Transcripts For CNBC The Profit 20240713

If i cant get her to understand that she cannot do it all on her own. Erica i just love cooking on my own, without people telling me how to do it, and what to do. Lemonis . Southern culture will be cooked. Honestly, thats [bleep] up. 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. Erica hey, leyton, its erica over at southern culture. How are you . Lemonis in 2012, Erica Barrett launched southern culture artisan foods, a line of allnatural packaged food mixes, based in atlanta, georgia. Erica you and quinn are gonna be working on grits. Original grits, and then we need some truffle and sea salt, as well. Lemonis it had started as a side business, but as word of mouth spread, and the Product Offering expanded, from pancake and waffle mixes to bacon rub and grits. Erica write down what you guys produced. That way, i can put it into inventory. Woman yes, maam. Lemonis . She gave up her fulltime career to focus on this business. Erica i will wait to hear back from you on walmart meetings. Lemonis soon it was attracting highprofile admirers. Erica the Packaging Company that does preprinted . Man right. Erica this guys been calling me all week. Man okay. Erica cause he knows that we have a possibility of that walmart deal. Lemonis . And sales approached a half a Million Dollars a year. Erica [ laughs ] you get the meeting, ill make it happen. Lemonis but now the companys in trouble. Sales have slowed, and debt has mounted. Nichelle this is the quote from tlc rents, the updated one. Erica 3,249 . sweet jesus man we didnt get any samples from your company, for some reason. Erica oh, my god. Okay. Its just a mess. I mean, it really, really is a mess. Lemonis the packagedmix business is a multibilliondollar industry and growing. So, i came to atlanta to check it out. Hello. Nichelle hi. Lemonis how are you . Im marcus. Nichelle hi, marcus. How are you . Lemonis im good. I came to find out what the story is. Is erica here . Nichelle ericas here. Lemonis awesome. Can i meet her . Nichelle absolutely. Come on. Lemonis great. Nichelle this is erica. Erica Marcus Lemonis how are you . Erica good. How are you . Lemonis nice to meet you. Erica im erica. Lemonis nice to meet you. Erica nice to meet you, as well. Oh, man. Welcome to southern comfort. Lemonis this is it. Erica do you want to take a tour now . Lemonis i want a tour. I want to know what happens. Erica okay. So, this is the warehouse. Its about 3,000 square feet back here. Lemonis this seems nice. Erica yeah. So, ive been cooking since i was 9 years old. And making breakfast for my husband one saturday morning, i wanted to make these pancakes. So, i went to the store, and i go get all of these great ingredients. My bill was close to 30. And im thinking, for freakin pancakes . Why isnt there anything, like, innovative on the shelf that already has the strawberries, already has great blueberries, already has sprinkles, or whatever it is that i want to put in my pancakes so i dont have to buy a bag of strawberries and they go to waste. So, i left the Grocery Store with this idea and just kind of ran with it. Lemonis wow. Thats a lot of products. Erica yes. The first one is our pancake and waffle mix. Lemonis okay. Erica so, we have flavors like berry cobbler, bourbon, salted pecan, vanilla, sweet potato, gingerbread. Lemonis ive never had premade flavored pancakes. Erica yeah. Lemonis is this expense . Erica it sells for about 4. 49. Lemonis so, how much is a box of bisquick . Erica 1. 99 lemonis and how many of these does it take to make a box of bisquick . Erica about three boxes. Yeah, ours is more premium. You know, we have freezedried fruit. Its expense to buy that. Lemonis okay. Whats next . Erica we have a product called bacon rub. It is a seasoning blend for bacon, and Fried Chicken mix. We have spicy and original. Lemonis okay. Erica and probably one that im most proud of grits. Lemonis okay. Erica theres three flavors of that. Lemonis and who came up with the recipes . Erica i did. Lemonis all of them . Erica yes. Lemonis so, you came up with the idea . Erica yep. Lemonis the packaging . Erica yep. Lemonis the recipes . Erica yep. Lemonis the flavors . Erica yep. Lemonis the process . Erica yeah. Lemonis what did you not come up with . Erica i came up with everything. Lemonis okay. Erica and this is my mom. Lemonis how are you . Mom how are you doing . Lemonis nice to meet you. What is your name . Lamarinette lamarinette. Lemonis what is your role here, like, in the business . Lamarinette i do mail orders. Lemonis mail order. Lamarinette im a receptionist. I drop off delivery. Erica complain. Lamarinette what else she says i complain. Lemonis okay. We got to find a table to sit them down at. Why dont all three of us do it . And i want to line up all the flavors in each row, okay . All right, so. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is too much. Erica oh, were missing one more skew. Sorry. Lemonis okay. I mean, theres so many, you cant even keep track of them. So, 3 sets of grits, 17 types of waffle and pancake mix. Erica yep. Lemonis . 