Channa i owe my life to this company. Literally. Lemonis that is the reason that im here. Its all about sun and perfect weather in west palm beach, florida, a place where locals are obsessed with health and fitness. Its also the home of fuel foods, a healthfood Delivery Service run by its owner, erik leander. Erik very good. Thank you. Lemonis erik is a former personal trainer who came up with a great idea. Erik george, the oven was good, boy. Look. Lemonis prepare and deliver wellbalanced, healthy meals to the local area. Erik those are really good. [ woman chuckles ] thats one of my favorite things you make. [ laughs ] lemonis a lot of people want to eat better, but its a heck of a lot easier when somebody else does the cooking for you. Erik free snacks. Free food. No cost. Try it out. Youre gonna love it. Fuelfood. Com. Lemonis before i check out their facility, i came to watch them at a marketing event so i can get an idea how they promote their business. Woman you want to try a sample, too . All fresh, gourmet meals delivered right to your doorstep. Erik im erik. Im the owner. Lemonis im marcus. Nice to meet you. Erik nice to meet you. Its kind of a slower event, but itll work out pretty good. Lemonis Small Businesses rarely have the budgets to do Big Marketing campaigns. So taking over a corner where you can pass out samples and brochures and talk to customers about your product, its a good idea. So, how many customers do you have in total . Erik we have a total of 300 customers we service. We have 3,000 in the system. Lemonis and how long does a typical customer stay . Erik about three months. Lemonis so, your typical customer stays three months . Erik yeah. Now, i have customers for life. Lemonis i want to see you do your marketing thing. Erik yeah. 20 new clients this week. Lemonis let me see it. Make it happen. Erik [ laughs ] so, chicken and spinach, or do you want gourmet, delivered health food . Theres two servings to a snack for 7. 50. Diana if theres any type of allergy, we can actually help you with that. Erik hello, dessert samples. Key lime pie . Lemonis eriks idea of Healthy Eating is a great one. But the message hes sending out, not so good. Erik everybody come on over, meet the fuel food girls. Lemonis hes using fitness models in tight clothes to attract the younger guys. But anybody else, especially the women, im not sure theyre buying it. Erik we have some amazing eggwhite oatmealcrusted chicken nuggets. It always tastes better when its free. [ horn honks ] lemonis maybe its because youre being assaulted by that air horn, or maybe its erik. I mean, hes not the most approachable guy. [ dog barks ] erik come here. Come. Lemonis we were on a very busy street in west palm beach, but i didnt see them make a single sale. Im heading over to see erik at fuel foods. Im really interested to see how they actually make these meals, and how they deliver them to the customers. Erik hows your training going . You getting results . What are you doing . Hows it going . Lemonis erik has made some very interesting design choices. Erik ohh, i like it. Lemonis im not exactly Feeling Health and wellness. Erik its gonna be a fun five days. Lemonis five . Its gonna be more than five. Erik hey, how you doing . Lemonis how you doing . Erik i got to run. Marcus just got here. Lemonis what im feeling is rough and rugged workout facility. Why did you start the business . Erik i started the Business Training clients. They werent getting the results they should. So i said, how can i make this work for them and them get the maximum results . And i started cooking them food. Lemonis the type of clients that you have, are they professionals. . Erik higherend clients. Higherend professionals. We do work with a lot of professional athletes. We service a little over 300 clients per week. Im gonna show you the programs real quick. Thatll better explain it. Lemonis okay. Erik well, basically, what you do is you go online. You would select from a program, whatever youd like. These are the programs. And we deliver Gourmet Health Food right to your door. Lemonis fuel foods offers various meal plans. If you buy 10 meals, the cost is 9. 50 a meal. But if you prepay for 300 meals, it drops to 7. 