- Across America,
thousands of businesses,
grinding it out, every single day.
Because the ultimate American dream
is owning something you build.
- Everything will be stationary for when Marcus comes in.
- Every episode, I'm meeting businesses at a crossroads.
- We've actually invested our entire life savings
into this business.
- I'll pick one, and go to work.
But I'm not a consultant...
I don't believe in handouts.
...I'm a capitalist...
This is $15,000.
...always looking for ways to make money.
- That's why we want you to work with us.
- 'Cause we're bad at math. - That's a terrible reason.
You should be good at math.
I'll work on their people...
I don't know why you're being such a dick about it.
- Leon, you mad about something? - No.
- Why the [bleep] are you singling me out?
- ...their process...
The execution is just--
like, what is it?
- ...and their product. - We've heard from the clients
that it's not so easy.
- That's [bleep]. - Marcus is an amazing investor,
and hopefully, will invest in our business.
- In the end, we'll negotiate...
My offer is $500,000 for 10%.
...to see if a deal can be made,
so we both can profit.
♪
[energetic music]
- Well, hello. - How's it going?
- I'm Marcus. - Nice to meet you, I'm Bobby.
- Bobby. - Kevin.
- Kevin, nice to meet you guys. - Nice to meet you. Yeah.
So, Sauce Bae is a health-focused food brand
that I started in 2017.
Out of my parents' kitchen, actually.
When I was 21, I was hospitalized
and later diagnosed with ulcerative colitis,
it's an autoimmune disease where your immune system
is attacking your colon.
And I was able to finally reclaim my health
through clean eating.
I want to put out products
that not only taste better, but are better for you.
The first product I launched was the pineapple,
habanero, and turmeric-infused hot sauce.
And then, from there, we added some more flavors,
and then we actually expanded into raw honey.
So, we're not just a hot sauce brand,
we plan to be, like, much more.
So this is something that you can put
a pretty good amount.
- This is really good. - Thank you.
- But I gotta be honest, there's sauces everywhere.
- Yeah. - It's one of the most crowded,
- competitive spaces, period. - Yeah.
- Business okay today?
- Be honest. - I have no capital.
- Zero? - None, none.
[tense music]
- I love your story, but at some moment in time,
all these products need to make money.
So, which one are you going to be stunty with,
that's gonna put you back on the map?
- It's right here.
- No one is doing anything like this.
Cookie dough raw honey.
You talk about stunt marketing, I mean, the slogan on this is,
"Oh baby, I like it raw."
- And how much money do you need to do something
with the cookie dough honey thing?
- I would need probably, like, 12,000
to do, like, a decent production.
- I'm gonna loan you 12,000 bucks.
- Okay. - But you have to agree
that if this doesn't work,
you're going to find a new path.
I believe in what you're doing, but I also feel
there's a moment where you gotta cut bait.
- Yeah. - One thing, not 20 things.
- One. - No, I agree, I agree.
- So...
[dramatic music]
[Kevin sighs]
- No, I'm sorry, I have to turn it down.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- Listen, I've made these same mistakes.
- Yeah. - I only recognize my own
failures on the table.
- I believe that I could do this,
- and so-- - Okay.
- All right, I appreciate you. - Thank you.
[upbeat music]
- Yo, I'm so nervous.
- Hey there! I'm Marcus. - Hello. Hi.
- I'm Christy. Yeah. - Christy, nice to meet you.
- Ivan. Pleasure. - Ivan, nice to meet you.
- Aaron. A pleasure. - Aaron.
- Hi, Marcus, I'm Jill, nice to meet you.
- Jill, how are you? - We are Little Giants.
We're co-founders. We started the brand online first,
and then we did a pop-up in Dumbo, Brooklyn.
These are our partners in our L.A. store.
- Oh, okay, so you went from New York
- to L.A.? - Yep.
- We had a store here for five years.
- Oh. - And then, um...
we ended up moving to L.A.
- Okay, are you guys nervous? - A little bit.
- Super nervous. - Just a bit.
- Come on, bring it in. - Extremely.
- Bring it in. - [all cheering]
- Woo! - Okay, everybody good?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Okay, good. Whew! - Thank you.
- Gosh, I'm less nervous, too. - All right, cool.
- Okay, let's have some fun. - All right.
- Okay. - Okay!
- We are a children's clothing and accessory line.
And we make cool stuff for kids that parents want to wear.
- The idea was to take the adult version of hip-hop,
but make it palatable for kids.
There's infinite potential in every child,
and they need to be looked at not as children,
but as Little Giants,
because they can grow up to change the world.
The inspiration behind it was our child,
you know, our son, Knowledge.
