Undercover Boss (2010) s05e04 Episode Script
Buffets, Inc
(Male announcer) Since the premiere of Undercover Boss, more than 60 bosses have given away nearly $6 million I have a check for $250,000.
Oh, my God.
(Announcer) And implemented sweeping company-wide changes As a company, we're actually gonna restore the 401(K).
It's a $1 million expense.
(Announcer) To benefit the lives of more than 40 million employees.
Whoo! Some people I just want to punch them in the face sometimes.
(Announcer) But not everyone deserved to be rewarded.
I know how to grow some really good weed if you're really interested.
It's not wrong of me to hate people.
(Announcer) Tonight the latest boss to put it all on the line is Anthony Wedo Yeah.
Yeah, bringing it.
What? (Announcer) President and CEO of Buffets, inc.
, the largest buffet provider in America.
Are you Michelle? - Yes.
Hi.
- Hi, Michelle.
- I'm Mike.
How are you doing? - How are you? I'm great.
(Announcer) By going undercover You got to keep moving a little bit faster 'cause we got people still building up.
Subtotal.
[Cash register beeps.]
The register's not cooperating for some reason.
(Announcer) This high-energy boss will meet the employees that keep his restaurants cooking.
Can I clear some of these dishes for you? All right, all right.
Take care.
Your job is to send all this through the dishwasher.
[Dish clatters.]
Oh, well.
[Chuckles.]
What you waiting for? (Announcer) What will happen when he encounters a dishwasher with a bad attitude? If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
I'm working with Skye, and I think he's a smart aleck.
It's frankly driving me crazy.
This is actually kind of fun.
(Skye) It sucks.
I hate doing dishes.
(Announcer) Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 5x04 - Buffets, Inc Original air date October 18, 2013 (Announcer) With headquarters in South Carolina and Minnesota, Buffets, inc.
is America's largest buffet provider, owning some of the biggest names in the industry.
With 350 locations in 35 states and 18,000 employees, this American buffet king serves more than And the head cook in this kitchen is one man.
I'm Anthony Wedo, president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
Buffets, inc.
started as old country buffet.
And really what it was, was, you know, young families needed a place to go for great variety and great value.
And so these things started popping up all over the place.
Over time, Buffets, inc.
acquired brands like Hometown Buffet, Country Buffet, and Ryan's.
In 2006, Buffets, inc.
hit its all-time high, with 1.
7 billion in revenue and serving over 150 million guests.
However, they weren't able to sustain that growth.
This caused sales to suffer dramatically, resulting in two separate bankruptcies over the last five years.
I walked in the door to take over this company at the end of 2012.
We've now taken a business in six months and stopped the water flowing through the hose in the wrong direction.
And now we are beginning to grow this enterprise.
It's a very exciting time for me.
I grew up in a family restaurant business.
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.
I was a busboy.
I was a server.
I was a manager for a period of time.
So I did everything.
My father, my mother, you know, worked nonstop all of their lives.
It was not uncommon for my father to have three jobs.
My mom passed away in '91.
My father suffered a really, really, horrifically bad stroke in 1996.
The doctors gave him anywhere from six months to a year to live.
And it's now 15 years.
It's very, very emotionally for me, it's incredibly difficult, 'cause this powerful man that nothing ever fazed is now there relying on me to help him.
My dad and I shared a lot of things, and work was one of them.
The biggest and most important gift I ever received from him was my ability to outwork anybody.
Gentlemen, good morning.
I was the CEO of new world restaurant group.
I was also a corporate executive for Boston Market.
I was also a senior executive at Pepsico.
The generic term for what I do is "turnaround CEO.
" But in this case, we're not just turning it around.
We're reinventing it.
And it starts with the food.
We started in Denver.
And the response has been absolutely phenomenal really incredible.
Individual portions, fresh for you it's where we're heading, man.
Wow.
This is transformational.
Another part of the reinvention is changing the culture.
I am a high-energy guy with a lot of horsepower.
Someone once said that I'm a cross between General George Patton and reverend Billy Graham.
- Say amen, hallelujah.
- Amen.
Yeah, that's it.
That's it, baby.
That's it.
(Wedo) The culture that we've had, where we've been through two bankruptcies is one of despair.
It's one of, you know, just do whatever you have to do just to get by.
If you don't love the service business, you know what? Time for another career.
The new culture is one of hope and one about winning.
We are on a mission to win.
We are not happy with last place in the division.
There is no reason, in my view, to be in a CEO role unless you're trying to win something for your team.
We're willing to do pretty much whatever it takes to accomplish that mission.
Yeah! Yeah! Do it.
- Do you like blonde? - That's a lot of hair.
[Laughs.]
Wow.
(Wedo) We have had some good results in my first six months.
But my responsibility is to continue to grow our business.
You okay over there? - I don't know.
- Okay, let's see.
So I want to go undercover, because I've been to a lot of restaurants, but I've been to those restaurants as the corporate CEO.
I'm like cousin Itt.
I need honest information about where we are to take us to another level.
And the only way I can do that is to understand what's actually happening in the restaurants.
Let's take some away, shall we? While I'm undercover, I'll be posing as Mike a construction worker competing for business funding to change his life.
My employees will be convinced that they're on a show that's not Undercover Boss.
If somebody recognizes me with this disguise, I'd be astounded and shocked.
Hey, guys.
Yeah, it's me.
How you doing? I've got a little something to show you.
My wife, Carrie, and I and our two boys have a house in Greenville, Delaware, and an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina.
But 80% of my time is spent on the road, traveling to our restaurants.
Ta-da.
[Laughs.]
[Gasps.]
What? Yeah.
(Carrie) - Wow.
- Yeah.
Wow, dad.
I think that's your new look.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm bringing it.
Right there, the gun show.
Uh, yeah, you know.
[Laughter.]
(Wedo) This is Mike Davis, signing off.
I'll see you guys next week.
- Go, Mike.
- Go, Mike.
Yeah.
- Love you guys.
(Carrie) - Love you.
Bye.
(Wedo) Bye-bye.
See you.
(Wedo) Today I'm undercover in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at one of our Ryan's stores.
Ryan's represents about a third of our revenues.
I'm going to be a manager today.
- It all looks good, huh? - Yeah.
(Wedo) The manager sets the tone for everything that happens in the restaurant.
As I think about what I'm doing in this company, which is changing the culture, first you got to change the management culture.
I'm here for Ernest.
Is he around? I believe so.
If I don't see smiles when I'm in there today, that means things aren't running the way they should be.
Hey, Ernest.
- Hi.
How you doing? - Mike Davis.
How you doing? Nice to meet you, Mike.
- Yeah, my pleasure.
How have you been? - I'm excellent.
- How about yourself? - I'm good.
I'm one out of three managers here.
One out of three? Okay.
We all work together to make this place run.
So what you might see me do is just cut this way.
Yeah.
Just looking at the customer.
How you doing, ma'am? Speaking to everybody.
Making sure they're okay.
Everything excellent over here? - Perfect.
(Ernest) - Okay.
- Okay.
- Okay? And you show them the right way, right? - Yes, sir.
- Yeah.
Okay.
And let him take it from there.
- All right.
- How we doing, man? - Man, not bad how about you? - Good.
I'm good.
All right, well, today your job is to send - all this through the dishwasher.
- Okay.
When they come through the door Yeah.
They're basically your slaves.
That's what it is.
When the pots come here, you put them in the water.
Sometimes you have to scrub them.
Sometimes you don't.
And that's basically it.
When the cup racks is full, you take it, put it down.
Then you got to run it through.
But right now it can't go nowhere 'cause I got all this right here.
You're gonna do that, and I'm gonna do this in the front? You gonna do this, or how are we gonna do this? Right now Sometimes it happens.
Oh, yes, it does.
(Skye) Oh, well.
Hey, Skye, how do I run these trays through, on what? You're running the dish room right now, so it's all up to you.
It's basically crash and burn.
'Cause when I'm in here, I only have time enough to show the basics, and then that's it.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
Well, I mean, you gave me one minute of training.
That's not fair, and I would hope you give other people more than one minute of training.
Okay? 'Cause that's not what you want to be doing here.
You want to be giving people training.
I'm working with Skye, and I think he's a smart aleck, and I don't think it's necessary.
