S04.E03: The Soup Market

[Showthyme]

Spoiler

 

An employee filed an EEOC complaint against my former employer. For the most part, everyone was extremely cautious when talking to or about the employee. No one wanted to be a part of the complaint. Therefore, it didn't surprise me that the employees did not want to talk about Grace. 

The wife walked around like she was the company warden. I suspect that there will be a few Graces in her future.

I liked the soup concept and even adding in some more healthy options. The pretzel was a nice touch but most people expect bread. The decor remodel was too dark. It didn't feel like a soup place at all.  Too bad the deal didn't work out. There would be soup franchises everywhere. 

Edited September 9, 2016 by Showthyme
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[selhars]

Quote

 I think owner Dave should obvi offer a mix of light and healthy soups with a more "stick to your ribs" kind of fare depending on the season.  

Maybe highlight more lighter, thinner, less caloric soups during summer?  Fresh (cold) cucumber soup? or something similar, refreshing would have hit the spot this month or last.  

 I have no prob with that, it's pretty much common sense. Every chain from Cozi, to Au Bon Pain, to Panera does that. But I'd still have thick hearty soups eve in summer" A cafe here like one I mentioned above has the thick kale turkey wild rice in summer and it still sells. BUT that's not what Marcus said. he wanted to just do light and healthy. And I agree that he should know better. Which leads me to…..the topic of his ego…..

I know it's his show, and his money. And much as I love him -- Marcus, my love, you can't know EVERYTHING about EVERY business. SOmetimes he wants to improve what's there (Mr Green Tea). Other times he it seems he just wants the name and the stores -- because he changes everything about the business he SAID he was interested in.

I think Dave not knowing the financials is totally because -- as he said-- the BUSINESS partner who handled the BUSINESS part, died. Now Dave should have figured out a way to GET up to speed. BUT clearly that's not his interest -- OR his skill set, at all.

As for Grace and this show I don't know how much is producer driven. WHY DID Grace just show up that day. DID she just show up -- or was she going to be there anyway, filming or not? AND these "phone calls" that Marcus gets. You mean to tell me these people -- i.e. Grace just happened  to call him on his cell phone while he happened to be filming for a follow up. CLEARLY, that is set up. What else's is set up? I suppose if Marcus called them from a cell phone he uses for the show, then they'd have that number in their cell phone to call back. Maybe the producers say "call marcus at this time." But he seems to act like, they just happened to call him…..

I've forgotten what next week's show will be. I'll be watching. But I sometimes I just don't know what to make of Marcus' attitude, which can be extremely arrogant, and it's not a pretty look. There is a way to be "100 percent in charge" and NOT be an asshole about it. I don't like Marcus when he's pompous. 

Oh, and I don't like The Simple Greek decor either. I don't care how many franchises they've sold. It IS stark, and a bit plain. And can we have an update on "Standard Burger?" "and Stein Meats, well I guess at this point it'd be an update on the lawsuit over Brooklyn Burger. 

[qtpye]

I really like this show, but this whole thing seemed fake to me.  Yes, there were renovations, but why the hell would Marcus want to move forward with that creepy guy, who was not open to any of his suggestions?

I wonder if the reno was a tax write off?  I think this place was picked, because the producers were certain of the drama and If Marcus has a business out of this....well all the better.

For the creepy owner being so dark about the financials, it was worth noting the business was not struggling.  If the numbers were true, then the guy was doing pretty well and maybe some of the changes were not warranted?

The whole episode left a bad taste in my mouth for many reasons and I usually love Marcus.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

I'm Sorry, Dave; I'm Afraid The Profit Can't Do That

Will there be no soup for Marcus Lemonis and his latest prickly investment partner? And other not-quite-burning questions.

[selhars]

Exactly right. That the business part of it didn't really need any heavy handed wholesale changes.

ADD some additional soups. TWEAK the current soups and make them healthier IF you can, sure. But they ARE selling as is.

Marcus was to full of himself when it came to the soup recipes, IMO. ANd utterly condescending in an area that IS NOT his expertise.

[ethalfrida]

Yes, I agree some of his statements about the soup were way off. We have Soup Plantation here and it is one of the best options for dining out. Thick soups, then soups, veggie soups, meat soups, you name it. And the choice to eat there vary from wanting something healthy and hearty to something light and whatever. Is there anything better than a thick bowl of chili? Or a light chicken soup? With some great bread options? And a salad? Dessert?