3 types of bacon rub, 2 types of chicken mix, and one type of syrup. Erica yep. Lemonis there doesnt seem to be as much thought as there could be in terms of streamlining and organizing their lineup whether its Fried Chicken with two, which maybe you dont have enough, or pancakes with 17, which maybe you have too much. I kind of scratch my head and wonder, are they a southerncompany . Are they a Breakfast Company . I dont really know what it is. How much revenue did you do last year . Erica about half a Million Dollars. Lemonis half a. Really . Erica yeah. We sell to williams sonoma, kroger, a lot of specialty stores, as well, across the u. S. Lemonis wow of the 500,000 you did last year, walk me through where the revenue came from most to least. Erica pancakes about 75 . Lemonis and how many of them make up the bulk of the revenue . About six flavors. Lemonis okay. Erica then our Fried Chicken mix. Lemonis how much was that in revenue . Erica 20 . Lemonis okay. So, you understand so far were at 95 . Erica yeah. Lemonis okay. Pancakes and Fried Chicken make up 95 of her revenue, and i think the way she developed the other products and the way she connected them together is probably why they didnt take off. Why did you choose to package them differently if you were creating a brand . Erica because i wanted to be able to distinguish the grits from the pancakes and the bacon rub. Lemonis and you did a good job with that. Erica thank you. Lemonis theyre all different. Erica thank you. Lemonis which is probably why the other ones dont do well. Can i taste the product . Erica yeah, i can make it. Lemonis im gonna make it with you. Erica all right. Absolutely. Grab the Fried Chicken mix. Lemonis and then what about the pancakes . Erica sweet potato. Lemonis okay. Well take this one. Erica hey, andre andre hey, how you doing . Lemonis how are you . Erica thats my husband, andre, marcus. Lemonis im marcus. Andre hey, marcus. Lemonis nice to meet you. Andre nice to meet you. Lemonis you here to help us . Andre yeah, sure. Every once in awhile, i come and help out. Erica hes been here, like, three times. Andre shes been running the business for five years, and the profitability is close to zero. Its not ran efficiently. And the margins are slim. Lemonis are they . Andre yeah. Lemonis what are they . Andre i dont know what they are, but i know lemonis so, then how can you say that theyre slim . Andre well, i mean, i know that she always needs some money. Lemonis so, is that the margins that are wrong . Andre i think its the mar i think she also miscalculates. I used to do this full time, so i know for a fact that erica andre, you never get lamarinette how many years ago . Erica part time. Andre no, i did it almost full time cause i worked lemonis so, your calculations are off, too. Lamarinette almost full time. Erica your calculations are off lemonis to be honest with you. Its delicious. [ laughter ] i have a little knowledge on Fried Chicken, and this was crispy. It had heat, but it was smooth and flavorful. Erica it is delicious. Lemonis i could say without a doubt that i would be comfortable putting my name on this product. I eat Fried Chicken almost everywhere i go, and this is the best Fried Chicken ive ever had. Its fluffy. I can taste the flavor as opposed to just smell the flavor, which is a big difference. Lamarinette yes. Erica yeah. Lemonis i really like it a lot. Erica thank you. Thank you. That is awesome. Lemonis so, the ingredients. Erica mmhmm. Lemonis organic flour, sweet potato, organic sugar. Erica its allnatural ingredients. Lemonis i would pay 5 for this. Erica okay. Lemonis like, a family of four could eat that. Erica yeah. Lemonis what does this packaging cost . Erica about 74 cents. Lemonis really . Erica yeah. Lemonis okay, thats expensive. Erica it is expensive. Lemonis very expensive. What does this bag cost . Erica 2 cents. Lemonis okay, so now were at 76 cents. What do the ingredients cost . Erica 44 cents. Lemonis so, were just over 1. 15 . Erica yep. Andre but once youve calculated the labor cost, its a lot higher. Lemonis so, what does how much labor goes into making this, andre . Andre i mean, i dont have the exact numbers, but the employees arent as efficient. I mean, like, when i come in here, i always get upset because i see them walking around. Lamarinette but how do you know when youre not here . Andre thats pretty much what i see. You come in here, you get on your laptop, you take conference calls, and then you leave. Andre no. Lamarinette andre. Andre yes . Lamarinette lets be honest. Erica youre not here with us. Lemonis you know when youre gonna buy Something Big and this guy comes in, and hes like, the closer, the one that reinforces everything thats happened . Andre would be, like, the opposite of the closer. Hes the guy basically saying, no, you think this is a great idea, but let me just tell you, this is a really bad idea, and the business is really screwed up. Look, its clear to me that you have a particular perspective on the situation. Andre mmhmm. Lemonis lets you and i go talk about it ourselves. Andre okay. Lemonis okay. So, why does everybody feel like you walked out . Andre well, i mean, i kind of did walk out, but i walked out because when you have a company, its so much to do. Its, like, youre never done, and i also worked full time at the time when i was doing that. Lemonis so, you have a real career that you enjoy . Andre yeah, yeah. This was more for erica. Like, initially, i was doing i was starting to do most of the sales, and i was up every single night night and day like, trying to get more customers. Lemonis did you give up . Andre i did kind of give up. I gave up because we werent seeing eye to eye. Like, im a different thinker. So, like, i always think about the future, and, like, erica, shes never really been into saving. And i want to see profitability, and if im not seeing profitability, then im gonna lose interest. Erica i mean, lets be honest. I feel like ive always supported his dreams. I just want the same type of support and respect. I almost feel like im on an island, me and my mom, and were going through this alone. Andre if youre not capable of running a business and making it successful, then