- You got this. Okay?
- Um...
yeah, we have a child with autism,
and, uh, it's rough.
And we're trying to make
clothes that's impactful,
and that has meaning, um,
so that every child feels special wearing it.
[gentle music]
- Besides selling it at the L.A. store,
it's sold online?
- Yes, yes. - Correct.
- And where does the bulk of the revenue come from?
- Online. - Online.
- So last year, how much did you do?
- We did three. - $300,000?
- Yes. - Okay.
And how much does the store do?
- Last year, it did about $65,000.
- How much is your rent there? - $6,000.
- So your rent on an annual basis
- is more than your revenue. - More.
- That's not gonna work.
Can I get a whiteboard, please?
- Okay.
- So, if we were thinking
about a clothing brand,
they would understand online, they would understand retail,
and they would understand wholesale.
Today, you're here, and here.
So, if they thought about their customer base,
here's baby and kids,
tweens, and then adult,
male and female.
So, the bulk of it
is essentially right there, and right here.
So, with that model,
how many more years or months or weeks can you survive?
- The whole year? - Yesterday. What--
like, what do you mean?
- You gotta do something different.
If this business is going to survive,
it needs to become an online and a wholesale brand.
I think you do need to acknowledge
that the store has to go, you guys can't keep
writing checks every month, it's gonna put
your family in a bad space.
For me, today, this is a no.
But it comes with advice.
I want you to go back home,
and I want you to find a few showrooms,
and I want you to take your line,
they will like it.
Don't get stressed.
I'm giving you a no, but I'm giving you direction.
And then you're going to stay in touch with me,
and we're going to see if that direction works.
- This is sobering, but it, like,
it still feels okay, you know?
- The truth sometimes hurts.
But that doesn't mean that a business can't be reimagined,
and that's really what I want them to do.
- It was nice meeting you. - Thank you.
- But doing the same thing? No more.
[solemn music]
[traditional Italian music]
- Oh, here he comes.
♪
- Hello. - Hi, Marcus.
- How are you? - We have a small gift for you.
- Okay. Do you want me to put it on?
- Yes! - Yes, please, put it on.
- Okay.
- We'd like to invite you into our kitchen
- to cook with Cristina. - She's waiting for you.
- Ciao, Marcus. - Well, hello!
- Welcome to Healthy Italia.
- Nice to see you. - Nice to see you again.
I want to say, I've been chasing you for a while.
[upbeat music]
So, are you ready to make some pasta together?
- Yes, but I want to know what the business is.
- Healthy Italia is the name. - Okay. Okay.
- It's an Italian marketplace and cooking school
located in Madison, New Jersey.
- Okay. - We do a retail store
in the front, with specialty products
that I import directly from Italy.
Then we have the cooking school,
where you make everything hands-on from scratch,
and you learn how to cook a delicious Italian meal.
- Okay. - We also do catering,
we do private events for team-building, and--
- Okay, okay, slow down. - So, this is it.
You asked me what's the business.
- Okay, so, it's an experiential dining experience
where I make the food that I'm gonna eat?
- Mm-hmm. - Oh.
- This is going to be your table, actually.
- That's my table? Okay.
- What we have there is the ingredients to make pasta.
- There is-- - This is exciting.
- I'm so happy you're excited, I know you love to cook.
- We're gonna use the fork... - Okay.
...and we're going to start mixing all the ingredients.
- What do I do with the stuff on my fork?
- So, just keep going, don't worry about that.
- Okay, hold on. - Like this.
- Are you always this bossy? - Yeah. [laughing]
- Oh. And why did you decide to open this business?
- In Italy, I'm a CPA. But I was--
- You're a CPA? - Yeah.
- And how about in America, are you also a CPA?
- I worked in a CPA firm for three years,
and then I started my business, so I gave that up.
And I started to think what people would love
and appreciate about Italy, and I thought about food,
so I decided to open this business.
And I started to import products, and combine the idea
of the retail store with the cooking school,
so I would be able to share
my family recipes and traditions.
- Where do they live? - Everybody's home.
- Except you. - Yeah.
- So when I come to take a class there,
- I'm doing it in the kitchen. - Exactly.
- And how many people can you see at one time?
- So, I can get 18 people in the classes.
- And how much does it cost to go?
- An average of $130 per person.
- Really? - Mm-hmm.
Now, we're going to just cut our pasta.
- And when you think about the revenue in the business,
how much of it comes from the shop
versus coming from classes?
- Most of it comes from the classes,
and not from the retail store.
In a month we make an average of $110,000.
The store is, like, $30,000.
- So it's more than a million dollars a year.
- It's 1.3.