[tobeannounced]

I literally laughed out loud when Marcus said he cooks too.  He's like that friend who has to one-up you on everything.  He bragged in the same way to the graphic t-shirt dude - well, my clothing stores sell millions.  And his self-righteousness about the healthier soups was a bit much.  He babbled something about corporate responsibility and not harming people.  Two words - Sweet Pete's.  White sugar is from the devil, IMHO.

[speac]

Personally I don't think a person would invest in as many food businesses as Marcus has if he didn't have a deep interest in food and cooking.  There are a lot of other businesses that are less risky than restaurant or food related businesses.  If you miss a changing trend in consumer tastes or even refuse to change because it's the way you want to cook, you are going to face an empty restaurant regardless how good your food is. .  Diners are just going to find another place to eat that fits their needs better  and you will be out of business 

As for why someone like Dave would appear on TV--it speaks to a serious lack of self awareness.   He just doesn't see a problem with how he does business or apparently lives his personal life so he doesn't care what havoc he causes in other people's lives (his wife, employees and business associates) as long as he is content.

[Cranky One]

The thing with Dave not knowing his numbers (and the partner passed away at least a year before this was filmed) is that employees could totally be ripping him off and he would have no clue. Look at how many people embezzle the company they work for and a lot of times it's been for years before they get caught. Dave's ripe for the picking. As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a Maroon!". (I just love saying that online! One of these days, I'm going to use that in person lol)

[fib]

22 hours ago, Cranky One said:

Look at how many people embezzle the company they work for and a lot of times it's been for years before they get caught. Dave's ripe for the picking

Grace, party of 1.  

(In more than 1 way)

[KHenry14]

This show was wrong on a lot of levels. The mere fact that there is a lawsuit in the middle of this would have had me bail. But a stubborn owner who doesn't know his business and is reluctant to change would make me leave too.

Frankly the business concept is decent. Where I live there is a restaurant called Soup Plantation, and frankly it stinks. The soups are incredibly watery and bland, and frankly there is nothing there that I would be happy eating. With that said, IMO you can make this concept work. Have a half dozen healthy soups, with vegan options and also include a mild chili. Feature crusty homemade bread, and offer a salad bar. This could work, but only if they really make their soups from scratch. If it even hints at being canned I would be out of there. 

IMO, there are few things as satisfying as a beautiful homemade soup. Someone should be able to take advantage of this market

[Lola16]

• Panera Bread
• Au Bon Pain
• Souper Salad
• Zoup
• The Soup Kitchen
• Souplantation
• Hale & Hearty

I think some people are in this market already.  Add to it, all the grilled cheese places, it's not a new concept.  Marcus can do better.

[ae2]

6 hours ago, Lola16 said:

• Panera Bread
• Au Bon Pain
• Souper Salad
• Zoup
• The Soup Kitchen
• Souplantation
• Hale & Hearty

I think some people are in this market already.  Add to it, all the grilled cheese places, it's not a new concept.  Marcus can do better.

While Au Bon Pain and Panera serve a variety of soups, they both tend to be bakery places that serve soup rather than soup places. That's how they're perceived in my experience, and that's how they seem to market themselves. In other words, people tend to go there to get other items and soup is an add on, rather than going there to get soup.

None of the others have locations anywhere near me, so I can't really comment on them except that they all seem to be relatively small chains still.

Souplantation has ~ 120 locations, Au Bon Pain around 250, the others significantly fewer.

Panera has 2000 locations.

I think Marcus views the soup market as similar to the fast casual burger about 15 years ago. Lots of regional success but no clear winner yet. It's a proven concept - the regional success of the soup chains shows this. It's a high margin restaurant concept, probably higher than burgers since your primary meal item is batch cooked. There's not a nation wide market leader that focuses predominantly on soup. Add in the healthy food hook just for fun.

The market is primed for someone to rise up and grow rapidly the way Five Guys did.

Marcus isn't looking for new concepts most of the time. When he does restaurant deals he seems to be looking for a proven concept that has the potential to expand to 1000+ locations nationwide and become a billion dollar business.

