Debbie 2 my parents changed completely after that had happened. Dino we can talk about that later. Lemonis if i cant help him change the way he looks at people. Dino i think youre a genius. Lemonis i think youre a smartass. Simply slices will simply stay the same. Dino this is me. This aint an act. This is me. Lemonis youve been acting since the day i met you. My name is marcus lemonis, and i risk my own money to save struggling businesses. Were not going to wake up every morning wondering if we have a job. Were going to wake up every morning wondering how many jobs we have to do. Its not always pretty. Everything is going to change, everything. But i do it to save jobs, and i do it to make money. This. Lets go to work. Is the profit. Simply slices has two locations, and right now, im on my way to the first. Its in a town called crestwood. I have an idea how to create a successful franchise. The simple greek started with 5 locations and now has 35. Im always looking for the next great fastcasual concept, and drivethrough pizza, it could be just that. Ray thank you for choosing simply slices. How can i help you today . Lemonis ill do tomato, green olives, and jalapeno. Ray perfect. Okay, great. Well, go ahead and pull around then. Lemonis theres drivethrough ice cream. Theres drivethrough coffee, chicken, hamburgers, but ive never seen drivethrough pizza, so its a different idea. Ray here you are, sir. You have a great day. Lemonis thank you. Ray thank you very much. Lemonis the pizza was good. It was hot. It tasted fresh. The sauce didnt have a lot of oomph to it, but it was good enough where the concept had viability. Chris how you doing . Lemonis hey, how are you . Chris pretty good. Lemonis im marcus. Chris hows it going . Chris. Nice to meet you. Lemonis chris, how are you . Nice to meet you. Dino whats up, marcus . Dino. Lemonis dino, nice to meet you. I saw on the window im supposed to call you for franchise opportunities. Dino yes. You need one . Lemonis i was just i mean, i dont know yet. Hows everybody else . Ray hey, marcus. Im ray. Lemonis nice to meet you. Ray nice to meet you. Debbie 1 hi, im debbie. Im dinos wife. Lemonis hi, debbie. How are you . Debbie 2 im also debbie. Im dino and debbies daughter. Lemonis how are you . So, three Family Members. Debbie 2 well, ray is actually my husband. Ray i am family. Lemonis and so all four of you work here . Dino always me, ray or debbie are here all the time. Lemonis okay, thats a good thing. So, dino. Dino yes, sir . Lemonis . Was this your idea . Dino yes. I worked in a pizza place called mangos, and there was a mcdonalds, and im watching cars go through the drivethrough. I got the idea of drivethrough pizza by the slice because nobody had done it. So i was going to revolutionize and pioneer the way people eat fast food. Why is pizza the most popular food on the planet and you cant get it in a drivethrough . Lemonis any time i find somebody with a concept that is different than anything else ive ever seen, the risks are that consumers dont adopt the idea of driving through and getting a slice of pizza and eating it in their car. The rewards are, if youre first to market, i mean, you could be a real trailblazer. Dino but ive mostly spent my life raising my family, so we ended up with seven kids. Lemonis you got seven kids . Dino yeah. Dino he became a cop. Lemonis so, dino. Dino doug now, he runs my burbank store that we opened up two years ago. Debbie. Lemonis okay. Dino derrick, darren, and dana. Dominic he passed away when he was 18. Lemonis im sorry. Dino yeah, it was horrible. My life totally changed, you know, when dom died. So, anyway, we can talk about that later. Lemonis and you have grandkids . Dino yes. Lemonis how many . Dino so, 10. Lemonis and do they all start with a d . Dino no. No, no, no. So, we developed tommy because we wanted somebody irreverent and funny. Lemonis i dont disagree. I dont disagree. I have a character called good sam in my business. Dino yeah. Lemonis we have a big costume. Do you guys have anything like that . Dino yes. Lemonis you do . I love the fact that dino was creative enough in his company to come up with a mascot. Is it on right . [ laughter ] so, what do you normally do . Go out into the street . And whether the mascot is corny, it is good because it gives people a visual, and it gives kids and families something to hang onto, and it actually makes