[Dish clatters.]
Oh, well.
What you waiting for? [Chuckles.]
He was condescending.
He didn't really help me.
Now, the reds go it doesn't matter whether it's reds or clear, right? Sure.
[Chuckles.]
(Wedo) He just said, "hey, go figure it out.
" You're gonna have to pick up the pace.
I'm trying to stay calm here, but it's no way to run a restaurant.
It's no way to run anything.
So, Skye, man, how long you been here? A couple months.
- Who trained you? - Nobody, basically.
Basically exactly what I done to you.
They gave you one minute of training? (Skye) Mike thought he knew it all.
Instead of sitting back there complaining about one minute, this, that, and the other, he should've just shut his mouth and did what he's supposed to do.
I mean, if you knew it all, then what are you doing back here wasting my time? This is actually kind of fun.
I guess for one day, yeah.
It's not a bad job.
(Skye) It sucks.
I hate doing dishes.
(Wedo) You know, this is my first job undercover, and I've been trying to keep my cool.
But hearing Skye tell me how he hates his job, he doesn't want to be here, it's frankly driving me crazy.
What's up, Ernest? How you doing, man? Ernest, I really need to see you, if you don't mind, for a minute back in your office, is that okay? All right, let's go back.
I am on a mission to reinvent and turn around this company.
Can't have any Skyes on the team.
Sit down, man.
Sit down, relax.
How are you? You're good? I got something to tell you.
I'm not Mike Davis.
My name's Anthony Wedo.
I'm the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
[Sighs.]
And I'm undercover in your restaurant.
Wow.
Yeah.
(Wedo) I got something to tell you.
I'm not Mike Davis.
My name's Anthony Wedo.
I'm the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
Wow.
Yeah.
So let's talk about the situation out here, okay? Now, the good news is when I look out there, the guests are getting treated pretty well.
Mm-hmm.
- But this is a mess back in here.
- Yes.
This operation back here, you know, - is not where we need it to be.
- Not where it's supposed to be.
- Okay? Right? - I agree 100%.
What are we supposed to be doing with people in our store? We're supposed to be training them.
We're supposed to be training them, right? - Yes, yes.
- Right? Why aren't we training people? That's the thing.
So I try to do What is going on with your management team? What is going on with the management team is I don't know if they're burnt out or what's going on with them.
It's just, like, they don't have compassion for it.
What's stopping you from doing the right thing with these people? It's not me.
I can't do it by myself.
So you understand what's been going on - in that dish room is not right? - Exactly.
Right.
I want the bad attitudes out of the restaurant.
Yes, sir.
I'm the CEO of this company.
I don't decide whether we keep dishwashers or not.
- Right, right.
- That's your job, okay? What I'm telling you, though, is, - this gentleman needs trained.
- Mm-hmm.
- This gentleman needs to change his attitude.
- Mm-hmm.
What happens with one bad attitude in the store? It goes down the It's like a virus, right? It infects everything in the restaurant.
- Yes.
- Right? - Yes.
Yes, sir.
- You know that.
I want some action taken here.
I want that gentleman brought in - and talked to at your direction.
- Okay.
In a couple of days, we're all gonna get together, you, me, and Skye, and have a little meeting to talk about what happened here, okay? - Yes, sir.
- On another point you cannot tell anybody who I am because I have another job tomorrow that I want to do in another store, and I want to be undercover.
- All right? - Yes, sir.
- Okay.
- Okay.
(Wedo) I got into it with Ernest today, because he has the basic pieces of being a good manager, but he's not executing it in the store today.
Bitching and complaining.
But I stacked up the dish room for him.
(Man) Oh, yeah? Yeah.
Bugged the [.]
out of me, but, yeah, I did it.
(Wedo) Hey, man, I have no idea what the hell happened here.
This guy named Skye you know, total smartass.
I mean It's my dish room after all.
You know, I'm reengineering a company.
And I'm turning this company around.
It's all about attitude.
[Chuckles.]
Make no mistake about it, you're gonna have the right attitude to be on our winning team.
Like, I don't want to do this anymore.
I'm done.
(Wedo) What Skye did yesterday, frankly, that's just not acceptable.
And I had to address it.
Today I'm hoping that this job goes much smoother.
Today I'm in Fresno, California, at one of our Hometown Buffets.
I'm gonna be working as a cashier today.
[Cash register beeps.]
This is that first moment where you make eye contact with this person who's gonna pay you money for your food.
I really want to understand what level of hospitality are we delivering.
Hey, good morning.
- Are you Michelle? - Yes.
- Hi, Michelle.
I'm Mike.
- Hi.
How are you? - How you doing? - I'm great.
- Great to see you.
- Nice to meet you.
My first impression of him was he probably looked like a photographer or something, you know, with his hair flip, you know.
[Laughs.]
So he's got, like, that long hair and whatnot.
He kind of looks like a Fabio.
- You can call me Shelly.
- Shelly, good.
I'll be training you on the cashier.
- Let's do it.
- All right.
- So my lovely register.
- All right.
Okay, so we have this button right here, and we hit it.
And no matter how many we have, we can just press a number and hit "regular.
" - So the number before you hit "regular"? - Yes.
Like, say if they have, like, two, then - Two regulars, right.
- Yeah.
- Good.
- Customers come in - Remember to smile, okay? - Yeah, sure.
You have to smile so that they don't feel uncomfortable.
So we have customers right now.
(Wedo) All right.
- How are you guys? (Man) - We're good.
Good.
So we have one adult today, right? (Man) - Yes.
- Okay.
And how old are the children? (Man) 10 and 11.
All right, 10 and 11.
So she has regular.
And then she has a beverage for herself.
- Right.
- And the children are 10 and 11, so we're gonna hit "8 to 11".
- And then you're yes.
- Subtotal? - So your total is gonna be $23.
44.
- Got it.
So then we hit how much it is.
Here is your receipt.
And we staple it right here.
And we hand it to them, okay? Awesome.
And you guys enjoy your meal, okay? Okay, so we're getting a lot of people now, okay? I'm gonna let you handle this on your own.
Okay.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Welcome to Hometown Buffet.
Three and two.
So we got, uh Well, we got two adults, right? [Cash register beeps.]
Two regulars.
And, uh I'm training.
Please bear with me.
[Laughs.]
Two beverage.
Subtotal.
[Cash register beeps.]
The register's not cooperating for some reason.
It's fine.
Just handle it with a smile.
- Okay? - Okay.
Welcome to Hometown Buffet.
Can I take your order? Two.
Mike needs to be a little bit more spunky and more, you know, like, bubbly.
Your tone is a little bit [Growls.]
Be a little bit sweeter.
Like, be overly happy.
Hi, guys.
Welcome.
That's $33.
38.
- Go ahead and take that.
- Okay.
Okay, now you swipe it.
Now ask debit or credit.
- Is it debit? - Yes.
Did it detract on card? This thing is hard.
- You have to really push on this thing.
- Yeah.
(Wedo) Oh, my word, trying to process a simple transaction slows everything way down.
It's the swiping on this thing it just doesn't want to cooperate.
My biggest concern is, people come in here hungry, wanting to eat.
[Cash register beeps.]
Okay.
Let's see.
We got to clear this.
It's processing.
Give it a minute.
Thanks so much.
- So now it is time for me to go on my break.
- Shelly.
Let's do it.
Oh, my God, between the training issue I found working with Skye and this cash register problem, we definitely have our work cut out for us.
We're gonna address that immediately.
(Wedo) How many hours a week do you normally work? (Michelle) Right now I probably will be working about I want to say 20 hours a week.
It's hard too, without a safety net.
When my mom got sick with cancer you know, like, tending to my mom when she got sick, it's, like, you're the child.
But it's your turn to be strong.
Yeah.
It's hard.
They told her she wouldn't survive for about 72 hours.
She went two weeks.
I totally get it, you know.
I totally get where you're coming from.
It's really tough.
My dad had a really bad stroke in 1996.
And so we've my brother and my sister and I have been really caring for him, - and, you know, for the last 15 years.
- Right.
It's been a long, long, long haul.
And you do it out of love.
And you know what? You don't have to do it.
But you want to do it.
(Wedo) Shelly was telling me about her mother.
I had, honestly, a pretty strong connection because I saw my dad go through this really serious stroke.
