American express open proudly presents your business on msnbc. Hi, everyone, im jj ramberg and welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your Small Business grow. If you watch this program a lot, you know when we usually do makeovers we go into a struggling business and we see how our team can help turn things around. This week we decided to mix it up a bit. We took our experts into a company thats actually doing okay. Its the kale cafe in Daytona Beach, florida. And with no previous experience, the two owners turned their idea into a profitable company, but when we lifted the curtain a little bit we noticed a lot of what they are doing is being held together with bandaids and they are itching to expand b theres no question they have to get some things in order first them a your business makeover. Im here in Daytona Beach, florida, to answer a call from a local mom and pop business. So far this couple has beaten the odds by building a profitable Restaurant Business but they have bigger dreams for the future and they told us they need our help to get there. Lets go give these Business Owners a your business makeover. Hi, camille, hi, omar. Hi who is this. This is zion. Hi, omar. 2 1 2 years ago they opened this vegan smoothie shop, up here on the main drag in Daytona Beach and less than a year later they opened a second location and now they want a third location, but are they ready . Youre ready for a third . Ready for a third. Were going to spend the day making sure youre ready. Okay. At the end of the day, i want you two to feel comfortable, both of you. Yes, yes. Before we got going i went for a tour of their setup mpl all vegan, 100 . They built the cafe through a painstaking process of learn as you go. Were always trying to figure out what the best ergonomics are. This is beautiful in here. This is much smaller. Do you feel like you learned a lot in the first restaurant . Absolutely. They told me they had not planned on opening the second location so soon but when the opportunity came up, they went with it. We didnt have a bag of money. Right. But we used all of our income tax return and put everything into it. Leaving the ormond store, we moved on to see their house, where camille manages the back office of kale cafe and home schools her five children. You have a crazy, crazy job. Youre home schooling your kids, youre working. This serves as your office, your school. And now were in my office. I have to admit, this seems nuts right here. Yes, its chaotic. This is how many hours this person had, the day they worked. I total them and type it into intuit. Then it gets typed into intuit. Yes. Youre keeping track. Theres a bin of stuff. Theres my receipts. I didnt even see it. Whoa. Hold on. I have to pull this out. All right. These are your receipts . With two locations, 20 employees, five home schooled children and a chaotic list of undone chores, there is a lot to do but they are keeping the business afloat and theyre pretty sure its profitable. How profitable are you . I cant tell you, jj, because we grew so fast. We went from one store in under a year, we signed a lease for the second store. Everything we had we had to put it into the second store. Omar and camille have good instincts and are working unbelievably hard. They are seeing the limits of what can be done without Information Systems to guide them. When you make decisions do you sit down with your financials and say, can we do th this . No, we dont. I am the one that wants to do that. I cannot make him sit still to do that. Today they both get to sit still and go over the numbers with Small Business financial expert chris myers. This is produce from the last couple months. These are all my invoice folders. Chris connected all that data and organized it into one big picture of what this means for kale cafe. When lieu ak the the revenue being generated by a juice bar an a vegan restaurant, its off the charts. You are doing really, really great. Unfortunately revenue alone is only half the story. The other half is expenses. You guys made about 265,000 came into the business, which is phenomenal. You spent about 256,000 to get that. So youre spending, you know, basically everything to get to a 3 profit, which is about 8,000 that doesnt sound great. Its actually not all bad. When chris looked closer, he found that much of that high cost came from paying Retail Prices at supermarkets. Instead of getting cheaper bulk rates from restaurant suppliers. The good news is, you can eliminate a lot of the publix, a lot of that other stuff we have in here. Turns out when chris first pointed this out a few weeks ago, camille jumped on it, setting up accounts with bulk suppliers, even before our film crew arrived. It was like a truck from heaven. In fact, during our interview, a delivery truck arrived with her second order. This is coming all the way from pennsylvania. Finally, chris used the software to estimate what their business might be worth if they could bring their costs in line with similar businesses. If you were to get the costs more in line with the industry, that is going to create 500,000 of value for the business. I mean, thats a huge increase from where you are today in terms of that. Now you know what you need to do. Now we have to figure out how to do it. I know youve been speaking to dean max for quite a while now. Yes. Dean has given you great ideas. Lets catch up with him. He can check in to see how youre doing and take you on the next stage. Two weeks before our cameras got here, camille and omar met up with dean on their own to ask him questions. Camille told me one of deans questions got her thinking. He asked us about the unit cost. Im like we dont know the unit cost because the measurements arent written down and the purveyors arent consistent. Dean suggested they create a recipe book for each cook in each store to follow. The impact of this on camille was enormous. I started crying, because like i felt like this freedom, because i knew that the only way for us to really duplicate and be strong and effective was to have this recipe book that we havent been able to get