50 a meal. Now, thats a big discount. But incentives like that help cash flow, and they build brand loyalty. Erik so, we dont have any real production going on today. We have packing going on today. Were packing for tomorrows orders. Theyll arrive tomorrow to the clients. Lemonis so, todays thursday. What days do you cook . Erik ill show you here. Lemonis what do these different colors represent . Erik its a packing day. Lemonis okay. Erik so, were packing on this day for delivery tomorrow. Lemonis okay. Erik same deal here. Theyre packing here for delivery on friday. Lemonis and when is the food prepared . Erik the menu changes twice a week. This is the food preparation here. Lemonis so, friday, saturday, sunday. Erik thats correct. Lemonis did you develop all these recipes . Erik i developed all the recipes. Lemonis yourself . Erik yeah, myself. Lemonis and you bring in chefs to kind of help you . Erik ive had a number of different chefs. I had one chef that tried to put turkey lunch meat in my food. He was lazy. I had chefs that were stealing from me, for getting kickbacks from food companies. Lemonis and how many chefs have you had . Erik ive had about seven. Lemonis i like this business, and i like what it does for people. But ive already seen some red flags. Seven chefs in two years . Not a good sign. Erik george, mop it up real quick in here. Get it clean. Ice is going in there. Come on, come on. Come on, youre making me look bad. Lemonis erik is very aggressive with his employees. And in order to run a successful business, you have to build it with your people. Erik what are you doing . Come on. Lemonis you dont want to be barking orders at them. How long are people gonna stay around for that . How many meals do you make a day here . Erik we do about 6,000 meals per week. Like, were sealing these right now. These are gonna go out right now. This was just cooked yesterday. Lemonis and where are most of your clients located . Erik mostly in the south florida area. You know, this is where we started. Lemonis were in palm beach, right . Erik thats right. Lemonis how do you deliver to palm beach . Erik fedex. Lemonis like, five miles away . Erik thats correct. Everything goes fedex. Lemonis i dont think a freshcooked meal should come in a box. That sounds more like a care package my mom sent me in college. Erik i pass delivery cost on to the customer. I charge the customer 20. Lemonis so, customer gets two deliveries a week. Erik two menus per week. Lemonis so, on a monthly basis, theyre spending 160 on delivery expense. Erik not necessarily. It could be a little more. New york, for example, its anywhere from 61 to 82. Lemonis per shipment. Erik right. Lemonis in order for fuel foods to be successful, they should be focusing on the business in their local market. Shipping food thousands of miles away is a terrible idea. Whats a typical customer . Men . Erik we have more women that are interested in the program. Its about 65 35 women to men. But the men are gonna stay longer than the women. Lemonis why . Erik women are a little more emotional than rational, as you know. Lemonis women are what . Erik more emotional than rational. And, you know, a female client is gonna have a lot more issues. Theyre gonna sit, theyre gonna look at it, theyre gonna go, oh, i dont like the presentation on that one you sent me. Lemonis well, thats good feedback. Erik well, thats how i know that women are a little more finicky, a little pickier clients than the men, and i know we retain the men longer. Lemonis okay. Its not shocking to me that hes losing female clients left and right, from his brand image to the things that actually come out of his mouth. Erik hey, mom this is my mom. Lemonis how are you . Im marcus. Lisa nice to meet you. Lemonis what do you love most about being here . Lisa probably the people, their hearts, and the fact that i know im making a difference in their lives. Erik we help a lot of people. It feels good to have a business where you can go online and people call you like, erik, i just dropped 30 pounds. I feel great. Thank you so much. I get those calls all the time. Lemonis and so what are you doing today . Can i see what youre doing . Lisa sure. Come on. This is our ravioli, and it has Sweet Potatoes in it. I just needed to make some fresh pesto. Lemonis can i taste your pesto . Lisa of course you can. Erik there you go. Lemonis pestos good. Erik good. Lemonis the raviolis are not good. In any food business, presentation is the most important thing other than taste. And in this business, there is no presentation. Theres no color. The food looks gray. It looks terrible. So, whos the rest of the staff up here . Erik this is jordan. Lemonis jordan, nice to meet you. Im gonna chat with him without you for a little bit. Erik