On the Season 6 premiere of The Profit, small business investor Marcus Lemonis visits NYC Bagel Deli, a bagel chain with three locations in downtown Chicago which sells over 1,000 bagels daily. On The Profit, according to CNBC, “the overbearing owner” Corey Kaplan “ignores his wife’s business ideas and hangs on to the outdated look of his cluttered storefronts.” Marcus tries to help Cory re-brand the company and help develop new products. But not a lot of small business owners like change.
While getting to know Corey and his wife Candis, Lemonis learns that the couple had five children but “two of them are in heaven,” says Corey. The two children they lost, Corey and CorriAngel, both died extremely young of PKD, polycystic kidney disease. It is a chronic, genetic disease causing uncontrolled growth of cysts in the kidney, often leading to kidney failure. Lemonis encouraged Corey to change the name of NYC Bagel Deli to Corey’s NYC Bagel Deli in honor of his children.
After filming The Profit, Corey Kaplan wrote of Lemonis’ huge heart and “the fact that he is helping us bring awareness to PKD (the disease that our children died from), I will never forget him and his open-hearted kindness.” The Profit airs Tuesdays at 10 pm on CNBC.