- Her business makes money, it's not in trouble.
- Now, we are going to boil it together.
- And one of the important things to understand is that
a business can get stuck.
- Do you like pasta? - I love it.
- Whether it's the systems, whether it's the structure,
it's just understanding what's holding you back.
- I was able to take my idea and my business up to here,
and I gave everything I had.
[dramatic music]
- Here's what we're gonna do.
I see an opportunity here,
but I feel like I need to immerse myself
in your business
to really understand what the layout is,
to really understand what the experience is,
and to think about how you're utilizing your space.
There's a lot of things there.
- I'm looking forward to it.
- Thank you so much. - I'm looking forward to it.
[upbeat music]
I'm here in Madison, New Jersey to visit Cristina
and her employees, in Healthy Italia.
The business generates over a million dollars in revenue,
which is impressive for any business,
especially this size.
[traditional Italian music]
This is beautiful.
- How are you? I'm Marcus. - Hi, I'm Susan.
- Nice to meet you. - Susan, nice to meet you.
There is a lot of beautiful stuff here.
- Thank you.
We only work with small producers
who don't distribute anywhere else in the U.S.
- Do you run the store?
- So, I'm really the event planner.
- Oh. - But I'm here during the day,
and, you know, talk to the customers.
I'm Italian, my parents are from Italy.
- Do you have to be Italian to work here?
- You don't, but I think it helps.
- It does.
Number one in the store would be what?
- This category is probably one or two.
- So, prepared foods, one. - Prepared food.
- Bagged pasta. - Two.
- Olive oil. - Now, go to the bottom.
From the lowest-selling, least effective thing.
- Would be cutlery, all the flatware.
- Okay, why?
- People see this, they think it's beautiful,
they pass this, and then they go here.
- Yes, it's been always the same.
- My impression of Susan
is that she has a very strong opinion,
she's very intelligent, she's very articulate,
and she's very committed to the business.
- Hi, I'm Marcus. - Hi, Marcus. Angela.
- Hey, Angela, how are you? - Nice to see you.
Can you take me into your kitchen?
- Yeah, absolutely, come on in.
- I am the kitchen manager... - Wow.
...so I pretty much oversee and run everything
- in the kitchen. - Everything involving food.
So, is all the prepared foods made right here?
- It's all made here, yes. - There's no kitchen, like...
- Nope. This is it. - ...surprise kitchen
- in the back? - What you see is what you get.
- Where's all the inventory for, like, the up-front section?
- That's the basement, that's not my department, but--
- Why do you smile when you say that?
- Because I think somebody's going to show you,
but that's not gonna be me.
- They're going to show me the basement?
- Oh, I'm sure. - Is there something down there?
- I guess you're gonna find out. - Okay.
- Angela's being coy and awkward about this inventory,
and that's never a good sign, it's like an immediate red flag.
I have no idea what I'm about to see.
- Do you wanna just look first?
- I'm just, I'm gonna hang back, to wait for the reaction.
- You first.
- Okay, do I need to brace myself?
- [Susan laughing] - What the [bleep]?
[tense music]
- You first.
- Okay, do I need to brace myself?
- Turn left. - Okay.
[foreboding music]
[dynamic orchestral music]
- What is this? - It's storage.
- Welcome to Healthy Italia. - No, this is unhealthy Italia.
And what is all this stuff?
- Pasta machines. - Pots and pans.
- Utensils. - Tablecloths.
- You have more inventory than a Bed Bath & Beyond store.
- Really? - No.
- Yeah.
What a terrible use of money.
As I walk through this inventory,
it only says one thing to me, you have no merchandise plan.
No strategy of commerce,
of what you're putting on the shelf,
what you expect to sell,
and how you're going to replenish your inventory.
This feels irresponsible to me.
People are gonna think I'm being very tough on you.
Here's the thing. I don't care.
- That's fine. - Because I really believe
you have a great idea.
- Can you guys give us a minute? - Yeah, of course.
- Thank you. - Sure.
- I'm still trying to figure out why you wanted me to come here.
- Really? - Because-- yeah.
Because you know you are so smart.
- What's wrong? - And you know the difference
between what's okay, and what's not.
- You're right. I don't need you to tell me what's wrong.
I need you to tell me how to fix it.
[tense music]
How to fix it, and where I can grow.
- The idea of incorporating retail
into the cooking school is right.
But you think about the inventory
tied up in the basement.
Then you add on the labor that it takes.
This is a losing proposition.
[energetic music]
I want to just be a participant in the class.
- Yes.
- All right, so, to get started,
we're just going to cut off the top part of our tomato.
You want to be careful that you don't take
the tip of your spoon and poke it through,
we don't want to make any holes.
