S05.E05: Mr Cory's Cookies

[Thrifty]

I didn't hate this one as much as I expected.  Although a kid started this, his mother is very much running the business.  So that makes it easier to take seriously.

 

I don't know how they are going to improve their shelf life without adding preservatives.  I don't care about preservatives, but Lisa and Cory seem pretty dead set against them.

 

Also, I just realized that the board has an option specifically made to format subject headers for episode names.  Wish I had seen that earlier.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Thrifty

[BusyOctober]

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this one since sometimes "cute kid runs a biz" is obnoxious IMO.  I'm glad Marcus got Lisa to meet with other female business owners/ mentor types.  I think she is able to run that business with a little guidance from some experts.  I did have a big question though...their business is making very little money; a few thousand each year if I heard correctly.  While it's a good thing sales appear to increase year over year, their profit was hardly enough to support Lisa & Cory's household.  Lisa even said she hasn't taken a salary.  She said she has no other job except Mr. Cory's Cookies.  The licensing deal didn't seem to have paid out very much in the year (but I may have missed the financials there).  So, how did she pay for rent, utilities, groceries, supplies for cookies & whatever else on a non-paying job before Marcus came along?  I thought maybe she had relatives helping out, but she said she grew up in foster care & came across as she and Cory being a team of 2.  

Once the process is in place & sales start picking up, Marcus will probably hook up Cory & Lisa with one of his other food companies - Sweet Pete's for example. And maybe get Lisa to invent a dog friendly cookie to sell in his pet stores.

[Gregg247]

I enjoyed this episode much more than I thought I would.  Cory wasn't irritating at all (despite being a 13 year old!) and his mom seemed to have her head around making the business successful.  This was also one of those episodes where the business wasn't really in trouble, they were just small and needed some assistance in getting to the next level (training, money, direction).

I was afraid the licensing company guys were going to be the villains, but I'm glad they didn't do that.  The deal they worked out prior to Marcus' involvement wasn't terrible.  The company had made $12k, $16k, and $28k in the past 3 years.  This licensing company was guaranteeing a minimum of $40k for up to 3 years.  That sounded like a big step up at the time, I'm sure.  Of course, when a billionaire like Marcus suddenly shows up, the deal looks penny-ante, but prior to that, its not bad.  It would have given mom and son 3 years of good income while working at improving their business/learning more about how to grow it.

The best part of the show was in the "outtake" during the commercial break.  Cory wanted to open a retail store and Marcus quickly taught him how to evaluate whether that was a good idea or not (it wasn't).  It was a 1 minute clip, but it taught an incredibly important lesson.

[attica]

I loved this ep. I think I fell a little in love with Lisa, tbh. I totally get how guarded she feels she needs to be, and my heart breaks with how afraid she is that she's not up to snuff.

One quibble: it's gotten to be a reflex when somebody doubts themselves to reply "You got this!" But if you're a person like Lisa, you know you don't got this, and for all its good intentions, that kind of cheerleading feels either like a lie or too much pressure. I think the better answer is "You may not have it yet, but you will. And we have time/space for you to learn."

I fully enjoyed Marcus flashing his (metaphorical) big guns at the licensing dudes. We don't see that very often, and I'm glad it was deployed here. Come at me, bro-ham! Let's see where the cookie crumbles!

Jamie Dimon is a monster, not for nothing. "What do you do when you encounter biz difficulties?" "Me, I tank the economy and stick it to the taxpayer! Pfft!"

[cooksdelight]

Frozen cookie dough is the answer. It can be put in any retail store, grocery store, etc. with ease. 

[Thrifty]

18 minutes ago, cooksdelight said:

Frozen cookie dough is the answer. It can be put in any retail store, grocery store, etc. with ease. 

Do you mean that the end customer is supposed to buy a big chunk of cookie dough and bake it at home?  That seems like a lot of hassle.

[seacliffsal]

The licensing deal sounds about right and fair for licensing per all the learning sessions I have had courtesy of the Shark Tank...  Plus, the minimums meant that even if the cookies did not sell in huge numbers Corey and his mom still had a guaranteed income.