the business feel lighter and more fun. Lets go debbie 1 hes cute, isnt he . Dino thats how you do it, brother, right there. [ horn honks ] debbie 1 there you go dino bring them home thats how you do it lemonis i can barely see you. Come on. Dino thats how you do it. Bringing them in, marcus. Lemonis so, what do you love about the menu . Debbie 1 the slice part. I like the shaved ice part. Lemonis i personally dont like the menu. Maybe its the fonts. Maybe its the layout. cause youre not selling simplicity. What you want to do is simplify the messaging so that the customer knows what you want them to focus on. Theres, like, 35 different flavors of syrup, 14 different sizes of pizzas. Its like sensory overload to me. It didnt feel like something you would franchise. How much revenue do you generate off a 20pound bag of ice . Dino we got an ice machine, and its like people want ice. Lemonis like a liquor store . Dino no, its just. Lemonis i will be honest with you. The setup looked a little carnivallike. How did you pick shaved ice . Dino we do whats called a slice and a ice. People love it. Lemonis good margins . What are they . Dino great margin. Lemonis about 96 dino yeah, good. But i was also concerned about how dated it looked. If youre going for oldschool 1984 called, then you got it. Dino marcus is going to make a pie. Ray uhoh. Lemonis dont say uhoh. Ray clear the kitchen. Dino yeah, thats good. Lemonis whats different that makes your dough so crispy . Ray we make it ourselves. Lemonis from scratch . Ray yep. Dino learned how to make pizza when i was 17 from an old sicilian. Everythings in operations manuals. Everythings set. Lemonis so, you have or have not tried to sell this concept . Dino yes. Wherever you put a mcdonalds, burger king, taco bell or wendys, youre going to see me sandwiched in between them with my little pizza concept. We have a Franchise Company. I had a guy trying to sell them for me, and that was 100 grand of investment. Weve done some franchise expos. We drew a crowd, marcus, but i couldnt get anybody to buy. Lemonis can i taste the sauce . Dino oh, yeah. Yeah. Lemonis do you make the sauce . Dino its from a puree, yes. Lemonis do you make it . Dino so, its puree, puree lemonis so, you open up a can. Dino yep. Lemonis . Of tomato puree. Dino yep. Lemonis and then you doctor it. It didnt have a lot of kick. Thats why i asked about the sauce. Dino ive been doing this for 40 years. Thats the way we do it. Thats the way ive done it. Lemonis and so is your process, ive been doing this 40 years. This is the way i make pizza, and if you dont like it, dont buy my franchise . Dino i well, all i have to say from that is, again, its is all i know, and it works. Lemonis theres no question that dino has been successful for the last 20 years with every Family Member working there. So, the labor costs are low, but a business in one location doesnt necessarily mean that its scalable. When did you start doing this . Debbie 2 i remember being 8 years old making pizzas with my dad. Lemonis and are you at this location all the time . Debbie 2 yes. Lemonis and your brothers at the other one . Debbie 2 yep. My brother runs that on his own. Thats his. You know, this is ours, so. Lemonis and have you ever worked over there . Debbie 2 before the split, i worked there. Lemonis what do you mean, split . Debbie 2 well, before [ chuckles ] before my dad sold it to him. Lemonis when you say split, that means thats how you actually feel. It wasnt just that the business was sold. Debbie 2 yeah. I mean. We were all working together in two different places, but doug and my dad were butting heads a lot. It was toxic, so my dad sold burbank to doug because it was really the only thing that was going to keep our family together, to keep his son close to him. You know, his kids didnt always follow the rules, so he really clamps down and tries to take over. Lemonis is your dad controlling . Debbie 2 yes. Lemonis how does your mom manage that . Debbie 2 theyre just one. Theyre one. Whatever he feels, she feels. Lemonis and how do your brothers and sisters divide who goes with your brother and who is it like a world divided right now . Debbie 2 mmhmm. Yeah. And a lot of that has to do with dom passing away. My parents changed completely after that had happened. Lemonis youre sort of inching your way back in, arent you . Yeah, you are. Can i, just away from