Milwaukee-based soup restaurant chain The Soup Market will be featured on the CNBC television show “The Profit” next week.
The Soup Market, which operates five soup and sandwich restaurants in Milwaukee, is owned by David Jurena. It also sells its food at farmers markets and offers office catering and wholesale production. Its locations are in the Milwaukee Public Market in the Historic Third Ward; in the Milwaukee Center building downtown; in the city’s Bay View neighborhood; in Hales Corners; and on West Vliet Street in the city’s west side Washington Heights neighborhood.
Marquette University alumnus Marcus Lemonis is the star of the show. After attaining business success with Bowling Green, Kentucky-based Camping World, now the nation’s largest RV and outdoor retailer with more than 100 retail locations and revenues of more than $1.7 billion, Lemonis has been helping other entrepreneurs do the same.
On “The Profit,” Lemonis assists struggling businesses around the country from a variety of industries. The Soup Market’s co-owner, Timothy Talsky, died suddenly in February 2015 and, according to a promotion for the show, Jurena has been struggling to run it on his own.
As part of the show, Lemonis invests in a company for a portion of the ownership and a percentage of the profits, then turns them around. He has invested more than $35 million in companies featured on the series.
Lemonis in 2015 featured a pet store chain on the show, Lincolnshire,Ill.-based Bentley’s Pet Stuff, which this year acquired Shorewood’s Pet Outpost and Bay View’s The Natural Pet and has plans to acquire two other area pet stores. Bentley’s is aggressively expanding into the Milwaukee market, and is in the process of opening 15 locations in the area this year.
Marquette University also has benefited from Lemonis’ success. Last year, he donated up to $300,000 to the Milwaukee university as part of a matched giving challenge.
The Soup Market episode of “The Profit” will air on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 9 p.m.