whats the point of erica who says im not capable of running a business . Lemonis i dont even know when the last time you guys actually talked about this cause this stuff seems very fresh to me. Andre i feel like our relationship is not as good as it used to be. Erica i dont feel like he fully understands me and my dream and how much it means to me. And i feel like when you marry a person, youre supposed to share a dream, not be divided. Even if its just encouraging words like, hey, its gonna be okay. Ill help you work through it. Its just like, you chose that. Why dont you just shut it down . Lemonis i dont necessarily disagree with what andre is saying. What i disagree with is his delivery. If you want to make a point to somebody, you have to do it in a way that helps them be openminded to the idea. Erica i mean, he knows sometimes when i need money for payroll, and hes helped me out. He does have a heart. Hes like, okay, ill give it to you. Lemonis it sounds to me like when push came to shove, he was there for you. Erica absolutely. I love him a lot. Lemonis you have a beautiful marriage. You cannot let the business come in between it no matter what. What id like to do actually is meet at the table, and i want to go over the financials. Erica okay. Lemonis okay . Andre all right. Thanks. Lemonis have you ever seen these financials, andre . Andre no. Lemonis not once . Andre no. Lemonis 2015 shows the total sales of 616,000. Net income of 77,000. And in 2016, 500,000 in revenue, and it about broke even. So, heres the the summary of the financials over the course of five years, it basically broke even. Loss a couple years, made a couple years. So, lets go through your liabilities. On deck 25,000. Erica that is a loan. Its an alternative lending company. Lemonis whats the Interest Rate on that . Erica its at around 40 . Andre 40 on a loan . Thats, like that makes no sense. Lemonis why did you take a 40 interestrate loan . Erica i wanted to Fund Fourth Quarter orders. Couldnt get the money from anywhere else. Lemonis did you ask andre . Erica yeah. Lemonis and what did he say . Erica no. Lemonis bolsters 75,000. What is that . Erica another alternative loan. Lemonis wheres the money . Erica inventory, paying people, working capital. Lemonis that means its gone. Erica well, i believe that a lot of it is the interest that we paid on the alternative loans. Lemonis how much debt do you have . Erica its probably about half a million. Andre shoot, half a Million Dollars . Never heard that number before. I mean, thats basically owing on a 500,000 house. Lemonis was that a secret . Erica yeah. This is not a secret, though we dont talk about this stuff andre ive asked her before, and shes never told me. Erica im not a liar im not withholding information he doesnt share anything why should i share with him if he doesnt share with me . Andre we used to share. Erica why should i share information with him if he doesnt share information with me . Lemonis ask him. Erica its pointless. Lemonis andre, youve been very critical of the business. Andre yeah, but its almost as punishment for wasted money. Lemonis the solution isnt to keep telling her how stupid she is. Andre i mean, i would say as a repercussion for lemonis what a repercussion shes not your child honestly, thats [bleep] up. Erica im not a liar im not withholding information wed love some help with laundry. Spray and scrub anything with a stain. Wash the really dirty clothes separately. Tide pods with upgraded 4in1 technology unleash a foolproof clean in one step. Aww, you did the laundry its got to be tide. For all of the heroes who serve us, tmobile is offering 50 off family lines for military, veterans and first responders. 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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. He doesnt share anything why should i share with him if he doesnt share with me . Andre we used to share. Erica why should i share information with him if he doesnt share information with me . Lemonis ask him. Erica its pointless. Lemonis andre, why do you think i want to invest in erica . What talent do you think erica brings to the table that makes her investment worthy . Andre i think she can make i mean, welemonis did you hearss intowhat he just said . Ness. Whatd he say . Erica we. Lemonis andre, your wife, who you love, who youre frustrated with right now, she needs your support. Can you two shake on that that youre willing to do that . Andre yep. [ both laugh ] lemonis the reason i want to take a shot on you, erica, is because a couple of the products youve created have real appeal, and the fact that you generated 500,000 in sales is a big deal to me. The problem here is that this business looks like its dead on arrival because of this debt mess, but perceivables are an asset. Erica yeah. Lemonis equipment is an asset. Inventory is an asset. Erica yeah. Lemonis and these are things that you can use to pay everybody off. So, the offer that im willing to make is very different this moment. Im willing to invest 75,000 to find copackers, get new packaging put together, and bring products to market if you can prove to me that you could have financial discipline and that the inventory, the assets, all get sold off every debt gets paid down, paid off, or a payment plan is put into place. Normally, when i go into these deals, im ready to invest in a business right at checkin, get equity in exchange for it, but in this particular scenario, i really feel like erica needs to prove to me that she could learn what financial responsibility is. And until she proves that to me, theres no point in talking about equity. So, that is my offer, but