S08.E02: Any Way You Slice It

[CrazyInAlabama]

Grey Block Pizza in Santa Monica.    Great Location, horrible leadership.   

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tommy Schiffer, the owner has $120,000 investment from silent partner Lilia Mead (not a girlfriend), and $80,000 more loan from Lilia, and we later find out about $100,000 personal loan from Lilia.      Pizza place has horrible margins, and food costs are out of control.    Owner decamped to Bend, Oregon to be with two of his kids with ex-wife, either ex-wife #1 or #2.   He also has a short term girlfriend who keeps getting in Lilia's face about the business, named Vanessa.     The Santa Monica location is in horrible shape, trash everywhere, rented building is falling apart, and owner dumped management on inexperienced, so-called silent partner Lilia.     Owner finally agrees to handle food costs, redo the building, clean up trash, etc., and become a manager and leader.   Later, there is a young woman brought in as a management trainee who has everything dumped on her to run.  

Then he decamps to Bend, Oregon again, and when Marcus goes to visit him, owner says he would like to sell, but never goes to the meeting with the potential buyer.    Lilia after months of being the manager, finally leaves.      On a strange note, the spectacular house in Bend, OR looks very familiar to me.    There was a show that used to have people looking for their dream home (not House Hunters) in another location with great budgets, and I'm positive the house was on that, and bought by the people looking to move to Bend.    However, it wasn't Thomas.   

I can't believe this episode was shot for anything except the show.    The owner's claim he wanted to franchise all over the country, with Marcus' help was laughable.     The business also received almost $140k in PP loans.   

Here's the Profit Update with more information:   https://www.theprofitupdates.com/

(The update, and other sources say Marcus and Lilia never were paid anything.)

This episode makes the Simply Slices pizza episode look good.  

(This is the first topic I ever started, I hope I did it correctly. If I didn't, I'm hoping it will get fixed by some kind person who actually knows how to do this.)

Edited August 21, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[qtpye]

What a total waste of an episode. 

[I Want My MBTV]

This was a total WTF episode. Thomas was a POS.  How the heck was he pulling all these women right and left?  It was like he was some sort of cult leader.  The new "girlfriend" was totally just there for drama and to push Lila's buttons and make her look bad on behalf of poor sensitive soul Thomas.  Does she live in Oregon now too?  I wanted to smack her smug little face. I didn't understand why the management "candidate" was in all the meetings and doing work when she didn't even have a job.  I felt sorry for that one employee who never spoke.  I hope he left and got another job elsewhere.

The only reason why that place stayed in business was the location.  I don't know how Thomas thought he could franchise that but then if he could find more suckers in love with him to give him money who knows.   I didn't understand how Marcus just came up with this number of $140K for Lila and she was like "that's great I'm happy" - did she get the money?  from where did it come?  If it was that easy to buy her out why hadn't Thomas done it already? other than he sucked?  And sorry Lila was still in love with him.   She wasn't trying to buy a job she was trying to buy a relationship.   She needs to invest whatever money she has left in therapy.

I'm sure a lot of good came out of the PPP loans for places that deserved it but you always see where they went to people like this bozo who can't even be bothered to show up.  

All the episode did was make me angry. 

 

[Andyourlittledog2]

I agree with what everyone said above but I could not get over the music. It's like a new production company took over and thought they were filming for MTV. It was awful. This is a show about struggling businesses etc, not The Hills. They need to stop that with a quickness. 

I also think, based on what we know from past production, that the production company picks the businesses and Marco has very little info going in. If that is still true then they picked this business for all the wrong reasons.

As for the content, it was barely a show. They took almost all the 'business' out of it and replaced it with what Marcos aptly termed 'telenovela'.  I don't know what they are playing at but I hope this was a one off and they return to a more normal format next week.

Mr Wanna Be A Rich Hippie was such a slug I cannot fathom why at least four women fell in love with him unless he has money or other assets we are not privy to.  He pretty much just wanted to be on the show to get Marcus to give him money and fix everything while he sat back and made no effort. I also want to point out that he had a) a prime beach location for his store, b) probably lived in a prime location as well, and c) apparently a great house in Bend Oregon.  He also probably had some serious child support going on. This guy had money coming in from somewhere but couldn't be bothered to pay back Lilia until Marcos negotiated the settlement. Then suddenly he can buy back her equity and also pay back her loan. He just seemed like a grifter to me when all was said and done.

