S02.E15: Shuler's BBQ

[caligirl50]

That wasn't at all defined in the show.....sarcasm.

[Amarsir]

He may have had an impressive PR background but that isn't what Shuler's needed to spend several hundred thousand on a year on. The PR they already had from word of mouth was far more impressive then facebook or tv ads could get them. They needed a manager which Ewell didn't want to do.

I don't think anyone disputes that. But the man got a goofball edit and I think Marcus is equally to blame. It should have been handled by Marcus saying "Ewell you seem like a great guy for an office job, but we don't have any of those." Instead he was passive-aggressive and Ewell was trying to balance being supportive against knowing he didn't fit.

We all side with the owners here but I think "not wanting to let down family" goes in both directions and Marcus was the one without any ties.

Edited February 17, 2015 by Amarsir

[caligirl50]

I agree.

BUT when Ewell was asked the question, what do you want to do here, he couldn't say the words.  

Once Marcus showed up, the restaurant's profit/loss numbers were being thrown around freely.  Ewell has ears.  The restaurant didn't have the $ to give him what he needed even if he could describe what he wanted to do.

He kept saying he wanted to branch out.  I think Ewell's idea was to bring Marcus in to help fund a franchise business or multiple locations. 

Edited February 18, 2015 by caligirl50

[nobodyyoucare]

I don't think anyone disputes that. But the man got a goofball edit and I think Marcus is equally to blame. It should have been handled by Marcus saying "Ewell you seem like a great guy for an office job, but we don't have any of those." Instead he was passive-aggressive and Ewell was trying to balance being supportive against knowing he didn't fit.

We all side with the owners here but I think "not wanting to let down family" goes in both directions and Marcus was the one without any ties.

Ewell did agree to a manager position but didn't show up to do the work. Marcus kept asking what Ewell wanted yet Ewell never answered to any satisfaction. 

[selhars]

I'm not saying Ewell didn't get a bad edit. Myabe he did. But I'm still amazed that someone so on the ball, who is some great PR whiz, seemed to be so inarticulate.

IF he had planned for franchising, and Marcus said that's not the plan....Yes, I CAN see Ewell being thrown for a loop. But he didn't even explain HIS OWN marketing that well. If HE is an "idea guy" then I don't know what to say about that. When he said he was thinking about bringing in a consultant -- before Marcus even chuckled I was thinking "consultant" they dont' need a frigging consultant. Duh -- MARCUS IS the consultant (so to speak) 

 

Clearly, we see Ewell mention other ideas besides Facebook, but he didn't seem competent to me -- I don't' care WHAT state board he chaired. If that's the way I came off, I'd be embarrassed UNDER the floor. Some people say he just wanted to cash in on his SIL and BIL's hard work. But I'm not going to go there. But he also didn't man up and acknowledge that there was no place for him -- yet. Maybe there would be in the future.....if Shulers were to ever get big enough to NEED a full time PR or media person -- then he could do that. But for where they are now, they just don't need that.

 

As for the deck...there MUST have been a permit, or setback reason (and cost consideration of course) as to why Marcus didn't expand the INSIDE seating. What the place needed more than a deck -- was an addition and more RESTAURANT seating..... What happens when people are enjoying the deck or they have a big event there -- and it starts to rain. There's no room for people to go inside.

Edited February 24, 2015 by selhars

[nobodyyoucare]

From what it looked like on the outside the only way to expand was to go out to the sides and back to the water. The deck would be the easiest. In that climate they would typically have over a 100 days of use. 

[caligirl50]

Marcus recently posted expansion plans for inside seating/remodeling Shuler's on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.  

[Tiffanys]

where?

[selhars]

Looking at the restaurant from the road, it looked like there was more land to the right. So I thought they should have expanded the restaurant itself to that side -- where he was putting the general store.I think there was some room on the left, but not as much. You probably can't come too much closer to the road. And of course you have to leave enough open space for all the parking, when the place -- especially the new bigger place is full. Maybe he also bought some adjacent lot.

[nobodyyoucare]

The plans online I cannot zoom in to see what is written. Anyone got a link to a better resolution of the plans? https://www.facebook.com/marcus.lemonis

[KissThis]

Ewell is a self entitled idiot. That is all. You have to do better than freakin facebooking!!! And who doesn't have brisket on a bbq menu!

[caligirl50]

It was unclear how long Ewell and Lynn's sister had been staying in Latta before Marcus got there but since their in-laws were the owners, you would think he would have discussed what he wanted/needed BEFORE Marcus got there.  Ewell's talking to Marcus about his role, or better, not putting into words what he wanted his role to be, seems kind of dumb to me.

