I care about the product. Lemonis and dad greg pursues his own ideas. And what is your role . Jennifer not listening. Lemonis . Without consulting anybody. Greg they accuse me all the time, marcus, of going rogue. Lemonis and the further they drift apart. Jennifer you want things a certain way. Chandler do you think i just like to fight . Lemonis . The more the business suffers. Greg weve hustled, man, you know, and we aint got a pot to piss in to show for it. Lemonis if i cant help lyles understand where they want to go and how theyre gonna get there. Jennifer dont tell me that its because of me that were not out there. Lemonis . Their Bright Future will go up in smoke. Chandler leaving would be bailing on them, and i cant do that. I dont know how im gonna get to where im going. That breaks my heart. I dont know what to do. Lemonis 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. Over the last several years, ive heard from thousands of businesses looking for help, literally thousands, but never before have i encountered a situation quite like this one. Because while lyles bbq did indeed apply for help with their business. Jennifer lyles bbq is a familyowned and operated veteran company. Lemonis . One of the owners, the son chandler, also applied for a job with one of my companies. I mean, heres an entrepreneur who simultaneously asked me for help with his business, while at the same time, looking for a job leave his business. Its interesting, to say the least. So i couldnt help but come down to lexington to find out exactly whats happening. And because i dont know if chandlers parents are aware that he applied for a job with me, im not gonna say anything initially. As far as all of them know, chandler included, im just here as a potential investor. Chandler oh, hey hows it going . Lemonis how are you . Chandler im good. Chandler lyles. Lemonis chandler, im marcus. Nice to meet you. So, thats where lyles comes from . Chandler its our last name, yes, sir, yeah. Lemonis is this the main location . Chandler this is, yep. Lemonis and who owns the business . Chandler so, my parents own 90 , and i own 10 . Lemonis who put the money up for the restaurant . Chandler my mom and dad. Lemonis mom and dad . Okay. Chandler weve been in business for four years. We started as a food popup tent, just oldschool smoker on the side of the road. My mom and i did that fulltime. My dad had retired from the air force, so he was really able to help us in the beginning stages. And i had some money saved up from the air force, so lemonis you were in the air force, as well . Chandler mmhmm. I did 4 years. Lemonis thank you for your service. Chandler oh, thank you. Lemonis really appreciate that. Hi, there. How are you . Im marcus. Thayer im thayer. Nice to meet you. Chastity im chastity. Lemonis chastity, nice to meet you. How do i know what to order . Thayer usually, we try to get you when you come in the door. We do want to get a menu board so that you will be able to see that. Lemonis couldnt you do it in chalk like that . Chandler we could. Im just not in love with the way that sort of looks. Lemonis why . Chandler its just kind of hard to read. It doesnt look clean enough to me. Lemonis so, the alternative is nothing . Chandler yeah. Lemonis oh. How are you . Jennifer im good. How are you . Im jennifer. Jennifer, nice to meet you. Jennifer yes. Nice to meet you. Lemonis so, i was asking questions. Whats the numberone item ordered . Jennifer pulled pork. Lemonis no doubt . Jennifer no doubt. Lemonis okay. So, whose recipes are these . Jennifer mine. Lemonis and whos in charge of what . Chandler shes the art, and im really the business side of it, right . Im trying to make sure were able to scale like, we cant scale her, so i need to have something that is makable by a properly trained employee. If it was 100 her way, it would be we make everything that we can from scratch. Jennifer thats the problem, is that were very much both control freaks about stuff. Im in charge of operations, the daily running of the store. Lemonis okay. Chandler im the ceo. I get the final call. Lemonis what does that mean . [ both laugh ] its a barbecue restaurant. Chandler yeah. Lemonis it seems to me that chandler maybe takes himself just a little too seriously. Its almost like he felt like he needed to put a label on himself. Im the ceo, just wanted everybody to know, which makes me the man in charge. I thought it was a little unnecessary. And if hes the ceo of this business, whats he doing applying for a job with me outside of the company . Chandler got your pulled pork right here, your tritip, and then, your sliced turkey. Lemonis okay. This is the pulled pork . Jennifer mmhmm. Lemonis oh, man. That pulled pork was really good. Jennifer good. Lemonis amazing. Jennifer