Astoundingly strong young woman.
I stopped going to high school to take care of her.
And it's not because I had to.
It's because I wanted to.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, like What else would you like to do? I really want to be a criminal profiler.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.
I love all that stuff.
I do.
[Laughs.]
But I can't afford it right now.
You got a lot on your shoulders.
- I get that.
- Right.
And you know what? And it wasn't just me, either, though.
It was my brothers.
- It's nice to have that.
- Yeah.
My oldest brother lives here in Fresno.
And my other two older brothers live in Texas.
So, you know, I love my brothers.
- You're tough.
You have been through a lot.
- Yeah.
And you're you know, you're fighting through it.
- It sounds like it to me, anyway.
- Right.
- I mean, right? - Mm-hmm.
So how are we doing on time? I don't want to get us in trouble.
We probably should go back to work.
(Announcer) Coming up You got to keep moving a little bit faster 'cause you got people still building up.
The boss feels the heat when he works on the grill.
You wanted well-done, and you wanted well-done.
Stir-fry? Okay, I'll be right with you in a second.
(Announcer) And later I'm gonna let you do it on your own.
(Announcer) Anthony feels the wrath of a hungry customer.
Can I clear some of these dishes for you? All right, all right.
Take care.
(Announcer) Anthony Wedo, the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
, is a boss undercover in his own company.
His employees think he's a contestant on a reality show, competing to win money to start his own business.
I only have time enough to show the basics, and then that's it.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
(Announcer) But so far, he's had a hard time keeping his cool and keeping his cover.
My name's Anthony Wedo.
I'm the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
Wow.
Yeah.
(Announcer) His journey continues in Colorado.
So today I'm gonna do a pretty cool job.
It's a grill cook.
Medium? (Wedo) During the bankruptcy process that this company went through, many of the customers' favorites were taken off the menu.
- Hi, guys.
- How are you doing? (Wedo) Is Joey around? - Yeah, just follow me.
- Follow you? Okay, happy to do it.
As part of my new vision, I'm bringing many of those things back.
And I'm also adding new things.
We've spent about $25 million of the company's money rolling out steak and our stir-fry product huge investment for us.
So today I get a chance to look at and evaluate how that's working.
(Woman) Joey.
You have a friend.
Joey.
- Nice to meet you.
- Mike Davis, man.
- How you doing? - Mike Davis? All right.
Oh, yeah, I got something for you.
- You got a hat for me? - Yep.
Awesome.
How you doing, man? Not too bad.
This whole station is what I do.
This is me, right here.
You'll have to deal with, you know, your carving.
You got your roast beef, your ham, your turkey.
Our steaks will be right underneath here.
- Okay.
- Stir-fry They got the choice between chicken, beef, or shrimp.
- Okay.
- Rice and noodles.
They got the choice if they want vegetables.
So I'm gonna have you make a stir-fry for yourself.
So the first thing you want to do is you're gonna oil your grill.
- Just a little spot? - Yep, just a little spot.
- One scoop of shrimp.
- Okay.
Since we're starting to get a line, you want to start loading up your grill right afterwards.
How do you like your steak, ma'am? Yeah.
- So you cut it? - Yeah, you cut it.
And then you show it to your customer and see if she's all right with that.
That was about, like, a medium.
(Joey) Steak, well-done? So I'll have you do this.
That, to me, looks well-done.
You want to show it to your customer and see if she's all right with that.
- See that? (Joey) - You want it more done? - Yeah.
- More? - Enjoy it.
- Thanks.
Our dinner rush is gonna start here soon.
All righty, I'm gonna have you run the stir-fry - and the steaks.
- Okay.
- That's pretty good right there.
(Woman) - Perfect.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
Enjoy it.
Don't forget about your stir-fries.
- Hi.
(Woman) - Chicken.
Chicken with - Rice.
- With rice.
All right, and you got other people in line too.
- You had a medium.
- Medium, right? (Joey) We're working at a buffet, and he has to stay on his toes, keep moving back and forth.
You got to keep moving a little bit faster 'cause we got people still building up.
Two well-dones? You wanted well-done, and you wanted well-done.
Stir-fry? Okay, I'll be right with you in a second.
That wasn't good.
(Wedo) I'm great on the grill at a picnic.
I don't spend a lot of time, you know, grilling at a high rate of speed.
Just bear with me one second.
(Joey) You got to keep it up.
(Wedo) You know what, though? I'm inspired to see that we had a lot of customers come to the grill tonight.
Enjoy it.
This investment is really paying off.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Looks like you're doing pretty good it's not too bad.
(Wedo) How long have you been here, by the way? I've been a grill cook here for about a year and a half now.
Yeah, I want to open up my own restaurant one day soon.
- Is that right? Oh, that's cool.
- Yeah.
What I see in Joey that I really like is drive to improve his stake in life.
And that's hugely meaningful to me.
So I'm gonna show you some, you know, different stuff - that we have to prep in the back.
- Okay, great.
All right, so with the steaks, we try to get all the fat off of here.
- We're taking it all off? - All the fat.
As much as you can possibly get off.
Did you start on the grill - or did you start somewhere else? - No, actually, no.
- I started in the dish room, actually.
- Oh, wow.
That's great, yeah.
- I went from the dish room to the bakery.
- You got promoted a bunch.
From the bakery, I went out on to the grill.
And on the grill, right now I'm one of the line cooks.
I want to be a manager here.
That's where I want to go to.
- Yeah.
- But, like, for my own business, I want to still be a cook.
So do you have any family members that could help you out, get this thing started for money or no? Not really.
My mom she lives up in Loveland right now.
- That's about an hour away.
- Yeah.
Yeah, and that's the only reason why it's kind of hard for me to kind of get to see her 'cause I ride a long board.
You know, even to work, I ride a long board.
- Oh, is that right? - Yeah.
Aren't those things dangerous? [Laughs.]
Kind of, yeah.
I've crashed a couple times.
[Laughs.]
Joey's a great young talent in our company.
We'll have you try one of your steaks.
Oh, I get to eat my own cooking? In my company, it's about everybody getting an equal chance.
And I want to figure out a way to give him some opportunity.
- Perfect.
- Can you say that again? - Can you say "perfect" again? - That was perfect.
Okay.
Okay, come on.
Give me some love now.
I'll give you an "A" for the steak.
All right, "A" for the steak.
(Wedo) So today I am in Alexandria, Louisiana, at one of our Ryan's stores.
I'm a server today.
My entire focus on reinvention of this concept is really around increasing the hospitality at the server position.
I'm looking for Whitney.
- I'm Mike.
- Whitney? First station.
- First station? - Okay.
(Wedo) I want to focus you know, what's going on in the guest's mind? What are they thinking about Buffets? What could we do better maybe? Hey, there.
Whitney? - Yeah, hi.
- Hey, I'm Mike.
- Nice to meet you.
- How you doing? All right.
Welcome to Ryan's.
- Thank you.
- No problem.
I'm gonna show you the in and outs, you know, everything about serving, restaurants.
Great.
My first impression of Mike was, he's got the muscles to, you know, possibly win a Hulk Hogan contest.
- When a guest sits down - Yeah.
and they're in your section, you go straight to them.
You automatically introduce yourself, thank them for coming.
- Okay.
- And then you look at their receipt.
Our main things, two things drinks, rolls, and taking anything off their table that they are not currently using.
Using, right.
Yeah, okay.
You know, so our main thing is trying to keep them happy.
That's first and foremost, number one.
- Makes sense.
Yep.
- Right.
- So if you'd like to follow me.
- Absolutely.
Okay, like, here's an example.
Hi, my name's Whitney.
Thank you for coming.
I see that you're drinking two unsweets and one sweet tea.
All right, I'll get everything out for you.
(Whitney) So we got two unsweets and a sweet.
Sweet tea.
And here's the two unsweets.
Now, like I said, I'm gonna let you do it on your own.
Go ahead.
Can I clear some of these dishes for you? Y'all have anything - Oh, no, no, no, no.
- It's all good, right? All right, all right.
Take care.
Mike needs to work on how he speaks to the customer, how he approaches the customer.
Y you guys been coming here a while or not? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
So is it a favorite place? Who's this young man? Hey, buddy, how's it going? Nothing to be nothing to be afraid of.