I'm sure it's just me, but outside of the meeting with the Amazon reps, I don't think Marcus did help them grow their business.  They still can't sell via Amazon due to their two day self life.  Also, just being on the Amazon website does not guarantee sales.  Sure, he got them an office, but it wasn't a retail space which would allow them to grow sales.  

I guess I'm just confused about this episode as the focus was totally on the mom, not necessarily the business.

[Kenz]

I think part of of Mr Cory's Cookies profits must go toward his many pairs of lens less glasses and snappy clothes. I give credit to Cory and his mom for building a brand and getting great publicity, but Marcus getting involved with this was just an advertisement for Chase (notice the caption for Chase Small Business). Even Mercedes and Amazon got their plugs in (Mercedes is an advertiser on the show.) The drama came when Marcus supposedly didn't know about the Clever Cookie licensing deal. Cory's mom had already had Clever Cookie making cookies that weren't at all like Cory's original recipe and selling them under Cory's name, so her faux anger was silly. You can sell almost anything on Amazon, so that wasn't a big deal.  This show has so many manufactured elements that it almost seems scripted. I do wish Cory and his mom good luck though.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Kenz

[cooksdelight]

4 hours ago, Thrifty said:

Do you mean that the end customer is supposed to buy a big chunk of cookie dough and bake it at home?  That seems like a lot of hassle.

No, they come in single tabs that you put on the cookie sheet. It’s not that big of a deal or hassle, I’ve used them plenty of times when in a hurry.

 

2 hours ago, Kenz said:

I think part of of Mr Cory's Cookies profits must go toward his many pairs of lense less glasse

I thought he didn’t have lenses either until he turned his head a certain way and the light reflected off the glass.

[Amarsir]

20 hours ago, attica said:

Jamie Dimon is a monster, not for nothing. "What do you do when you encounter biz difficulties?" "Me, I tank the economy and stick it to the taxpayer! Pfft!"

Is "Jamie Dimon" an incredibly common name? Because the one we saw in this episode was the one who kept JP Morgan from overleveraging on subprimes. Whose company was thus strong enough to acquire Bear Stearns, stopping them from defaulting (which WOULD "stick it to the taxpayer" via FDIC).  He's also the Jamie Dimon who was instrumental in getting banks access to TARP (at Hank Paulson's request). And having followed Mr. Dimon's visits to Congress at the time, I know that not only did he not avoid questions, he was the one who explained to our representatives how the mortgage market works in the first place. (Since it's a sure bet the Finance Committee didn't know what an MBS was when they were telling Fannie and Freddie to buy more of them.) 

Perhaps you're thinking of Alan Schwartz, CEO of Bear Stearns. Or Dick Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers. Or Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Mortgage. All of those you'd be reasonably correct to blame for bad management. But Marcus didn't visit them, because they don't have jobs anymore. Which is not a coincidence.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Amarsir

[Thrifty]

12 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

No, they come in single tabs that you put on the cookie sheet. It’s not that big of a deal or hassle, I’ve used them plenty of times when in a hurry.

I get that, but it sounds exactly like those things Pilsbury sells, with the cubes you tear off.  It's easy, but it still sounds like a pain in the ass.  That still requires turning on the oven, waiting for it to preheat, getting some cookie sheets, parceling out the cookies on to the sheet, waiting for them to cook just the right amount of time so that they are neither doughy or burnt, taking them out, waiting for them to cool, an then cleaning the dishes. 

 

Sure it's the easiest kind of cooking that requires an oven, but I think that most people don't want to bake their cookies at home.  They just want to pay for them and eat them.  A pack of ready to cook dough is not a treat or a gift.  It's an errand.

[cooksdelight]

I don’t see cookie dough that way, as I’ve made them from scratch.... flour, sugar, etc., for a long time. The frozen or refrigerated coockie balls are a huge timesaver. Then again, I can buy a bag of cookies that don’t taste nearly as good as the ones that come out of my oven. :)

[Josiah Bounderby]

Terrific episode of TV —  even with the cute little kid. 