The weirdest aspect of the whole thing was the 'management candidate'. Who was she? Why was she there? Who found her? Did they pay her or was the TV gig the reason she agreed to do this initially? We know she was hired because she was the only one left standing when the show ended (and didn't she look happy in her new job? lol). 

Last episode was about owners who were kinda sluglike and uninspired and uninterested. This episode was the same but so much worse. I hope this isn't a trend.

 

[Koalagirl]

What an asshole of a manchild.  He needed his shrew of a girlfriend to protect him from Lilia? She had no right to be involved in any way because she had no skin in the game.  I feel bad for his kids because he’s a poor example of a responsible human being. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

From some of the behind-the-scenes about previous episodes, the production company screens applications, and Marcus has very little information coming into the business.          This episode was such a waste of time and money, except for the bizarre story about Tommy, his various women friends, and the business. 

After two episodes this season, and both with apathetic business owners, I'm hoping the other episodes this season aren't the same. 

Edited August 19, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[qtpye]

10 hours ago, I Want My MBTV said:

This was a total WTF episode. Thomas was a POS.  How the heck was he pulling all these women right and left?  It was like he was some sort of cult leader.  The new "girlfriend" was totally just there for drama and to push Lila's buttons and make her look bad on behalf of poor sensitive soul Thomas.  Does she live in Oregon now too?  I wanted to smack her smug little face. I didn't understand why the management "candidate" was in all the meetings and doing work when she didn't even have a job.  I felt sorry for that one employee who never spoke.  I hope he left and got another job elsewhere.

The only reason why that place stayed in business was the location.  I don't know how Thomas thought he could franchise that but then if he could find more suckers in love with him to give him money who knows.   I didn't understand how Marcus just came up with this number of $140K for Lila and she was like "that's great I'm happy" - did she get the money?  from where did it come?  If it was that easy to buy her out why hadn't Thomas done it already? other than he sucked?  And sorry Lila was still in love with him.   She wasn't trying to buy a job she was trying to buy a relationship.   She needs to invest whatever money she has left in therapy.

I'm sure a lot of good came out of the PPP loans for places that deserved it but you always see where they went to people like this bozo who can't even be bothered to show up.  

All the episode did was make me angry. 

 

 

9 hours ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I agree with what everyone said above but I could not get over the music. It's like a new production company took over and thought they were filming for MTV. It was awful. This is a show about struggling businesses etc, not The Hills. They need to stop that with a quickness. 

I also think, based on what we know from past production, that the production company picks the businesses and Marco has very little info going in. If that is still true then they picked this business for all the wrong reasons.

As for the content, it was barely a show. They took almost all the 'business' out of it and replaced it with what Marcos aptly termed 'telenovela'.  I don't know what they are playing at but I hope this was a one off and they return to a more normal format next week.

Mr Wanna Be A Rich Hippie was such a slug I cannot fathom why at least four women fell in love with him unless he has money or other assets we are not privy to.  He pretty much just wanted to be on the show to get Marcus to give him money and fix everything while he sat back and made no effort. I also want to point out that he had a) a prime beach location for his store, b) probably lived in a prime location as well, and c) apparently a great house in Bend Oregon.  He also probably had some serious child support going on. This guy had money coming in from somewhere but couldn't be bothered to pay back Lilia until Marcos negotiated the settlement. Then suddenly he can buy back her equity and also pay back her loan. He just seemed like a grifter to me when all was said and done.

The weirdest aspect of the whole thing was the 'management candidate'. Who was she? Why was she there? Who found her? Did they pay her or was the TV gig the reason she agreed to do this initially? We know she was hired because she was the only one left standing when the show ended (and didn't she look happy in her new job? lol). 

Last episode was about owners who were kinda sluglike and uninspired and uninterested. This episode was the same but so much worse. I hope this isn't a trend.

 

Seriously, are there no men left in California?

In a state known for buff handsome guys, this piece of shit pulls in multiple sugar mamas?

He does not even have a good personality.

I bet you he has stayed in business because he has conned many women out of money and free labor.

