When somebody else does the cooking for you. Erik free snacks. Free food. No cost. Try it out. Youre gonna love it. Fuelfood. Com. Lemonis before i check out their facility, i came to watch them at a marketing event so i can get an idea how they promote their business. Woman you want to try a sample, too . All fresh, gourmet meals delivered right to your doorstep. Erik im erik. Im the owner. Lemonis im marcus. Nice to meet you. Erik nice to meet you. Its kind of a slower event, but itll work out pretty good. Lemonis Small Businesses rarely have the budgets to do Big Marketing campaigns. So taking over a corner where you can pass out samples and brochures and talk to customers about your product, its a good idea. So, how many customers do you have in total . Erik we have a total of 300 customers we service. We have 3,000 in the system. Lemonis and how long does a typical customer stay . Erik about three months. Lemonis so, your typical customer stays three months . Erik yeah. Now, i have customers for life. Lemonis i want to see you do your marketing thing. Erik yeah. 20 new clients this week. Lemonis let me see it. Make it happen. Erik [ laughs ] so, chicken and spinach, or do you want gourmet, delivered health food . Theres two servings to a snack for 7. 50. Diana if theres any type of allergy, we can actually help you with that. Erik hello, dessert samples. Key lime pie . Lemonis eriks idea of Healthy Eating is a great one. But the message hes sending out, not so good. Erik everybody come on over, meet the fuel food girls. Lemonis hes using fitness models in tight clothes to attract the younger guys. But anybody else, especially the women, im not sure theyre buying it. Erik we have some amazing eggwhite oatmealcrusted chicken nuggets. It always tastes better when its free. [ horn honks ] lemonis maybe its because youre being assaulted by that air horn, or maybe its erik. I mean, hes not the most approachable guy. [ dog barks ] erik come here. Come. Lemonis we were on a very busy street in west palm beach, but i didnt see them make a single sale. Im heading over to see erik at fuel foods. Im really interested to see how they actually make these meals, and how they deliver them to the customers. Erik hows your training going . You getting results . What are you doing . Hows it going . Lemonis erik has made some very interesting design choices. Erik ohh, i like it. Lemonis im not exactly Feeling Health and wellness. Erik its gonna be a fun five days. Lemonis five . Its gonna be more than five. Erik hey, how you doing . Lemonis how you doing . Erik i got to run. Marcus just got here. Lemonis what im feeling is rough and rugged workout facility. Why did you start the business . Erik i started the Business Training clients. They werent getting the results they should. So i said, how can i make this work for them and them get the maximum results . And i started cooking them food. Lemonis the type of clients that you have, are they professionals. . Erik higherend clients. Higherend professionals. We do work with a lot of professional athletes. We service a little over 300 clients per week. Im gonna show you the programs real quick. Thatll better explain it. Lemonis okay. Erik well, basically, what you do is you go online. You would select from a program, whatever youd like. These are the programs. And we deliver Gourmet Health Food right to your door. Lemonis fuel foods offers various meal plans. If you buy 10 meals, the cost is 9. 50 a meal. But if you prepay for 300 meals, it drops to 7. 50 a meal. Now, thats a big discount. But incentives like that help cash flow, and they build brand loyalty. Erik so, we dont have any real production going on today. We have packing going on today. Were packing for tomorrows orders. Theyll arrive tomorrow to the clients. Lemonis so, todays thursday. What days do you cook . Erik ill show you here. Lemonis what do these different colors represent . Erik its a packing day. Lemonis okay. Erik so, were packing on this day for delivery tomorrow. Lemonis okay. Erik same deal here. Theyre packing here for delivery on friday. Lemonis and when is the food prepared . Erik the menu changes twice a week. This is the food preparation here. Lemonis so, friday, saturday, sunday. Erik thats correct. Lemonis did you develop all these recipes . Erik i developed all the recipes. Lemonis yourself . Erik yeah, myself. Lemonis and you bring in chefs to kind of help you . Erik ive had a number of different chefs. I had one chef that tried to put turkey lunch meat in my food. He was lazy. I had chefs that were stealing from me, for getting kickbacks from food companies. Lemonis and how many chefs have you had . Erik ive had about seven. Lemonis i like this business, and i like what it does for people. But ive already seen some red flags. Seven chefs in two years . Not a good sign. Erik george, mop it up real quick in here. Get it clean. Ice is going in there. Come on, come on. Come on, youre making me look bad. Lemonis erik is very aggressive with his employees. And in order to run a successful business, you have to build it with your people. Erik what are you doing . Come on. Lemonis you dont want to be barking orders at them. How long are people gonna stay around for that . How many meals do you make a day here . Erik we do about 6,000 meals per week. Like, were sealing these right now. These are gonna go out right now. This was just cooked yesterday. Lemonis and where are most of your clients located . Erik mostly in the south florida area. You know, this is where we started. Lemonis were in palm beach, right . Erik thats right. Lemonis how do you deliver to palm beach . Erik fedex. Lemonis like, five miles away . Erik thats correct. Everything goes fedex. Lemonis i dont think a freshcooked meal should come in a box. That sounds more like a care package my mom sent me in college. Erik i pass delivery cost on to the customer. I charge the customer 20. Lemonis so, customer gets two deliveries a week. Erik two menus per week. Lemonis so, on