everybody, chat with you and your wife, if thats okay . You know, oftentimes people call me to get involved in their business for different reasons, to help them solve money issues, help them scale their business. Im not sure which boxes im checking in this moment, but its clear to me that debbie just checked one for me that theres some family issues here. Debbie gave me the impression that you and doug dont really talk that much anymore. How did things erode with doug . Debbie 1 he asked for burbank. Lemonis he said, i want it, or im out of here . Dino yeah. Debbie 1 yeah. He was going to quit. Lemonis what led to all that . Dino well, basically, for us, it started when dom died. Debbie 1 we buried him on thursday. We were back to work on friday. Lemonis how did your son die, if i may ask . Debbie 1 an overdose of cocaine. Lemonis okay. Dino we were a really tightknit family. We were close. I worked with my kids. We homeschooled. Were gonna keep a tight rein and make sure the world doesnt come and destroy this, what we have. Lemonis and so why is doug gone . Debbie 1 they have different philosophies of business, but dino yeah, we celebrate thanksgiving, christmas, all have a great time, but when it comes to business, theres certain ways you do it, and theres certain ways you dont. If you grow a business, im gonna be the happiest person on the planet. Debbie 1 but its not growing. Lemonis and do you believe doug represents the franchise concept well . Dino we dont know. Lemonis what do you mean, you dont know . You dont go there . Dino i go there a couple times. Ive been there a few times. Lemonis and so what happens if dougs location ends up ruining the entire franchise possibility . Dino we aint gonna get to that point. Debbie 1 he cant make any changes without talking to us. Lemonis why not . Debbie 1 thats in the contract. Lemonis who does he get approval from, you or from. Debbie 1 dino. Lemonis from dino. The leader of the free world. Dino just a little man in a big world trying to survive. Lemonis can you get your financials together . Dino you want to look at these now or. Lemonis no. Well look at them later, but i just want to make sure you have them. Dino yeah, i got them. Lemonis and then i thought itd be a good idea for maybe all of us to go over to dougs place. Dino yeah. Lemonis id like to see it. Can we go do that . Lemonis hi. How you doing . Im marcus. Doug marcus. Im doug. Lemonis oh, hey, doug. How are you . Doug nice to meet you. This is my wife, cristine. Cristine cristine. Lemonis how are you . Nice to meet you. This is a nice place. Doug yeah. Thank you. Cristine thank you. Lemonis is this place pretty busy . Doug its building. Its growing. Cristine its growing. Lemonis i notice that the menus a little different. Cristine yes. Doug we have a smaller version. So, we dont do 20inchers or 18inchers. Lemonis how come . Doug the 12 and 14inch theyre easier to make. They take up less space in the oven. 20inchers are kind of a hassle to then put on your franchisees. Lemonis dino led me to believe that the second location is a total disaster. They dont know what theyre doing. The place is a mess. But i would argue strongly that some of the small tweaks that dougs made, like the menu, actually made the experience better. Lemonis how is this business treating you guys . Cristine good. Doug its good. Lemonis what does it do in sales . Doug last year was 270,000. Lemonis but its new. Cristine its new. Were only a little over two years old. Doug were actually up 11 from last january. Lemonis and contrary to what dino told me, burbank is growing. Maybe dino should spend a little more time here. Your parents are on their way here to meet me. Doug mmhmm. Lemonis did they call and tell you they were coming or. Doug they did, to find out who was here. Cristine so, they have an issue with one of our employees. Lemonis okay. Cristine and so once he knew that he was here, that had to be why hes not coming. Lemonis do you mind if i talk to jeremy . Would that be okay with you guys . Hi, bud. Jeremy how are you doing . Lemonis can i chat with you for just a second . So, my name is marcus, by the way. Nice to meet you. I went over to i think its crestwood. Jeremy yeah. Lemonis yeah. I was there for a while. Jeremy mmhmm. Lemonis and i think theres this notion they dont want to come here cause youre here. Jeremy mmhmm. Lemonis and theres some beef. Whats