Marcus Lemonis: 'Why Did You Take Your Eye Off the Ball?'

Marcus Lemonis, star of CNBC's TV series The Profit, is often willing to help out failing businesses -- but, as you may have seen on his show, there's generally a caveat. For Mallow Crunchies owner Nikki Lewis, that means coming up with a very detailed growth plan.

Lewis, whose Baltimore-based company sells handmade marshmallow desserts, made one grave mistake that she says she's still recovering from: She opened up a retail store inside a casino, when Mallow Crunchies counted as little as $67,000 in annual sales. After just six months, Lewis was forced to shut it down.  

She asks Lemonis, on the most recent episode of Inc.'s Ask Marcus Lemonis web series: "How do I secure financing for equipment when I can't get traditional financing because of my failed casino business?" She elaborates: "Right now, everything is manually done, which is why it takes so long."

Lewis concedes that she'd need $160,000 in order to speed up her production process. Since she is already $100,000 in debt after her retail location failed, Lemonis says it's unlikely she'd be able to secure a traditional bank loan. "Unfortunately, I think you're at the point where you need an investor, and not a bank loan," he says.

For more on how Lemonis will help Mallow Crunchies -- and what kind of milestones Lewis will need to map and achieve to sign up an investor -- watch the video above.

http://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/marcus-lemonis-nikki-lewis-mallow-crunchies.html