Then we're going to grab our garlic back,
and give it a pop.
We're going to go ahead, and turn our front burner on.
It's the knob on the right, turn it all the way to the left,
it's going to whoosh on.
Have any of you guys made whole branzino before?
- No. - Yes.
- She's amazing.
She's got a really good command of what's happening here.
- You probably noticed that I'm not from Italy,
by my lack of accent, I'm actually a Midwest girl,
and I was a stay-at-home mom for 14 years.
What I knew I wanted to do, leaving my kids every day,
is I wanted to do what made me happy.
- I would say the experience feels easy,
it feels clear, and we'll see what happens.
- You guys can go ahead and plate your Marsala,
and then head to your tables in the storefront to enjoy.
- Do you guys make money when stuff up there sells?
- No, but I don't want it to--
I don't want everybody to be pushy.
I don't want to sound pushy.
I don't want people to feel like
they're being forced into something. It's very organic.
- Have you had feedback about that?
- No. No.
- So how do you know how far you can go?
- Because it's organic when it's just being used here.
It's an organic sales pitch, versus being pushy
because somebody wants to make money.
- It's almost like nobody in the building,
including Angela, has bought in,
in the importance of generating revenue up front.
"Oh, I don't wanna-- it's too pushy.
"I don't want to sell, I don't--"
It's like, well, then, what are we doing?
I love experiential things.
I thought this was exceptionally well done today.
But you guys are doing an awful job
of marketing the front of the store in the kitchen.
I didn't feel like you were ever
even subtly selling me anything.
- I do think that we do do it subtly.
I do agree with you, though, that there could be--
- What did you subtly do, besides show me a scratched pot?
And I appreciate you wanting to find the balance
between commerce, and the experience.
People aren't gonna be offended
with subtle integrations of things, they're not.
Consumers can smell a lack of confidence
in what you're actually trying to generate in terms of revenue.
I have to find out what's causing that,
and we have to correct it.
What's going on with your self-confidence?
- [laughing] I don't know.
No, I-- I think it, I--
- What's going on with your self-confidence?
I just want to stay on that topic.
What are you not confident in about yourself?
- Every person out there that's going to say,
"why is she at Healthy Italia?"
- Really? - Of course.
Like, I don't fit the bill of healthy.
- What does that mean? - Because I don't fit the bill.
Like-- like, it's...
- Okay.
[tense music]
- I don't fit the bill of healthy.
- What does that mean? - Because I don't fit the bill.
- Like... - Okay.
[tense music]
What if nobody sees you the way you see yourself?
- [chuckling] I might be okay with that.
- And honestly, anybody that feels that way about you
- can [bleep] off. - Well, right, but--
- The way that you feel about yourself
is never gonna change unless you change your own perspective
- about who you are. - Right.
- Cristina and the team at Healthy Italia
clearly want to grow their revenue and their profitability,
and a higher degree of confidence or conviction
means a higher degree of conversion to sale.
[dramatic music]
- Morning, morning. - Morning.
- Okay, I want to start with the financials.
- Okay.
- Can I pause and get glasses, real quick?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- Yeah, I also have my glasses in the back.
- Okay, you can get your glasses.
- I don't need glasses yet. - Lucky you.
- Do you see a career opportunity here,
or do you even want that?
- First, I was an equity research analyst.
- For a big firm? - Yes.
- You essentially did the due diligence...
- Yes. - ...for everybody
- that would ever invest. - Correct.
If you could just take your brain
- that knows that really well... - Sure.
- ...and look at this business the exact same way.
- Okay. - Did you know
- that she did that before? - Mm-hmm.
You should live in her head every day,
because she's essentially telling people
who have their money, to do this or don't do this,
based on all of the work that she does.
Like, the fact that you have that on your team
is kind of ridiculous.
- We don't dig into this enough, I think that--
- "We" who? - Collectively, us.
It's very hard to pull myself out of the day-to-day.
Like, I'm in deep with events and customers,
and, like, I can't step away,
because we just don't have the hands yet
to let me do that.
- What an absolute,
terrible waste of her talent.
I think that Susan is starving for direction.
Total income is $1,353,000 last year.
So, $1,064,000
of the $1,353,000
got generated from this class, this way.
- Staffing the kitchen has been the biggest struggle.
- We get candidates. - Okay.
- We get unqualified candidates.
- You get unqualified candidates.
- Correct. - Perfect.
- Are you on a dating app? - Yeah, yeah.
- How did you describe yourself? - Who I am?
I don't remember, but for-- I think it's like--
- Well, how would you describe yourself today?
- Goal-oriented, hard worker, dreamer.