It's easy to see why he would be interested in a soup joint. It's a whole lot harder to understand why he didn't walk away from this mess sooner.

[mojito]

I will never understand the appeal of Panera Bread. Of course, I'm someone who would find a soup restaurant more appealing if I knew that they were serving up soft pretzels instead of bread.

I agree with the person who mentioned that the employees probably had to dummy up when it came to Grace. I watched HR tiptoe around me while they were trying to investigate something that happened in an office that I shared with someone involved in an incident. Lips were sealed.

I enjoyed this episode. I chuckled a lot. It had mystery and passion and lies and soup.

One other thing. Look at Grace. Look at Dave. Affair? Seriously?

[sarthaz]

Two things that stood out for me:

1) Marcus's trademark hypocrisy.  He spends 10 minutes belittling Dave for not sharing his manufactured social responsibility to serve healthier food, and then BAM!  Giant dessert pretzels everywhere!  I want to see the nutritional breakdown of one of those.

2) Marcus's unwavering trust in Grace, who was clearly a high-strung nutcase.  I don't doubt for a second that Dave behaved inappropriately (and should face whatever consequences are fitting), but Grace was a walking, yelling red flag.  Maybe it's all in the editing, since he was bailing on the deal, but the second she barged in like the Kool-aid Man and declared "I'm Grace", it was clear that she's all kinds of trouble.

[seacliffsal]

I agree with sarthaz in that if we really want to see if Marcus has an understanding of people, all we have to do is watch him defend and support Grace.  I also agree with others about Marcus knowing 100% about all businesses.  I thought the makeover was horrible.  Out dated, dark, and confusing.  Just a nice coat of paint in a pleasing color, and a clear menu board would have been much better.  I agree about keeping the soups that were popular (and yes, there should have been an accounting process for determining which soups were selling and in what quantites), and providing some lighter options.

[PBSLover]

I actually liked the redo. The wood added warmth.

[piccadilly83]

I think it's really unfortunate that some people want to drag Grace's name through the mud because of this appearance.  Yes, she may have a criminal record, but like Attica says, that really has nothing to do with this issue.  Why did she stay?  Why should she not stay?  She was a great employee who really loved the business and the work she was doing.  She had good relations with all of the employees.  The problem was her boss, which might cause a lot of people to run scared, but she isn't built like that.  And the idea that she would have to act like some wilting violet in order for people to believe she could have been sexually harassed...really? I don't even consider myself an active feminist and I find this statement to be pretty revolting.

Grace may have made the whole thing up and just be a big fat liar, but from what I've seen that's highly unlikely.  Dave admitted to having inappropriate feelings for her and he admitted to trying to push her out of the business as a way to appease his wife's concerns.  He also repeatedly try to hide this fact from Marcus and requested his employees lie about it as well. On a shallow level Grace is cute and fit while Dave is hardly the best looking man in Milwaukee. Also, personality wise I found Grace to be together, professional, and business minded.  I'm not surprised she didn't walk around like a wilting violet - she saw no reason to be one because she did nothing wrong.  Good for her I say.

[Lola16]

Grace's criminal record was for stealing from 2 prior businesses where she worked. So that is very relevant to this show.  The employees when asked about Grace waffled and hedged. There was no glowing praise or undying devotion.  Grace supposedly was the operations manager and the stores sucked in terms of ops.

Grace is thin. Dave is fat. So Grace must be telling the truth. Gotcha.

[piccadilly83]

No, more like Dave was shady the whole fricking episode and none of the employees seemed comfortable telling the truth when he was present.  When they were out and alone with Marcus, no one trashed Grace.  And the relevance of Grace stealing from previous businesses is just a red herring when Dave himself has cast no aspersions towards Grace on this matter. You don't think he would have dropped that bit of info knowing it would help his case against her being an unfit employee?  They were clearly two good friends who arrived at an impasse in their relationship. Why it has to be, Grace is a big fat mistress slut who's lying about their relationship is a mystery to me. 

Edited September 28, 2016 by piccadilly83

[Lola16]

Dave was shady. So was Grace. Didn't see any instances of employees praising Grace. Not trashing doesn't equal praising.

I don't recall anyone calling Grace big or fat on this board.

What Grace's and Dave's exact relationship was, that's still a mystery. We can all have our guesses but it's just that.