absolutely. Yeah. Come on, baby. Lemonis i wanted to spend a little time with you and kind of understand. What is your job today here . Jordan i came on in the past couple months to implement new sales strategies. Really, whatever i can to bring money in the front door. Lemonis then, so, for every 100 customers that you bring on that are new, whats the retention look like . Jordan from when ive come on, its about three weeks. Lemonis well, thats not longterm. Jordan exactly. What ive been trying to figure out is why theyre not staying. Lemonis theres no mystery here. People arent staying because the food is subpar. Fix the product and improve it, people will sign up for more. Im marcus, by the way. Diana im diana. Lemonis diana, nice to meet you. And what do you do here . Diana sales. Lemonis so, how long have you been here . Diana almost two years now. I started, with erik, managing the company, so ive done it all. Im usually here monday through sunday. Lemonis monday through sunday . Thats seven days a week. Diana pretty much. Lemonis why are you so committed to it . Diana i cared for my clients. I just i like to be there for them. Lemonis yeah. Is there also a call center . Diana the call centers right next door. Yeah. Lemonis in here . Diana yes. Lemonis hey, ladies. Im marcus. Diana and ashley. Lemonis ashley, nice to meet you. Diana . And channa. Lemonis hi, channa. How are you . Diana channas one of our biggest testimonials. She came in over 400 pounds. Shes lost 150 pounds. Lemonis check it out channa yeah. [ laughs ] lemonis thats awesome. Channa yeah. Lemonis would you say that erik helped you use the weight . Channa diana, i would say. Lemonis you did. Diana i worked with her for about eight months. Channa shes the reason i stayed here. Lemonis why . cause its kind of crazy without her . Channa yeah. She runs the place. Lemonis there are some major fundamental problems with fuel foods. But when i meet someone like channa and i see the impact that its had on her life, i see an opportunity to not only make money, but help people. Nice meeting you. Ashley pleasure meeting you. Lemonis be good. Keep up the good work. Channa yeah. Erik here you go. Lemonis and so this is basically an unaudited summary of the financials . Erik thats correct. Lemonis okay. Your total revenue was 1,449,000 last year. Erik yeah. Lemonis in the month of january, you did 250,000 worth of business. If i looked at last january, how different would last january be in total revenue . Erik we did 50,000. Lemonis you did 50,000 . Erik yeah. Lemonis year over year, this business has had explosive growth, like 500 for the month of january. Things are obviously heading in the right direction. Erik i got the name out. You know, i pushed the product. I had an investment. The investment allowed me to go out and promote the product. Lemonis oh, you had an investment. Erik thats correct. Lemonis . Last year . Erik yeah. Lemonis and what was that . Erik 1. 2 million. Lemonis how much . Erik 1. 2 million. Lemonis somebody invested 1. 2 million . Erik thats correct. Lemonis and, so, last year, you lost 846,000. So most of the money that came in, you lost . Erik thats correct. Lemonis whered all the cash go . Erik um. It was lost through operations. Lemonis which is 846,000. Erik i bought the truck, which is still an asset. Lemonis and so thats 154,000 on the balance sheet. Erik thats correct. Lemonis like a cargo van . Erik nah, the truck out front. The monster truck. For promotion. Lemonis 154,000 for one truck . Erik thats correct. Its a 500,000 truck. I got it under cost. I bought everything in the kitchen. I bought all the ovens. I bought the grill. Bought the freezer. Lemonis and so all that was 141,000 . Erik thats correct. The kitchen buildup might be in there, also. Kitchen was in shambles when i came in. I got the rent lemonis thats leasehold improvements of 109,000. Erik yeah. Lemonis and so all 1. 2 million is gone. Erik there you go. Lemonis and there it is. Erik yep. Lemonis and then, in addition to that, it looks like there are some loans on the books. Erik thats correct. Lemonis huntley was 20,000. Kalaydjian, 10,000. Erik thats correct. Lemonis snap advances. Erik basically what it is, is i borrowed 178,000. Lemonis and wheres that money now . Erik spent. Lemonis well, remember the math that we did a minute ago . Erik thats correct. Lemonis 1. 