- That's the ad.
Goal-oriented woman, hard worker,
obsessed with personal growth.
What type of man would be able
to withstand that level of intensity?
- Very few, I know that.
- I'll just tell you this as a man,
I would be intimidated.
- I feel like I've told you that.
- [laughing] Yeah.
- You and many other people. - I'm sure.
- Did Cristina end up dating anyone?
No, I don't think so. No.
- The reason that you get unqualified candidates
is you may not be describing yourself properly.
What are they looking for
- in a personal dating app? - Connection.
- And what you've basically done,
and this is why I think we have a staffing problem,
I think you appear inflexible.
How you present yourself
is usually how you're going to present your business.
The reason that I think you could be struggling
is one, you're not using a system
that looks at algorithms and information,
that match people together.
In order to grow your business,
you need to have really good people.
And in order to attract really good people,
you not only have to list out the expertise they need to have,
but you also have to present them an opportunity
to see what it means to them,
and why they should want to be part of your team.
I want to have you go through this process,
because what I love about ZipRecruiter is that
you post the job, and you get skilled, qualified candidates.
It uses A.I. technology to get you results really fast.
Because, ultimately, what I'd want to do
is, like, post the job this afternoon,
and be able to meet people tomorrow.
That's how fast it should be.
And with ZipRecruiter, that's how fast it is.
ZipRecruiter does all the work.
It's gonna set the appointments,
it's going to set everything, all of it.
But let's-- Susan, take us through the balance sheet.
- Okay, current assets. Inventory, $404,000.
So, that's the basement.
- Yeah.
- Do you think that $400,000 for an inventory like this
- is good or bad? - I think...
- it's bad. - It's what?
- It's bad. [chuckles]
It's bad.
- $400,000... - Yeah, but--
- Yeah. - ...is insane.
- I've been working on this.
Like, it's not that I don't know.
So, like, if you want to put, like, a mark like this,
yeah, let's put the highlight here,
and stay here until it's fixed.
- Is that an offer or is that--
- No, no, no. It's an acknowledgement.
Exactly. Let's do that.
- They don't need more than 60 or 90 days supply of inventory.
I want that cash unlocked and reinvested
in other parts of the business that would help it grow,
including opening a new location,
getting the right kind of inventory,
hiring new people, or marketing the business.
I don't care if I need to explain it in Italian,
English, or any other language.
Unlock the cash, reinvest it in your business,
and get a return on your money.
How do you think you get rid of what's downstairs?
- What if this week we just did a store-wide sale,
- just to see what happens? - So, you test into it.
- Yeah. - You test into it.
Look, the liquidation sale that Susan is proposing
is a good idea, but it's not really the sale that matters.
It's the information that you learn from the sale.
What actually sells? What are the right price points?
And even if you drop it to 50, 60, 70 off, what doesn't sell?
That's what the purpose of the sale is.
- I don't know what these prepaid assets are.
- Prepaid are expenses of 2025.
- $125,000?
- Why do you have $125,000 in prepaid?
- It's...
personal development conferences for next year.
- $125,000 to go to conferences?
Like, what kind of conferences?
- I joined Tony Robbins.
It can be discussed or, like--
- No, it's your choice. I-- That's your choice.
- It's your business. - Like, I gave up my life
for nine years, and now I just decided
that I wanted to invest in myself.
I said I want to meet people that can help me grow.
- You don't have to justify it.
- Absolutely. No, no, it's not like--
I-- This is me.
- Are you lonely? - Oh, yeah, a lot.
[solemn music]
I gave up my life for nine years,
and now I just decided that I wanted to invest in myself.
- Are you lonely? - Oh, yeah. A lot.
- Okay. - A lot.
♪
- As business owners, that's pretty normal.
It's your whole life. It's everything.
- I know that.
- Time management, historically, was my biggest enemy.
I would immerse myself so much in my business
that I didn't have any relationships
because I was too busy.
It's not good.
What started to happen is that I got forced
to surround myself with other people
that were smarter than me, and better than me,
and I stopped feeling guilty that if I didn't work 14 hours
what are people going to think?
What I want to do is I want to change the way
you spend your time.
- She always asks about my children and trips we take,
and things that I plan, so I don't think
that anybody would not think
that, you know, there's a piece missing.
- Here are the things that we need to solve.
We need to come up with a merch plan,
we need to put Susan's idea of a storewide sale in motion
so we can learn from the data,
we need to have a job fair, so Angela can hire
some more instructors, and lastly,
what everybody's hopes and goals are
with their professional and personal careers.
- Absolutely.
- And everything's 50 off. Right?
- Yes, these are, like, 11-something.