i need to know if we have a deal. Erica marcus. You have a deal. Lemonis a check cannot be cashed until both of us agree that these things have been done. Erica okay. Lemonis okay . Erica im up for the challenge. Lemonis okay. We have a deal . Erica we have a deal. Absolutely. Lemonis do we have deal . Andre yep. Definitely. Lemonis all right. Ill see you guys tomorrow. Andre see you tomorrow. Lemonis good morning. Its clear to me that the products that erica has built have real value in the marketplace, and i have agreed to put 75,000 into the business, and were gonna utilize the assets that exist to pay down debt. All this product here has to be sold on the internet. And once weve solved everything with the creditors, were gonna rebuild the business. We want to look at all the recipes, and we want to narrow the Product Offering down to whats actually gonna sell. Were gonna work on branding. Were gonna work on packaging, how its gonna be marketed. Okay . Employees okay. All right. Lemonis lets go to work. Erica all right. Lemonis erica told me that shes sold her products at kroger, and so, in order for me to understand what the issues are, i wanted to go to kroger and actually see it on the shelf, see what its competition is, and see where the real opportunity is. Lets go to where the pancake aisle is. Erica okay. Lemonis so, chicken mixes, bisquick. Erica mmhmm. Lemonis where is yours . Erica were in the local set. Lemonis in the what . Erica in the local set. So, ill show you. Were in an area called local. It is all through georgia, krogers all throughout georgia. It should be on aisle 7. This is us. Lemonis yeah, but. This is latin american foods. Erica the goal is to get over to the aisle with the national brands. Lemonis the only way youre gonna get to the placement you want in a retail store is to have national appeal. Lets look at the products that you have today. I bought some. Erica okay. Lemonis part of the reason erica is in an oddball aisle is that her products dont have a cohesive story to them. Are you a Breakfast Company or are erica i started at as a Breakfast Company. That was my initial vision when i started the company. Lemonis okay. I dont think youre a Breakfast Company if you have Fried Chicken mix. Erica no. Lemonis youre a southerninspired foods company. Erica yeah. Lemonis can you buy off on that . Erica i can. Lemonis okay, great. I want to have 12 skews in the lineup. Erica okay. Lemonis something that actually can make a full set with a story behind it where whether you like breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever it may be, there are southerninspired recipes. Erica mmhmm. Lemonis so, four pancakes. Erica yeah. Lemonis . Two grits. Erica yeah. Lemonis . Two Fried Chicken. Erica mmhmm. Lemonis all this other stuff. Is just noise. So, theres four skews missing. What four skews would you develop . Erica maybe one biscuit mix. One or two. Lemonis okay. Erica cornbread could go with chicken. Lemonis okay, what else . Erica cakes lemonis so, here is my challenge to you. Erica okay. Lemonis if youre as good of a chef as you say you are and you understand Southern Foods as good as you say you do, i want to see them developed, and i want to taste them. Erica okay. Lemonis okay . Erica i can do it. Lemonis whats happening . Andre hey. Lemonis how are you, buddy . Looking a little sharp today. Erica. Erica yes . Lemonis i need you. So, were gonna look in this trailer. Were gonna establish a value so we can see how were gonna solve the debt. Erica okay. Lemonis okay . Erica makes sense. Lemonis lets look outside. Whats troubling for me is that erica has blown 500,000 since she started this business. So, i wanted to take andre and her out to the storage shed so that we can start liquidating some of this merchandise and start the process of generating cash and paying down this debt. Whens the last time you all were in here . Erica probably about a month ago. Andre ive never been in here. Lemonis thats good to know. Andre yeah. Lemonis are you [bleep] me . How much does this trailer cost a month . Erica 89 a month. Lemonis uhhuh. So, thats more than 1,000 a year that could be paying off debt, right . Erica yeah. Lemonis whats this . Erica kitchen equipment. Lemonis how longs it been here . Erica for six months. Lemonis whats this . Erica packaging that we modified for a customer. Lemonis is that garbage . Erica theres computer routers and cameras from the old building. Its probably worth around 1,500 bucks. Andre probably not after its used. Maybe 400 bucks. Lemonis what is this . Erica cameras. These can be installed. Lemonis why hasnt it been done . Erica well, it was an idea that didnt work. Andre you got to be more frugal. I mean, you got to figure out a way to not blow all that money. Lemonis what the hell is this . Erica its a bike. Its 500 bucks. Andre why did you waste 500 bucks on a bike . Erica its a delivery vehicle. Lemonis whats that . Erica it goes to some kitchen equipment. Lemonis why is it out here . Erica it needs to be put together. Lemonis this looks like a brandnew printer. Whats this thing worth . A couple 300 . Erica yeah. Andre you got to be strategic with your money. Youre just blowing money. Youre not thinking about long term. Erica i do respect money. At moments, ive lacked resources. Ive been. Spread thin, and ive made some bad decisions. Andre yeah, but ive given you a lot of money, and all this is a waste. We need to know were not losing money every time youre spending. Lemonis andre, i have to be honest with you since i met you, youve been very critical of the business. Andre yeah, but its almost as punishment for wasting money. Lemonis i