a monthly basis, theyre spending 160 on delivery expense. Erik not necessarily. It could be a little more. New york, for example, its anywhere from 61 to 82. Lemonis per shipment. Erik right. Lemonis in order for fuel foods to be successful, they should be focusing on the business in their local market. Shipping food thousands of miles away is a terrible idea. Whats a typical customer . Men . Erik we have more women that are interested in the program. Its about 65 35 women to men. But the men are gonna stay longer than the women. Lemonis why . Erik women are a little more emotional than rational, as you know. Lemonis women are what . Erik more emotional than rational. And, you know, a female client is gonna have a lot more issues. Theyre gonna sit, theyre gonna look at it, theyre gonna go, oh, i dont like the presentation on that one you sent me. Lemonis well, thats good feedback. Erik well, thats how i know that women are a little more finicky, a little pickier clients than the men, and i know we retain the men longer. Lemonis okay. Its not shocking to me that hes losing female clients left and right, from his brand image to the things that actually come out of his mouth. Erik hey, mom this is my mom. Lemonis how are you . Im marcus. Lisa nice to meet you. Lemonis what do you love most about being here . Lisa probably the people, their hearts, and the fact that i know im making a difference in their lives. Erik we help a lot of people. It feels good to have a business where you can go online and people call you like, erik, i just dropped 30 pounds. I feel great. Thank you so much. I get those calls all the time. Lemonis and so what are you doing today . Can i see what youre doing . Lisa sure. Come on. This is our ravioli, and it has Sweet Potatoes in it. I just needed to make some fresh pesto. Lemonis can i taste your pesto . Lisa of course you can. Erik there you go. Lemonis pestos good. Erik good. Lemonis the raviolis are not good. In any food business, presentation is the most important thing other than taste. And in this business, there is no presentation. Theres no color. The food looks gray. It looks terrible. So, whos the rest of the staff up here . Erik this is jordan. Lemonis jordan, nice to meet you. Im gonna chat with him without you for a little bit. Erik absolutely. Yeah. Come on, baby. Lemonis i wanted to spend a little time with you and kind of understand. What is your job today here . Jordan i came on in the past couple months to implement new sales strategies. Really, whatever i can to bring money in the front door. Lemonis then, so, for every 100 customers that you bring on that are new, whats the retention look like . Jordan from when ive come on, its about three weeks. Lemonis well, thats not longterm. Jordan exactly. What ive been trying to figure out is why theyre not staying. Lemonis theres no mystery here. People arent staying because the food is subpar. Fix the product and improve it, people will sign up for more. Im marcus, by the way. Diana im diana. Lemonis diana, nice to meet you. And what do you do here . Diana sales. Lemonis so, how long have you been here . Diana almost two years now. I started, with erik, managing the company, so ive done it all. Im usually here monday through sunday. Lemonis monday through sunday . Thats seven days a week. Diana pretty much. Lemonis why are you so committed to it . Diana i cared for my clients. I just i like to be there for them. Lemonis yeah. Is there also a call center . Diana the call centers right next door. Yeah. Lemonis in here . Diana yes. Lemonis hey, ladies. Im marcus. Diana and ashley. Lemonis ashley, nice to meet you. Diana . And channa. Lemonis hi, channa. How are you . Diana channas one of our biggest testimonials. She came in over 400 pounds. Shes lost 150 pounds. Lemonis check it out channa yeah. [ laughs ] lemonis thats awesome. Channa yeah. Lemonis would you say that erik helped you use the weight . Channa diana, i would say. Lemonis you did. Diana i worked with her for about eight months. Channa shes the reason i stayed here. Lemonis why . cause its kind of crazy without her . Channa yeah. She runs the place. Lemonis there are some major fundamental problems with fuel foods. But when i meet someone like channa and i see the impact that its had on her life, i see an opportunity to not only make money, but help people. Nice meeting you. Ashley pleasure meeting you. Lemonis be good. Keep up the good work. Channa yeah. Erik here you go. Lemonis and so this is basically an unaudited summary of the financials . Erik thats correct. Lemonis okay. Your total revenue was 1,449,000 last year. Erik yeah. Lemonis in the month of january, you did 250,000 worth of business. If i looked at last january, how different would last january be in total revenue . Erik we did 50,000. Lemonis you did 50,000 . Erik yeah. Lemonis year over year, this business has had explosive growth, like 500 for the month of january. Things are obviously heading in the right direction. Erik i got the name out. You know, i pushed the product. I had an investment. The investment allowed me to go out and promote the product. Lemonis oh, you had an investment. Erik thats correct. Lemonis . Last year . Erik yeah. Lemonis and what was that . Erik 1. 2 million. Lemonis how much . Erik 1. 2 million. Lemonis somebody invested 1. 2 million . Erik thats correct. Lemonis and, so, last year, you lost 846,000. So most of the money that came in, you lost . Erik thats correct. Lemonis whered all the cash go . Erik um. It was lost through operations. Lemonis which is 846,000. Erik i bought the truck, which is still an asset. Lemonis and so thats 154,000 on the balance sheet. Erik thats correct. Lemonis like a cargo van . Erik nah, the truck out front. The monster truck. For promotion. Lemonis 154,000 for one truck . Erik thats correct. Its a 500,000 truck. I got it under cost. I bought everything in the kitchen. I bought all the ovens. I bought the grill. Bought the freezer. Lemonis and so all that was 141,000 . Erik thats correct. The kitchen buildup might be in there, also. Kitchen was in shambles when i came in. I got the rent lemonis thats leasehold improvements of 109,000. Erik yeah. Lemonis and so all 1. 