- We don't typically do sales here.
What we need to think about is what's in the basement,
get it outta here, and start fresh.
[register beeping]
The crowds went wild.
- Oh, wow.
- It got the inventory down. Is it gone?
No, but I think it was necessary.
Worrying about inventory?
Don't worry, we're slashing prices all day.
Thanks, Marcus, that's what I wanted to do.
- [laughter] - Bye.
- I'm back at Healthy Italia this morning
to understand how the liquidation sale has gone.
- Hello. - Good morning.
- How did it go? - Good.
- We sold 2,500 units. - Yeah.
- So, how much cash did you generate?
- $26,000 in four days.
- And how much inventory do you still have?
- Coming in? - Yeah.
- $42,000.
- The key to managing your inventory
is establishing what's called an open-to-buy.
It's the maximum amount of dollars
you're going to allocate towards inventory at any given time.
Understanding your supply chain
and how inventory moves is key to that.
You're going to start with how much do I have
on the shelf, and how much do I have
in my back stock?
You also have to anticipate
how much you have on order.
You can't get your inventory lowered
if on Tuesday you have a sale and sell out of $10,000,
and on Wednesday, $20,000 more shows up.
Who did all those pallets come from?
- Italy. - No.
- Not where did they come from.
- Okay. - Who did they come from?
- So, everything got shipped to my family warehouse.
They pallet everything,
they load the container, and it gets here.
It's a family affair.
- So, your family are inventory enablers.
- Exactly.
- Can I have a minute with her?
- Yeah, absolutely. - Okay.
So, I know we talked earlier
about what you potentially want to do.
What are your thoughts?
What do you, specifically, want to do?
- So I would like to be a Chief Operating Officer,
inventory, supply chain, merchandising.
- Okay, have you talked to Cristina about this?
- I have not. I mean-- - Cristina.
Susan is like a gift from the Italian gods.
- [laughing] Yes! - Here's what I want you to do.
I want you to be as direct as you're capable of being...
- Okay. - ...to tell her exactly
what you'd like your role to be, and walk her through the ideas.
What is your title here?
- Operating Officer. Do you like that?
So, to replace me with an event planner,
and then have me work completely,
thinking of all the pieces that would make us try
to expand every piece of the business.
- Great. I love it.
- I was happy that she said yes.
You know, we have to hash out the details,
of course, but we need to go bigger.
We need to think bigger.
It's been a conversation that we've kept saying,
how am I going to step away from what I do every day?
- That's why ZipRecruiter is a no-brainer.
We're going to post a job for an events planner,
and it will technologically find matches really quickly.
You're gonna interview people, and you're gonna hire somebody.
Just like Angela is gonna do today,
- looking for more instructors. - Great.
- I need to quickly find a replacement for Susan.
So, I'm very happy that ZipRecruiter is really fast.
It's gonna save me a lot of time.
It's the way to go.
[energetic music]
- Welcome, everybody. My name's Angela.
You all know you're here for an interview?
- Yep. - Be your best today,
because we're judging.
- I don't think many people would ever interview this way,
but I wanted to understand how these folks would feel
being put on the spot, which is what would happen in a class.
- I really enjoy cooking.
You know, I love putting love into the food.
- I love to cook. My grandmother showed me how.
- You are going to infuse some music,
some love into your pasta.
If you don't sing to your pasta, then...
if it comes out funky later, it's not on me.
- My passion came from my mom,
who was an excellent cook,
and I guess that kind of rubbed off on me,
and it's something that I then wanted to pursue.
- I have just been doing a lot of cooking and baking,
and cooking, I found to be therapeutic.
- [all applauding] - Excellent.
All right, take the knob on the right.
Turn it up-- straight up and down, and turn your burner off.
- You already know who you want? - Yeah, yeah. I like Eric.
- Which one is your favorite so far?
- Eileen, in the back. Because she's engaging.
- The key to interviewing somebody
isn't just hiring anybody that walks in.
It's got to be somebody that's qualified,
understands and has a passion around cooking,
and can fall into the system that Angela's already created.
Once you do that and fill that hole,
the revenue growth will be automatic.
What does the Healthy Italia location
in Madison, New Jersey look like?
Because we're going to redo the whole store
in the next couple weeks.
- [chuckles]
- I know I've spent a significant amount of time
focusing on the revenue in the back of the house,
and that needs to happen.
I would start to think about merchandising.
What are you trying to get me to do
with the way you've merchandised the store?
It's also important to find ways to generate more revenue
in the front of the house, where the retail store is.
- I come in, and I go this way. - Yeah.
- So whatever's here has to matter.
I want to change the merch strategy and the layout.
