Ana listen, guys. I cant give you exact numbers. Lemonis im not going to write a check for somebody that doesnt have their [bleep] together. I wont do it. Im marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to help businesses. I love investing in american businesses. Woman these people are here because they care. Lemonis its not always easy, but i do it to create jobs, and i do it to make money. Do we have a deal . Lets rock and roll. Man yeah lemonis this is the profit. I was contacted by a miamibased former lawyer named ana quincoces. She has a marinade and Sauce Company called skinny latina. Ana started the business 6 years ago, but so far, she hasnt been able to make the brand bigger than a regional product. The sauce and marinade industry is a gigantic opportunity, but i have two primary questions. Number one what makes this sauce stand out in a crowd . And number two is this a real business, or is this just a sidehustle . Woman Everything Else was on top of it, right . For the barbecue. Lemonis hi, everybody. Ana of course i would meet you with this on. Lemonis thats all right. How are you . Im marcus. Nice to meet you. All right, so, i want to go through the process of how its made. I would love to understand it. Can you take me around . Ana yeah, sure. Lemonis got to love hair nets. I actually was going to rock this tonight at the club. Woman so, were constantly cooking it and then pumping it into this kettle. We label it, we seal it, coat it, fill it. Lemonis okay. I did like the fact that it was a smallbatch manufacturer. Its almost like craft brewing. Sometimes, the smaller it is, maybe even the better it is. And it there only one recipe . Ana no, i have skus. This is the flagship recipe, the Million Dollar marinade. Then i have a guavefig barbecue sauce, and a mangoapricot barbecue sauce, and a hot sauce. Its a flavorenhancer, and its not only a marinade. It basically a cooking sauce, so you can use it on everything. You can grill with it. You can roast with it. You can add it to soups and stews. Lemonis how did you come up with the idea . Ana im cuban, so for cubans, the mois, like, thats cuban ketchup, right . Lemonis yeah . Ana we put that on everything, and, so, i started making one, and then friends started asking me for it. And i was like, maybe i should bottle this. Lemonis are you a chef . Ana well, im not a chef because i went to the Culinary Institute of my mom, like, you know . But im as much of a chef as most of the people on food network. Ive written three cookbooks, and ive competed on food network. And if you ask bobby flay, the greatest cook ever. Lemonis okay. Ana when the second book came out, they had done this big thing in the miami herald about my new book, so i started getting, like, calls for endorsement deals and things like that. And i got called to do real housewives of miami. Dont hold that against me. Lemonis so, you were on real housewives of miami . How many seasons . Ana yeah, for two seasons. Im a terrible housewife because, to me, everything is attorneyclient privilege, so i dont perpetuate rumors. So, no, it didnt work for me. Lemonis yeah. Ana i think in the year that i trademarked that name, there were more brands with the name skinny than any other brand. Lemonis what are some examples, like, i have popcorn . Ana skinnypop, skinny cow, skinny tea, skinny condoms . I dont know. Lemonis no. Nuhunh. Mnhmnh. Lets stay on the sauce, lady. So, the Million Dollar marinade . Howd you come up with that name . Ana i dont know. It rolls off the tongue. Lemonis whats funny about it is you told me a lot of Different Things about it. Ana yeah . Lemonis it does this. It could do that. It could do this. It could do that. How do i know that . Ana you dont. Lemonis because Million Dollar sauce is, like, i dont does it cost a Million Dollars . Am i going to feel like a Million Dollars . Ana yeah, its going to get you the accolades, and youre going to feel good. Lemonis my First Impression of the bottle itself isnt great. This wouldnt exactly catch my attention. Where do they go from here . Ana the distributor picks them up and takes them. Im in publix, whole foods, milams, and then im at fresh market. Lemonis just in the florida market . South florida . Ana yeah. Lemonis whats the price point . Ana publix has it at 4. 99, fresh market has it at 5. 49, and whole foods has it at 5. 99. Lemonis how many bottles a year are you actually producing . Ana a lot, but not a lot. I mean, it depends what a lot is. Lemonis like, 10,000 bottles . Ana more. Maybe somewhere around 20,000 . Lemonis i never expect, on the fly, for a Business Owner to have an exact number, but how many bottles did you sell . Shouldnt have a range of 10,000. 