together. As they examine the inventory with dean, camille was showing off how much money shes started to save. This is 80 for the same 50 pounds. Theres your profit. Right there. You guys are talking about when youre talking about your bottom line the talk about bulk buying turned to ij century management. Dean said you need a system that ties recipes to sales to inventory. Its going to tie in how much you need to have on hand and how much you sold. Hes talking about his Software System that tracks all of the factors that camille and omar are trying to follow. Show me. Eyenalize. You have your sales, product costs, your labor costs. And then your bottom line, which is your profits, right . I can look at all of my costs, whether its labor or product costs and determine where i need to be more productive. Those are your two biggest costs that go out of control. With the system that flags price changes like this, the owners can be proactive. The Company Might have charged you double by accident. Youre going to call them and say you guys, you charged me 5 more a point. Youre on your game now. Before you might not have caught that. And those are these little safety nets that you need to run this business at a different level. Camille and omar start to see how this will change the way they run their business. Thats what weve been doing, guesstimating, guesstimating. This is not going to keep you from having problems. Youre going to have waste, theft, loss, youre going to pay too much for something at some time. What it will allow you to do is be responsive very quickly. Both chris and dean noticed the veggie burger was one of the top sellers. When chris saw they were paying retail to buy them frozen, dean offered to share his recipe to make from scratch for a fraction of the cost. Make it kale cafe. I want you to do that. Well taste it, come up with the best recipe for you guys and this is going to take you to a better product cost and more profit. Okay . Dean suggested a cookoff between omar and camille to choose the tastiest recipe to replace the store bought ones they now use dean and i were the judges. I feel like i won one of those tv chef competitions. I love you dear but the competition is on. This is where it gets ugly, man. Lets go. Yeah game on. All right. Grab yours. Yes, i do. Okay. Ill grab this one here. Okay. So good. Oh, my god, thats good. That is really good. I see you smiling. I think its yours. Or maybe not. Say green or red. Ready . One, two, three. Green. Green. We both went green. Thats omars. Was it yours . Oh finally, we introduced them to dave singleton. Glad to meet you. A Small Businessmener it from score, a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to helping Small Business owners grow their companies. With so many daytoday demands, camille told us its hard to stay on top of the longterm goals. Thats where dave comes in. My job with you guys is trying to help you keep focus after they leave. Theyre gone now. Now we have to be kind of together. Checking in. Checking in. Being accountable. Be accountable. Camilles already figured out how dave can help her. Right now, dave, i think whats going to be critical for us is setting some concrete goals for when we want to have things done by. Ill make a master goal list of all the things we want to accomplish for the next store opening. We started with a question. Will camille and omar sign a lease to open the third store. The two experts have their opinions. Should they sign the lease today . No, not today. What do you think . Its a tough one for me because i havent seen the new spot. If a location is you know its going to be so great, they might want to jump on it and just fly with it. But in the end, the only opinions that count are omars and camilles. Now that youve looked into your numbers, see what you have to do, do you feel ready . I feel ready. I think we could do a lot of these things to increase our margins. Im ready to go forward. Camille, you always thought that. Always. How do you feel, do you feel any better about it . I feel better. You do . I feel better. You feel like you can do this all at once . I feel like i feel like we can do it. Somehow, some way. We always find a way. With our children in tow, well move forward. As you just saw in that piece, we connected omar and camille up with a score volunteer who will continue to serve as an adviser to them. This say free service any of you out there can call upon. There are more than 305 score chapters throughout the score. We invited the ceo of the score organization and the Vice President of marketing and communications to tell us more about what they offer and how you can utilize their services. Its so good to see you both. Thank you, jj, good to see you. Good to see you, jj. We live in a bubble here on the show where we know so clearly what you guys do and we talk to so many entrepreneurs who have been helped and Small Business people by your services. We walk out a little bit, we find out a lot of people dont even know score exists. Ken, tell us in a nutshell, what do you do . Sure. Omar and camille are going to benefit from 11,500 volunteers, businessmen and women who donate their time to help Small Business owners start and grow. As you pointed out, available in 305 communities, the service that we offer is primarily free and starts with the onetoone mentoring. Its available to any Small Business owner on just about any topic relating to starting, growing, managing, buying or selling a business, regardless of your Business Life cycle point, regardless of the size. Its available. All you need to go is hop on the web at score. Org or go to your nearest chapter and take advantage of the great resource. Bridget, how do i know im getting something who knows the industry or knows the issue im facing. Every score volunteer has been through the challenges and come out the other side. You can search on score. Org to find the right person that fits your need, whether it is a specific industry or a topic that youre struggling with or looking to take your business to the next level. We make sure you are paired with the best fit no