2 million came in. 850,000 lost erik that was last year. Thats this year. This year that those loans are on the books. It went towards salaries that were too high and advertising. Our website was 70 grand. I dont do all the numbers. I got the numbers from a c. F. O. Which, i paid him to do them, which is where part of this money went. What i do is try to keep the doors open every day, try to keep everybody paid here, and do everything i can do to make the business successful. Lemonis this is a tough one for me, because all i see is a monster truck and not much else. But the business has had incredible growth. It has plenty of opportunity. So, how many shareholders are there . Erik theres six. Lemonis six shareholders . Erik yeah, six. Lemonis and, so, wheres that on here . Erik maybe youre missing a page. Should be there. Lemonis i originally thought erik was the owner. But im finding out that hes got a lot of other shareholders, and i cant do a deal until i understand who they are and what their stakes are. You mind if i study this for a little bit . Erik its all yours. I think i have a better copy for you. Lemonis okay. Let me study these, okay . How you doing, buddy . Erik good afternoon. Lemonis good to see you. Did you bring a list of shareholders . Erik yeah, i couldnt download all of the individual Shareholder Agreements. Lemonis so, you dont have the Shareholder Agreement . Erik not yet. Lemonis not yet, huh . Erik not yet. Lemonis i mean, look, theres no doubt that your product has interest in the marketplace. But you struggle to hold onto employees and customers. So thats a concern for me. Erik okay. Lemonis and so the fear that i have is that i dont know how willing you are to change. Thats what scares me the most. Erik im willing. You know, im willing to change. Im not set in my ways. Lemonis okay. I take food seriously, and i take money seriously. Erik yeah. Lemonis just because they both have impacted my life. So, any time i can find a business that is trying to solve a problem for people, and it can employ people and make money at the same time. Erik its a beautiful thing. Lemonis its an interesting opportunity. Im willing to make an offer. Erik all right. Lemonis and the offer that im willing to make will solve two problems. It will pay off all of the debt, its about 200 grand, and itll put 100,000 of working capital in the business. And so youll never miss a payroll. And so that working capital really solves employee issues, labor issues, rent issues. So, im willing to offer 300,000 for 51 of the business. Erik 51 . Youre killing me with the 51 . You want to be in full control. Lemonis i brought you to a focus group. We want to hear from real people. Man the way its presented, its a little offputting. Woman 2 it seems less fresh and gourmet. Woman 3 total disconnect. Theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. 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If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. Lemonis so, im willing if you cant afford your medicine, to offer 300,000 for 51 of the business. Erik 51 . Youre killing me with the 51 . You want to be in full control. Lemonis heres why i want to be in control. Because i believe that if i could put my structure and my process with your passion, both of us will make money. The only other thing, there are some other shareholders, right . Erik thats correct. Lemonis and so i want to make sure that we get everybody to consent. I want them to be in favor of it, as well. Erik all right. Sounds good. Lemonis any investor who owns shares in this company is going to have to sign off on a consent because their shares are gonna be diluted with my investment. This means that if theres an investor today that owns 10 , once my deal is finalized, theyll own 4. 9 . Basically, my investment will dilute everybody in half. So, everybody consents, were good to go. Erik theyll be happy to consent, yeah. Lemonis and i want to make sure that you understand this. Im gonna be 100 in charge. We got a deal . Erik yeah. Lemonis okay, my man. And, so, you cant cash this check until we get the other shareholders consents, okay . Erik sure. Cool. Thank you. Lemonis lets go to work. Erik all right. Sounds good to me. Lemonis good morning. How are you . Good. Were gonna get everybody together in the kitchen. Good morning. Together good morning. Lemonis my name is marcus lemonis, and i invest in Small Businesses. Earlier, erik and i made a deal, for me to invest 300,000 for 51 of the business. Which means, effective right now, im 100 in charge. Were gonna work on logistics. Were gonna determine if shipping fedex