2 million is gone. Erik there you go. Lemonis and there it is. Erik yep. Lemonis and then, in addition to that, it looks like there are some loans on the books. Erik thats correct. Lemonis huntley was 20,000. Kalaydjian, 10,000. Erik thats correct. Lemonis snap advances. Erik basically what it is, is i borrowed 178,000. Lemonis and wheres that money now . Erik spent. Lemonis well, remember the math that we did a minute ago . Erik thats correct. Lemonis 1. 2 million came in. 850,000 lost erik that was last year. Thats this year. This year that those loans are on the books. It went towards salaries that were too high and advertising. Our website was 70 grand. I dont do all the numbers. I got the numbers from a c. F. O. Which, i paid him to do them, which is where part of this money went. What i do is try to keep the doors open every day, try to keep everybody paid here, and do everything i can do to make the business successful. Lemonis this is a tough one for me, because all i see is a monster truck and not much else. But the business has had incredible growth. It has plenty of opportunity. So, how many shareholders are there . Erik theres six. Lemonis six shareholders . Erik yeah, six. Lemonis and, so, wheres that on here . Erik maybe youre missing a page. Should be there. Lemonis i originally thought erik was the owner. But im finding out that hes got a lot of other shareholders, and i cant do a deal until i understand who they are and what their stakes are. You mind if i study this for a little bit . Erik its all yours. I think i have a better copy for you. Lemonis okay. Let me study these, okay . How you doing, buddy . Erik good afternoon. Lemonis good to see you. Did you bring a list of shareholders . Erik yeah, i couldnt download all of the individual Shareholder Agreements. Lemonis so, you dont have the Shareholder Agreement . Erik not yet. Lemonis not yet, huh . Erik not yet. Lemonis i mean, look, theres no doubt that your product has interest in the marketplace. But you struggle to hold onto employees and customers. So thats a concern for me. Erik okay. Lemonis and so the fear that i have is that i dont know how willing you are to change. Thats what scares me the most. Erik im willing. You know, im willing to change. Im not set in my ways. Lemonis okay. I take food seriously, and i take money seriously. Erik yeah. Lemonis just because they both have impacted my life. So, any time i can find a business that is trying to solve a problem for people, and it can employ people and make money at the same time. Erik its a beautiful thing. Lemonis its an interesting opportunity. Im willing to make an offer. Erik all right. Lemonis and the offer that im willing to make will solve two problems. It will pay off all of the debt, its about 200 grand, and itll put 100,000 of working capital in the business. And so youll never miss a payroll. And so that working capital really solves employee issues, labor issues, rent issues. So, im willing to offer 300,000 for 51 of the business. Erik 51 . Youre killing me with the 51 . You want to be in full control. Lemonis i brought you to a focus group. We want to hear from real people. Man the way its presented, its a little offputting. Woman 2 it seems less fresh and gourmet. Woman 3 total disconnect. 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E trade core portfolios is an easy, automated way to get invested. Well save you time by building, monitoring and managing a portfolio for you and provide all handson deck support when you need it helping you become top dog. pirate girl ahoy gotcha girl nooooooooooooo man nooooo vo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker, and is two times more absorbent. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. Lemonis so, im willing to offer 300,000 for 51 of the business. Erik 51 . Youre killing me with the 51 . You want to be in full control. Lemonis heres why i want to be in control. Because i believe that if i could put my structure and my process with your passion, both of us will make money. The only other thing, there are some other shareholders, right . Erik thats correct. Lemonis and so i want to make sure that we get everybody to consent. I want them to be in favor of it, as well. Erik all right. Sounds good. Lemonis any investor who owns shares in this company is going to have to sign off on a consent because their shares are gonna be diluted with my investment. This means that if theres an investor today that owns 10 , once my deal is finalized, theyll own 4. 9 . Basically, my investment will dilute everybody in half. So, everybody consents, were good to go. Erik theyll be happy to consent, yeah. Lemonis and i want to make sure that you understand this. Im gonna be 100 in charge. We got a deal . Erik yeah. Lemonis okay, my man. And, so, you cant cash this check until we get the other shareholders consents, okay . Erik sure. Cool. Thank you. Lemonis lets go to work. Erik all right. Sounds good to me. Lemonis good morning. How are you . Good. Were gonna get everybody together in the kitchen. Good morning. Together good morning. Lemonis my name is marcus lemonis, and i invest in Small Businesses. Earlier, erik and i made a deal, for me to invest 300,000 for 51 of the business. Which means, effective right now, im 100 in charge. Were gonna work on logistics. Were gonna determine if shipping fedex actually makes sense. cause to me, im not eating food out of a box. And were gonna better understand how we market to acquire new customers, and how we market to retain the ones we have. Would you say that dianas the general manager . Man 2 yes. Erik im the general manager. Theyre gonna yes anything you say. Mike somebody is not here and i have a problem with something, i go to diana. Lemonis thats the answer. Erik no, but im just saying, general