It's okay.
(Whitney) You don't want to be so aggressive.
[Laughs.]
Mike definitely needs to be more Rico Suave than Hulk Hogan at the tables.
You got to work on your Suave.
My Suave.
Yeah, well, you know, - I've been told that before, so that's okay.
- Yes.
I noticed two tables didn't even leave a tip.
Most of the time, when they don't leave a tip, it's something you did wrong.
- You know, you can't let that affect you.
- Yeah.
(Wedo) What I like about Whitney is her style.
She was training me today, and she was very pleasant.
She was very thoughtful about it.
- Let's not be Hogan.
Let's be Suave.
- Yes, ma'am.
I mean, it is a 180-degree difference from my experience with Skye in the dish room.
Okay.
Yeah, this is my husband.
- His name is Jacob.
- Hey, man.
- Jacob, great.
- Nice to meet you.
Thanks.
Great to meet you.
(Whitney) He works in the kitchen.
(Wedo) She's really good.
She's training me up today.
(Whitney) - Yeah.
- Glad to hear it.
- Happy anniversary.
(Whitney) - Thank you.
(Wedo) - What? - Yeah, today's our anniversary.
Oh, my word.
Are you kidding me? But, yeah, he works up here.
He'll be up here at 4:00 today.
Oh, it's your shift at 4:00? Yeah, 'cause we actually have to have family that watches our kids for a little bit while we're not you know 'cause day care is too high for people like us.
Two little kids? Is it daughters? So how old? Emerald and Elia 4 1/2 and 1 1/2.
(Wedo) Wow, that's great ages.
- Yeah, that's my husband.
- Well, great.
- Good to meet you, man.
- I wanted to introduce you.
That's great.
Awesome.
You've been doing a really good job.
Let's go sit down and talk about, you know, everything that we've done today.
And I want to know a little bit more about you.
- The thing that I like about working with you - Mm-hmm.
is you tell me when I need to do something.
Yeah.
Well, you can't - Instead of me guessing.
- Right.
You know, it's up to you to make the money.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
- You know.
If you don't come in with a positive attitude, "I am gonna treat these customers like they're gold," then you're not gonna make any money.
When business is slower, like towards the middle of the month, towards the end, it gets really slow.
And it's like, "oh, gosh, how am I gonna get" - "to work tomorrow?" - Yeah.
Thank God we do live not far from here.
And him and I both have walked up here, you know, - when we have to - Do you have cars and stuff? - We share one.
- You share a car, okay.
And we're still paying on it, you know, so we can't afford another one right now.
Yeah.
I definitely worry about our bills, you know.
For example, we have to find a place to stay now.
My landlord literally gave us a two-week notice.
- When was that? - Just the other day.
And we're supposed to be out by the 1st.
Well, what are you thinking about there? - What are you gonna do? - I'm looking.
But things like, you know, first month's rent and deposit, you know, right now it's kind of unrealistic to me.
But I know that I don't really have a choice.
You know, I got to make it happen, as I always say.
That is one of me and Jacob's big sayings, "you're gonna make it happen.
" And we end up making it happen some way or the other.
(Wedo) Whitney is a wonderful person.
And she's also a terrific employee.
Her and her husband are struggling to make ends meet.
I mean, I grew up in a family that was struggling like that.
Even in the toughest of times, my parents were always positive.
You just got to work through it and be positive, you know.
Yeah.
Well, you're doing that, for sure.
It's all you can do.
This is a young couple, with two young children, that want to help themselves.
And, you know, it makes me really, frankly, want to help them.
Let's go see if our customers need anything.
Yes, ma'am.
Let's do it.
(Announcer) Coming up how will the employees react when they find out that Mike is really the boss? My name is Anthony Wedo.
Oh, my gosh.
I [Squeals.]
And what will happen when Anthony confronts Skye about his bad behavior? I felt like I was set up to fail.
No, you weren't set up to fail.
You don't embody any of the culture that I want in our restaurants.
It has to be changed immediately.
(Wedo) My employees are coming to Pineville, Louisiana.
They think they're coming to the set of the reality show to hear the final results.
But, actually, I'm gonna reveal my true identity.
[Sighs.]
How you doing? Pretty good.
How you doing? All right.
How about yourself? Good.
You look really familiar.
- Who do you think I am? - Mike.
Mike, yeah.
I shaved.
- And you cut your hair.
- Got my hair cut, right? [Laughs.]
It looks good.
How is it going, Mike? I would've never guessed that.
I'm not actually Mike.
Really? My name is Anthony Wedo, the Chief Executive Officer of Buffets, inc.
Oh, my gosh.
You're on a show called Undercover Boss.
What? [Laughs.
Oh, my gosh.
I [Squeals.]
[Both laugh.]
Ernest, a lot of things happened in your store, and the chemistry wasn't right in there.
You and I sat down, and we made a plan, privately.
So tell me about where we are with the plan.
- First off, I did a 30-day action plan.
- Okay.
We're gonna talk about the conduct, first of all.
You know, then we're gonna talk about our organization in the dish room.
Then we're gonna talk about our professionalism.
It sounds to me like you're prepared.
- Yes, sir.
- Okay.
We're gonna bring Skye in.
- Doing all right today? - Mm-hmm.
Great, great, great.
- Skye.
- How you doing? - I'm good.
How are you? - Good.
You know who I am? Mm-hmm.
You're Mike.
Well, Skye, I got to tell you.
I'm not Mike Davis.
- Okay.
- I'm Anthony Wedo.
I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Buffets.
And I was undercover in your restaurant.
From my view, let me put it this way, it was not a good visit.
It was it troubled me.
You don't embody any of the culture that I want in our restaurants, frankly.
I only have time enough to show the basics, and then that's it.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
That's no way to treat somebody.
We're not bullies.
We don't do those kinds of things.
That's just not who we are.
How I was training you, it's basically how I got trained.
Let me back up.
There was no training, okay? There was no training in that store, 'cause I felt like I felt like I was set up to fail.
No, you weren't set up to fail.
You know, one of my biggest complaints about you was that you were complaining about how long I trained you for.
As you know, I'm very disappointed in my visit.
And it has to be changed immediately.
But you're a lucky man, Skye, because this guy likes you.
And he believes that you deserve a second chance.
I'm gonna support him in making sure that you get an opportunity to have a second chance here.
Like I tell anybody, give me a chance, and I'll surprise you, even shock you.
The reason why I backed you, Skye, on this and I know you can do better is because you guys are like my kids.
And when y'all fail, I feel like I fail.
- Ernest, let me tell you about some things I want to do, okay? - Okay.
- The cavalry is coming.
- Good.
Okay, I'm gonna turn that store upside down from managers the whole way down through processes, procedures, and all the stuff.
I want to thank you.
I'm glad you're involved, and I hope you continue to be involved.
You know, I contemplated on quitting.
You know, and I'm not a quitter.
But if you wouldn't have came in, it was gonna be it.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I can finally say, "you know what?" "I finally got somebody to listen.
" And we're gonna get this right.
(Ernest) The energy is back.
The drive is back.
Now I got my groove back, you know.
I got my own back.
So I feel relieved.
It feels real good.
You know, Joey, you took personal ownership of delivering that great steak.
- So you cut it? - Yeah, you cut it.
And then you show it to your customer and see if she's all right with that.
So I want to ask you, could I be your mentor? Wow.
Yeah.
- Is that exciting to you? - Yeah.
Like, I would've never thought that would happen, yeah.
I almost want to, you know, scream out loud, like, "yes.
" Something looks different on you.
You didn't have this mark on your head.
- What happened there, dude? - Yeah - I crashed on my long board.
- You what? You know the skateboards that are really long? Oh, yeah, you were telling me.
You ride your long board.
- Do you have a car? - Nope.
You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to give you $10,000 for a car.
Really? How do you feel about that? - Thank you.
- It's great seeing you, man.
Thank you so much.
(Joey) I'm so excited.
And, like, I'm just a cook at Country Buffet.
Like, he wants to mentor me.
And my goals don't seem too far away now.
Like, now it seems like it's right around the corner.
Shelly, so it was really valuable to me to be trained by you.
What it showed me was we have a big opportunity - to fix the whole cash-register system.
- Right.
And so what I've decided to do is invest around $3 million [Gasps.]