If we are to believe that it really was a year (in his email to Lynn and Norton, Ewell wrote "the past year."), that's a long time to be working on behalf of someone's business without establishing what you want.  At the end of the episode, the sister wouldn't take Lynn's calls. Did she and Ewell blame Lynn and Norton for not giving Ewell what he wanted or for not taking Ewell's side?  I hope their relationship is sorted out now.  I think it was suspect at the outset when Ewell's opening line to Marcus was, "Me and my wife said, 'let's go make a lot of money.'"

Edited February 27, 2015 by caligirl50

[scooter]

I hope that you people understand that Marcus is accustomed to working with the best and brightest business people. His mission is to help business owners of all stripes, and he is not a rude or berating tyrant. Quite the opposite. He does not mean to throw people under the bus, but he did not get to the position that he has by condoning incompetence in managers or by glossing over employees' deficiencies with flowery excuses.

Marcus gave Ewell plenty of opportunity to belong to the Shuler's business, even offering to him the post of general manager. It was Ewell that abandoned what little responsibility that he took on to help and left town in a huff, never to show his face again. He did not even contact Marcus about his decision except by the chickenshhht email that was read on the program.

Look, Ewell needed to kick Ewell's leeching, bloodsucking, money-hungry behind back to the backwoods where he learnt "post stuff on facebook" marketing. Seriously, Ewell wanted 200K / year (probably includes his wife on the payroll) to "post stuff on facebook"?? Marcus was kind by calmly stating that a 13-year-old could do the same. At the time, the Shuler's BBQ was only making 40K a year profit! That slimy shark drawing 200K annually would have sunk the business.

Marcus had it right to console the Shuler's that their family and business is better off without Ewell and his wife. I was happy to see the worthless lout piss off.

[Lola16]

 

I hope that you people understand that 

 

Always a good way to encourage an open dialogue.

 

 

  Marcus is accustomed to working with the best and brightest business people.

Marcus is accustomed to working with people of all levels.  He may choose to associate with the "best and brightest" but like the rest of us mere mortals, he encounters them all.

[selhars]

I hope that you people understand that

 

Exactly who is that addressed to?......most of the people here agree with you....that Ewell was incompetent and there was no place for him in the business. And, in fact, they said it before you did.  So I don't get the tone of your post. Did you read most of the previous posts? 

Edited April 28, 2015 by selhars

[Thrifty]

This was one of the few Marcus Lemonis businesses I visited.  I was living in northern Virginia for a while in early 2016 and got this overwhelming urge to visit "South of the Border" a notable tourist trap just off I-95 on the border between the Carolinas.  Well, Shuler's is only about 20 miles further south, so I added a visit there to my itinerary.

 

I was underwhelmed.  There was one buffet table for food, one for desert.  There wasn't that much food, and what they had all felt like stuff at a backyard barbecue.  The pulled pork tasted awful and vinegary.  The biscuits were small.  The gift shop was nice, as was the view.  The building itself is on a kind of desolate side road, so their success has to be due to a reputation that brings people around (I think I drove almost 400 miles to get there).

 

At any rate, it's a pretty mediocre place.

[Jesse]

Carolina pulled pork should be vinegary, imo, so was it "awful" beyond that?

[Thrifty]

On 6/22/2017 at 9:37 PM, Jesse said:

Carolina pulled pork should be vinegary, imo, so was it "awful" beyond that?

I didn't know that beforehand, but people did explain it to me later.  I guess I can't fault them for going with the regional norm.  I just think the regional norm is gross.  I strongly prefer Texas or Kansas City style, smothered in BBQ sauce.  There is a place a block away from my office that makes heavenly pulled pork. 

 

I think you would need someone who likes that Carolina kind of taste to give a more objective view on the quality of the pulled pork. 

[Jesse]

Fair enough!

[ae2]

On 6/22/2017 at 9:37 PM, Jesse said:

Carolina pulled pork should be vinegary, imo, so was it "awful" beyond that?

On 6/27/2017 at 8:34 AM, Thrifty said:

I didn't know that beforehand, but people did explain it to me later.  I guess I can't fault them for going with the regional norm.  I just think the regional norm is gross.  I strongly prefer Texas or Kansas City style, smothered in BBQ sauce.  There is a place a block away from my office that makes heavenly pulled pork. 

I think you would need someone who likes that Carolina kind of taste to give a more objective view on the quality of the pulled pork. 

I love that this experience perfectly exemplifies what Marcus pointed out about why BBQ restaurants are hard to franchise. There are big differences between what people expect from barbecue, mostly based on the region they were raised in.

I imagine that someday, someone will extract all the personality and flavor from barbecue and build a nationwide BBQ equivalent of Pizza Hut, complete with lifeless, listless food and cheese stuffed everything. And while I will surely love that the same way I love the likes of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, I'll still be inclined and required to travel 1000 miles to find the real thing.