Lemonis putting not only his company at risk. This is a terrible representation of the business. Im embarrassed. But his most important relationships, as well. Ben then i said, well, whats the plan . Is there a timeline . Kristin you didnt say that. Ben Something Like that. Kristin you didnt say that. You didnt say that. Thats when you said youre the real housewives of new jersey. Lemonis if i cant help him learn to respect his staff. Ben to be frank, i dont really see a relationship continuing. Lemonis . And relinquish some control. Do you not trust people . Ben no, i dont. Kristin theres been times when hes said to me he hasnt trusted me. Lemonis . This business may just wither away. Ben this is my home. This is my life. Sometimes i cant shake it if i dont feel comfortable. Lemonis 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. Everythings 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. The homedecor market is huge. Its Something Like 600 billion, which makes it interesting to me, but it also makes me reluctant because i know how hard it is to stand out. So, when i heard about this designer ben busko who makes nearly everything he sells, i thought, maybe this is a way in. Wow. Wow, this place is beautiful. Bens space almost feels like an oxymoron to new york. You go outside, and theres traffic and sirens and horns. And you walk into his store. Its quiet. Its peaceful. Its beautifully decorated. It just feels like an oasis. How are you . Im marcus. Kristin im kristin. Lemonis nice to meet you. The store is gorgeous. Kristin thank you. Fernando fernando. Lemonis fernando . Fernando yes. Lemonis nice to meet you. Im marcus. Ben im benjamin, mr. Lemonis. Lemonis benjamin, how are you . Ben im very well. Lemonis ben or benjamin . Ben well, benjamin when im in trouble. Lemonis youre not in trouble. Ben so, bens the way to go. Lemonis ben, this store is gorgeous. Its really wellmerchandised. Im really impressed by it. Ben thanks. Lemonis is everything in the store stuff you guys make . Ben about 90 . We dont make the books or the plants. Lemonis you dont make the books . Is he normally this funny . Kristin hes pretty funny. Ben no, im pretty dry. Lemonis so, you make all of this stuff . Ben yep. Lemonis really nice quality. Ben yeah. Lemonis and all of this . Ben yeah, cocktail napkins. I design all the product that we sell, also, that we make. Lemonis wow. Ben and these are coaster sets. We sell a monstrous amount of them. Theyre a very easy gift to give, and theyre all unique. This is, the trouble with trouble is it starts out as fun. Lemonis alcohol you later. [ chuckles ] these are excellent. Did you come up with all these quotes . Ben for the most part. Lemonis everything here you did . Ben yes, all of the artwork. Lemonis this is all yours, too . Ben yep. This is decoupage. Lemonis that is the treatment . Ben yeah, so its a french word that just means applying paper to glass, essentially. Lemonis these are awesome. Ben theyre practical. You can use them as a valet. Theyre foodsafe, wipe clean. Lemonis this retails for 68 . Ben mmhmm. Lemonis how are your margins on this . Ben they fluctuate between 87 to 90 something. Lemonis percent . Ben yeah. Lemonis oftentimes, when i go into different retail businesses, they have reasonable margins. 45 , 50 , maybe even 55 . The reason that bens margins are so much higher is because there isnt a middle man. Hes a vertically integrated company, which means that he makes everything that he sells. Take this 68 tray. A regular retailer would buy it from a wholesaler for about half the price, giving them a decent margin of 50 . But in the case of ben, he actually makes the product for maybe 6. 80, and so he keeps all of the margin, like 90 of it. Being a good designer is hard. But being a good manufacturer is also hard, and the fact that ben is good at both of them . I would say thats what makes him really special. Whos your biggest customer today . Ben we sell to National Chains like barnes noble. Kristin, who else do we sell to . Kristin dillards. Ben dillards, okay. I want to scale and grow, and thats what ive been really stuck on. Lemonis and so has your business gone down . Ben yes. Lemonis who did you used to sell to that was a big part of your business thats gone away . Ben anthropologie. Lemonis what else . Ben nordstrom. Lemonis anything else . Ben neiman marcus. Lemonis okay. So what is the biggest problem this company has . Ben staffing the right positions and retention. Lemonis and hows communication in the company . Ben in terms of, like. Lemonis do people understand whats happening . Are you a good communicator . Ben i try to be that. I try to follow a lot of rules. So, like, this is a binder