What's the first thing you want me to see?
What's the second thing
- you want me to see? - Okay.
To increase the opportunity to convert that customer,
to put something in their cart,
and give us extra dollars at the register.
I look at these tables as what I call A-Fixtures.
A preferred spot to highlight something.
The layout and the assortment are key to that.
If you could move this back,
because this is, like, a lot of dead space.
This wall is ugly. I just wanna get this out of here.
- Okay.
- And find new revenue opportunities,
like, to-go food.
I think you need more prepared foods
ready to go, but you'll need
a double-door stainless steel refrigerator,
a double-door stainless steel freezer.
The right assortment at the right time,
at the right place, at the right price.
The database piece and interacting with customers,
for me, is kind of everything.
We're going to install a customer relationship manager
called Salesforce, and they have an A.I. piece to it.
Every customer that ever answers any question,
artificial intelligence is going to build the profile
and start to communicate.
It's like a silent salesperson,
because the two of you and everybody else that works here
is scared to sell people stuff.
- [laughing]
- That's the way we're going to grow revenue in the front.
And even if it's only 10%, I'll take it.
[intriguing music]
- I know that he believes in me,
but I want to impress Marcus so badly.
- I was very excited for the renovation.
I thought it was necessary. It's been nine years.
The same layout, we've talked about
how that wasn't selling any products.
I think we're focused more.
We have less, but we have the things
that I feel like customers appreciate.
- Hi, Eric. How's it going? - Good.
Good to see you again.
- Yeah, how are you? - Excellent.
- So we're going to hire Eric,
and we're going to do our regular training,
and we're going to see if he's a good fit.
- This is Eric. He's shadowing.
You'll probably see him taking notes.
Go ahead and start with your eggplants.
I can't wait to have a male in this business,
because we need them.
I'm very happy that you decided
to end up asking Eric to come.
I think it's the right call.
- I'm very proud of you. - I agree. Thank you.
- I did everything I could.
I worked so hard for the renovation.
I did everything he asked me,
because I need him to see what I'm capable of.
- One of my big rules in business is that
if you don't know your numbers, you don't know your business.
From payroll to payments,
from business tax to categorizing expenses,
Intuit QuickBooks has it all on one platform.
I'm working with Cristina at Healthy Italia,
a cooking school and marketplace,
to try to find ways to use analytics
to drive her business to profitability.
QuickBooks makes it easy for me to recognize
where the opportunities are.
I'm not just looking for businesses to survive.
I expect them to thrive.
I'm back at Healthy Italia after a month
of working on the people, the process, and the product.
For me, the real question is,
have enough changes been made
where real money can be invested in this concept?
- Welcome back.
- Why does everybody seem so tired?
[women laughing]
- We're tired, man. Today's the big reveal.
It's been a lot.
- This really came out nice.
- Basically, the idea was to build a wall of freezer
and refrigerators that all match.
Then we got a bigger refrigerator
for the fresh prepared food.
- Can we talk about the storage?
This was the pots and pans land.
- Exactly. We had an artist come in to hand-paint the walls.
- So you've essentially built a stock room.
- You don't imagine, like, how much you can put here.
- A lot more bread. - Yeah.
- Now we freshly bake it. - So we got, we get it--
- Oh, you're doing it here? - Yes.
- It's also cross-promoting, because if we take it from here
and we serve it in the class, then they know that we sell it.
- That's right. - There. Got it!
- Got my high-five. - So we've kind of figured out
the connection between the kitchen and here,
- back and forth. - Yeah.
- And now you can tell
that story all the way out the door.
And it now feels like the proper assortment,
the right amount of stuff, the right margin profile,
and the right revenue profile.
- I'm very happy about what Marcus is saying
because I did everything he asked me, but in my way.
He raised my standards, and it's beautiful.
- Did you do those virtual interviews on ZipRecruiter?
- The tool that they have is actually beautiful.
Like, it worked perfectly for us.
It sets up an appointment, like, you can decide the date,
the time, and then whoever applied for the position
can schedule the appointment with you on that day.
And you just talk like a couple of minutes, you get the vibe.
And I knew that when I was seeing them,
they were qualified candidates.
- Okay. How have you been able to advance
or modify your own life
while your professional life became more stable and secure?
- I have more balance, a little bit more balance,
and not just work, work, work, work.
- I think Marcus wants us to make a dating profile.
We'll make the dating profile. There it is. Okay?
- Look at that.
- Executive decision. - Executive decision made.
- But I mean that in all sincerity,
because everybody here
wants more for you, as a human.
- I'm working on it. - How are we doing that?
Like, what are the things that we're doing?
- I'm gonna say the idea. I'm gonna...