think you resent her so much cause you dont think she looks at money the way you look at money, and im not gonna disagree with you. But the solution isnt to keep telling her how stupid she is and telling her, im gonna punish you. Erica this is the way he talks to me. This is what i deal with. Andre im not saying punish lemonis you said punish andre i mean, i would say as repercussion for lemonis what a repercussion shes not your child honesty, thats [bleep] up. If your business is in trouble and you need my help, log on to theprofitcasting. Com. Look, its just like when i tell people abbe confident. Th geico. Stand up straight. And speak with purpose. Yeah . Go on, give it a practice run. Kelsey. Kelsey. Marriage . Oh. Okay. Look maybe you should just show her this beautiful Helzberg Diamond ring . Thats a better idea. Yeah, maybe not in the bathroom. Oooh oh my word geico. Its easy to switch and save. What do we wburger. Inner . I want a sugar cookie. Wait. I want a bucket of chicken. I want. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. For all of the heroes who serve us, tmobile is offering 50 off family lines for military, veterans and first responders. And now, we are also offering half off our top samsung phones. Our service is just one way we say thank you. How do you make red lobsters you bring back Nashville Hot oh yeah its back. Crispy shrimp. Tossed in a spicy rub. And drizzled with sweet amber honey. More shrimp more ways. Endless shrimps fifteen ninety nine. Hurry, it ends november 17th wed love some help with laundry. Spray and scrub anything with a stain. Wash the really dirty clothes separately. Tide pods with upgraded 4in1 technology unleash a foolproof clean in one step. Aww, you did the laundry its got to be tide. How stupid she is and telling her, im gonna punish you. Erica it makes me sad at his perspective. Lemonis its like sometimes people dont have the knowledge. She has talent. Shes creative. Shes charismatic. Andre uhhuh. Lemonis shes not good at money. Shes saying, i suck at it. So, if you have the ability, your responsibility is to coach her. Theres no doubt that andre possesses more Financial Literacy, but what he doesnt possess is some of the creativity erica possesses. And im hoping that andre takes his Financial Literacy and her creativity, and they can Work Together so they can improve the business. We know that we have to solve for all the debt. Erica yeah. Lemonis so, thats really what i need you to think about. Erica yep. Lemonis i want to know what your ideas are to generate some cash from this. Erica ill sell some of this stuff one ebay. Ill put some of it locally on craigslist. Lemonis and well come up with a methodology for spending money where we say, okay, its this much. This is the purpose. This the return. Yes or no . cause i think if you can be taught that, then this wont happen. Erica absolutely. Lemonis deal . Erica all right. Lemonis were gonna see how much traffic we can drive to the website to move all this stuff. Were gonna do it right now. Erica oh, wow. Lemonis were laserfocused on liquidating assets to pay off ericas debts. I need you to be enthusiastic like youre selling to save your business. The first step is to get the word out, so were creating a Facebook Live video. Erica we have an awesome deal. 25 off of all of these great products on our website. Lemonis were playing to our strengths. We have a great product with tons of personality. Whos the boss in the kitchen right now . Erica i im the boss lamarinette okay. Ima let her have her way. She says shes the boss, but we the boss. Lemonis we need to start ringing the till. I want to see orders when i come back on tuesday. Erica okay. Lemonis in addition, ericas working hard to turn the stuff from the storage container into cash. Erica shelving for a retail store. Its a full display. It was custom made. Im looking to generate 3,000. We shipped out 200 earlier today, so we had four pallets. Lemonis okay, is there no more to ship out today . Erica absolutely. We have another 117. Lemonis its only been a few days, and the orders are pouring in from the Facebook Live video. Erica weve sold about 12,000 worth of inventory online in about two days. Lemonis and shes working hard to negotiate and settle her past debts. Erica okay, would 25,000 work . Man would that be paid by the end of september . Erica yes, i can get it done by the end of september. Man i would love to do that for you, erica. Lemonis so far, shes negotiated over 150,000 off on her debt, and shes generated over 20,000 by selling merchandise. Erica all right. Awesome. Lamarinette what is this . Lemonis what do you mean, what is this . I asked them to pack a duffel bag, and that i was gonna take them somewhere. I think they thought we were just gonna drive around town. Erica marcus, is this your plane . Lemonis yeah. Erica this is your plane . lemonis yes. Erica holy [bleep] first of all, ive only seen this in music videos. Lamarinette where are you taking us to . Lemonis were going to see a friend of mine. Lamarinette trust the process. Give me five. Lets roll. Erica lets roll, mama. [ laughter ] lemonis i brought erica here today because shes been working on a new cornbread recipe, and i want to see her work in a collaborative environment. I know that shes proud of having done everything on her own, and thats fine, but im a big believer that two heads are better than one. Isnt this place beautiful . Lamarinette it is. Art hello good afternoon. Lemonis hey, buddy. Art good to see you lemonis good seeing you. Art how are you . Nice to meet you. Art smith. Lemonis i wanted to introduce to erica to chef art smith. Hes a famous chef from