matter what. You can come back to score time and again. We can bring more people to the table to meet your needs and to help answer your questions. With over 11,000 volunteers, we have the expertise to answer your questions and get you the help you need. Who are these volunteers, ken . You know, theyre former Business Owners, theyre retired executives. They may be still actively working today, jj. About 30 of our volunteers are still actively working. Theyve been trained and mentoring and certified by score in the process theyre doing. Theyre generous enough to provide their time and talent and wisdom on behalf of their community. It works extremely well. Omar and camilles case, we set them up with someone who will stay with them for a while. Hes going to really get to know their business and help them through. Is that a typical interaction . Or is it more one off questions . You know, score is here for the life of your business. We really want to help from the time you have that business idea to when youre ready to exit or sell your business. And we supplement the mentoring that we provide to all of the people that we see with other educational resources, there are thousands of workshops across the country that are put on by our local chapters and volunteers. And there are a wealth of resources online at score. Org to help the in between times when you arent meeting with your mentor to fill that gap, answer some specific questions and then bring more questions back to your mentor so that you can continue on and meet with score for the life of your business. I mean, it is such an amazing free resource out there, just a brain trust of people who have been through the issues that some of our audience might be facing right now. I so appreciate you taking the time to come on and tell us about score. Thank you both. Great pleasure. Thank you, jj. Thank you. You dont have to be at a formal networking event or a business event to make connections for your work. You can basically make connections anywhere if you just think a little outside of the box. Chelsea cross. Com gives us five great under the radar places to find your next business contact. One, coffee shops are popular spots to meet people and get work done. So chat with someone in line or as you wait for your drink. Two, stick around after a weekly religious service to mingle with fellow parishioners. It can be a valuable way to learn more about your own commune. Three, hair salons. Stylists spend a lot of time talking to their clients. Next time youre in one of those chairs, be sure to talk to them about what youre up to. Your hairdresser may be able to connect you to a valuable contact. Four, gyms and Fitness Studios are filled with people at all hours of the day. Whether youre walking on a treadmill or waiting for a yoga class to start, strike up a conversation. And five, weddings. Dont limit yourself to the guests at your table. Make a point to chat with others. With a range of ages and backgrounds all in one place, you never know what opportunity is waiting for you. When we come want, the pros and cons of viral marketing. And these folks save the doughnut shop when they buy the business. Will your business be ready when growth presents itself . American express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. Find out how American Express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open. Com. I would love to know what marketing techniques you suggest for an entrepreneurial business, in particular, whether its worth doing some sort of viral splash marketing or if more traditional techniques are recommended. I find in marketing a newer business that gorilla Marketing Tactics are the strongest and give you the best results. Number one because you have a lower budget, number two, you have third party endorsements. The strategies can be useful when you find influencers to talk about your brand or use your product and service so they can share it with other people in their circle and as theyre sharing it, theyre giving their endorsement, which gives so much more credibility and validation without spending millions of dollars in order to get your brands recognition. A few years ago, we did a story on keplers book store in the bay area. On brink of having to shut down, the Community Rallied behind the company and kept it alive. There are heartwarming stories like this that happen all the time. In claire, michigan, the only doughnut shop in town was on the verge of closing its doors. As nbcs Kevin Tibbles tells us, the police came in just in time to save the day and keep a whole lot of people happy. Reporter this is the kind of Police Lineup people drive for lineups to join. Here in claire, michigan, walking the beat means a quick stop at cops and doughnuts, a century old bakery saved by the nine members of the local constabulary. We werent going to let that happen. What did they do . They bought the place. Now visitors can take a bite out of a cop cake, a felony fritter, a night stick or a blue goose, named for a patrol car, all made by a fifth generation baker whose wears have turned this join join the into a mustsee destination. They bring them in by the bus load. What do you think about a bunch of cops opening up a doughnut shop. Thats most unusual. Whats the verdict . I lo of it. Its awesome. The great thing about cops and doughnuts, hear, repeat efenders are welcome. Can i have another fritter, please . Reporter in small town america where so many store fronts are boarded up, thanks to coulds and doughnuts, claires downtown is booming once again. It wasnt just the doughnuts we were afraid of losing, it was that sense of community. If you want to know whats going on in town, this is the place to be. Its a gathering place. Get in here. Visitors are interrogated or at least welcomed. Some have their mug shots taken or peer out from behind bars. There isnt a cop cliche that hasnt escaped the clever folks in the souvenir shop. Apple, please. Reporter these days, to serve and protect just might mean something with sprinkles on top. Kevin tibbles, nbc news, claire, michigan. We now have the top two tips