good. Thats the difference with our meats and what we do. We dont slice anything, we dont pull anything, we dont do anything to it until you order. And that maintains the moisture, and it lemonis thats smart. Chandler its just the best. Lemonis and these are the hush muffins. Jennifer mmhmm. Chandler so, we used to have a hush puppy, uh, cause we had a fryer. And then we had to get rid of the fryer, because it was a gas line issue, essentially. Lemonis how much does that cost . Jennifer 5,000. Chandler yeah, we cant afford it right now. Revenue is all the way down. Lemonis i like hush puppies, and i like corn muffins, and i didnt feel like i got either of those satisfied. Theyre nondescript. Jennifer really . Okay. Okay. Lemonis i think you think im criticizing you. Jennifer im always very defensive about my food. When you are a southern woman. Lemonis oh, yes, maam. Jennifer . It is all about the food. Lemonis if the fryer was back, it would help. People complain about not having fries . Thayer yeah. We get that a lot. Lemonis you sell a lot of nachos . Jennifer no. Lemonis okay. Chandler not a fan of those . Lemonis no. The chips are mushy, and i dont come to a barbecue place and think nachos. Feels offconcept. Theyre missing out on selling popular items like hush puppies and french fries that a typical barbecue place would have, and instead, theyve replaced them with things that you normally wouldnt see in a barbecue joint. Thats just bad business. So, the bulk of your orders are pulled pork, and then, the next one is brisket. Thats my core. And then i have original sauces. That seems like a good jumpingoff point. I think if you cut the rest, your revenue wouldnt really move. Jennifer so, this is my fear with that, is when we cut things, we lose people. Lemonis are you annoyed . Jennifer [ laughs ] yes, im a little annoyed, i have to tell ya. Look, i when people dont like my food, i get very irritated. Lemonis i was a little surprised how jennifer reacted to my feedback. And i understand how a chef feels about their food being critiqued. But i was watching chandler, hoping that he would pipe in and say, well, you know what . Its good to get feedback. I would say he didnt necessarily accomplish that. Im gonna try your ranch. Jennifer okay. Lemonis that ranch is good. Okay, this is the original sauce. Really good. Jennifer mmhmm. Lemonis heres the spicy sauce. Jennifer its got tabasco, chipotle in it. Lemonis i think its delicious. Okay, so now i want to try to bourbon sauce. Well, thats good, and i can taste the bourbon. Jennifer mmhmm. Lemonis a lot. [ laughter ] i think your sauces are spectacular. Jennifer thank you. Lemonis barbecue takes on different forms across the country. People have different tastes and palates. And the fact that lyles offers a wide range of sauces representing the whole country is a pretty darn good idea. What it allows is that the customers can take the basic barbecue item, and they could put their own twist on em. It made her, i would say, the boss of the sauce. What do you love about making things from scratch . Jennifer i think that way too much is processed nowadays. Theres no difference between chain to chain to chain, because everything comes off of a truck. And everybody, they go home, and they eat boxes of mac and cheese or whatever. And this is somewhere that they can come, and they can sit down, and they can eat the same way that i did growing up. If youre gonna come in and spend your hardearned money with us, it should be for something that you actually enjoy. Lemonis youre 100 right. As weve been going through the food, your body language is totally changed. Jennifer thats my baby, marcus. Lemonis no, thats your baby. [ both laugh ] chandler depends on the day. Lemonis i love the passion and the commitment that she has to what she makes with her hands. You want to invest in people, you invest in people that have passion like that. Chandler i guess my position is, im just trying to find a way to do that super high quality responsibly as we grow. Lemonis but what do you mean, as you grow . Chandler i mean, we need more locations. Lemonis why . Chandler because weve got to achieve some sort of scale, because even though it is a little riskier to go to another store, it creates cash flow stability. I think about 100 stores in more densely populated areas. I dont think we can do enough in sales out of here to support two families. Lemonis im seeing the first conflict, with chandler wanting to open up stores all over the world, and mom falling in love with what shes making in lexington, kentucky. I dont know how those two worlds could actually come together. How are you, sir . Im marcus. Greg yeah. Nice to meet you. Lemonis what is your name . Greg greg. Lemonis greg, nice to meet you. You