Oh.
into the cash-register systems of all of our stores - Well, thank you.
- because of you.
My coworkers are gonna be so happy to know that we're getting new registers.
You know, I had a really wonderful conversation with you.
When my mom got sick with cancer, I stopped going to high school to take care of her.
And it's not because I had to.
It's because I wanted to.
I would like to give you $15,000 towards your four-year college degree in California for you.
[Crying.]
Oh, my God, I really want to go to school.
Thank you.
[Sobs, laughs.]
My mommy would be so happy.
And my brothers are gonna be so happy too.
[Laughs.]
Oh, my gosh.
Your brothers very important to you.
What I'd like to do is give you $5,000 to have a reunion with your brothers, wherever you want.
You're so nice.
[Crying.]
You are so nice.
How's this? I'm gonna give you some of those.
How's that? They're gonna be so happy.
I haven't seen I haven't been together with them all since my mom passed away.
So, look, one of the things you and I talked about that meant a lot to me was that you had all this bad stuff come your way.
- Right? - Mm-hmm.
So I want to set aside $10,000 for you, okay? As a safety net.
When can I hug you? [Laughs.]
You can hug me now.
Come here.
I can hug you now? Thank you.
(Shelly) I can't believe what just happened out there.
I'm shocked.
I haven't had an opportunity since my mom passed away, and she would be crying right now.
Oh, my God, she is so happy.
- Whitney.
- Yes.
I was enormously impressed by you.
Our main thing is trying to keep them happy.
That's first and foremost, number one.
Makes sense, yep.
We've introduced a new job called hospitality captain.
I'd like to offer you the job as hospitality captain in your store.
Oh, my God.
That would be so awesome.
And I'd like to double your pay.
- Is that okay? - That sounds great.
Yeah.
I don't I'm kind of speechless.
I'm not used to you know, getting, you know, help from other people.
Thank you.
It's awesome.
I don't mean to be personal, but how much do you owe on your car? [Sighs.]
Like, $10,000.
$10,000 approximately.
Well, I'd like to pay off your car.
Oh, my God.
[Crying.]
Oh, my God.
Oh, I don't even know [Sniffles.]
what to say.
Thank you so much.
That means so much.
So, happy to do it for you, but more importantly, I'm happy you're on my team.
- And I'm glad to be.
- Good.
I see you and Jacob I sort of reflect back to my childhood, growing up.
I mean, my mom and dad worked - in a restaurant together.
- Yeah.
So your story is really personal to me 'cause it really relates to my personal story.
So I'd like to do one more thing for you, if I could.
Oh, you've done so much for me already.
I would like to buy you a house.
Oh, my God.
[Sobbing.]
I don't know what to say.
But thank you so much.
We're gonna buy you a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.
I want to make sure there's a yard in the back for the girls.
I want to make sure we get you play-set set up for the girls.
- Thank you.
- Oh, come here.
I'm happy to do it.
You have no idea what this means to me.
(Whitney) I just got a house.
It feels like a dream come true.
That is the best way to put it.
It is a dream come true.
Fairy tale.
Mom, mom, mom! Babe, it is Undercover Boss.
They're paying our car note.
They're buying us a house, and I'm getting a promotion.
I promise.
I promise.
Wow.
That's crazy.
Hey! Jacob, what's up, man? How you doing, buddy? Nice to meet you.
(Wedo) I came here thinking I was gonna learn a lot about four different jobs in my restaurants.
But what you really do is you really visit people's lives.
Most of these people had incredible stories, just a lot of pain in their lives.
But they were still charging ahead.
It reminded me of my life growing up.
My parents worked multiple jobs.
They had a lot of worries.
But they never complained.
[Voice breaking.]
I am richer by a factor of ten by doing this.
[Clears throat.]
I'll see you again soon.
- Yes.
Yes.
- All right.
Bye-bye.
- Yay.
- Oh, my God.
- I know.
- That was amazing.
I know.
Oh, my God.
(Announcer) And implemented sweeping company-wide changes As a company, we're actually gonna restore the 401(K).
It's a $1 million expense.
(Announcer) To benefit the lives of more than 40 million employees.
Whoo! Some people I just want to punch them in the face sometimes.
(Announcer) But not everyone deserved to be rewarded.
I know how to grow some really good weed if you're really interested.
It's not wrong of me to hate people.
(Announcer) Tonight the latest boss to put it all on the line is Anthony Wedo Yeah.
Yeah, bringing it.
What? (Announcer) President and CEO of Buffets, inc.
, the largest buffet provider in America.
Are you Michelle? - Yes.
Hi.
- Hi, Michelle.
- I'm Mike.
How are you doing? - How are you? I'm great.
(Announcer) By going undercover You got to keep moving a little bit faster 'cause we got people still building up.
Subtotal.
[Cash register beeps.]
The register's not cooperating for some reason.
(Announcer) This high-energy boss will meet the employees that keep his restaurants cooking.
Can I clear some of these dishes for you? All right, all right.
Take care.
Your job is to send all this through the dishwasher.
[Dish clatters.]
Oh, well.
[Chuckles.]
What you waiting for? (Announcer) What will happen when he encounters a dishwasher with a bad attitude? If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
I'm working with Skye, and I think he's a smart aleck.
It's frankly driving me crazy.
This is actually kind of fun.
(Skye) It sucks.
I hate doing dishes.
(Announcer) Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 5x04 - Buffets, Inc Original air date October 18, 2013 (Announcer) With headquarters in South Carolina and Minnesota, Buffets, inc.
is America's largest buffet provider, owning some of the biggest names in the industry.
With 350 locations in 35 states and 18,000 employees, this American buffet king serves more than And the head cook in this kitchen is one man.
I'm Anthony Wedo, president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
Buffets, inc.
started as old country buffet.
And really what it was, was, you know, young families needed a place to go for great variety and great value.
And so these things started popping up all over the place.
Over time, Buffets, inc.
acquired brands like Hometown Buffet, Country Buffet, and Ryan's.
In 2006, Buffets, inc.
hit its all-time high, with 1.
7 billion in revenue and serving over 150 million guests.
However, they weren't able to sustain that growth.
This caused sales to suffer dramatically, resulting in two separate bankruptcies over the last five years.
I walked in the door to take over this company at the end of 2012.
We've now taken a business in six months and stopped the water flowing through the hose in the wrong direction.
And now we are beginning to grow this enterprise.
It's a very exciting time for me.
I grew up in a family restaurant business.
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.
I was a busboy.
I was a server.
I was a manager for a period of time.
So I did everything.
My father, my mother, you know, worked nonstop all of their lives.
It was not uncommon for my father to have three jobs.
My mom passed away in '91.
My father suffered a really, really, horrifically bad stroke in 1996.
The doctors gave him anywhere from six months to a year to live.
And it's now 15 years.
It's very, very emotionally for me, it's incredibly difficult, 'cause this powerful man that nothing ever fazed is now there relying on me to help him.
My dad and I shared a lot of things, and work was one of them.
The biggest and most important gift I ever received from him was my ability to outwork anybody.
Gentlemen, good morning.
I was the CEO of new world restaurant group.
I was also a corporate executive for Boston Market.
I was also a senior executive at Pepsico.
The generic term for what I do is "turnaround CEO.
" But in this case, we're not just turning it around.
We're reinventing it.
And it starts with the food.
We started in Denver.
And the response has been absolutely phenomenal really incredible.
Individual portions, fresh for you it's where we're heading, man.
Wow.
This is transformational.
Another part of the reinvention is changing the culture.
I am a high-energy guy with a lot of horsepower.
Someone once said that I'm a cross between General George Patton and reverend Billy Graham.
- Say amen, hallelujah.
- Amen.
Yeah, that's it.
That's it, baby.
That's it.
(Wedo) The culture that we've had, where we've been through two bankruptcies is one of despair.
It's one of, you know, just do whatever you have to do just to get by.
If you don't love the service business, you know what? Time for another career.
The new culture is one of hope and one about winning.
We are on a mission to win.
We are not happy with last place in the division.
There is no reason, in my view, to be in a CEO role unless you're trying to win something for your team.
We're willing to do pretty much whatever it takes to accomplish that mission.
Yeah! Yeah! Do it.
- Do you like blonde? - That's a lot of hair.
[Laughs.]