the story . Jeremy they thought i took somebodys creditcard information. Lemonis and you. Jeremy and i didnt. Lemonis yeah. Jeremy so then he fired me. He was like, i cant have you work here no more. Lemonis so, you used to work over at crestwood . Jeremy mmhmm. I mean, its just, like, tension, like, hes trying to cause, like, between me and doug. Lemonis how long did you know him . Jeremy since i was, like, 14. He was my basketball coach. Lemonis how old are you now . Jeremy im 27. Ill be 28 next month. Lemonis so youve known them half your life. Jeremy right. I used to talk to him about everything. Lemonis and were you hurt by the way he handled it . Jeremy yeah, i was pissed off. Lemonis pissed off or hurt . Jeremy both. Hes having his problems with his own family, so its like lemonis what are his problems with his family . Jeremy hes just a control freak, honestly. You know what i mean . Hell tell you something, and then, like, if maybe you dont listen to exactly what he wants or something, like, he gets mad. Lemonis im starting to see a theme here that dinos got his own perspective on everything. And it is odd to me that dino spends no time here, but he cares about who doug hires. Doug you know, its family and business. I was raised to want to own my own business. So, we have had conversations with my dad. How am i gonna be an owner if im working for you . Like, i want my own place. And then he offered us burbank, this place. Lemonis he offered it to you, or you demanded it . Doug no, he offered it. Lemonis cause it was presented to me that you guys demanded it. Cristine no. Lemonis whats your relationship like with your dad right now . Doug im here. Hes there. Lemonis thats tough. Doug yeah. They were supposed to come here. That would have been their third time here in the 14 months that weve taken over. Cristine once we moved here, it just felt separated, but when we first decided we were going to Work Together and we were going to be this team, and it was, like it was awesome. And then it just didnt happen. Because we believe in this. We want to go forward. We want to make it huge. Lemonis while the concept is really cool, the worry that i have is, if cant dino cant even take feedback or have a discussion with his son or an employee, how is he going to take feedback from a franchisee thats four states away . Im gonna head back over there. Did you mind coming over, just follow me there . Doug our schedule is open, yeah. Lemonis okay, great. Lets head over. Doug all right. Awesome. Cristine thank you. Lemonis yep. What happened to you guys . You just wanted to stay back and make pizza . Dino yeah. Yeah, i was busy. Lemonis you were busy . Debbie 1 we did get really busy right after you left. Lemonis did you get really busy . Debbie 1 we got hammered. Lemonis you just let me drive all the way over there, and you left me hanging. Dino howd it go . Good . Lemonis it was actually nice. If your business is in trouble, and you need my help, log on to theprofitcasting. Com. If you have moderate to thsevere rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. 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Lemonis how are you . So, i thought, if you guys werent going to come there, wed just come back here. Dino awesome. Lemonis i already knew there was awkwardness and tension, but i didnt know that it was to this level. Is there tension in the room . Dino do you feel it or. Lemonis well, youre the grand poobah, so you set the tone. Dino what do you want to talk about . Lemonis okay. What are you so upset about . Dino i am not upset. I love my children like i always have, but we have our little disagreements in business. And you can see how it starts, and this is what it is. Lemonis as a business owner, you tend to get a little reactionary. The fact that i drove all the way over there, and you just didnt come it seemed odd to me. Dino all right, dougs got an employee that i dont think should be there. Lemonis so, because you dont think he should be there, you just choose not to go . You just protest . Dino i wont go there when hes there. Thats it. Lemonis but its not his business. Its your sons business. Dino he shouldnt be there, no matter whose business it is. Lemonis we should put the jeremy situation aside. Dino fine. Good. Lemonis okay. You want this thing to be a big deal in this country . This idea . Dino yes. Lemonis because we all believe