chicago whos cooked for oprah, the white house, and he specializes in Southern Foods. Erica this is beautiful john nice to meet, yall. Erica erica. John john. Lemonis so, why dont we start with the chicken. Erica what are you doing . Lamarinette oh, im rinsing the chicken right about now. Erica i dont rinse chicken. Lemonis why not . Erica i just dont. Art um. Youre probably better off to rinse them. Lamarinette yeah, traditionally in the south, thats what we do. We take out erica ive never done that. Art the rinsing of the chicken helps to stop cross contamination, and thats something thats widely known. Erica all right, so whatcha doing, mom . Since when did you become a chef . Lamarinette i dont need a coach when im frying chicken. Art in our restaurant, you know, we find it fries better at a lower temperature, but i think its okay. Lemonis erica, i can tell youre annoyed right now. Erica i am annoyed. Lemonis why are you annoyed . Erica theres too many cooks in the kitchen. And i have my own way. I just love cooking in my own without people telling me how to do it, what to do. Jim i was a little thrown off by the packaging. Plus, your titles are kind of small. Ive heard from a lot of retailers that they love the packaging. So, they like it. I like it. Lets keep it that way. Ladies and gentlemen mini is a different kind of car. For a different kind of drive. Ladies and gentlemen for the drive to create a new kind of family car, that became a new kind of race car. For the drive to rebel, zag. For the drive thats inside you. And inside us. Thats the drive under the hood of every mini. Because every mini is. For the drive. How do you make red lobsters you bring back Nashville Hot oh yeah its back. Crispy shrimp. Tossed in a spicy rub. And drizzled with sweet amber honey. More shrimp more ways. 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And i dont wait when i return, thanks to drop go. At national, i can lose the wait. And keep it off. Looking good, patrick. I know. vo go national. Go like a pro. Lemonis what is going on . Erica this isnt me. This is what i normally do, and im in control. Lemonis and thats why youre upset . Erica yeah, cause im not in control. And thats why it feels out of control. Lemonis well, lets you and i take a walk away from everybody. Talk to me. Erica when i started this company, it was based on me sharing who i am to the world, and i dont want to alter who i am. Lemonis at the end of the day, Everybody Knows you run the business and you make the business decisions. And what im asking you to consider is you should try to give up a little control. Erica yeah. Lemonis okay, lets get in there. I just want her to be more open to ideas, and for me, the only way she does that is by giving up control which could allow for better collaboration, new ideas, and taking what she already has and making it better. How are you, sir . I had a bit of a surprise for erica. I brought in a number of local chefs, farmers, distributors, people that know the southern culture. Erica our Fried Chicken mix is a way for people to make good traditional, southern Fried Chicken as simple as possible. Lemonis and i wanted to get their independent feedback about her products. Erica do you guys like it . Man that was unlike any other chicken ive had. That was really good. Man 2 for me, it was perfect. Man 3 i cant find any problem with. Just not enough of it. [ laughter ] erica this is what we call fiesta cornbread. This is something that i love for my mom to make me. Woman phenomenal. Ive never had cornbread spice that i actually like. Lemonis im just gonna tell you that cornbread is legit. Man 4 its authentic. Lemonis authentic. Erica i like that word. Lemonis thank you, everybody. Erica thank you so much. Lemonis in order for erica to grow her business, shes gonna have to find a partner that can help her scale up to really do volume in a way thats efficient with precision. So, i brought her to pelican bay. Erica theres a lot of stuff being packed here. How many square feet is the facility . Bobby 35,000. Erica how many employees do you guys have . Bobby about 135. Lamarinette wow its so much different than our process. Bobby this is our blending area. Lemonis how much can you mix in a day . Bobby on a single shift 21,000 pounds. Lemonis 21,000 pounds . Bobby yep. Lemonis and what can you do in a day . Erica it would take us about two weeks to do what you guys are doing today. Lemonis okay. If this companys gonna make money, i need to sell 100 pallets, not 100 boxes. Jim, how are you, buddy . Jim good. How are you doing . Lemonis these are my two partners. Jim oh, im a hugger. Erica awe, nice to meet you. Lemonis what pelican bay provides erica is more than just a refined copacking facility. They have years and years of experience developing the packaging, and i think erica could use the help. Im looking for you to give them constructive feedback. Jim okay. I was a little thrown off by the packaging vehicle cause it reminds me of ice cream. Erica well, i initially thought that the ice cream packaging was something that was gonna disrupt the retail shelf. Its fun. It speaks flavors. It says that were different. Jim but i think that thats gonna look really small. Its not gonna be valueadded. Plus, your titles are kind of small, so i would blow up the flavor profile and kind of get more of a sale that way. Erica ive heard from a lot of retailers that they love the packaging. So, i say, well, you know, they like it. I like it. Lets keep it that way. Lemonis so, its about you liking it . Erica and the retailer, as well. Weve gotten compliments. Lemonis which ones . Erica weve gotten compliments from