manager, right now, general manages everything kitchen, front end, back end, everyt its me. Period. Lemonis erik talks over everybody, and he says he does everything. But the only thing he really does is dominate everyone. Just to be clear, going forward, when erik isnt here, diana is in charge of everything. We need to be a change your life company. Its kind of what i call business with purpose. How much weight did you lose on the program . Channa 150. Lemonis 150 pounds. Thats a big deal. I take it very seriously because i had the same struggles. I suffered an eating disorder. And i believe that healthy food can save peoples lives. Channa this food right here has just, like, been the best thing thats ever happened to me. I owe my life to this company. Literally. Man 2 oh, there you go. Lemonis that is the reason that im here. Channa really . Lemonis lets go to work. Come on. Today were meeting at a focusgroup test center. Ive asked erik to bring along some of his food and some of his marketing materials. Hello. Diana hi. Lemonis but i didnt tell him what it was for, because i didnt want him to adjust or leave out anything. You know where youre at . Erik i have no idea. Lemonis ive brought you to a focus group. What we want to do is we want to hear from real people that are really our consumers and let them give us feedback on what they like and what they dont like. And i asked you to bring the bags of food cause were gonna do a tasting, as well. Erik sounds good to me. Lemonis any questions . Jordan no. I googled it when we came out. I was thinking that you were gonna do that. Lemonis lets head in. Ladies first, please. Diana thank you. Lemonis a focus group is a controlled environment that presents information in a nonbiased way. I already know that things could be improved in the customeracquisition side of fuel foods, but i want erik to see and hear it for himself. Kaylor so, this is introducing fuel food, a unique preparedmeal delivery program. Meals are brought to your home or office via fedex, ready for you to heat and eat. Woman all right. Man i think it sounds generic. And you got a gas hose with a big bicep. Woman 4 i feel like the arm is appealing to that group of people that are gym rats. Kaylor how do you feel about fedex versus a local delivery . Woman 2 thinking of these fedex, prepackaged type, frozen tv dinners. Seems less fresh and gourmet. Kaylor id like to show you some current video clips that are being used for promotion. Lemonis erik has put together a handful of videos that are supposed to drum up business. Kaylor think about, if this company were trying to promote a service, are they trying in the right way to reach you . Announcer reason number 29 to change your lifestyle with fuel food. Fuel food gives you the fuel you need to burn fat and build muscle without sacrificing taste. Erik [ laughs ] announcer choose from over 30 delicious. Lemonis did you see the Marketing Campaign . This ad is offensive, and it should be nowhere near a healthyfood deliveryservice business. Woman 3 total disconnect. Too sexy. Aimed just towards men. And terrible. Like, almost pornographic. Woman 5 nothing i saw conveyed reality. Erik i thought they were funny. Thats why i put them up there. Diana its pretty embarrassing. Lemonis do you think theyre funny, jordan . Jordan i dont. Lemonis its offensive, actually. See, if i wouldve seen that before i came, i wouldnt have come. Jordan thats the first time i saw it, as well. Erik you never saw it. Jordan no. Erik so that means you never went on our Youtube Channel when you went into the company. And youre in charge of our social media and our instagram, but you never saw that. Jordan i have nothing to do with social media. Erik you work for the company. Youre in a digital era. This is what you do. And you never saw our youtube . Jordan i didnt know. Ive never been on our youtube. Erik you look at everything. You knew where we were coming today. You knew we were coming here to a focus group. You went online, you poked it in. Marcus, were coming to a focus group. But you didnt think of your job enough at fuel food to look at our youtube and say, you know what, erik, i dont think this is a good video. Maybe we should take this down. Hendless shrimp even hotter . S you bring back Nashville Hot oh yeah its back. 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Johnsbut were also a cancer fighting, hiv controlling, joint replacing, and depression relieving company. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. [ turn around, look at me there is someone walking behind you turn around look at me there is someone look at me erik you knew we were coming here to a focus group. You went online, you poked it in. Marcus, were coming to a focus group. But you didnt think of your job enough at fuel food to go on our youtube and say, you know what, erik, i dont think this is a good video. Maybe we should take this down. And i wouldve said, you know what, jordan, youre correct. Lets take this down. Jordan in hindsight, i shouldve been accountable to do that. Absolutely. Erik all right. Thats it. Thats all i was wondering. Lemonis while jordans job is to increase sales, it doesnt look like hes been given the authority to actually make the changes to the marketing materials. It also doesnt give erik the right to talk to him this way, especially in front of all of us. Its totally unacceptable. Kaylor okay. Man the way its presented, it was a little offputting. Woman 6 i expected it to be herby or something. Lemonis we got great feedback on things that are very easy to change, like improving the flavor through herbs and spices, or fixing the presentation. We also have to deal with the Delivery Service and the marketing plan. Jordan, the homework assignment that i have for you is to take the current database of active users and put them on a map of the united states. I want to see who they are by gender and where they live. Once we establish where the bulk of the market is actually coming from, then well