On The Profit: An Inside Look, investor Marcus Lemonis returns to Chicago to check in with Bentley’s Pet Stuff (formerly Bentley’s Corner Barkery). In 2015, Lemonis invested in the small chain of natural pet food stores: it had seven stores at the time. Immediately after The Profit 2015 episode aired, Bentley’s acquired the Pet Stuff retail chain, a pet products store with seven locations in Chicago, hence, the company name change. Today there are more than 90 Bentley’s Pet Stuff locations and more than 400 employees.
In the 2019 The Profit: An Inside Look episode, Lemonis revisits Bentley’s and discovers unhappy employees. They believe the owner, Giovanni Senafe, is opening too many stores too quickly. Even Senafe’s wife, Bentley’s Pet Stuff co-owner and CEO Lisa Senafe, agrees. One day prior to The Profit: An Inside Look episode airing, local news stations in Indiana reported that Bentley’s Pet Stuff is closing all its stores in Indiana (four) less than a year after opening. The four Ohio locations are closing too.
Since 2015, Lemonis has invested $45 million in Bentley’s and has given the company a line of credit for 20 years, according to Giovanni Senafe. The Profit: An Inside Look airs Tuesdays at 9 pm on CNBC. New episodes of The Profit air at 10 pm. [Download the free CNBC app and never miss a program.]