10,000, maybe 20,000 . Can we get a little closer to the actual number . How long has the Company Actually been bottling and selling . Ana 2013, i think, was the first. Lemonis so, its been a while. Ana i know. I think i havent grown it like i should have because i didnt want to put the company in debt. Lemonis how much money have you invested . Ana probably around 50,000. Lemonis okay. How many employees do you have . Ana everyones parttime. Lemonis no fulltime employees . Ana no. And i just moved to an office, like, two weeks ago. Lemonis and, so, the only thing you do today to make money is the sauces and appearances. Ana and endorsement deals and, you know, whatever my books you know, books dont make a ton of money. Lemonis i like the fact that ana has real skin in the game, 50,000. Thats doesnt include the amount of money she passed up on by not being a lawyer. Shes really committed to this. So, i want to take you to my friends place, woodpecker in st. Augustine. Lemonis well see if ana if skinny latina has legs. Lemonis so, ill see you there. Ana okay. This place is so neat. Lemonis [ laughs ] whats up, hot stuff . Lisa there you are. So good to see you. Lemonis did you get dolled up for me today . Lisa i did. You look so good lemonis i want you to meet my friend, ana. Lisa hi, ana. Ana hi, nice to meet you. Lemonis my friend lisa. Lisa nice to meet you. Ana he has said such nice things about you. Lemonis so, shes got some sauces and marinades. I know they sent them to you . Lisa yes. Yes. Lemonis did you have a chance to marinate anything . Lisa we did. Lemonis in order to really understand the marinade better, i asked lisa to marinate something overnight and cook it so that, when i got there, we can actually get right down to business. Are you the smokemaster . Joe yes, i am. Lemonis okay. All right. Lets dig in. Lemonis what should we try first . Im going to follow your lead. Joe why dont we start with turkey . Ana its really good. Lisa that is good. Lemonis who wants to try a few ribs that are marinated . Ana come on, guys. Try it. Lemonis everybody, come on down. Lisa dont be shy. Come on. Lemonis what do you think . Man theyre very good. Lemonis its good, right . Man yeah. Woman fabulous. Joe this one is injected and rubbed. Lisa mmm, now thats got a nice flavor. Ana come on. Lisa its fingerlicking good. Lemonis it actually is pretty good. Lisa mike, what do you think, babe . Lemonis hes busy. Hes like, dont be bothering me. Lisa may i chime in . Lemonis please. Lisa if i put in my barbecue, and i said, im introducing my ribs with skinny latina, all my men that come in here, and some women who are meat eaters, theyre going to go, not for me. You cant say skinny and ribs. It just doesnt work. Theyre going to think, all of a sudden, well, its going to taste lowcal. Not going to be good. You need it to be, like, some beefy latina no, just kidding. Ana but people are buying it, marcus. Lemonis well, theyre not, or i wouldnt be here. Typically, celebrityendorsed products have great branding, but the product itself isnt that great. In the case of skinny latina, the product itself is spectacular. The branding, not so much. Why dont you and i go somewhere else, and well dig into the financials. Ana okay. Lemonis okay . All right. Great. Ana so. Okay. Lemonis thank you so much. Woman welcome. My pleasure. Lemonis so, what financials do you have . Ana just 2019. Lemonis so, you dont have financials from 15, 16, 17 . Ana i didnt have time, and i didnt think it was lemonis you know that thats not going to fly with me. Ana no, i know, but it wasnt making enough money to, you know, warrant the time and lemonis think about it do you know how much revenue you did in the last 12 months . Ana yeah, like 2019, so far, is 41,000. Lemonis okay. Lets just back up here for a second. The cost of the product, raw cost today, 1. 96 for the marinade, 1. 71 for the guava barbecue, 1. 63 for the mango, and then the hot sauce has not yet been returning. Ana not yet, because im working on it. Lemonis but, again, that doesnt include the labels. 