determine if fedex is the best option. Lets go kick ass. Jordan sounds like a plan to me. Lemonis does erik listen to anybody . No. Diana no. Lemonis i am very worried about the morale at fuel foods. And i wanted to spend some time with diana so she could give me some insight about whats happening in the company. Diana its how it is and how he says it, and thats just the way it goes. Why the f is this going on . Why the f this and that, you know. Lemonis dont people get pissed off . Diana i think the girls and everybody in the office feels like they cant talk to him directly because aggression. Lemonis well, thats not professional. Diana exactly. Lemonis hey, guys. So, what i want to do in this exercise is make a meal that we think has flavor, has great presentation. Thats the most important thing for me. Their food is good. But what we learned in the focus group is that their presentation has a ton of room for improvement. Today im gonna work with the cooks and see if we can make some easy adjustments. Give me a little bit of black pepper. Give me a little bit of celery seed. Give me a little bit of parsley, a little bit of basil, and a little bit of thyme. What else is gonna be served with that . Israel with broccoli. Lemonis are we steaming this . Israel we dont have a steamer. Lemonis you dont have a steamer . Israel no. Lemonis so youre boiling and taking the nutrients out of it . Get me a strainer. Do you have a top for this . Israel no, we dont. Lemonis seems like were missing a lot of basic kitchen equipment. Mike oh, yeah, for sure. Lemonis you dont have a rice cooker. Mike no, man. Lemonis quinoa cooker. Mike nope. Lemonis a regular steamer . Mike we talked about it. But so did the previous chef, you know what i mean . But the money is always the issue, so, you know, why waste our time . Lemonis well, sell the truck. [ both laugh ] its very odd to me that over 1 million was invested into this business and theyre cooking with jerryrigged equipment. Where did the money go . Its clearly not here in the kitchen where we needed it the most. Look at how much brighter. Mike oh, yeah. Lemonis . Cleaner it looks. Presentations way better. I like the way youre cutting it cause i can see the seasoning. Paprikas my friend. Israel adds color to it. Lemonis put your vegetables in. Look at the difference. Even though this kitchen doesnt have what it needs to properly function, we were able to use what does have to dramatically improve the product. So, all were talking about is how to elevate our game from a presentation standpoint. Does that look better . Erik sure. I say constantly, put a piece of basil on here. Dress this up a little bit. Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top. Lemonis but you havent been doing it. Erik [ stammers ] lemonis you got to inspect what you expect. Erik absolutely. Lemonis okay. Erik good. Lemonis hey, i wanted to go over that heat map we talked about yesterday. Jordan yeah, absolutely. Lemonis jordans first marketing assignment was to do a heat map, a geographic map that plots where all of our customers are all over the country, and it shows the concentration of where theyre coming from. He managed to get it started by telling me where the customers are located, but he didnt have even half the information i was looking for. Well, theres 328 people. Jordan yes. Lemonis . But i dont know if this is 1 or 100 people. If theres 1 here and 300 here, thats gonna change a lot of stuff. Do you have the states in there . Jordan i do. Lemonis how many women in colorado . Jordan so, theres two, and they are both male. Lemonis okay. So zero. Jordan yeah. Lemonis take me to california. Jordan three. Lemonis three female. Jordan yep. Lemonis how many are in las vegas . Jordan one. Lemonis one female. Jordan yeah. Lemonis what is that, phoenix . Jordan one. Lemonis one female . Jordan yeah. Erik ill tell you where our orders are is right here. I mean, its obvious. The south florida area. Lemonis the bulk of fuel foods customers are located right here in south florida, but theyre still getting their food via fedex. I want you to take this office. Jordan okay. Lemonis . And build a 100mile radius around it. Jordan okay. Lemonis our Marketing Campaign is gonna be based on a basic trade area. A basic trade area is a small area where a company does business. A business should always understand and perfect their basic trade area before it goes out and works on somebody elses area of influence. 100 miles is the basic trade area. Jordan no, i agree wholeheartedly. Ive been trying to figure out ways to get these data points, you know, since day one. Erik all hes saying is just be specific in your data. And were wasting money. Jordan ive pulled all of these reports to put into lists to get these calls made. Erik get the right data so we can make the right decisions. Were just stabbing in the dark. Jordan but they shouldnt be stabbing in the dark erik but thats that were doing cause we dont know the data. Thats the problem. Lemonis okay. Erik continues to lead by intimidation. All right. Thanks, guys. And, candidly, its not gonna work anymore. Diana, how you doing . I was surprised when jordan made one comment, and then all of a sudden erik went like that. Diana its normal. Lemonis is that what happens . Diana its normal. Lemonis do you feel like it would be good to get the group together and maybe sitting down, or in a more casual setting. Diana i would say. Lemonis . Where they could talk about how they really feel . Diana let everybody express the way it needs to be expressed. I think they hold back a lot. Lemonis lets get everybody together. Diana okay. Lemonis okay. Hey, guys, lets get everybody together. Lets come on up front. Its obvious to me that we need to get everybody in a room together and figure out the people side of this business. So, i dont really feel, today, that you guys feel like youre in a safe and secure environment to give your opinion without recourse. Diana its tension. Israel thats what i was thinking. Same thing. Diana yeah, tension. Lemonis but i think it would be good, as we move forward as a group, for them to be able to talk about the things that they may have on their mind. Diana yeah, because its always everybody elses fault. The way he says things, it does bother a lot of people that work here. Erik you have something to say to me about me . Bring it on. Lets go. Channa [ coughs ] diana i work endless hours for you. Erik you make more money than anybody in this company. Diana i have to, because im sitting here selling for you. Ive given you everything. Fine, no one leaves the tablefine, well sleep here. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. Aveeno® with prebiotic striple oat complex balances skins microbiome. So skin looks like this and you feel like this. 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Ta, which is why Xfinity Mobile is a different kind of Wireless Network that lets you design your own data. Choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. Giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Save up to 400 a year when you switch. Plus, get 50 off when you buy any new lg phone. Xfinity mobile. Click, call or visit a store today. Erik you got something to say to me about me . Bring it on. Lets go. Channa [ coughs ] woman 7 so, whos gonna start . Alex if i have an idea, id like to share that idea. Erik sure. Alex and then maybe you can criticize it or not. But, you know, at least hear the idea. Erik what do we got . Wheres it at . Give me one. Give me one. Alex what do you mean, give you one . Erik give me one. Give me one of your ideas. Youve got lots of ideas. Give me an idea. Alex well, i dont have a list right now, but i share okay. Erik give me something off the top of your head. Lemonis the minute he said that, you were like, okay, what do you got . I think all he was saying is we would like you to be more openminded so that we can approach you with ideas. Erik i love input. Ive got no problem with anybodys input. I dont know where you guys come from that i got a problem with anybodys input ever, cause i lemonis well, i mean erik i have no problem. Woman 8 i had two bounced checks. When i need to pay my bills, you know, im really looking forward to that check. And i cant pay bills on promises. Erik do you understand that his 300,000 check is not here . So, everybodys popping off with no money here. Lemonis but i gave you erik its not in my pocket. Lemonis well, its not going in your pocket cause youll buy another 150,000 truck that we dont need. Fuel foods is doing plenty of business. In january, it did 250,000. And the fact that erik is trying to deflect the blame on me for him not being able to make payroll, its really pissing me off. And its not in the business why . Tell everybody why its not in the business. What has to happen for me to let you cash that check . I told you. Erik the okay from the board. Lemonis the okay from the other shareholders. Erik correct. Lemonis so, just so everybodys super clear, the reason that i did not let you cash my check is because i want to make sure that the paperwork is legit. cause so far, [bleep] isnt legit around here. Erik has my check, but i still dont have the signed paperwork back. And im here spending a lot of time with no guarantees. The deal you and i have puts me 51 in charge. Erik right. Youre in charge. Lemonis if you talk to people the way youre talking to them, youll be fired. Are we totally clear . Erik sure. Lemonis okay. It cant always be everybody elses fault. Erik absolutely not. So, if we could go around the room and i could apologize to each person individually, id be happy to if you feel theres anything ive ever done thats been inappropriate or not anything you think shouldve been done. Sorry if you feel like you cant approach me. Im sorry if you feel ive dominated you at a time. Im sorry if ive ever made you feel bad. You know, im sorry. So, ill try in the future to communicate my will better lemonis can we start right now . Erik absolutely. Lemonis all right, guy. Just take it down a notch. Erik im gonna meet with each one of you individually, and you can express your concerns to me. I look forward to it. Lemonis wow. Diana thank you. Lemonis as part of our new plan to improve Customer Acquisition and retention, ive brought in new logos for all of us to look at. You like this one . Channa its pretty. Its not so much with the big, bold colors. It looks simple, actually. Lemonis the right combination of presentation, packaging, and branding is not only gonna help us keep new customers, but attract more. It appeals to women. Does that appeal to you . Channa yeah. It looks good. Lemonis good. Excellent. Mike. How are you, buddy . Mike hi. How are you, marcus . Lemonis appreciate you meeting me here. Mike pleasure. Lemonis i want to now improve the process in the kitchen and get them the right tools to be successful. So ive asked chef mike to meet me at the kitchensupply store. I know that i want to get a large rice cooker. Mike thats a 55cup. Lemonis three enough . Mike probably another three, actually. Lemonis so, lets get two of these and the pot that goes with it. If theres one thing i can do to help them in the kitchen, its getting them the equipment they need. And they need a lot of it. So, whats going on over at fuel . Mike um. Lemonis anything positive happening . Mike no. Lemonis what do you mean . Mike from what i understand, im not sure if diana is still there. Im not sure if alex is still there. Lemonis im sorry . Why did they leave . Mike money issues, or Something Like that. Lemonis oh, no. Mike so. Lemonis feels very toxic right now. Mike yeah. I mean, thats. Lemonis this company is disintegrating from the inside out. Im still invested in the success of this business. But im not gonna lie, im worried about these employee issues. So, how much is the total . Man 3 were at 12,365. 