got a nice family. Greg well, thank you. Im proud of em. Lemonis and what is your role . Jennifer not listening. Greg they accuse me all the time, marcus, of going rogue. Lemonis so, what are examples of going rogue . Chandler we tried this mall location, and then its slow. Greg well, the mall was my idea i got us into. Turned out to be a crap show. Lemonis oh. Is it losing money . Chandler yes. Greg and then i bought a box truck. Its gonna turn into a food truck. Chandler just showed up one day with a giant truck. Said, we bought a truck. Lemonis what do you do with it . Greg we, uh, made it into a storage unit. Its parked out here behind the building. Were trying to do things. You know, were throwing things against the wall to see if it sticks, cause, you know, its its about cash flow. Lemonis and you have another job, as well . Greg i do. Ii work for a Human Resource consulting firm. I have to work outside of the restaurant to provide the family with the stability to keep this going. Lemonis yep. Greg im kind of like the jack of all trades. Chandler the nonsilent, silent partner. Jennifer im in charge in here, for the most part. Lemonis okay, just thought wed clear that up again. Its clear to me that the three or them are not on the same page, and theyre all working in different directions. And its clear to me that nobody is taking the lead on solving the problems that are in front of them. Chandler labeled himself as the ceo. Is he the actual leader . Chandler needs to be putting himself in the middle of it as the problem solver. All right, ill see you in a little bit. Jennifer okay. Greg hey. Lemonis all right. Chandler welcome. Good to see you again. Lemonis how are you . Chandler good. This is the Mall Food Court here. Lemonis yeah. How come you didnt light your sign . Greg its what we thought was affordable at the time, but we know weve got to get a lighted sign. Lemonis heres the weird thing. Menu board here but not at the restaurant. Chandler right. Lemonis so, why did you do the menu here . Chandler i mean, theres really no other way to order. They dont really have a place to put the menus for them to come and pick up. And we signed the lease, and we had two weeks to open. Lemonis were you not in favor of it . Chandler neither one of em was in favor of it, marcus. Lemonis and whyd you do it . Greg to me, it was a good idea to see if we could incubate our concept in the mall. Lemonis and how many people come through the mall a year . Chandler 20 million. Lemonis and how many come through the food court . A million . Chandler maybe. Lemonis how many people come through your restaurant a year . Chandler not close to a million. We probably serve 4,000 or 5,000 a month. Lemonis 60,000 compared to the mall, and so you have the potential to do bigger days. What do you think of the store, the way it looks . Chandler its halfdone. Lemonis its ugly. Chandler yeah. Lemonis and your Business Plan is, lets just open a bunch of em and hope it works out. Chandler yeah. Its to open the next one. Lemonis this is the second one, and its still aint right. Chandler yeah, no, i agree. Lemonis people eat with their eyes first, and that wasnt what i wanted to see with my eyes. Im gonna go around the back. Greg okay. Come on. Lemonis can you walk me i want to see whats back in the kitchen. So, this is the back . Jennifer uhhuh. You got your reachin right here. Lemonis oh, its decent size. Jennifer mmhmm. Yep, yep. And, uh, so, thats our smoker here on the right. Lemonis this is a small space, and so, quite frankly, on a persquarefoot basis, this actually does pretty well, relative to the other one. [ laughter ] jennifer its known as the pirate ship over here. Lemonis what does the pirate ship mean . Jennifer it means that pickles arent made over here, Tortilla Chips are done like that. And my whole thing is is that theyre not getting the same experience foodwise at both locations. Chandler i agree. I want to do it, but i just logistically, im not gonna do grocery deliveries every single day back and forth, so lemonis chandler, dont make it out like you have to get a semitruck. Chandler no. Ii know. Lemonis the fact that theyre using different chips at the mall may seem like a small thing to most people, but it was a very glaring example of jennifer acquiescing to her son to keep him happy. And i see that often in mother son relationships at work, where the mother just loves her son so much, he cant do any wrong. Im just gonna let him have it his way. So, now, were gonna take your son hat off. Like, why are you doing this . Chandler sure, i mean, iim doing a bad job. If im the ceo, i get the final call. Lemonis stop saying please dont say ceo anymore to me. Youre the one supposed to be setting the example, and youre taking the artists ideas, and