14 cents apiece . Ana what, do you have a better label . Lemonis its a sticker. Where are the financials, on a different page . Ana i have no financials. This is all i have. Lemonis okay, well the minute you start a business, its important to start keeping good financial records like how much revenue you do, what your margins are, what your expenses are, are you making a profit or not. In order for you to grow your company, you have to make decisions based on facts, not your gut. Okay, so, lets put the papers away for a minute, and lets just assume that theres not much revenue. Ana no, yeah. Lemonis so, am i supposed to be excited by that or petrified . Ana excited because you know what . Youve got the benefit of my experience, and ive never lost money. Theres always been a profit margin, 30 , 40 . Places like costco are calling. I dont owe anybody money. I dont have partners. Lemonis which is awesome, yeah. Ana i mean, theres some value in that. Lemonis mmhmm. Yeah. Ana its hard for me to that this isnt further along given that ive given up so much for it. Lemonis what do you think youve given up . Ana relationships. Lemonis you feel like you chose this over personal relationships . Ana yes, im going to be crazy cat lady. Im going to have 15 cats, be in a ratty bathrobe, surrounded by my skinny latina empire, you know . Lemonis this is that important to you . Ana cause i dont know. I just believe in it. Lemonis you believe in what youre doing. That definitely counts for something. Ana yeah. I need you to help me think big and help me get to the next level. Lemonis the challenge is i dont know what im investing in because theres no financials, and theres no real revenue, and i dont know what ana i mean, its not real revenue to you. Lemonis its not real revenue because its not on paper because you cant show it to me. So, its phantom, but i know the proof of concept is there. This is one of the rarest occasions where somebody has an amazing product, but they dont have all the other Building Blocks around it to give me or any other investor the confidence to move forward. I want to help her, and i eventually hope to be able to invest, but i feel like, in this moment, it would be irresponsible for me to do so. For Something Like this thats a startup, i think the Company Needs a couple hundred thousand dollars, just to get it moving, right . And im willing to put in a portion of that, but not by myself. I think i need more people in the boat than just you and just me. How many people have you talked to about investing in the business . Ana nobody. Lemonis never . Ana no. Lemonis not one time . Ana no. Lemonis why not . Ana i didnt want them. Lemonis why . Ana because they wouldnt be silent partners. Lemonis numberone rule in negotiating . Know your audience. Silence . Yeah, thats not going to be me. Ana its just more opinions and more stupid people that dont know anything about this, and then im going to have to explain the same [bleep] over and over. Ugh. Woman i think its just so cliche that when we think of latina, we always think they theyre just showing cleavage. Aaron skanky. Lemonis how many people have you talked to paul switch to sprint everyone is talking about. S the. sprintern the new iphone 11 or iphone 11 pro with amazing allnew camera systems. And you can get both an unlimited plan and the new iphone 11 included for just 35 a month. paul and with sprints 100 total satisfaction guarantee you can try out the network and see the savings for yourself. sprintern ahh its the best season of the year. paul is that your excited dance . sprintern what dance . For people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay. Com. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. Even a ernie lost rubber duckie . burke you mean this one . ernie rubber duckie cookie what about a broken cookie jar . burke again, cookie . cookie yeah. Me bad. grover yoooooow oh what about monsters having accidents . I am okay by the way burke depends. Did you cause the accident, grover . grover cause an accident . Maybe. bert how do you know all this stuff . burke just comes with experience. all muppets yup. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum about investing in the business . Ana nobody. Ugh. Its a waste of time. I dont have that kind of time. Lemonis all right. So, im willing to invest in this business if other people are also willing to invest, and the only way that ill let them invest is if they go through a fullblown investor presentation. Ana by me . Lemonis by you. I want a legitimate business plan. Ana you want me to have even more hurdles. Lemonis no. Ana when is my easy time . Lemonis no, your easy time is after you actually do it the right way. Ana i thought it was by calling marcus lemonis, but, apparently, i have more work ahead. Lemonis well, no, because you called me is why you have more work ahead of you. And im not going to write a check for somebody that doesnt have their [bleep] together. I wont do it. Okay . Ana yes. We got a deal. No money, no whatever, but, yeah. Lemonis no, no. We have a deal. Ana we have a deal. Lemonis and you will have money once you can prove that you can raise money from other people in the orthodox way. Ana im down. Lemonis okay . Ana im game. Im excited about it. Lemonis okay. All right . All right . Were