we have. This is an example of what they initial every day. Lemonis so employee entry, 9 45 a. M. Disarm the alarm, open the register, turn on the main store lights, answer the phone, review followups, be productive. Carefully check plants so they do not die. How do you not carefully check the plant . Ben when bens garden has a store of dead plants, its just bens, which is a deli, so. [ laughter ] lemonis that actually was funny. What is your role, by the way . Kristin im the chief of staff. Lemonis meaning that everybody that works in the Company Actually gets their communication from you . Ben shes very involved in wholesale. Im communicating as, like, an owner would to their employees. Lemonis who trains them . Kristin ben. He goes through training when they start. Lemonis wouldnt the chief of staff be doing that . Ben shes very involved in managing the we have a 14,000squarefoot warehouse. Lemonis oh, you do . Ben where we make all these things. Lemonis so, this whole section is thirdparty vendors. Ben yep. Lemonis so who buys the stuff that you dont make for the store . Ben i do. Lemonis so let me understand this, ben. Youre the designer. Ben yep. Lemonis youre the buyer. Ben yep. Merchandiser. Lemonis the merchandiser. Youre the chief communicator. So you have your hands full. Ben yep. Lemonis and how long have you had this business . Ben since i was 8. Lemonis how old are you now . Ben 34. Lemonis was it a legitimate business at 8 . Ben yep. Lemonis thats awesome. Ben growing up, it was really my parents thought i was, like, really special. Like, wow, this kids making all this stuff and selling all these things. But i wasnt communicating with kids on the playground. I was water coloring at home. About seven years ago, i was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome, which is a form of autism. And i think more creatively than emotionally. Lemonis and what prompted that . Ben just noticed socially, like, i wasnt picking up on certain things. I dont actually generally like to be touched, which after y lemonis thats going to be a problem. Im a superbig hugger. Ben i think i it kind of just creeps me out when, like, i dont know someone. Id be like, okay, this is really nice. And then we can let go at any point youd like to. Lemonis so you have a very special talent. Ben uhhuh. Lemonis and youre ridiculously creative. Id love to see the warehouse. Ben great. Lemonis and so if we could meet there, that would be great. Ben okay. Lemonis then i really want to understand how it all comes together. Ben okay, thank you very much. Lemonis great job. Kristin hey, Marcus Lemonis hi. This place is huge. Kristin yeah. Lemonis how many square feet is this . Kristin i think its 14,000. Lemonis wow. Can i get a tour . Kristin yeah, of course. So, right when you walk in ben okay, so you guys just entered you just entered through a door. Lemonis is it all right if she does it, or do you want to do it . Ben oh please. Kristin so right when you walk in, this is where were hoping to set up a sales team. Lemonis okay, you dont have one today. Kristin no. Ben can we talk about the door . Kristin sure. Lemonis sure. Ben okay, so this complex was built by irving bush, and he deve he made his fortune importing bananas. Which is why our door is banana yellow. Lemonis because you like the history of it all . Ben yep. So, kristin, you can now join in. Lemonis so this is this area is setup for the future Sales Organization . Kristin yep, we hope to build a whole sales team. Ben this is where the previous Sales Organization was. Lemonis and what happened to the previous one . Ben they turned out not to be so smart. Lemonis who was their leader, you . Ben yes. Lemonis so. When you say they werent good enough, some of that culpability has to fall back on you. Ben ive never thought of it in that way. Can you and i look at the rest of the warehouse . Im just going to take some time with her. Ben okay. What do i do . Do i leave . Kristin yeah, you ben im kind of curious to see what he looks at. Lemonis so, all of this here is inventory, yeah . Kristin yes, so all of everything in the metal racks is going to be finished goods. Lemonis all finished goods . Kristin finished goods. Lemonis how long have you been here . Kristin its gonna be two years in october. Lemonis two years. Whats it like working with him . Kristin he does, like, really have a great vision. Lemonis oh, yeah. Kristin you know . And, like, really, theres not, like, a nicer person that you would want to help succeed. So, like, thats what drives me. Lemonis whats causing the revolving door . Kristin i think from doing this for 25 years, hes got the highest standards of all of us. Lemonis so, why do i see