting more money into the commissary or more money into this deal, well, its gonna be money well spent. The work will take close to six months to complete, but its gonna be well worth it. The reason i was excited about this is for two people who do love each other very much, this is an opportunity to do something from scratch and the two of you craft it together. Corey you know, i think its a wonderful fit. Lemonis your voice has to be heard. Laurie mmhmm. Corey and she has been in it since day one, and she has been doing a lot of the things behind the scenes that doesnt get, you know, really the gratitude that it deserves. Lemonis i know, but it requires you to actually do it together. Corey thats fantastic. Lemonis all right. Lets get out of here. Corey you the man. Lemonis so what do we have . Corey all right, so, laurie, this is your presentation. Go. Laurie i went, and i did what you said to do. Lemonis im meeting with laurie to go over the work i asked her to do on the bagel chips. So for a 6ounce bag of bagel chips, it costs you 0. 55. Laurie mmhmm. Lemonis i am blown away by how good a job you did. Hows the artwork coming for coreys . Corey so we have this as a very, very, very preliminary drawing. But heres my concern what is coreys, and who the hell is corey . I dont know that the customers gonna know that. If i change the name, i may think twice, if im that customer, about coming in. What happened to the other guy . The store has a huge clientele, and its denoted by the nyc name. We never, ever had an idea of changing the name. I love that its my name, but in all seriousness, i dont want to take a chance of losing the reputation, the yelp following, the reviews of what we have. I have to get rid of all the wraps on the vehicles. I have to get rid of all the tshirts. I have to relicense everything, reinspect, new instagram pages, new facebook, new twitter. Im not prepared to say, some new guy came in, changed the name, and now its different, and i must stand very firm on that. I think our concept would work here. Great spot, windows beautiful, front of the house is great. I love where it is. Lemonis i dont. Its crickets. This location scares the [bleep] out of me. An extra 15 credit on car and motorcycle policies . Thats great thats 15 on top of what geico could already save you. So what are you waiting for . John stamos to knit you a scarf . All finished, jean. Enjoy thank you. I give. 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Changed the name, and now its different, and i must stand very firm on that. Lemonis it doesnt take a lot to rewrap vehicles and get new tshirts. Corey i get that, but what about the name . Youre picking on the little things, the big thing. Lemonis i have been in multiple cities in the last three months since ive met you, and i see a new york city bagel on every street corner. Theres another new york city bagel here in chicago. Corey not a new york city bagel. Lemonis what is it called . Corey new york bagel. Lemonis oh, im sorry, i forgot the c. Corey thats correct. Laurie wait, wait, wait. Corey the c. Lemonis and the likelihood of confusion is zero. Do people ever walk in and say to you, oh, i went to your place in skokie . Corey they do. Lemonis do they ever go to that place and say, i went to your place on dearborn . Corey they do. Lemonis great. Do they ever put reviews on there and youre like, thats not us . Corey they do. Laurie right. Lemonis i dont want to spend my money and your money and your money to build the brand in a market that somebody else is gonna draft off. I dont like the generic nature of the current name and its lack of specificity or something special, and i feel like theres some underbelly here to why hes resisting. I still dont understand why coreys disappeared. You had built years and years. Corey to building the brand. Lemonis . Of building the brand, and then you abandoned it when you bought the business called nyc bagel deli. Be honest is the reason you didnt bring coreys back because that was the kids name, because it was just too much to deal with . Corey i never thought of it till you just said it, but yeah, you might be on to something. It clearly affects me every day. Date of birth, date of death, everything. Lemonis if corey doesnt get his mind around this name change, i think it could really hamper my investment. If it truly is a roadblock for him because it ties back to his children, it could be whats potentially causing him to react the way he does all the time, including how he talks to laurie. I really need you to do some soulsearching. Corey i will. Lemonis really think about if thats your aversion to it. Corey i will. Lemonis all right. Lets get out of here. Corey thank you for your time. Lemonis yeah, buddy. So what i want to do is really understand your vision for layout here. Corey okay. Lemonis im bringing corey and laurie to the site of the new commissary in Highland Park. The most important thing is for them to really understand how the Customer Experience is gonna work. What im looking to see here is, people come in, and we take them on the bagel journey. Corey okay. Lemonis . And they understand Raw Materials and they see the mixer and they see the kettle. Laurie that would be really cool. Like a new york marketplace. Lemonis okay. And while the work begins, im taking corey and laurie to new york city so we can start sourcing new york products. This day is gonna be very focused on finding the right kinds of things to take