S06.E01: NYC Bagel Deli

[Whimsy]

The overbearing owner of a Chicago-based bagel chain ignores his wife's business ideas and hangs on to the outdated look of his cluttered storefronts, so Marcus Lemonis steps in to help develop some interesting new products and revamp the burned-out brand.

[Inspector Bucket]

An inspiring and heart-warming episode. But...

I've hated extensive "New Yawk" theming for a long time.  And that store is themed so hard now.

Heavy-duty New York eateries can work nationwide...in Chicago that's usually a challenge. (We're Chicago! We have our own Jews and Poles, thank you very much.)

And I think bagels should all be super-chewy.  They should not be flavored toast.

And the interior of the store was an assault on the eyes.

And it might make a zillion dollars.

…so I'm conflicted. 

[Amarsir]

It was basically an hour of discussions over a name change. Which I get is a big thing that would naturally take a great deal of discussion. But I might have enjoyed some other changes to mix it up. Maybe some actual discussion of the math instead of him just hinting at margin and ticket size.

[cooksdelight]

Anybody beside me munching on a bagel after that?

I didn’t like any of the logos. I still say Marcus should hire me.

[methadonna]

No wonder dude fought the name change hard: his original mock up of a new logo was a [baker’s?] dozen variants of Coreys’ ...  (by the time it was revisited in the Bagel, Bagel, Bagel scene, the tiny text had at least been altered to The Famous Corey’s). I’d be hesitant about changing the name to include my own, too, if I didn’t know how to spell my name or understand how apostrophes work.

 

(And, I guess Amos probably wasn’t yet, either, when he first named his cookies, but he had that whole rhyming thing going for him. If it weren’t for his imminent appearance on this show, was there anything that suggested a modicum of truth to the “Famous” claim about Corey?

I’m not even being totally sarcastic: was his “NYC” bagelry well-known to locals before Marcus came and shat that hackneyed “authentic New York” aesthetic he’s been thinking the world needed since Artistic Stitch heroically threw out every last thread (heh) of their dignity along with their makeover to save the city, planet, galaxy, and Xenu from Marcus’s pre-Giuliani-subway caricature theme he’d puked onto their walls, or is this more of a Fifteen-Minutes-of-Reality-TV-Famous Corey’s kinda deal?)

I’m assuming that this is one of the holdover eps from last season, and when we actually get an episode filmed this year, Marcus will be wearing clothing that suggests a mended heart? Or is he actually following the strategy of his business mentor, the great mogul Teen (+10*} Mom Maci [née] Bookout of Genuine Naugahyde Pocket Things That Matter, and that is all that he will wear on camera for at least his next dozen trap babies businesses?

*10, if we’re like Coreys’ss’s and so afraid of change we don’t want to revert  to our original name that we’d changed(?!) and stick to that either outdated or Totes Authentic Noo Yawk Citay Process of measuring a year in coffees, in broken-heart-sweaters, in bright pink letters, in cheesecake-topped milkshakes, in subway tiles, in trips around the sun; 23 if we go with the apparently effective and lucrative Authentic  Noveau-Riche Tennessee Process: in new houses, inbaby daddies, in consumed beer bottles, infertility and oops-baby paradoxes, in premature  sun damage, in narcissistic multitudes of craft-store close-out painted-initial decor. How do you measure, measure a year?

The Teen Mom Profit: the reality tv crossover I didn’t know I needed. (Or maybe just the more accurate renaming than Teen Mom OG was).And then an Inside Look where Amber sits down with TM’s newest spawn of reality whores, the producers.

(Actually, the only producers I think should ever be in front of a camera again with a shot at adding a layer of insight rather than just self-serviing personal visibility, are those two men who did the Aftermath of the Aftermath episode of Leah Remini Saves the World from Scientology: I thought they were fantastic wrt both insight and empathy while still calling them out and asking for more when LR and MR would (often, unintentionally and unknowingly, imho) answer around the question).