target. Lemonis and is it in target today . Erica no, its not. Lemonis okay. Jim we work with target, and i can let you know that this didnt make it on there cause it didnt look big enough. This is 12 ounces, so its 1 ounce more than yours, and if you have a pancake mix thats bigger, people are gonna tend to go towards that. Lamarinette if i was shopping, i would try it. Lemonis my only thing that i want to do is make sure southern culture has a consistent branding. We want to let them drive that process. Erica yeah. Lemonis i continue to be disappointed with ericas unwillingness to listen and collaborate. Jim has almost 20 years of experience. Hes not giving her his opinion. Hes giving her the facts. And, jim, you have a team here that can help finish the packaging, work with the artwork. Jim make actual handmade mockups. Lemonis jim, thank you. Jim thank you. Lemonis hey, erica, can you give me an update on the financials . Its time to tally up all of the money that erica has generated in the past few months. But more importantly, determine if were gonna be able to be partners. How much inventory is left . Erica maybe a couple hundred dollars worth . Lemonis most of it sold . Erica most of it sold. I didnt realize, like, man, how could i not know that this much inventory was sitting in the warehouse, and we had this much money just sitting here . Were able to pay the shop if i loan that balance. Lemonis everything that i asked erica to do along the way, while it was challenging, she did it. Get rid of some of the debt, negotiate with some of the creditors, sell off the inventory, get rid of some of the assets. Every step along the way, she did exactly what i asked her to. I do want you to celebrate the fact that you went from 500,000 to 200,000. Erica thank you. Lemonis but how do we guarantee that it doesnt happen Going Forward with my money . Erica i wont ever go through with this again. I kind of went haywire with these loans, just trying to keep it open. This will never happen again. Lemonis so, i feel like youve proven that you have learned your lesson, in my opinion. Erica mmhmm. Lemonis and im willing to allow you to cash the 75,000 check. For the 75,000, i want to have 50. 1 of the business. Erica wow. Lemonis youll have 49. 9 of the business. Erica i would feel comfortable with at least 55 . Lemonis i would feel more comfortable if i had 55 , too. Erica ive never had to answer to anybody. Lemonis and im willing tthe 75,000 why do wrinkles happen at the worst times . With new bounce rapid touch up spray, you just spray smooth and youre fresh and ready to go wherever you are. New bounce rapid touch up spray. Bounce out wrinkles anywhere. And now for their service to the community, we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. 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Now were able to put actual dollars into growing our inventory, but in the mean time, erica has to put the finishing touches on all the recipes especially after the feedback from chef art. The new southern culture Line Features three pillars the breakfast lineup with pancakes, waffles, and grits, a spice blend lineup with our Fried Chicken mix, and a baked goods lineup including cornbreads and cakes. The three distinct lines present a cohesive lineup thats really going to appeal to buyers. Meanwhile, shes been working with jim at pelican bay to finalize all of the packaging. Erica just want to walk you through what weve been working on for all of the products. We wanted a place where people could be inspired. Lemonis the new designs look great. I had a chance to chat with the folks at pelican bay. How are you working with them . Erica theyve been very helpful. And jim is great. We talked about what sells, what doesnt sell. Im learning a lot. Lemonis im impressed that she was able to tap in to what pelican bay had to offer. That willingness to collaborate is exactly whats necessary for this business and her to go the next level. Theres an innovative website for foodies mouth. Com. Erica uhhuh. Lemonis they put all kinds of cuttingedge products out there. So, were gonna go meet the buyers at mouth. Com, but they have to get behind the product. Okay, were making progress. Erica awesome. Yes, we are. This is awesome. Lemonis im headed back to southern culture to find out where ericas at because were only one week away from our pitch with mouth. Com. Erica hey, Marcus Lemonis hi what are you making . Erica im making biscuits. This is a salt and pepper biscuit. Lemonis that is pretty damn good. Im very impressed with how much progress ericas been able to make in such a short period of time, but for me, theres still one bit of unfinished business. From my perspective, this business doesnt function without you. And so, making sure that you have some ownership in the business that makes you partners with erica and i, is what i think has to happen. Lamarinette ownership . Lemonis yes. Lamarinette me . Lemonis in your name. And so, im willing to lower my equity so that you can be a partner. I want you to have 17 . Erica you okay, mama . Lamarinette im so happy. Im so happy. I dont know what to say. Im probably not gonna sleep tonight. Lemonis good morning all good morning lemonis whats andre doing here . Andre well, i came out to support my wife and to help out with the process. Erica arent you sweet lemonis in this particular case, whether andre likes the business or he doesnt like the business, what i really wanted him to do was show support for this wife, and thats what he did. All right, lets head in. Im marcus. Kate marcus. Kate harper. Very nice to meet you. Sam sam. Lemonis im marcus. Sam sam murray. Nice to meet you. Lemonis