Wow.
(Wedo) We have had some good results in my first six months.
But my responsibility is to continue to grow our business.
You okay over there? - I don't know.
- Okay, let's see.
So I want to go undercover, because I've been to a lot of restaurants, but I've been to those restaurants as the corporate CEO.
I'm like cousin Itt.
I need honest information about where we are to take us to another level.
And the only way I can do that is to understand what's actually happening in the restaurants.
Let's take some away, shall we? While I'm undercover, I'll be posing as Mike a construction worker competing for business funding to change his life.
My employees will be convinced that they're on a show that's not Undercover Boss.
If somebody recognizes me with this disguise, I'd be astounded and shocked.
Hey, guys.
Yeah, it's me.
How you doing? I've got a little something to show you.
My wife, Carrie, and I and our two boys have a house in Greenville, Delaware, and an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina.
But 80% of my time is spent on the road, traveling to our restaurants.
Ta-da.
[Laughs.]
[Gasps.]
What? Yeah.
(Carrie) - Wow.
- Yeah.
Wow, dad.
I think that's your new look.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm bringing it.
Right there, the gun show.
Uh, yeah, you know.
[Laughter.]
(Wedo) This is Mike Davis, signing off.
I'll see you guys next week.
- Go, Mike.
- Go, Mike.
Yeah.
- Love you guys.
(Carrie) - Love you.
Bye.
(Wedo) Bye-bye.
See you.
(Wedo) Today I'm undercover in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at one of our Ryan's stores.
Ryan's represents about a third of our revenues.
I'm going to be a manager today.
- It all looks good, huh? - Yeah.
(Wedo) The manager sets the tone for everything that happens in the restaurant.
As I think about what I'm doing in this company, which is changing the culture, first you got to change the management culture.
I'm here for Ernest.
Is he around? I believe so.
If I don't see smiles when I'm in there today, that means things aren't running the way they should be.
Hey, Ernest.
- Hi.
How you doing? - Mike Davis.
How you doing? Nice to meet you, Mike.
- Yeah, my pleasure.
How have you been? - I'm excellent.
- How about yourself? - I'm good.
I'm one out of three managers here.
One out of three? Okay.
We all work together to make this place run.
So what you might see me do is just cut this way.
Yeah.
Just looking at the customer.
How you doing, ma'am? Speaking to everybody.
Making sure they're okay.
Everything excellent over here? - Perfect.
(Ernest) - Okay.
- Okay.
- Okay? And you show them the right way, right? - Yes, sir.
- Yeah.
Okay.
And let him take it from there.
- All right.
- How we doing, man? - Man, not bad how about you? - Good.
I'm good.
All right, well, today your job is to send - all this through the dishwasher.
- Okay.
When they come through the door Yeah.
They're basically your slaves.
That's what it is.
When the pots come here, you put them in the water.
Sometimes you have to scrub them.
Sometimes you don't.
And that's basically it.
When the cup racks is full, you take it, put it down.
Then you got to run it through.
But right now it can't go nowhere 'cause I got all this right here.
You're gonna do that, and I'm gonna do this in the front? You gonna do this, or how are we gonna do this? Right now Sometimes it happens.
Oh, yes, it does.
(Skye) Oh, well.
Hey, Skye, how do I run these trays through, on what? You're running the dish room right now, so it's all up to you.
It's basically crash and burn.
'Cause when I'm in here, I only have time enough to show the basics, and then that's it.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
Well, I mean, you gave me one minute of training.
That's not fair, and I would hope you give other people more than one minute of training.
Okay? 'Cause that's not what you want to be doing here.
You want to be giving people training.
I'm working with Skye, and I think he's a smart aleck, and I don't think it's necessary.
[Dish clatters.]
Oh, well.
What you waiting for? [Chuckles.]
He was condescending.
He didn't really help me.
Now, the reds go it doesn't matter whether it's reds or clear, right? Sure.
[Chuckles.]
(Wedo) He just said, "hey, go figure it out.
" You're gonna have to pick up the pace.
I'm trying to stay calm here, but it's no way to run a restaurant.
It's no way to run anything.
So, Skye, man, how long you been here? A couple months.
- Who trained you? - Nobody, basically.
Basically exactly what I done to you.
They gave you one minute of training? (Skye) Mike thought he knew it all.
Instead of sitting back there complaining about one minute, this, that, and the other, he should've just shut his mouth and did what he's supposed to do.
I mean, if you knew it all, then what are you doing back here wasting my time? This is actually kind of fun.
I guess for one day, yeah.
It's not a bad job.
(Skye) It sucks.
I hate doing dishes.
(Wedo) You know, this is my first job undercover, and I've been trying to keep my cool.
But hearing Skye tell me how he hates his job, he doesn't want to be here, it's frankly driving me crazy.
What's up, Ernest? How you doing, man? Ernest, I really need to see you, if you don't mind, for a minute back in your office, is that okay? All right, let's go back.
I am on a mission to reinvent and turn around this company.
Can't have any Skyes on the team.
Sit down, man.
Sit down, relax.
How are you? You're good? I got something to tell you.
I'm not Mike Davis.
My name's Anthony Wedo.
I'm the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
[Sighs.]
And I'm undercover in your restaurant.
Wow.
Yeah.
(Wedo) I got something to tell you.
I'm not Mike Davis.
My name's Anthony Wedo.
I'm the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
Wow.
Yeah.
So let's talk about the situation out here, okay? Now, the good news is when I look out there, the guests are getting treated pretty well.
Mm-hmm.
- But this is a mess back in here.
- Yes.
This operation back here, you know, - is not where we need it to be.
- Not where it's supposed to be.
- Okay? Right? - I agree 100%.
What are we supposed to be doing with people in our store? We're supposed to be training them.
We're supposed to be training them, right? - Yes, yes.
- Right? Why aren't we training people? That's the thing.
So I try to do What is going on with your management team? What is going on with the management team is I don't know if they're burnt out or what's going on with them.
It's just, like, they don't have compassion for it.
What's stopping you from doing the right thing with these people? It's not me.
I can't do it by myself.
So you understand what's been going on - in that dish room is not right? - Exactly.
Right.
I want the bad attitudes out of the restaurant.
Yes, sir.
I'm the CEO of this company.
I don't decide whether we keep dishwashers or not.
- Right, right.
- That's your job, okay? What I'm telling you, though, is, - this gentleman needs trained.
- Mm-hmm.
- This gentleman needs to change his attitude.
- Mm-hmm.
What happens with one bad attitude in the store? It goes down the It's like a virus, right? It infects everything in the restaurant.
- Yes.
- Right? - Yes.
Yes, sir.
- You know that.
I want some action taken here.
I want that gentleman brought in - and talked to at your direction.
- Okay.
In a couple of days, we're all gonna get together, you, me, and Skye, and have a little meeting to talk about what happened here, okay? - Yes, sir.
- On another point you cannot tell anybody who I am because I have another job tomorrow that I want to do in another store, and I want to be undercover.
- All right? - Yes, sir.
- Okay.
- Okay.
(Wedo) I got into it with Ernest today, because he has the basic pieces of being a good manager, but he's not executing it in the store today.
Bitching and complaining.
But I stacked up the dish room for him.
(Man) Oh, yeah? Yeah.
Bugged the [.]
out of me, but, yeah, I did it.
(Wedo) Hey, man, I have no idea what the hell happened here.
This guy named Skye you know, total smartass.
I mean It's my dish room after all.
You know, I'm reengineering a company.
And I'm turning this company around.
It's all about attitude.
[Chuckles.]
Make no mistake about it, you're gonna have the right attitude to be on our winning team.
Like, I don't want to do this anymore.
I'm done.
(Wedo) What Skye did yesterday, frankly, that's just not acceptable.
And I had to address it.
Today I'm hoping that this job goes much smoother.
Today I'm in Fresno, California, at one of our Hometown Buffets.
I'm gonna be working as a cashier today.
[Cash register beeps.]
This is that first moment where you make eye contact with this person who's gonna pay you money for your food.
I really want to understand what level of hospitality are we delivering.
Hey, good morning.
- Are you Michelle? - Yes.
- Hi, Michelle.
I'm Mike.
- Hi.
How are you? - How you doing? - I'm great.
- Great to see you.