I am also confused about what happened with the silent partner. Did Marcus pay off all the loans?

I agree that the new format is jarring.

I think it is supposed to go along with the new “hip and cool Marcus”.

I hate his new clothes. The popped up collar are cringe worthy ( he’s not the Fonze) and I honestly thought he spilled white paint on the sweater he was wearing this episode.

Edited August 19, 2021 by qtpye

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, qtpye said:

I honestly thought he spilled white paint on the sweater he was wearing this episode.

I wondered about that - it was on purpose? When he got up the first time, I said "Did he get some schmutz on his sweater?"

[hoosiermommy]

My “sympathies” to the girlfriend who didn’t realize that, after two months ex-wives and a “not girlfriend” investor he was trying to get rid of, she was temp.or.ary. 

[sskrill]

Jeebus this episode was awful.

His new little shit stirring girlfriend was a massive see you next Tuesday - I'm guessing he's dumped her by now, unless of course she has money.  

Speaking of money, where does he get the money to maintain his lifestyle?

Lilia was a piece of work but I can't blame her for losing her shit a few times.  So his girlfriend had never come around till she knew the film crew would be there, then she shows up and immediately starts needling Lilia?  Thomas should have told her to take a walk - it was not her business and her sole intent was clearly to upset Lilia.

Do better Marcus.

[seacliffsal]

The guy is a scammer, plain and simple.  He got $300,000 from Lilia and then can't meet with her because his feeling will be hurt so has shark girlfriend there for "support."  I bet that $300,000 went towards that house in Bend-that was a nice house.  He also tried to set up Marcus but Marcus didn't fall completely for it.  I'm surprised that Marcus helped him at all, but he was probably directed to by production.  I bet that guy plays poor pitiful me to rope in women (and whoever else will fall for it).  Oh, my ex-wives and ex-girlfriends are so mean to me and I just need support and money... We see it all the time on Judge Judy and The People's Court, there are many, many women who just can't wait to give all of their money to some sad sack of a loser and then are SHOCKED when the relationship doesn't work out.  I also have no idea how Lilia had so much money to give to this loser (just like the women on Dr. Phil's catfish/scammer shows).  

This guy probably saw himself as a top-notch scammer/manipulator because he found these women and then thought he could bamboozle Marcus as well.  I hope he ends of having to sell and that Lilia at least gets some of her money back.

Irritating episode and I really, really wish Marcus had just walked away.

I was also irritated by how many shots of Santa Monica we got (I get it, there's an ocean and many other pretty things to look at), as I'm really just interested in the businesses, etc.  Oh, and I agree about the paint splattered shirt.  But, I guess it's better than the broken-heart sweaters.  I miss the days when Marcus dressed like he was going to a business meeting (which he is doing) and looked more professional throughout the episode, but I guess that's not 'cool' enough...

[qtpye]

On 8/19/2021 at 9:07 PM, seacliffsal said:

The guy is a scammer, plain and simple.  He got $300,000 from Lilia and then can't meet with her because his feeling will be hurt so has shark girlfriend there for "support."  I bet that $300,000 went towards that house in Bend-that was a nice house.  He also tried to set up Marcus but Marcus didn't fall completely for it.  I'm surprised that Marcus helped him at all, but he was probably directed to by production.  I bet that guy plays poor pitiful me to rope in women (and whoever else will fall for it).  Oh, my ex-wives and ex-girlfriends are so mean to me and I just need support and money... We see it all the time on Judge Judy and The People's Court, there are many, many women who just can't wait to give all of their money to some sad sack of a loser and then are SHOCKED when the relationship doesn't work out.  I also have no idea how Lilia had so much money to give to this loser (just like the women on Dr. Phil's catfish/scammer shows).  

This guy probably saw himself as a top-notch scammer/manipulator because he found these women and then thought he could bamboozle Marcus as well.  I hope he ends of having to sell and that Lilia at least gets some of her money back.

Irritating episode and I really, really wish Marcus had just walked away.

I was also irritated by how many shots of Santa Monica we got (I get it, there's an ocean and many other pretty things to look at), as I'm really just interested in the businesses, etc.  Oh, and I agree about the paint splattered shirt.  But, I guess it's better than the broken-heart sweaters.  I miss the days when Marcus dressed like he was going to a business meeting (which he is doing) and looked more professional throughout the episode, but I guess that's not 'cool' enough...

