Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The Profit - Vision Quest Lighting Update

Tonight on The Profit Marcus Lemonis is in Ronkonkoma, NY with hopes of making a deal with Vision Quest Lighting.  Vision Quest is a custom-lighting company that is suffering from slumping sales.  Marcus finds that there is also a large inventory problem and owner Larry is having a hard time getting rid of the inventory.  Larry also has cut a lot of his staff and has borrowed money for the business out of his kid's college fund.

Let's take a look at some information related to Vision Quest Lighting as well as what kind of deal was made on the show.


News and Links Related To The Company:
  • Here are some preview videos of the episode from the CNBC website - Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4, Video 5, Extended Sneak Peak.
  • Here is the Vision Quest Lighting website, which states the company "was founded over ten years ago by Larry Lieberman and has grown to become one of the largest custom lighting manufacturers in the United States."
  • Here is the Vision Quest Lighting Facebook Page, which doesn't post too often.
  • Here is a 39 page product catalog from their website, but the URL says 2012-2013, so I am not sure how up-to-date it is.
  • In 2013 Vision Quest acquired the rights to manufacture Lighting & Electronic's product line. (Link, Facebook Link)
  • A review on Glassdoor.com from a part-time worker had pros of working for Vision Quest as "easy get a job there...Fun at first, but then get bored. - Easy going people - Easy work."  The cons were "No direct management. People just come and go. I wouldn't recommend a friend to work there. Working there is like a roller coaster - busy one week, slow for 3 weeks. Need to schedule and distribute work appropriately. - Poor management - No order - things get chaotic all the time."

The Deal From The Episode Plus Post-Show Updates (this will be updated continually):
 
  • The Deal: $375,000 for 50% of the business to hire new people, pay down debt, and put money towards working capital.
  • Vision Quest Lighting provided lighting for the Sweet Pete's location in Chicago, which opened in November 2015. 
  • Marcus also hinted that Vision Quest Lighting and Precise Graphix (season 3) will work together in the future. (Link
  • Some of the new equipment on the show was financed and some was leased. (Link)
  • UPDATE 11/2017 - On an update episode of The Profit, Marcus revealed he invested an additional $500,000 in equipment and another $150,000 to pay off hidden debt.  Nine months into the deal, Marcus walked away from the company after losing over $1 million.
  • UPDATE 12/2017 - It looks like Vision Quest has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets will be sold at a bankruptcy auction. (Link)

*To see how all of the businesses from The Profit are doing, go to the The Profit Updates page, and also Like us on Facebook or Follow Us on Twitter  to stay up to date with all things involving The Profit.  

No comments:

Post a Comment