But I’d better stop before I get more off-topic than Authentic New York cheesecake milkshakes that I can’t possibly care about, not just because they sound and look disgusting, but because I don’t know Their Story. Maybe if I knew that they were partners who each came from Broken Homes and bonded over their similarly conflicting bifoodal backgrounds I’d connect to their story and thus connect to them.... nope, just like dem watches, where the haunting background story doesn’t change the fact that they are FUG, there is no Story in the world that could be written beautifully enough to make cheesecake ever make sense to me, let alone why you would use it to ruin a perfectly innocuous shake. And their origin story could have the original NY cart-drawing horses having put them together themselves in the damn tunnel, you’re not gonna convince me there’s anything authentically NY about this monstrosity. My heart is  breaking so hard, it’s turning into a cartoon showing through my sweater. I am coming across as far more critical here than I really am: I think Marcus is brilliant in many, many ways. But, Marcus’s thinking he knows “Authentic NY” is even sillier (and aesthetically proven patently false) than his suddenly thinking he knows fashion.

[atlantaloves]

Well I loved loved loved this episode and was so glad that Kaplan came to his senses and also that he finally left his sweet wife to do what she could do with her wonderful bagel chips. Good show...and I love you Marcus. And, I think Marcus was right, they did need good ole fashioned New York cheesecake.

[Jesse]

I thought it was funny that the original place did look like an actual New York deli with random crap piled everywhere... and the "authentic" Marcus version looked like a cartoon. I also liked that the business wasn't a disaster and the people weren't dumpster fires, but it made for kind of a boring show.

[guilfoyleatpp]

I really wanted a chewy bagel after that one. 

Those milk shakes with cheesecake on top looked like something you would get at Cheesecake Factory. Blah. 

Overall good episode. 

[Amarsir]

Yeah I was definitely seeking bagels this morning. Lots of choices near me, including "New York Water Bagel Company", "Broadway Bagel", and of course several "Manhattan Bagel". (I'm not in NY.) So Marcus was right on the branding. But I also appreciated Corey who wasn't being stubborn for no reason. He didn't want to take the existing customers for granted.

10 hours ago, methadonna said:

No wonder dude fought the name change hard: his original mock up of a new logo was a [baker’s?] dozen variants of Coreys’ ...  (by the time it was revisited in the Bagel, Bagel, Bagel scene, the tiny text had at least been altered to The Famous Corey’s). I’d be hesitant about changing the name to include my own, too, if I didn’t know how to spell my name or understand how apostrophes work.

It's possible that wasn't an accident and he was trying to honor lost children by including them.

[link417]

I enjoyed the fact that this epsiode’s “sob story” (I’m not using that term derisively, btw) was actually pertinent to the business in a very straightforward way — Corey was hesitant to put his name on the business because of the pain from losing 2 children, both sharing his name.

I also would have liked more numbers in this episode, but maybe there are some train wrecks down the line that will make for more informative and interesting episodes. I’m glad the new season is here, though!

ETA: Am I the only one who let out a big “WTF?” during the whole headshot scene?

Edited December 6, 2018 by link417

[link417]

I liked the bit where Marcus asked the employee about the boss. Said he was a good guy, willing to help people out by giving them extra hours if they were in a pinch. I was waiting for the “but,” but it never came. I like it when they show good bosses who do right by their employees; thankfully, not everyone is a [insert name of LA Dogworks owner].

[qtpye]

The bagel episode was pretty good.  Maybe the show can make a comeback to what it once was.

[LuvMyShows]

On 12/7/2018 at 4:23 PM, qtpye said:

The bagel episode was pretty good.  Maybe the show can make a comeback to what it once was.

But to me it's so much less compelling when it's just one of the businesses that Marcus wants to expand to, rather than when it's a company that actually needs his help.  At least this time they were up front about that.

[sskrill]

I can understand Corey's resistance to using that name - having 2 deceased kids with that name has to be hard on them.  I don't blame Marcus for wanting a name change, but maybe consider something besides those 2?  There are thousands of options.

That warehouse where Marcus said he handled internet returns looked like one of those Blue Jean stores he invested in.  I'm pretty sure that was the counter at her store.   Any else think so?