Atlanta-based mother and daughter team, Nina Chteoui and Finia Jahangard, have spent years perfecting their macaron recipe. After training in Paris, Nina has invested considerable time and effort into crafting the ideal recipe, which led to the founding of their company, Macaron Queen. They sell both in retail and wholesale, but Nina and Finia need assistance in growing and scaling their business. While they believe in their product, they are looking for an investor and strategic partner who can help them reach new customers and markets to boost their production and profits.
After tasting their product, Marcus thinks their macarons are the best he has ever had. He is pleased with the company’s financial status but sees potential to boost their profit margins. Despite strong demand for the product, they are not fully using their kitchen facility and have extra production capacity. Marcus is confused about why they aren’t producing and selling more. After reviewing the finances, he demonstrates to Nina and Finia that they earn significantly more in wholesale and recommends they concentrate on growing that part of the business.
Marcus sees a lot of potential in Macaron Queen and extends them an investment offer. Marcus offers to make investments in $100,000 increments. This would be based upon achieving certain production levels without compromising on the quality of the macarons. The maximum that he would invest would be $500,000. In exchange for each $100,000 investment, Marcus would get 10% of the company up to a total of 50% if he were to invest the total $500,000. His vision is that they will just take what they need because of the structured deal. In exchange for his investment, he would also like to be in financial control of the company. Macaron Queen accepts his offer.
One of the first opportunities that Marcus explores is moving to a copacker to maximize their production capacity. When reviewing their options with a copacker, Marcus was very concerned when he learned how secretive Finia is with her macaron recipe. He feels that she will not be able to adequately scale the business when she can not trust others to make her product. Marcus is also concerned that if something happens with Finia’s health, the business will completely crumble if she is the only person who fully knows the recipe. He challenges her to move to a place of trust with her business partners.
Marcus lays out his business plan to scale and grow Macaron Queen into a more profitable company with a broader wholesale reach:
- Pivot away from retail and focus on wholesale and direct-to-consumer where the margins are way higher.
- Find a copacker that can accomplish larger production runs
- Monetize Finia’s expertise and knowledge through books or recipes that will allow her to have a better work-life balance to tend to her health
Nina and Finia agree to Marcus’ plan and begin meeting with consumers and potential customers such as Weight Watchers and hotels who are all very impressed with the taste and quality of the product. Now that they are able to confirm that the demand for their product, the need to partner with a copacker becomes more urgent. In order to make this a lucrative partnership, Finia reluctantly agrees to share her recipe so that their product can be scaled to reach a wider audience.
Marcus is very happy with the progress Macaron Queen made in just the short time that he was with their company. He feels that both Nina and Finia are completely dedicated to the success of their company which is invaluable to him as a business partner. The sky is the limit for Macaron Queen and Marcus Lemonis.
What do you think of the business shifts that Marcus implements? If you were Finia and Nina would you have given up the equity share that Marcus requested? Would you have done anything differently? Begin the conversation in the comments below!
Read more: The Profit: Marcus Lemonis Invests in Ana Q’s Skinny Latina Marinade