Shuler's BBQ-the disappearing brother-in-law - The Profit (2013) Discussion

[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

Yeah we all hated him on Twitter.

He has a high opinion of his ability and thought posting on Facebook was worth at least $100K a year. I don't know if he was a slippery dude or if he was just clueless.

He probably thought he could go through the motions as the manager or else he was that stupid and he couldn't do the job.

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[–] miranda4 9 years ago

Did you notice the facial expression on his wife when they were all having a meal at the beginning of the show? She was off to the left of the screen but still quite visible and not too happy. Maybe she had seen the end of the episode.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

I don't think he was currently working. He had a job with the state doing promotional work.

I don't think the owner really knew whether his Facebook posts were really adding much to the business and she was giving him the benefit of the doubt.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

He quit his job in New Orleans. We don't know what his wife was making but between the 2 of them, they were allegedly making $200K a year when he was working. Of course no one knows if that number was accurate.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

When they first met, he said he had to resign.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

I've seen the episode about 6 times. It was on again last night.

He said he had to resign from his job.

That's what made his salary estimate so off. When he was working, it's hard to believe between he and his wife they would make $200K unless the wife was the breadwinner. Plus at that point, he was not working so he had no leverage and it would mean at that moment, his wife was making the $200K.

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

Awesome, someone put the episode on YouTube. Go to the 6:20 point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gHsQwrV9wU

Stop saying he didn't resign from his job.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

Marcus: Are you still in the seafood business today?
Ewell: No I resigned...

It really can't be any clearer.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] StevenSmithNYC 9 years ago

If he and his wife are already doing $200K a year, I seriously doubt either of them would have time or concern to be worried about the BBQ business. Putting up a Facebook Fan Page for a business is a simple and not a time consuming process and can be done in a single Saturday afternoon. Beyond that there is no evidence he did anything else. No mention of actual news releases for PR and no mention of doing online advertising for the business or any kind of ads at all. Frankly the business doesn't need that now, they can't properly service the traffic they are getting now which is great if you have to turn people away. If he was willing to come in there to be partner as General Manager and do marketing, he would have a deal, but it would have been at a base salary of something like $40K a year, not the six-figure he was asking for.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

Yeah over something stupid.

It's more like you made a mistake and when you realized it, you were too proud to admit it and that's what you call messing with me. Notice that's why I stopped entertaining you once I saw you were being stubborn. It was funny watching you act stupid and dense over something so obvious.

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

I've seen the episode numerous times and I still can't figure out Ewell's angle.

Given his background in sales was he smart and slippery and thought he could talk Marcus into giving him a job making $200K a year doing marketing for Schuler's? Or was he a good guy but a clueless moron who seriously overvalued what he could bring to the business?

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[–] StevenSmithNYC 9 years ago

When Marcus got involved he might have felt there would be huge money coming into the business to take it national to make it a chain and could have seen this as his chance to make $200K a year in a low-cost of living area in SC. He tried to position himself that he was in part responsible for it's success and would be needed for it to go big time. When you add the family dynamic as part of this equation, he was far too emotionally vested in making this thing work. His window of opportunity disappeared when Marcus expressed his plan for the business which excluded taking this BBQ place national. He should have bowed out of trying to justify a full-time job out of it. He would have been wise to say that he was available if needed to do marketing consulting for the business.

Let's assume that Marcus said, yes, I see this business going national. The brother-in-law might have already had good solid ideas in place on how to do the marketing for that. So there might have been a role for him if Marcus was impressed with his ideas in the creation of a chain of BBQ places. As for it being a $200K in base salary I don't think so, because Marcus was talking to him about a partnership even as a General Manager. I've not seen every show, but from the ones I've seen it looks like Marcus wisely uses his money to improve the business and those who work hard in it will be rewarded from the net profits.

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[–] StevenSmithNYC 9 years ago

If you know marketing, you would know you have to understand the area. A large American flag is an attention getting and has a deeper meaning to the locals there. There are companies to hire to do marketing and social media, and getting 3K 'likes' is OK, but not a big deal. Besides they didn't need more traffic for business in there they needed to improve the situation there, lower costs and get it going properly before being open 6-7 days a week like most restaurants.

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[–] StevenSmithNYC 9 years ago

How and why was this the only way for him to uproot his family and move there? There are other employers in the area. He could start a business himself. I don't see how the burden of whether they can move there or not has to rest with his sister-in-law's BBQ business. The brother-in-law was pressuring them not to be near them, but to get a great pay day for an area of the country which has a very low cost of living. $200K a year there you are going to live like kings.