youre discarding them. Chandler right. Jennifer its just like when we went round and round about these chips, and i told you my reasoning for doing the chips inhouse, which were valid reasons, but the thing is, is that you didnt want to listen to that. I think that you push back sometimes just to push back, because you want it a certain way. Chandler do you think i just like to fight . I dont understand that. Jennifer no, i think you do it because you want things a certain way, and then you push back until you get me to say, fine. Chandler no, i think our arguments, theres never any sort of, like, mutual agreement. Like, we got to have these conversations. Like, if this was a real work environment, and you took the mother son dynamic out of it, like, you got to have that conversation. Jennifer but if you took that dynamic out, you wouldnt do the same things that you do sometimes to me. Chandler thats fair. Lemonis im gonna add something. If we took the mother son dynamic, youd probably be fired. Chandler i dont agree with that. I mean, i have worked as hard as these guys lemonis nobodys questioning that. What im questioning is, pretend she wasnt your mother, and the founder of the business found out that you were circumventing stuff. At some point, shes gonna be like, look. Like, i would never want to to invest into a deal where i thought she didnt have full Creative Control of what happened in the kitchen. Who has the financials . Chandler uh, i do. Lemonis can we, all four of us, go sit down and look at em . Jennifer sure. Lemonis okay. Lemonis so, this is january to december 2017. This is full year. So, the mall did 230,000 of revenue and lost 118,000. Okay. Then the restaurant did 887,000 of revenue, and its only lost 49,000 . Chandler it did, yes. Yeah. Greg people feel like spending more money there, because of the experience. Lemonis 40. 7 margin. That includes food and labor, right . Chandler yes. Lemonis guaranteed member payment, 36,231. Chandler thats my salary. Lemonis how much did you guys take out . Chandler zero. Jennifer didnt take anything. Lemonis how much cash do you have in the bank account right now . Chandler uh, theres about 18,000 in the bank right now. Lemonis so, pretty tight on cash. Jennifer yeah. Chandler since day one. Lemonis do you have 2018 here today . Chandler this is through july. Lemonis so, your net Income Margin is 4 here. It was 5 , 6 last year. Why is it down . Chandler i think thats the thing thats frustrated us so much, is that we know we have a good product. It is just, theres some core thing missing that were just not seeing. Jennifer we need somebody to come in and help us, tell us, this is what youre doing wrong. This is how you fix it. This is how we go forward. Lemonis normally, i would, you know, make an offer right now. I dont want to do that right now, because you guys want to just make a nice living, and he wants to rule the world. And i dont know that those two things can live together. I know this is an unusual move to make, but i really feel like i need to sit back and reflect before i decide if i want to make an investment. Chandler we just want to do better. Thats why we called you. Greg if i can interject, this lady right here, shes the secret sauce to its success. Shes the face of the brand. Lemonis i agree. Greg you know, we come from dirtpoor in south georgia, and weve scraped our whole lives. We just dont want to fail. Lemonis i think you have zero interest in running a restaurant. Chandler you know, i owe them. Leaving would be bailing on on them, and i cant do that. Greghe borrowed billionsfrom dirtpoor in south georgia, donald trump failed as a businessman. And left a trail of bankruptcy and broken promises. He hasnt changed. I started a tiny investment business, and over 27 years, grew it successfully to 36 billion dollars. Im tom steyer and i approve this message. Im running for president because unlike other candidates, i can go head to head with donald trump on the economy, and expose him fo what he is a fraud and a failure. Why do wrinkles happen at the worst times . Showing up here here and even here . With new bounce rapid touch up spray, you can fight wrinkles anywhere. Spray smooth and youre fresh and ready to go wherever you are. New bounce rapid touch up spray. Bounce out wrinkles anywhere. Touch is the most important thing that i do. I like to feel things. I love something feeling intuitive. I love something feeling natural. Its awesome, it gets me super excited. [ dramatic music ]ing ] ahhhh ahhhh elliott. You came back and weve scraped our whole lives. We just dont want to fail. And weve hustled, man, you know, and we aint got a pot to piss in to show for it. And you grind, and you grind, and you grind, and you want to have something. Lemonis i know