back to chicago. Corey okay. Lemonis first stop is one of my favorites, juniors cheesecake, and it dates back to the 1950s. Alan i hope youre hungry. Laurie okay. Wow. Alan were known as having the best cheesecake, as you know. Lemonis what is that, a cake shake . Alan yes. Corey wow, laurie. Alan a black and white milkshake with a brownie explosion cheesecake. Alan this is a strawberry milkshake with a slice of strawberry cheesecake. New york has a certain style. Lemonis adding any of these products is gonna up our game in delivering an authentic new york experience. Corey its a home run. Lemonis our next stop is hampton coffee in long island. Woman hi. Welcome to hampton coffee. Lemonis how are you . Woman how are you . Lemonis even though a little over a year ago i made an investment in a Coffee Company in california, the important thing was keeping this particular business authentic with new york products. Oscar were doing a very special blend for you guys. Its called corey and lauries blend. Corey wow look at this oscar its stronger but with a lighter roast mixed together, its an even balance and a delicious cup of coffee you will have. Lemonis having a special blend of coffee thats unique to our establishment while adding cheesecakes from one of new yorks most famous places increase the likelihood that somebody would add that on to their order. I dont know that it will raise margins, but the goal behind the whole business is, how do we grow the average ticket . My man, thank you. Corey asked me to go with him to check out a new location. Hes gung ho to expand, and i want to make sure that were finding the balance between Good Business and him getting excited about being the big dog on the park. Corey i think our concept would work here, but a total different clientele than the other two locations. Weve never had the opportunity to be near the train. Lemonis right, but theyre funneling in to go to work or funneling out to come to work. So theres probably four, five, six waves of traffic. Corey i think that if youre fast, which is one of the reasons for the window, you can get the train traffic. If youre not, they wont wait. Lemonis i mean, if you look at their menu, there was donuts, drinks, and thats it. Corey i love where it is. Lemonis i dont. What time is it right now . Corey right now, ive got almost 11 00, 10 45. Lemonis its crickets. This location scares the [bleep] out of me. I think until we figure out what the look is, what the feel is, what the brand name is, what the process is, i dont think we should look at anymore. Corey okay. Lemonis where are you guys with the branding . Corey i have it right here. Its a lot of the same, but its a little bit different, if that makes sense. Lemonis so, is it coreys or is it bagel . Bagel bagel bagel thats all i see is bagel. Laurie right. Thats what i said. Corey so you do not like the idea. Lemonis do not. Do not. Corey . Of this . Lemonis no. Corey this was an option because it showed a little bit of both. Lemonis all you essentially did was reprint this, change that from chicagos own to the famous coreys, and take the website and change that. Corey im trying to come up with something that will make a simple statement. Lemonis youre so worried that people are gonna accuse you of changing. There was a reason for the name, and if weve departed from history, family, new york city, then just tell me. Corey no, no. No. I think it should be smaller. It shouldnt be as predominant as what we sell. Lemonis i think youre wrong. Look at the sign. Corey thank you. Just thank you. Lemonis this looks awesome. Can we go inside . This looks phenomenal. 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Five years is just crazy. See me. Learn more at cosentyx. Com. Corey i think it should be smaller. It shouldnt be as predominant as what we sell. Lemonis i think youre wrong. Corey this is why ive been frustrated for so long on this. Lemonis come here. Just you and me for a minute, okay . Corey sure, absolutely. Lemonis i think that youre worrying a lot that people are gonna think less of you. Corey thats my numberone problem. Lemonis and im telling you, people wont think that. Corey but ive done something so long this way that ive almost become, thats the right way. Lemonis stop that. Corey ill stop it today, but 100 percent. Lemonis because you literally have im telling you this, theres no limit to your potential. Corey so it was me holding me back. It wasnt everything else. Lemonis yes. Yes. They say kids learn when theyre small, theyre like sponges. You have to just be an adult sponge. Corey its one of the things i fight all the time. And i dont know that until i met you that i would ever listen to anyone. And now im seeing through what youre saying, through the businesses you have, through the success youve had that, yeah, maybe thats a better idea. Lemonis what . Corey to be coreys bagels. I couldnt do that before. Lemonis lets go. I think its coreys nyc bagel deli. Thats the sign on the front of the building. Corey okay. Im grateful, and i love that. Lemonis all this stuff has to be implemented when the dearborn location is renovated. All the signage, the whole thing. Corey okay. Lemonis lets get out of here. Come on. Laurie all right. Corey hi, steve. Corey kaplan. Its nice to meet you, sir. Lemonis good seeing you again, buddy. I got word that the first draft of samples for the bags and all the Paper Products are ready so im heading over with the kaplans to check it