[Puddy]

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 9:52 AM, toodles said:

This episode made me go hmmmm.  It was pretty obvious that Dave and Grace had an affair.  Why she would want this guy is beyond me but whatever.

I thought Marcus phoned this one in.  I get that he may have wanted a business in his college town, but this one?  Not so much.

This guy fired Marcus.  Why didn't he just say screw you and leave?  Hmmmm.

Ummm, she did not want him.  She wanted her part of the business.  She had to have been the wife/fiancée/girlfriend of the now deceased co-owner.  She was not going to get squeezed out and she had way better advice than Dave. 

A long time ago, I was told, "You can lie to your priest but never, ever lie to your lawyer."

I don't know if the dude had a lawyer but she sure did.

And he played right into her hands.

On ‎9‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 6:01 PM, Lola16 said:

Dave was shady. So was Grace. Didn't see any instances of employees praising Grace. Not trashing doesn't equal praising.

I don't recall anyone calling Grace big or fat on this board.

What Grace's and Dave's exact relationship was, that's still a mystery. We can all have our guesses but it's just that.

No one is going to praise the boss's side chick. 

If he was just a creep that made advances, Grace would have been treated differently by the employees.  No one had her back.  That tells me she was not liked. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by Puddy

[Christina]

Grace wasn't related to the deceased partner. She was involved in a separate business with Dave and then joined in the soup business after the business partner died. Other than her embezzlement issues, it sounded like the other employers thought she did a good job with business management. She was married to the same man for several years, and he had moved to another state for work while she stayed behind. Although it didn't say why anywhere that I read, I came to the conclusion she was still on parole and couldn't go with him. After this episode aired, she was interviewed and she had moved to the state with her husband. She claimed that she contacted The Profit because she saw the opportunity for this business, and even after her employment ended the way it did, she said she still thinks it has a great future. It is the type of business I would consider franchising, if I was interested in becoming a franchisee of a business. This or the tea one, but not with the original owner.

In one of the discussions about this show, there were comments made by some of the family members of the deceased man. Reading them, it didn't seem that Grace was the major issue, it was Dave's wife. Dave was good as a chef but not the business side, and the other man was a great businessman. They both stayed in their own lanes in the partnership. Once he passed, the wife tried to step into that position because she didn't want her husband to be around Grace, since he had admitted he was attracted to her. Her income was also supporting their family while this business income was tied up in the estate issues. She had become quite bitter about the whole thing, the deceased man's family wasn't being given any consideration, and asked to be bought out at a rate Dave said was less than half of what he believed the entire business was worth, but he hadn't done it because the wife said, "No." 

There was a lot of hurt, anger and hard feelings that made that business toxic, and The Profit didn't show it all to us. While watching the show, but before I read the behind the scenes stuff, I thought that Dave had acted inappropriately toward Grace and his wife was blaming Grace for it. After reading all the behind the scenes stuff, I think they were both willing participants in flirtations, and both were shady as hell. 

[LennieBriscoe]

Chiming in all this time later to say: Thank you for the "2001: A Space Odyssey" allusion as the review title!

Love, HAL.

[Thrifty]

It was a shame this didn't work out.  Those soups looked good, and it would've been nice to have a national soup chain.  There is a soup place here in Indianapolis, right on Monument Circle about a block from my office.  It's called Soupremacy.  They have a rotating menu of I think 12 different soups.  The crab bisque is simply divine.  I prefer creamy soups, so light and brothy types kinda turn me off and give me headaches.

[Showthyme]

I forgot about this episode. I wonder whatever happened to the lawsuit with Grace.  Grace should have seen an employment attorney sooner. At a minimum, there was a hostile work environment.

The husband and wife deserved each other. He was passive aggressive and secretive and she was a highly suspicious stalker.

The restaurant redo, healthier options, and pretzel suggestion made it a restaurant that I would frequent. The fact that the owner didn't want to use the POS system told me that he likes to hid things financially too. He is childlike and wants people to guess every little thing that he is up too. Too bad, only his wife is interested. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I am watching the reruns today, and this one came on.   I wondered about if Soup Market still exists, and it is still open, has several local outlets, and the same menu it always had.    Grace finally moved to California, and I think her lawsuit is still going on, at least that's what the article says.