- She's gonna put it out in the universe.
- The universe is gonna help me.
So, every year I have to teach
- at Mother's Day. - This is so good.
- Because nobody wants to work at Mother's Day.
And we have a customer that every year, calls,
because she wants me to teach on Mother's Day.
I'm like, "It's the last time.
"Because next year I'm gonna be a mom.
- "So I'm not gonna teach." - Done.
- Executive decision made. - Executive decision.
- [laughing]
- I think we should go sit down as a group
and we should talk about what happens next.
- Sure. - Are you okay with that?
- Mm-hmm.
[suspenseful music]
- Cristina and her team have worked hard
to improve the people, the process, and the product.
And now that I've seen what they're capable of,
I want to try something different.
Something I know they're not expecting.
The three of you are very different
in terms of your background,
and the work ethic that the three of you have.
And the aptitude that you have.
I don't see it, kind of, ever.
Normally I would invest in the business.
And it'd be like, "Oh, okay, I invested in a small business,
"and everybody's great, and everything's fine."
But I want to go big here.
So, I have a job offer.
- Oh!
- Wow. [laughs]
- So, you know that I took over Bed Bath & Beyond,
and we own a concept called Our Table.
So, I would like to offer you a position
to lead the development,
and be the general manager over the entire concept
for the entire public company.
Where we could develop this concept
across different nationalities,
by picking locations across the country.
It's a $175,000 base salary, up to a $175,000 bonus.
And 10% equity in the Our Table concept,
which is a combination of what we do well and what you do well.
Angela oversees the kitchen operations
for our whole concept.
And Susan oversees the operations.
And you keep the ownership of this location.
All the money that you make from it,
and everything.
- Where do we sign? - [laughter]
- It's finally this moment that we've been waiting for.
And frankly, I thought the whole deal
would have been buying a piece of Healthy Italia.
Completely is not that.
It's a bigger step for all of us.
- I know you didn't expect this.
- No, I would love to.
There always comes the "but."
- I know, like, "But?" - "But."
- But what I'm trying to understand is,
all of this concept is being built on a concept that I bring.
- Kind of.
I would say that the concept of Our Table
is loosely inspired
by the concept that you developed.
- So, my thing is, how much do we value the concept
that I'm bringing?
I want to increase my equity in the...
- Concept? - ...in the concept.
- So, 10% of equity doesn't feel like enough.
- No.
[tense music]
I'm fine if we want to start here.
I would like this to be a starting point.
- I can't do that.
- It's something that I created.
It's like, I'm giving you my everything.
- I want to give you more, but I don't...
- Know how. - No, I know how.
I don't agree with it.
♪
- It's like, I have this creation,
and I'm just discounting it.
That's the feeling.
- I want to be as polite as I could be,
- but as direct as I could be. - Yeah, go, go.
- It's a cooking school. - I get it.
- And you didn't develop the concept of cooking school,
and you didn't develop the concept of a retail store.
What I see in you is the ability
to take something that somebody else created
long before all of us, and you made it better.
That maybe is where we have a disconnect,
that it's your execution, and your work ethic,
and your intelligence that I'm putting value on,
not the cooking school.
So I think the struggle that I'm having,
and I had it when I put this together,
is like, I'm not buying the business,
and you didn't invent anything.
- I-- I get it. - There's nothing proprietary
about it other than one, two, three.
That's the value.
Do you agree that you don't want to sell
- your business? - I agree.
- Okay, and do you agree that what you have
is unique, but not proprietary?
- I agree. - Okay.
- And then, if it doesn't work?
- I lose my money, but you didn't lose your business,
and you got paid to do it.
The risk is squarely on me.
- In his point of view, he's bringing much more
to the table than needs to be considered than what I thought,
and I see where he's coming from.
So I'm starting to think that, you know what, Cristina?
It's everything I wanted. Everything.
Because to me, it's never about a number,
and it's never about money.
I-- I-- I like this.
- Now you want that deal. Shall we just come back to that?
- You're breaking my balls. I love it.
[all laughing]
- Get used to it. - It's started now.
- [laughing] - Get used to it. Okay.
- Okay. - Awesome.
- We got a deal. - Finally.
I don't think I processed it yet.
It's like, everything I've done so far is paying off.
And now I'm building the life
that is going to allow me to have a family.
It's priceless. I cannot dream of anything more than this.
- Experiential retail is the future of retail.
The key to making a great investment
is to invest in the right people.
People who are willing to tighten up,
and modify their process.
With this team, and my ability to pair them
with a great infrastructure,
the scalability and growth of this concept
could be unbelievable.
- How do you feel? - Great.
[joyful music]