 This was another episode of The Profit where the value really isn’t in the underlying company… Most of the value is in the company‘s ability to make a great episode of reality TV. This company had everything: a telegenic family, a heart-warming story, and a chance for Marcus to do what he loves to do: play therapist/analyst.

Does  the world need these cookies? No. Does The Profit need these two reality TV guest stars? Absolutely.

[LisainCali]

2 hours ago, Josiah Bounderby said:

Terrific episode of TV —  even with the cute little kid. 

 This was another episode of The Profit where the value really isn’t in the underlying company… Most of the value is in the company‘s ability to make a great episode of reality TV. This company had everything: a telegenic family, a heart-warming story, and a chance for Marcus to do what he loves to do: play therapist/analyst.

Does  the world need these cookies? No. Does The Profit need these two reality TV guest stars? Absolutely.

Awwww, I don’t really see it that way.  Marcus is making money on most of these deals, like the guys on Shark Tank.  But more importantly, he’s sharing his knowledge to save a failing business, PLUS providing employment opportunities to future employees.  

I like this approach MUCH better than just handing money out.  You know, Give a man a fish...vs. Teach a man to fish.  

[ae2]

As someone who doesn't particularly like the drama in this show, this episode was surprisingly good. I don't have a lot to critique or say about it, other than...

When talking to the guy who licensed their brand, Marcus said something like, "so they are doing all the hard work and only making 8%?" Um, no, Marcus, they are doing literally nothing and making 8%, that's the beauty of a licensing deal. (Also, why was the onus entirely on that guy to produce the contract? Cory's mom should have had a copy and given it to Marcus to review before the meeting.)

[Jesse]

On 12/20/2017 at 9:26 AM, Gregg247 said:

I was afraid the licensing company guys were going to be the villains, but I'm glad they didn't do that.  The deal they worked out prior to Marcus' involvement wasn't terrible.  The company had made $12k, $16k, and $28k in the past 3 years.  This licensing company was guaranteeing a minimum of $40k for up to 3 years.  That sounded like a big step up at the time, I'm sure.  Of course, when a billionaire like Marcus suddenly shows up, the deal looks penny-ante, but prior to that, its not bad.  It would have given mom and son 3 years of good income while working at improving their business/learning more about how to grow it.

That's a really good point, but because I had the "only $40K???" reaction, too. But of course, it would have been a huge step up for them financially. (If they didn't feel bamboozled, which I think Lisa did when she tasted their cookies.)

On 12/20/2017 at 9:48 AM, attica said:

I loved this ep. I think I fell a little in love with Lisa, tbh. I totally get how guarded she feels she needs to be, and my heart breaks with how afraid she is that she's not up to snuff.

One quibble: it's gotten to be a reflex when somebody doubts themselves to reply "You got this!" But if you're a person like Lisa, you know you don't got this, and for all its good intentions, that kind of cheerleading feels either like a lie or too much pressure. I think the better answer is "You may not have it yet, but you will. And we have time/space for you to learn."

Also a great point! She's got it to this point, but she definitely has stuff to learn before she can run a bigger company. And she can! And I hope she does.

[camom]

How in the world has the mom been supporting them?  I really didn't understand that part of it.  The business certainly wasn't making enough money for them to live on and she even said she wasn't taking a salary or working another job.  

[Thrifty]

9 hours ago, camom said:

How in the world has the mom been supporting them?  I really didn't understand that part of it.  The business certainly wasn't making enough money for them to live on and she even said she wasn't taking a salary or working another job.  

They had that licensing deal for $40,000 a year.  It's not a huge sum of money, but it's certainly enough to live on.

[cooksdelight]

I was like Lisa when I was in my early twenties, first job at an ad agency and when I got promoted I didn’t get a raise. It made me doubt my talents, not taking into account the agency might not have had the funds. I empathized with her, and I hope for a followup later on to see how they’re doing.