90. Lemonis eriks got to get his head out of his ass. All right, ill see you there. Mike okay. [ ringing ] lemonis oh, hey, diana. Its marcus. Well, i just talked to chef mike, and he told me that you walked out. What happened . He told you hes cutting your pay . Jesus. And who else left . Oh, my gosh. This is incredibly disappointing. And this is no way to run a business. I need to talk to erik before he alienates everybody. Can you meet me over at fuel . Diana okay. Lemonis all right. 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Lemonis is diana still working here . Erik i have no idea. She didnt show up today. Lemonis so, i asked her to come so you guys can work it out. Erik you know, we saw the disdain, we saw the problems the other day in the meeting. I told her that were gonna have to make some pay cuts until the money comes in. Lemonis everybody took a pay cut . Erik not everybody, no. Just the highpaid individuals. Lemonis the fact that erik is cutting the wage of his most valuable employees is ridiculous to me. This business is pulling in 250,000 a month. I need to find out whats going on here because, honestly, is this someone to be in business with . So, what happened there . Erik well, you know, i didnt know if there was an investment coming or not. Lemonis you didnt know if there was an investment coming . Erik yeah, i wasnt sure. Yeah. I havent gotten a check yet. Lemonis well, i told you why you dont have a check. Youve go to get all the consents from all the shareholders so that everybody feels good about what were doing. Erik there was a receiver issue with one of our shareholders. Lemonis a receiver issue . I dont i dont understand. Do you have the list of the shareholders . Erik yeah. Lemonis oh, my gosh. Thats a very big deal. Receivership is the Legal Process where a person or companys assets are turned over to the court or to a custodian for hold because that person or company cannot meet its financial obligations. Those assets are usually liquidated. Once theyre sold, the money goes to the creditors. Erik all right. I got it right here. Lemonis when you say a receiver issue, that doesnt make any sense. Erik i mean the receiver came and took control of the shares. His assets were taken. Lemonis why were his assets taken . Erik i dont know. Im not sure. Yeah, the pscs holdings, thats the receiver issue, there. Lemonis so, why is it in receivership . Erik they took the shares. Lemonis so, is this somebody that has 2 or 3 or. . Erik no, this guys got 46 . Lemonis im sorry . Erik 46 . Lemonis but who is the investor . Erik that was paul schumack. Lemonis is he local . Erik no. I dont know where the guy is. I dont talk to him. Lemonis the second largest shareholder of your company. Erik its not my concern. Lemonis . You no longer talk to. Youre not wondering what happened . Erik no. I know something happened to him. I dont know the details of the transaction. Lemonis well, it would be public records. Can we look it up . Erik absolutely. Lemonis all i typed in was paul schumack, florida. Holy [bleep] this is from the u. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Erik i see who its from. Lemonis criminal authorities halt floridabased ponzi scheme targeting investors through youtube videos . You didnt tell me that these people erik i dont understand why youre so distraught. Lemonis you never told me that you had a partnership with a guy who is being accused of a ponzi scheme. Erik be careful when you say partnership. This guy bought shares lemonis he gave you 100 of the money. The fact that the securities and Exchange Commission is involved in controlling 46 of this companys shares. Uh, this is a very big deal. I am really relieved that my check didnt get cashed and that the deal isnt finalized. Because now the governments involved, and they can decide that they want to liquidate the entire thing to give back the money to people that were affected by this alleged ponzi scheme. I mean, i dont want any part of this. And the fact that fuel foods and this guy has a connection is a problem. Erik i changed this guys life. I helped him transform his physique lemonis i thought you didnt know him. Erik what are you talking about . Lemonis you said you didnt know him. Erik what, Somebody Just comes up and gives you 1. 2 million . I said i didnt know what happened to him or what he did. I told you i was not aware of that because i did not care. Lemonis in business, all you have is your reputation. Even if you lose all of your money. And for me to have my name and my reputation associated with somebody thats accused of a ponzi scheme, allegedly taking money from hardworking people, well, thats not gonna happen. But what i cant believe is that erik doesnt think this is a big deal. Erik how would i ever know what this guys doing . I got this guy lemonis well, im sure you have google. You have a computer, right . Do you have google . Erik let me explain to you very quickly. Lemonis so, the largest shareholder comes to the company. Erik i helped this individual. He wanted to give me money. He wanted to invest in the company. He believed in my idea. I had a full background check. I had him checked out. I had a whole stock plan. And he gets in trouble a couple months later, what do i dont know. 