good . Ana yes, were totally good. Lemonis i wanted to really understand how skinny latina lived in the marketplace, so i asked ana to set up a meeting at a local Grocery Store where she sells her product, and i wanted her to bring in a friend because i thought if there were two people there that she may be more openminded to constructive criticism. Do you think your package stands out . Do you think it ana yes, i do think it stands out in this sea of very masculinelooking stuff. Lemonis its the only female character on any bottle. Ana except cholula. Lemonis . Except cholula. Trevor and thats a hot sauce. Ana who is the bestselling sauce in the world. Trevor yes, the packaging is more feminine, but i see a clear messaging with most of them, especially the national brands. If you look at these, i know that, that one right there is garlic and herb. I know that this one is made from lemon, and that one has teriyaki. If i look at yours, i dont know whats in there. I dont know what its going to do for me or for my dish. Lemonis im going to grab the manager and see if they have any feedback. One second. The sauces and condiments business in the United States is roughly 42. 7 billion. Of that, a decentsized percentage of it will be spent on specialty sauces and marinades. Big companies have a lot of money to spend marketing their product and even buying shelf space to dominate the category. For ana to even have a chance, shes going to have to come up with the brand and a look to compete with the big boys on the shelf. Lee, when you saw the product or heard about it the first time, what kind of product did you think it was . Lee definitely get the impression that its a lowercalorietype option. Ana mmhmm. Lemonis and has it been selling through . Lee its been a little bit on the lower end of our sales, what wed expect for the category. Ana you know we have other flavors . When you have more space, it kind of gets people to pay attention. Lemonis your calories are 25 for 1 tablespoon. This competitive marinade is 10 calories. It feels a little misleading that youre calling it skinny. Ana but i dont know right now in this day and age a Single Person that is counting calories as a way of dieting. Its just not done anymore. Lemonis im pretty sure that people still look at calories. Trevor i count my calories. Ana right. I dont know many people that count them. Lemonis well, you know one. Ana didnt know that about him, but lets make something with each of those products. Theres only one of them that youll eat. Guarantee you. Lemonis yeah. Her way of justifying her decisions are to refute everybody elses feedback. You want to be able to be partners with somebody and give them feedback. If every single idea you have is shot down, doesnt it put your money at risk . So, were going to go to a focus group in miami. Ana oh, okay. Lemonis they have the product, and theyre going to give us honest feedback about a list of questions. Ana okay. Trevor you got to be open. Ana yeah. I am. Lemonis is this what open looks like . Ana this is as open as youre going to get today. Im a work in progress. Lemonis trevor, i think it would be good if you come. Trevor of course. Lemonis only because i think i need some backup. Trevor yeah, i got you. Lemonis how are you . Kathleen hi. Welcome to focus groups. Lemonis nice to see you again. So, im taking ana to a focus group today, which is essentially a controlled environment, and it allows people to give real, honest feedback without feeling uncomfortable. Its going to open her eyes. Kathleen so, we have 10 people selected at random. Theres a camera and twoway mirror. So, you can see them, they dont see you. Ana right. So, if theyre here, isnt there this kind of presumption that theyre trying to find whats wrong with something . Kathleen no. Theres going to be people that really like it, as well. Lemonis lets go do it. Kathleen itll be a learning experience. Lets go. Hi. Thank you all for coming. I would like you to circle what you like on that label, cross out what you dont, and put a question mark by anything that you are confused about. Done . So, now what id like you do, just without thinking, give me one word what are your First Impressions . Lemonis oh, boy. Kathleen what did you write . Aaron i actually wrote skanky. Her she takes over the whole image. Alice i agree with aaron. Its great that theres a woman on the label, but we can put a woman differently and no so. Skanky. It makes it looks like if a latina woman is supposed to look like that. Woman 1 i think its just so cliche that when we think of latina, we always think that theyre just showing cleavage. Kathleen okay. Tell me something that you liked on this. What did yo