To bad he could not get Marcus to fall in love with him.

Edited August 21, 2021 by qtpye

[Andyourlittledog2]

Has anyone found out why this place was called 'Grey Block Pizza'?  I cannot imagine anything less appetizing than a grey block of anything. And that salad pizza looked so limp and soggy and unappetizing.

Clearly I am not their target demographic, but the whole place seemed sad and weird and unappetizing.

But 'grey block'?

[qtpye]

15 minutes ago, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Has anyone found out why this place was called 'Grey Block Pizza'?  I cannot imagine anything less appetizing than a grey block of anything. And that salad pizza looked so limp and soggy and unappetizing.

Clearly I am not their target demographic, but the whole place seemed sad and weird and unappetizing.

But 'grey block'?

That salad pizza looked disgusting. It felt like he had an old salad bag in his refrigerator and dumped it all over the crust.

[Moose135]

I didn't get the salad pizza thing at all. But then, I'm more of a pepperoni kind of guy myself.

I poked around a little, and according to a couple of tweets from Marcus after the show ran, neither he nor Lilia have been paid back.

[Orillia]

Whatever happened to the days when this was a half decent business show  ?

[CrazyInAlabama]

On 8/20/2021 at 8:58 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Has anyone found out why this place was called 'Grey Block Pizza'?  I cannot imagine anything less appetizing than a grey block of anything. And that salad pizza looked so limp and soggy and unappetizing.

Clearly I am not their target demographic, but the whole place seemed sad and weird and unappetizing.

But 'grey block'?

I read that Grey Block refers to where some employees used to be incarcerated, (prison), at least in the early days of the business.      That actually is the only definition I could find. 

[HelloOutThere]

Random thoughts:

- Tommy is on track to age into Harvey Weinstein-looking creature. Honestly I think his voice takes him a long way. I could see how his voice is attractive in isolation.

- I agree that this was a “drama episode,” but the scene in the office when the gf is watching Lilia count money, and the girl starts with “I’m appalled…” and Lilia screams “STFU!!!!” = reality TV GOLD. 😂😂 I rewound it twice.

- I respect his biz sense but I find Marcus very unappealing and lacking self awareness. He looks absolutely ridiculous in his “fashion” outfits like the splattered paint top. Even the leather jacket in the intro looks wrong. You’re not cool, Marcus! You’re not a trend setter! Stick to classy biz casual, it’s easy and flattering to pear shapes. And lose those Anna Wintour glasses please, “madam”! (Seinfeld reference.

[Amarsir]

I didn't mind the girlfriend nearly as much as some of you, but I definitely agree she shouldn't have been there. (In multiple ways.) She was caught between a boyfriend who didn't want to do any work and his ex-girlfriend holding money over his head. So I don't blame her for butting heads with Lila. Nor Lila for pushing back.

She should absolutely ditch him though. That is, if he didn't just ghost her when he bugged out to Oregon. Which seems to be his m.o.

[ChristmasJones]

What bothered me the most was they painted the building bright blue.  I was expecting Marcus to make a comment about it.  Seeing the words "Grey Box Pizza" on a bright blue box-shaped building seemed wrong.

I saw this guy as a grifter as well who tried to pull the same games on Marcus as all these women. I enjoyed watching him fail spectacularly.  I loved when Marcus went off on him in the parking lot saying "I will make you deal right here in front of everyone" - he was getting a bit sassy there!

[TVbitch]

On 8/18/2021 at 12:22 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I agree with what everyone said above but I could not get over the music. It's like a new production company took over and thought they were filming for MTV. It was awful. This is a show about struggling businesses etc, not The Hills. They need to stop that with a quickness. 

Also can't take the musical interludes. I noticed it straight away in episode one when Marcus took the loan documents into the war room to study them (sure, Jan) and some god awful generic rock music kicked in. I was like, what in the holy hell is this?! Is this like the music video interlude where Marcus is cool because he is writing on a white board to some tepid rock tune! 

I don't think I can continue watching the show, but on a positive note, hey, at least Marcus is not wearing the stupid heart sweaters any more!