out. Laurie this is beautiful. [ laughs ] come on it has it has the name on it this is beautiful. Corey this, to me, and i mean this laurie went crazy over that bag this is a dream come true to me. Laurie this is all a dream. Corey i can now say, ive got my own coffee thanks to you, we have our own coffee, and now ive got my own cup. This, to me, says, youve made it. Lemonis its got celebrating the past and the kids. Its got the love piece, which i know is important to you. And its got coreys personality. Laurie [ voice breaking ] marcus, i cant tell you thank you i cant tell you thank you enough. Its beautiful. Corey it means a lot. It does. It means a lot. Lemonis i couldnt see you from a mile away. It was the shoes. Corey oh, my shoes. Whats up . Laurie [ laughs ] lemonis look at the sign. This looks awesome. Walking up to the store, i feel like it looks like a totally different business. Its inviting, its bright, it feels energetic. I like this. Stand in front of it. Let me see. It is pretty good. Corey its pretty close. Laurie its awesome. Lemonis okay. Can we go inside . 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Simply sign up, drive and save. But im sure whatever youve been working on is equally impressive. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum welcome to camp tonsafun on xfinity its summer camp, but in your living room. Learn how to draw with a minions expert. How to build an indoor Obstacle Course plus. Whatever shes doing. And me, jade cattapreta. The host of es the soup camp tonsafun. Its like summer camp, but minus the poison ivy. Unless you own poison ivy. In which case, why . Just say summer camp into your xfinity voice remote to join. Wow. Look at that corey [ laughs ] lemonis when i walk in the store, it looks clean, its organized, things are in their proper place, and you can actually see that theres a proper flow for the customer. This looks phenomenal. Corey thank you. Lemonis it doesnt feel too slick. Corey no. Lemonis and it doesnt feel too chainlike. It still feels local. It still feels like the old place with some refinements. Corey every corner has attention to detail. I love you lox. Laurie amazing. Lemonis whose idea was that . Corey lauries idea, and lauries idea with the subway tile. Laurie its beautiful. Corey lauries idea with the lighting, the floor, the cabinets lauries idea. Laurie on the floor. Lemonis the coffee looks amazing. Corey the coffee is amazing. Thats the corey loves laurie blend. Lemonis are people buying the cheesecake . Corey yes. The biggest thing is they want to taste it, so im gonna put samples out. Lemonis almost everything in the store feels new york themed and authentic. How are the bagel chips selling . Laurie theyre actually people are buying two bags. Corey really. Lemonis so youve really, like, tripled your revenue. Corey without a doubt. Were actually making bagels to make bagel chips. Lemonis appropriately, the bagel chips are now at the forefront. So are these the new bags . Corey these were the samples. Laurie everyone says this pops out, and i agree with that. Lemonis its on point with the brand. The new sample packaging for the bagel chips looks phenomenal. I mean, we look legit. So tell me what you did different. Be honest. Corey we adjusted the amount of boiling time, and its giving you a softer, more user friendly bagel. Lemonis they taste really fantastic. Laurie right . Lemonis what we now have is a bagel that tastes perfect hard and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. How long have you guys been open . Corey a week. Lemonis whats changed in revenue, whats changed in the average order . Corey so the reaction is off the chain. Addon sales are insane. Results in at least a 10, sometimes a 15 percent increase in revenue. Lemonis theres a lot of good news happening for coreys bagels. Some huge wholesale accounts. Wouldnt be surprised if you saw coreys bagels in a lot of stores. Corey if i didnt meet you, were not as close as we are right now. Lemonis the two of you . Corey i mean it. Lemonis your ability to work together, to listen to each other, to respect each others opinions, that transformation was more important to me than wallpaper and lights. Corey sure. You showed me something that i didnt know in 52 years. Lemonis my original investment of 200,000 is going for the core operations of the business, but ill probably have close to 2 million in the commissary, and i expect to get a separate return on that. Am i putting a lot of chips in on this deal . You bet. Do i think the return could be a monster return . Absolutely. But i notice the biggest transformation is with him and how he sees her as a valuable asset. These two possess the heart and the passion and the work ethic that every Small Business owner in america should have. I head back to fars ice cream parlour in california. Mike welcome to farrells ice cream parlour. Are you celebrating anything today . Lemonis i put up almost 1 million to save this beloved brand from collapsing. Now i need to save my investment. Your license agreement here is terminated today. I cant do this anymore. The owners are once again mismanaging the funds. Travis we got notified from the landlord that youre behind on rent, and. Lemonis you guys were not aware of it . Travis no. Lemonis the flagship restaurant has fallen into chaos. I got, basically, a big f you, and my 700,000 is gone. To revive it, im going to need rely on some old friends. We want to do it . Allison lets do it