- Nice to meet you.
My first impression of him was he probably looked like a photographer or something, you know, with his hair flip, you know.
[Laughs.]
So he's got, like, that long hair and whatnot.
He kind of looks like a Fabio.
- You can call me Shelly.
- Shelly, good.
I'll be training you on the cashier.
- Let's do it.
- All right.
- So my lovely register.
- All right.
Okay, so we have this button right here, and we hit it.
And no matter how many we have, we can just press a number and hit "regular.
" - So the number before you hit "regular"? - Yes.
Like, say if they have, like, two, then - Two regulars, right.
- Yeah.
- Good.
- Customers come in - Remember to smile, okay? - Yeah, sure.
You have to smile so that they don't feel uncomfortable.
So we have customers right now.
(Wedo) All right.
- How are you guys? (Man) - We're good.
Good.
So we have one adult today, right? (Man) - Yes.
- Okay.
And how old are the children? (Man) 10 and 11.
All right, 10 and 11.
So she has regular.
And then she has a beverage for herself.
- Right.
- And the children are 10 and 11, so we're gonna hit "8 to 11".
- And then you're yes.
- Subtotal? - So your total is gonna be $23.
44.
- Got it.
So then we hit how much it is.
Here is your receipt.
And we staple it right here.
And we hand it to them, okay? Awesome.
And you guys enjoy your meal, okay? Okay, so we're getting a lot of people now, okay? I'm gonna let you handle this on your own.
Okay.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Welcome to Hometown Buffet.
Three and two.
So we got, uh Well, we got two adults, right? [Cash register beeps.]
Two regulars.
And, uh I'm training.
Please bear with me.
[Laughs.]
Two beverage.
Subtotal.
[Cash register beeps.]
The register's not cooperating for some reason.
It's fine.
Just handle it with a smile.
- Okay? - Okay.
Welcome to Hometown Buffet.
Can I take your order? Two.
Mike needs to be a little bit more spunky and more, you know, like, bubbly.
Your tone is a little bit [Growls.]
Be a little bit sweeter.
Like, be overly happy.
Hi, guys.
Welcome.
That's $33.
38.
- Go ahead and take that.
- Okay.
Okay, now you swipe it.
Now ask debit or credit.
- Is it debit? - Yes.
Did it detract on card? This thing is hard.
- You have to really push on this thing.
- Yeah.
(Wedo) Oh, my word, trying to process a simple transaction slows everything way down.
It's the swiping on this thing it just doesn't want to cooperate.
My biggest concern is, people come in here hungry, wanting to eat.
[Cash register beeps.]
Okay.
Let's see.
We got to clear this.
It's processing.
Give it a minute.
Thanks so much.
- So now it is time for me to go on my break.
- Shelly.
Let's do it.
Oh, my God, between the training issue I found working with Skye and this cash register problem, we definitely have our work cut out for us.
We're gonna address that immediately.
(Wedo) How many hours a week do you normally work? (Michelle) Right now I probably will be working about I want to say 20 hours a week.
It's hard too, without a safety net.
When my mom got sick with cancer you know, like, tending to my mom when she got sick, it's, like, you're the child.
But it's your turn to be strong.
Yeah.
It's hard.
They told her she wouldn't survive for about 72 hours.
She went two weeks.
I totally get it, you know.
I totally get where you're coming from.
It's really tough.
My dad had a really bad stroke in 1996.
And so we've my brother and my sister and I have been really caring for him, - and, you know, for the last 15 years.
- Right.
It's been a long, long, long haul.
And you do it out of love.
And you know what? You don't have to do it.
But you want to do it.
(Wedo) Shelly was telling me about her mother.
I had, honestly, a pretty strong connection because I saw my dad go through this really serious stroke.
Astoundingly strong young woman.
I stopped going to high school to take care of her.
And it's not because I had to.
It's because I wanted to.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know, like What else would you like to do? I really want to be a criminal profiler.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah.
I love all that stuff.
I do.
[Laughs.]
But I can't afford it right now.
You got a lot on your shoulders.
- I get that.
- Right.
And you know what? And it wasn't just me, either, though.
It was my brothers.
- It's nice to have that.
- Yeah.
My oldest brother lives here in Fresno.
And my other two older brothers live in Texas.
So, you know, I love my brothers.
- You're tough.
You have been through a lot.
- Yeah.
And you're you know, you're fighting through it.
- It sounds like it to me, anyway.
- Right.
- I mean, right? - Mm-hmm.
So how are we doing on time? I don't want to get us in trouble.
We probably should go back to work.
(Announcer) Coming up You got to keep moving a little bit faster 'cause you got people still building up.
The boss feels the heat when he works on the grill.
You wanted well-done, and you wanted well-done.
Stir-fry? Okay, I'll be right with you in a second.
(Announcer) And later I'm gonna let you do it on your own.
(Announcer) Anthony feels the wrath of a hungry customer.
Can I clear some of these dishes for you? All right, all right.
Take care.
(Announcer) Anthony Wedo, the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
, is a boss undercover in his own company.
His employees think he's a contestant on a reality show, competing to win money to start his own business.
I only have time enough to show the basics, and then that's it.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
(Announcer) But so far, he's had a hard time keeping his cool and keeping his cover.
My name's Anthony Wedo.
I'm the president and CEO of Buffets, inc.
Wow.
Yeah.
(Announcer) His journey continues in Colorado.
So today I'm gonna do a pretty cool job.
It's a grill cook.
Medium? (Wedo) During the bankruptcy process that this company went through, many of the customers' favorites were taken off the menu.
- Hi, guys.
- How are you doing? (Wedo) Is Joey around? - Yeah, just follow me.
- Follow you? Okay, happy to do it.
As part of my new vision, I'm bringing many of those things back.
And I'm also adding new things.
We've spent about $25 million of the company's money rolling out steak and our stir-fry product huge investment for us.
So today I get a chance to look at and evaluate how that's working.
(Woman) Joey.
You have a friend.
Joey.
- Nice to meet you.
- Mike Davis, man.
- How you doing? - Mike Davis? All right.
Oh, yeah, I got something for you.
- You got a hat for me? - Yep.
Awesome.
How you doing, man? Not too bad.
This whole station is what I do.
This is me, right here.
You'll have to deal with, you know, your carving.
You got your roast beef, your ham, your turkey.
Our steaks will be right underneath here.
- Okay.
- Stir-fry They got the choice between chicken, beef, or shrimp.
- Okay.
- Rice and noodles.
They got the choice if they want vegetables.
So I'm gonna have you make a stir-fry for yourself.
So the first thing you want to do is you're gonna oil your grill.
- Just a little spot? - Yep, just a little spot.
- One scoop of shrimp.
- Okay.
Since we're starting to get a line, you want to start loading up your grill right afterwards.
How do you like your steak, ma'am? Yeah.
- So you cut it? - Yeah, you cut it.
And then you show it to your customer and see if she's all right with that.
That was about, like, a medium.
(Joey) Steak, well-done? So I'll have you do this.
That, to me, looks well-done.
You want to show it to your customer and see if she's all right with that.
- See that? (Joey) - You want it more done? - Yeah.
- More? - Enjoy it.
- Thanks.
Our dinner rush is gonna start here soon.
All righty, I'm gonna have you run the stir-fry - and the steaks.
- Okay.
- That's pretty good right there.
(Woman) - Perfect.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
Enjoy it.
Don't forget about your stir-fries.
- Hi.
(Woman) - Chicken.
Chicken with - Rice.
- With rice.
All right, and you got other people in line too.
- You had a medium.
- Medium, right? (Joey) We're working at a buffet, and he has to stay on his toes, keep moving back and forth.
You got to keep moving a little bit faster 'cause we got people still building up.
Two well-dones? You wanted well-done, and you wanted well-done.
Stir-fry? Okay, I'll be right with you in a second.
That wasn't good.
(Wedo) I'm great on the grill at a picnic.
I don't spend a lot of time, you know, grilling at a high rate of speed.
Just bear with me one second.
(Joey) You got to keep it up.
(Wedo) You know what, though? I'm inspired to see that we had a lot of customers come to the grill tonight.
Enjoy it.
This investment is really paying off.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
Looks like you're doing pretty good it's not too bad.
(Wedo) How long have you been here, by the way? I've been a grill cook here for about a year and a half now.