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If its connected, its protected. Call, click, or visit a store today. Lemonis so, the largest shareholder comes to the company. Erik i helped this individual. I had him checked out. And he gets in trouble a couple months later, what do i dont know. I dont care what the guy did. Its got nothing to do with me. My lawyer said, dont talk to him. Hes doing whatever hes doing. I said, good. I dont need to talk to him, i go back to work. I think you see what i do around here. I think you see i dont have time to go Research Things that dont matter to me. Lemonis well, you should care erik the thing that matters to me is where the shares are now, and what i can do in the future to improve my situation, improve the lives of people around here. And thats all i do. Thats where im at. Lemonis well, speaking of the people around here, i want to see if dianas here. This business could get shut down for any number of reasons. But what i feel bad about is the staff. Especially people like diana, who are getting pushed out of here by eriks kind of hardnosed, hardknuckle tactics. Diana told me that he cut her pay, and he cut alexs pay, and she feels like it was maybe retaliation for the meeting the other day. Channa thats what everybody feels like. Im not gonna lie, it scares me a little bit. I mean, maybe they can afford to lose their job, but i cant. Lemonis hello. Diana how are you . Lemonis if it wasnt for these employees, i would have walked out of here a while ago. But im the one that called diana down here, so i need to help her confront erik. You know, i talked to you earlier, and, you know, you were disappointed with what happened. And you werent sure whether you were here or not here, and frustrated. So i thought we could just talk about it, because it smells like retaliation to me. You cut alex. Erik right. Lemonis you cut diana. Erik not at all. Not at all. Diana i think it is retaliation. I work endless hours for you. Erik diana, you make more money than anybody in this company. Diana erik, its based on performance. Erik you make over 1,000 every week. Diana why . Why . Erik you make over 1,000 every week, do you not . Diana i want you to say why. Erik do you not . Diana i do, but why . Because its based on performance, erik. Erik you make more money than anybody else in this company. Diana i have to, because im sitting here selling for you, erik, 20,000 a day. Ive given you everything. I even take away from my home to spend my time here and give it to you. Erik sure. Lemonis heres the thing. Pay is the most important thing to people. Erik thats why we got to work. Lemonis i dont think you respect your employees. Diana no. Lemonis and i dont think you respect money. Do you think this could be worked out, diana, for you to work here . Diana [ sighs ] i mean, i love what i do. And i love my clients. I love the people that i work for. But you took us off the system. You already blocked us from all the passwords. Erik i dont know what intentions youre doing. You nocall, noshow on me. Diana ay, erik. I didnt quit. I didnt give you a letter of resignation. Erik a nocall, noshow, what is that . Lemonis you locked her out of the computer already . Erik i changed my passwords. Absolutely. Lemonis oh, erik. Diana you took alex out of godaddy. Erik when people leave, i dont trust anything that goes on. Lemonis erik. Erik people leave, i dont trust anything. Im gonna lock everything down. Every day. Every hour of every day, im gonna lock it down. Lemonis this is about relationships and trust. If you and i are in business together and we have a disagreement, what i should expect is for you to lock me out. Erik not necessarily. Lemonis you and i cant do business for that reason. Erik if you have the key to everything. You cant just make a handshake deal and then walk out and say you cant do business. Youre going back on your deal . Lemonis im not gonna do erik youre going back on your deal . Lemonis you dont have the ability to honor that deal. Erik youre going back on your handshake deal . Lemonis you dont have the ability erik youre going back on your handshake deal. Lemonis erik, you dont have the a erik i do have the ability. I do have the ability. Lemonis no problem. Erik why would i shake your hand . It Means Nothing. Your handshake Means Nothing, marcus. Lemonis okay, erik. Erik why would i shake your hand when it Means Nothing . Lemonis good luck to you. Erik your handshake Means Nothing. We had a handshake deal. Lemonis listen, youre an intimidating guy. Erik youre telling me your handshake means something . Lemonis youre not going to intimidate me like youre intimidating diana. Erik im not trying to intimidate you. I dont intimidate anybody. Youre telling me we sat down at that table, we made a handshake deal, and it Means Nothing . Lemonis it Means Nothing because you didnt disclose. Erik now im gonna walk out on you. Now im gonna walk out on you. Lemonis okay. Diana im leaving. Too. Erik im gonna pull the marcus lemonis. Lemonis oh, fantastic. Erik im gonna pull the lemonis. Im gonna walk out on you. Lemonis goodbye, erik. Erik im gonna walk out on you. Lemonis i feel like ive dodged a bullet. And while i leave here disappointed that im not gonna be able to work with some of the folks, this wouldve turned out to be an absolute disaster. Diana yeah, im not staying. Not in this place. Lemonis and if erik didnt think that his primary investor being involved in a ponzi scheme was a big deal, i dont know what other surprises he has in store for me. I like the idea of a healthyfood delivery business. Just not this one with this guy. Sam come on up toniand have a sample. Man mmm. Lemonis . A gourmet marshmallow business operates like one big family. Sam were married. Alexa and this is my father. Lemonis . And thats exactly the problem. Sam youre coming off like youre saying [bleep] you to your daughter, and im gonna lay it out. Max im not saying that. Lemonis the father of one of the owners has commandeered the kitchen. Theyre paying more than half the rent and they have 10 of the space. Max theyre trying to hustle me lemonis . Contaminating their sweets. But theyre making marshmallows with onions and garlic in the air . Woman [ clears throat ] whoa. Lemonis dont like it . Girl not necessarily. Lemonis . And poisoning their relationship. Sam its your dad and you love him, but i need you to be on my side. Lemonis if i cant fix their process. Man 2 eight [bleep] pounds its not a gallon lemonis what just happened . And put an end to the drama. Dede i just thought it was gonna be a great opportunity. Lemonis . This whole company will melt down. Sam i have tried to be honest and i have tried to be forthright lemonis you havent been honest at all. 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 is the profit. Lets go to work. [ applause ] in 2008, awardwinning chef alexa lemley