empties everywhere . Like, this is an example. Ben were back ordered on crystal paperweights, and we dont have 4x6 trays. Why dont we take a look at a pick ticket . So these would be examples of orders that determine the pick quantity. This says we have zero on hand. We need to make four. So lemonis lets keep going. How do you spell love, a 4x6. Ben thats a bestseller. Lemonis zero in stock. Zero in hand. Make four. Zero on hand. Make four. Zero on hand. Make four. A lot of zeroes here. Ben im apprehensive to spend that much money on 4x6 trays when i have 700,000 worth of onhand inventory. Lemonis youre telling me that theres 700,000 of inventory in here . Ben yes. Lemonis but what you have is the wrong stuff. Unfortunately, you have to actually put the right stuff on the shelf while you work out of the bad stuff because you create gridlock. Ben has what i call inventory gridlock. Hes made some choices with particular products that arent selling, and hes unwilling to liquidate them. He has other products that are selling at a superfast rate, but because he doesnt have the working capital because its tied up in bad products, he cant even fulfill the orders of the products that people do want. Essentially, like, locking up everything. Bad Inventory Management and the wrong inventory are the two things that kill companies when they least expect it. Okay, do you have your financials . Ben yeah. Theyre in this folder. Lemonis okay. So, it shows that last year, the business lost 78,000. Ben yes. Something shifted with the economy and how people spend money, which has dramatically affected our bottom line. Lemonis consumers or your wholesale customers . Ben our wholesale customers, so theyre stocking less of our product. Even though theyre selling out of our product, theyre were either not getting back to them soon enough, and theyll be unhappy with us lemonis or you dont have it in stock. Ben uhh, yes. Lemonis okay, so 1,659,000 in total revenue, and of that, 675,000 of it came from your retail stores. Ben right. Lemonis so the total, the wholesale did 984,000. Ben um, i wouldnt know off the top of my hand. So i have a business consultant, barry moltz. And so hes supposed to be helping manage the finances. But since weve been working together, which is now over two years, sales have gotten worse. Lemonis because of his direction or yours . Ben well, his influence, but iive been trying to trust in him. Lemonis do you not trust people . Ben no, i dont. Lemonis okay, well. Thats problem number one. Thank you for telling me that. Ben i dont there are still times when kristin will be upset with me because i will say something, and itll seem itll come off as me not trusting her. Kristin theres been times when hes said he hasnt trusted me. Lemonis so, in order for us to work together, we would need to spend a disproportionate amount of time working on how you think about people, which means changing the way you think about employees, allowing kristin to actually run a part of the business where you may not be involved, and i recognize what you called and labeled a disability, and i want to build an infrastructure around you that allows the other people to not have to go through whatever the Collateral Damage is from it. Ben thank you. Lemonis for their sake. Ben no, i want it for them. Lemonis . And for the business sake. Get the best out of you. So, ben, i want to make a commitment to you. I want to make an investment. I want to invest 200,000 for 25 of the business. Okay . All of a sudden, your face changed. Ben it wasnt what i was expecting. Lemonis what were you expecting . Ben uh, like. A million and a half. Lemonis a million and a half dollars . Ben yeah, i think the business is worth at least 5 million. Thats what im thinking. Barry im frustrated that i cant help more. I put together all sorts of plans that i thought was the way to go forward for ben, and we havent really been able to implement any of those plans. Lemonis do you trust barry . Ben uh, uh. No. Uh, fifteen minutes could save you 15 ain . Or more on car insurance. I think were gonna swap over to over seventyfive years of savings and service. What, were just gonna swap over . Yep. Pump the breaks on this, swap it over to that. Pump the breaks, and, uh, swap over . Thats right. Instead of all this that ive already . Yeah. What are we gonna do with these . Keep it at your desk, and save it for next time. Geico. Over 75 years of savings and service. Your bank can be virtually any place you are. You can deposit checks from here. And you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. And pay bills from here. Because your bank isnt just one place. Its virtually any place you are. Just download