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[–] bcrd500 9 years ago

I do not thing the Brother-In-Law was working, which is the reason he was trying to create a job for himself. That was probably the reason the wife (co-owner)was pushing to find him a position within the company.

What was unbelievable is how long it took him to realize there was no place in the company, for him.

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[–] StevenSmithNYC 9 years ago

Just saw this episode for the first time. A $100K salary is very high for that area. Shuler's BBQ is located in Sellers, South Carolina where the average adjust gross income for that area is only $26,792 and the males have a median income of $19,531 according to WIKI. Coming in there expecting to make a household income of $200K a year is unrealistic, asking for more money than the owner's of the business. Maybe the brother-in-law had this vision that Marcus could come in there and dump millions of dollars into the business to franchise it and install him as the head of marketing for the company.

If they wanted to move there to be near family, then they should get a job with another company or create their own business there. I don't recall where they are living now, but if they have a $200K household income they should be able to afford to visit them very often, and don't really need to live in the same town. Painting it that the only way they can live there is to work Shuler's BBQ seems silly.

Marketing and social media are very important, but that isn't what the business currently needs. They needed operation improvements, process improvements and to control costs. The brother-in-law wasn't interested in any of those things. When asked to be the General Manager, he could have taken that job and also asked to be head of marketing for the company, but he didn't. Regardless a General Manager job at a place like that at best is going to pay $40K a year in addition to being a partner, which would be a good deal for many people. Most people are simply hired to run a business and don't even have a chance at being a partner.

As for marketing jobs, there are those jobs which pay six figures a year and more, but it's scaled to the size of the business. This business is only doing a million a year. People who are making six figures a year work at a company that has a gross revenue of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a year. On top of that they have a large marketing budget in addition to the salary and have marketing staff, not just working by themselves. This is for a job at Shuler's BBQ, not a job in the corporate headquarters of a $15 billion dollar company like Tyson Foods.

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[–] maxman-5 9 years ago

I think Marcus' biggest contribution was in getting rid of Roscoe P. Coltrane, I mean Ewell. His facial expressions said it all. Bye bye Ewell, no big pay day for you!

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[–] duckyslattery 9 years ago

Want a laugh and a surprise, look up Ewell Smith on Youtube and google.

Part of me feels bad for him because he's actually a legit public relations guy. But perhaps he's more suited for big established companies/B2B companies, not a small B2C company. He was out of his element at Schuler's. The show made him look clueless and greedy and he was a good villain where maybe he was just clueless and out of his element.

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[–] d_random 9 years ago

He was a great villain!

Ewell: "I see this place as a goldmine"

That said it all.

Regarding facebook, 3,000 fans used to be something worthwhile for busineses before facebook changed their algorithm. Facebook pages now typically get exposure to 2% of their fans. It is a scam by facebook to goad businesses to buy "boosted" posts they can reach all their fans.

The giant American flag is a advertising trick that has been used by car dealerships for years. Most zoning in cities and towns will not allow you to construct a advertising sign larger than a set height. There is no restriction on american flags. So a flag that large could be seen from the interstate or be used as reference when directing someone to the restaurant "look for the giant flag".

I thought that the deck was a good idea buy lack practical execution. No roof for the sun or rainy days? It's next to a lake, mosquitoes are always in creek/lake areas in the South.

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[–] P-rock52 8 years ago

LOL That dude looked so stupid trying to explain his grand marketing strategy. 3000 likes? Big deal. With the amount of volume they were apparently doing, a simpleton could figure out to have the customers "like" your page while they were there for some sort of discount or whatever. You'd have 3K likes in no time.
I just can't get over why that guy felt he was worth anything at all, let alone 100k

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[–] StevenSmithNYC 8 years ago

He was trying to con the family into supporting his high salary. Then Marcus showed up and it became apparent this guy wasn't as swift at what he claimed to accomplish with the business. The brother-in-law had this idea the BBQ business should go national, and he was hoping that Marcus was going to pour money into it and give him a big salary to do the marketing and promotions. As soon as Marcus pointed out the BBQ was a regional thing, they killed his dream. The thing is, if this guy did his homework even before Marcus was involved he would have known that this style of BBQ was regional. He was doing his best to snow Marcus into thinking he was needed for this business. The owners thought he was helpful, but they put on a brave face for this because the guy was family.

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