[JayDub1987]

I just got around to watching this one during the Sunday marathon CNBC is running today. I missed the original airing, and now I wish I had missed the repeat. Thomas was an absolute dildo (hopefully that term's allowed here). The new girlfriend was a twat (I'm trying to be nice) who had no say in anything but somehow inserted herself constantly. 

What did we learn from this episode? That you can be an average (at best) looking guy with a horrible personality and can still pick up women because they're attracted to guys who own struggling pizza shops. Jesus.

[Annifran]

I often stopped at the Grey Block Pizza when I would be in Santa Monica.  Originally, it was named Abbot's.  As I remember, Abbot's first located on Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice (with excellent reviews) opened this second Pico Blvd. location.  In approximately 2012, there was a management split with the Pico Blvd. location changing it's name to Grey Block Pizza.  I never gave much thought to the new name, but I would assume it got it's name because the building it's in looks like a concrete block building painted in a grey tone.  Just my guess.

Their pizzas were enormous, thus so were the slices which seemed to be the majority of their walk-in business.   It really wasn't an attractive place to dine but rather just grab slices to go with counter ordering.  There usually were about 8-10 ready-made pizzas to choose from, some rather unusual for that time period.  They were well known for their salad pizza way back then.  Haven't been in that area for several years, thus no current information.  But it was very good pizza, crust and all.

[qtpye]

On 8/18/2021 at 2:30 PM, I Want My MBTV said:

This was a total WTF episode. Thomas was a POS.  How the heck was he pulling all these women right and left?  It was like he was some sort of cult leader.  The new "girlfriend" was totally just there for drama and to push Lila's buttons and make her look bad on behalf of poor sensitive soul Thomas.  Does she live in Oregon now too?  I wanted to smack her smug little face. I didn't understand why the management "candidate" was in all the meetings and doing work when she didn't even have a job.  I felt sorry for that one employee who never spoke.  I hope he left and got another job elsewhere.

The only reason why that place stayed in business was the location.  I don't know how Thomas thought he could franchise that but then if he could find more suckers in love with him to give him money who knows.   I didn't understand how Marcus just came up with this number of $140K for Lila and she was like "that's great I'm happy" - did she get the money?  from where did it come?  If it was that easy to buy her out why hadn't Thomas done it already? other than he sucked?  And sorry Lila was still in love with him.   She wasn't trying to buy a job she was trying to buy a relationship.   She needs to invest whatever money she has left in therapy.

I'm sure a lot of good came out of the PPP loans for places that deserved it but you always see where they went to people like this bozo who can't even be bothered to show up.  

All the episode did was make me angry. 

 

Yeah, the main takeaway is that if you are in the market for a sugar mama…head west young( or not so young) man.

[Kira53]

What a grifter!  He was trying to bully Marcus to give him money w/o basic numbers.

 I agree with someone earlier who wondered if Lilia financed that beautiful home. I’m so doubtful about this sociopath that I wonder if there are really kids?  He seems like an incredible liar. I was really amazed at how he thought he could push Marcus to give him money when he seems like an incredible liar. I was really amazed at how he thought he could push Marcus to give him money when he knew nothing  about the basic unprofitability of his business.

I think the idea that he wanted to franchise was just some thing he threw out to production to get them to have Marcus come in. I don’t think Marcus is really interested in just one little pizza parlor but if there was a franchise opportunity that would be of interest to him investing in. 

 is this a new production company? Because it does seem like production knew there would be drama and picked this owner and location for that very reason. Stevie Wonder could see that Lilia was not a uninterested silent partner but a desperate woman. She was so correct in saying that she knew what he was like when he didn’t show up for their first date and ghosted her.   He probably had done a pretty good job of getting to her heart in the phone calls and texting before that first date.   She was hurt by him not showing up and she was hooked before the first date.  when he didn’t show and then finally got in touch she wanted to make him care about her again. He had already spotted that she was a softy with some extra money that he thought he could eventually get his hold on. It would seem like she inherited the money or got it in a divorce because she was not coming up across as a businesswoman. I don’t think she even had him sign loan papers.  He agreed to pay her back and signed the papers with Marcus because he wasn’t going to pay her back. At the time I wondered why he was so agreeable.

Edited September 30, 2021 by Kira53