these are my partners. Sam well, first of all, welcome to brooklyn and welcome to mouth. Were excited to go through the whole thing. Lemonis mouth. Com is a huge, foodsubscription business, and i think if they like the product, well, its a pretty good indication of what the whole marketplace is gonna think. Erica im erica, and this is. Lamarinette im mama. Sam mama . Lamarinette mama. Erica motheranddaughter team. Were business partners, and our company is southern culture. We have three lines within our brand. Sam i have to say, from our perspective, we think Southern Food so long has become somewhat commercialized and become somewhat of a joke in american cuisine. Its overly sweet or overly spicy. Erica you know, our ideals are similar to you alls because we believe in really reinventing Southern Food and really updating that and adding a new twist and making it fun again. Lamarinette and erica loves quality, and today, when you taste this food, one thing i know for sure, whats in the box we stand behind our name. Sam speaking of which, wed love to try everything youve laid out in front of us. Erica i would love for yall to just kind of dig in, and, you know, you can start wherever you like. So, the biscuit is a salt and cracked pepper biscuit. Its just a biscuit with some flavor. Sam it crumbles perfectly. Just, like, to the right amount of texture. Kate its a little spicy, for sure. I dont know that. It wouldnt be me for breakfast. I dont think i can handle that. Lemonis for exclusives, extras, and business advice, visit theprofit. Cnbc. Com kate it wouldnt be for me for breakfast. Ryou can duo anything. Aveeno® with prebiotic striple oat complex balances skins microbiome. So skin looks like this and you feel like this. Aveeno® skin relief. Get skin healthy™ frustrated that everyday activities cause wrinkles and theres nothing you can do about it . Downy wrinkleguard is a fabric conditioner that helps protect you from wrinkles all day. Pants washed with downy wrinkleguard and detergent are virtually wrinkle free. Try downy wrinkleguard. Whether youre or here on a wifi hotspot. Xfinity mobile has more coverage to keep you connected to what matters most. Thats because its the only Wireless Network that automatically connects you to millions of secure wifi hotspots and the best lte everywhere else. Switch now and see how you could save up to 400 a year. And get 50 off when you buy any new lg phone. Xfinity mobile. Click, call or visit a store today. I dont think i can handle that. Sam i think its the right amount of spice. I mean, it doesnt feel overwhelming. I like the heat in my mouth, and i like the taste of the pepper. Lemonis so, one of the things that were doing is the pepper will be in a small side pack. So, we really wanted to make sure that, especially in, like, the spicy Fried Chicken that people can regulate their own heat blend. Kate thats very smart. Since you can rachet it back with the pepper packet, that becomes, you know, less of a relevant challenge. Sam i think thats a perfect transition to the Fried Chicken. Erica absolutely. Sam mmm. Thats good amount of spice to it, also. You can taste the chicken. A lot of time spice overwhelms. Lemonis what would you like them to try next . Erica pancakes. We have some banana pudding pancakes. We found a way to really incorporate southern favorites and put it into breakfast. Sam i have to say, the banana pudding is the perfect amount of sweetness. You wont you almost dont need syrup. Erica and then cornbread. Kate i like the pieces of corn in there. Its nice to get the texture. Well played. Sam yeah, it feels authentic, which is great. Lamarinette so, based on what youve seen and youve heard here today and youve tasted our products, would you be willing to move forward with our company . Kate i think theres definitely an opportunity to explore. We have an indie states of america, where every month we feature food from a different part of the country, and certainly the south is a popular item, and you are representing so well. Sam its very exciting. Its a privilege for us to meet you guys, and hopefully we can Work Together. Thank you, guys kate thanks for coming. Erica thank you for having us. Sam congratulations. Erica thank you so much. Sam its really great to meet you guys. Take care. Talk soon. Erica now im dancing. Lemonis throughout this process, erica has done everything ive asked her to do. Since being at mouth. Com, shes gone back into kroger and gotten and expanded category on all their shelves. In addition to that, shes in the final discussions with walmart to get into a number of their stores. It wouldnt surprise me if this business did over a Million Dollars in the next 12 months. Andre how did it go . Erica so, theyre interested in. Lemonis putting all the boxes on. Erica yeah. Andre im definitely proud. Erica well, that means a lot. Lamarinette you put a smile on my face. Lemonis you want to talk about progress . I give the credit to erica and mama. Erica that means a lot. Lemonis im gonna join you guys. Im craig melvin. And im natalie morales. And this is dateline. It was shocking. Woman i had a bad feeling. She did say, he has a gun, and im afraid he might use it. Hoda kotb voiceover a story of sand, sunsets, and fatal attraction. She had so much to give. She would make everybody feel special. Hoda kotb voiceover successful at everything, except love. Then she found him. She said she felt so good in his arms. voiceover he was handsome, sophisticated, and crazy about her. There was talk of marriage. Then suddenly, there was talk of trouble. She was frightened enough not to go home. She had fear that something would happen to her