and use the chase mobile app. Visit chase. Com mobile. [sniffing] is the salmon wildcaught . She only eats wild caught. [cash register beeps] uh, i need a price check on honey. Dont get mad. Get e trade and get more than just trading. Investing. Banking. Guidance. Get e trade and get more than just trading. You say that customers maklets talk data. S. Only Xfinity Mobile lets you switch up your wireless data whenever. I accept 5g everybodys talking about it. How do i get it . Everyone gets 5g with our new data options at no extra cost. Thats good. Next item corner offices for everyone. Just have to make more corners in this building. Chad . Your wireless your rules. Only with Xfinity Mobile. Now thats simple easy awesome. Switch and save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 200 off a new Samsung Galaxy s20 ultra. Ben i think the business is worth at least 5 million. Thats what im thinking. Lemonis for me, the business is worth no more than a million. cause the business doesnt make any money today, and its not that big. For me, i dont want to invest more than 400,000, because i dont think the Business Needs more than 400,000. My offer is 400,000, and that would mean that for 400,000, id get 40 of the business. Ben right. Lemonis right . Ben yeah. Um. Um. Lemonis you want to talk about it with her by yourself for a minute . Ben um. Lemonis im gonna let you guys talk for a minute. Ben im just im just lemonis ima let you talk for a minute. Kristin i think that youre at kinda, like, a crossroad. Ben yeah. Kristin and you have to decide. Ben i think i real i think i need his help. Kristin so whats the hesitation . Ben that i guess now the clock has started, and its tick. And we really have to be on our game, and that makes me anxious. Kristin but the payoff could be big. Ben yeah. No, no, no, absolutely. So its yes. Kristin okay. Ben so now i have to hug him. Lemonis okay. Ben so, we came to a conclusion. I would, um. I would like to be id be honored to work with you. Lemonis thats awesome. I would be, as well. Congratulations. Ben thank you. Kristin were so excited. Lemonis congratulations. Ben very excited. Now were going to now were gonna hug. [ chuckles ] lemonis see, thats not so bad, is it . Ben no, no, its not. Its fantastic. Lemonis all right. Ill see you guys. Were going to have a little team meeting real quick. The last time i was here before i left, i made a decision to make an investment in bens garden. So ive agreed to invest 400,000. Were going to work on things like inventory and sales, and were going to go see a rep or two to improve your wholesale business. Ben okay. Lemonis okay . Thats the easy stuff. One thing that im worried about is fixing the culture of how people communicate and how they get along. It appears its a little broken. So, what could be improved . Victoria um. I guess being being blamed for things. Its a lot of finger pointing that im not doing my job. Im not doing anything. Im costing the company money. Sometimes i have felt that way. Ben i mean, im really sorry that you would feel that way. Lemonis ben, what were gonna work on is the people side of things. Ben right. Lemonis okay . Ben mmhmm. Lemonis so, i want to get back to work, but what i do want to do is, i want to see one product from every category. A glass piece, a note card, and just put everything out. Thank you. Kristin so, ill grab something from each. Ben i can grab the stuff. Can you run the report . Lemonis actually, going forward, kristin is going to be in charge of the inventory. Ben oh. Lemonis okay . Kristin okay. Lemonis my plan for this is very clear. Ben is going to focus on creating and designing and coming up with new products, and hes going to allow kristin to manage the staff and interact with them in a way that can keep things moving in all departments. So theres one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine things. Ben mmhmm. Lemonis are they in is this in the right order . Ben of bestselling . Lemonis of revenue . Kristin yeah. Ben i dont think so. Lemonis so the first thing is the decoupage. Kristin there you go. Lemonis picture frames. Ben picture frames. These have exploded. Paperweights we sell for people who cant afford a tray. Lemonis okay. Ben magnets. Pillows. And artwork. Kristin so all three of these dont really do that well. Lemonis six of them are great. Three of them are terrible. Kristin i would have trouble placing these in lemonis great. Dont ever make these again. Ben the margins are really great on this. Lemonis it doesnt matter. Thats not her point. Her point is is that you dont sell it. So who cares . Ben no, but we do we just dont sell a lot of em. Kristin we dont sell enough. Lemonis to justify