Yeah, I want to open up my own restaurant one day soon.
- Is that right? Oh, that's cool.
- Yeah.
What I see in Joey that I really like is drive to improve his stake in life.
And that's hugely meaningful to me.
So I'm gonna show you some, you know, different stuff - that we have to prep in the back.
- Okay, great.
All right, so with the steaks, we try to get all the fat off of here.
- We're taking it all off? - All the fat.
As much as you can possibly get off.
Did you start on the grill - or did you start somewhere else? - No, actually, no.
- I started in the dish room, actually.
- Oh, wow.
That's great, yeah.
- I went from the dish room to the bakery.
- You got promoted a bunch.
From the bakery, I went out on to the grill.
And on the grill, right now I'm one of the line cooks.
I want to be a manager here.
That's where I want to go to.
- Yeah.
- But, like, for my own business, I want to still be a cook.
So do you have any family members that could help you out, get this thing started for money or no? Not really.
My mom she lives up in Loveland right now.
- That's about an hour away.
- Yeah.
Yeah, and that's the only reason why it's kind of hard for me to kind of get to see her 'cause I ride a long board.
You know, even to work, I ride a long board.
- Oh, is that right? - Yeah.
Aren't those things dangerous? [Laughs.]
Kind of, yeah.
I've crashed a couple times.
[Laughs.]
Joey's a great young talent in our company.
We'll have you try one of your steaks.
Oh, I get to eat my own cooking? In my company, it's about everybody getting an equal chance.
And I want to figure out a way to give him some opportunity.
- Perfect.
- Can you say that again? - Can you say "perfect" again? - That was perfect.
Okay.
Okay, come on.
Give me some love now.
I'll give you an "A" for the steak.
All right, "A" for the steak.
(Wedo) So today I am in Alexandria, Louisiana, at one of our Ryan's stores.
I'm a server today.
My entire focus on reinvention of this concept is really around increasing the hospitality at the server position.
I'm looking for Whitney.
- I'm Mike.
- Whitney? First station.
- First station? - Okay.
(Wedo) I want to focus you know, what's going on in the guest's mind? What are they thinking about Buffets? What could we do better maybe? Hey, there.
Whitney? - Yeah, hi.
- Hey, I'm Mike.
- Nice to meet you.
- How you doing? All right.
Welcome to Ryan's.
- Thank you.
- No problem.
I'm gonna show you the in and outs, you know, everything about serving, restaurants.
Great.
My first impression of Mike was, he's got the muscles to, you know, possibly win a Hulk Hogan contest.
- When a guest sits down - Yeah.
and they're in your section, you go straight to them.
You automatically introduce yourself, thank them for coming.
- Okay.
- And then you look at their receipt.
Our main things, two things drinks, rolls, and taking anything off their table that they are not currently using.
Using, right.
Yeah, okay.
You know, so our main thing is trying to keep them happy.
That's first and foremost, number one.
- Makes sense.
Yep.
- Right.
- So if you'd like to follow me.
- Absolutely.
Okay, like, here's an example.
Hi, my name's Whitney.
Thank you for coming.
I see that you're drinking two unsweets and one sweet tea.
All right, I'll get everything out for you.
(Whitney) So we got two unsweets and a sweet.
Sweet tea.
And here's the two unsweets.
Now, like I said, I'm gonna let you do it on your own.
Go ahead.
Can I clear some of these dishes for you? Y'all have anything - Oh, no, no, no, no.
- It's all good, right? All right, all right.
Take care.
Mike needs to work on how he speaks to the customer, how he approaches the customer.
Y you guys been coming here a while or not? - Yeah.
- Yeah.
So is it a favorite place? Who's this young man? Hey, buddy, how's it going? Nothing to be nothing to be afraid of.
It's okay.
(Whitney) You don't want to be so aggressive.
[Laughs.]
Mike definitely needs to be more Rico Suave than Hulk Hogan at the tables.
You got to work on your Suave.
My Suave.
Yeah, well, you know, - I've been told that before, so that's okay.
- Yes.
I noticed two tables didn't even leave a tip.
Most of the time, when they don't leave a tip, it's something you did wrong.
- You know, you can't let that affect you.
- Yeah.
(Wedo) What I like about Whitney is her style.
She was training me today, and she was very pleasant.
She was very thoughtful about it.
- Let's not be Hogan.
Let's be Suave.
- Yes, ma'am.
I mean, it is a 180-degree difference from my experience with Skye in the dish room.
Okay.
Yeah, this is my husband.
- His name is Jacob.
- Hey, man.
- Jacob, great.
- Nice to meet you.
Thanks.
Great to meet you.
(Whitney) He works in the kitchen.
(Wedo) She's really good.
She's training me up today.
(Whitney) - Yeah.
- Glad to hear it.
- Happy anniversary.
(Whitney) - Thank you.
(Wedo) - What? - Yeah, today's our anniversary.
Oh, my word.
Are you kidding me? But, yeah, he works up here.
He'll be up here at 4:00 today.
Oh, it's your shift at 4:00? Yeah, 'cause we actually have to have family that watches our kids for a little bit while we're not you know 'cause day care is too high for people like us.
Two little kids? Is it daughters? So how old? Emerald and Elia 4 1/2 and 1 1/2.
(Wedo) Wow, that's great ages.
- Yeah, that's my husband.
- Well, great.
- Good to meet you, man.
- I wanted to introduce you.
That's great.
Awesome.
You've been doing a really good job.
Let's go sit down and talk about, you know, everything that we've done today.
And I want to know a little bit more about you.
- The thing that I like about working with you - Mm-hmm.
is you tell me when I need to do something.
Yeah.
Well, you can't - Instead of me guessing.
- Right.
You know, it's up to you to make the money.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
- You know.
If you don't come in with a positive attitude, "I am gonna treat these customers like they're gold," then you're not gonna make any money.
When business is slower, like towards the middle of the month, towards the end, it gets really slow.
And it's like, "oh, gosh, how am I gonna get" - "to work tomorrow?" - Yeah.
Thank God we do live not far from here.
And him and I both have walked up here, you know, - when we have to - Do you have cars and stuff? - We share one.
- You share a car, okay.
And we're still paying on it, you know, so we can't afford another one right now.
Yeah.
I definitely worry about our bills, you know.
For example, we have to find a place to stay now.
My landlord literally gave us a two-week notice.
- When was that? - Just the other day.
And we're supposed to be out by the 1st.
Well, what are you thinking about there? - What are you gonna do? - I'm looking.
But things like, you know, first month's rent and deposit, you know, right now it's kind of unrealistic to me.
But I know that I don't really have a choice.
You know, I got to make it happen, as I always say.
That is one of me and Jacob's big sayings, "you're gonna make it happen.
" And we end up making it happen some way or the other.
(Wedo) Whitney is a wonderful person.
And she's also a terrific employee.
Her and her husband are struggling to make ends meet.
I mean, I grew up in a family that was struggling like that.
Even in the toughest of times, my parents were always positive.
You just got to work through it and be positive, you know.
Yeah.
Well, you're doing that, for sure.
It's all you can do.
This is a young couple, with two young children, that want to help themselves.
And, you know, it makes me really, frankly, want to help them.
Let's go see if our customers need anything.
Yes, ma'am.
Let's do it.
(Announcer) Coming up how will the employees react when they find out that Mike is really the boss? My name is Anthony Wedo.
Oh, my gosh.
I [Squeals.]
And what will happen when Anthony confronts Skye about his bad behavior? I felt like I was set up to fail.
No, you weren't set up to fail.
You don't embody any of the culture that I want in our restaurants.
It has to be changed immediately.
(Wedo) My employees are coming to Pineville, Louisiana.
They think they're coming to the set of the reality show to hear the final results.
But, actually, I'm gonna reveal my true identity.
[Sighs.]
How you doing? Pretty good.
How you doing? All right.
How about yourself? Good.
You look really familiar.
- Who do you think I am? - Mike.
Mike, yeah.
I shaved.
- And you cut your hair.
- Got my hair cut, right? [Laughs.]
It looks good.
How is it going, Mike? I would've never guessed that.
I'm not actually Mike.
Really? My name is Anthony Wedo, the Chief Executive Officer of Buffets, inc.
Oh, my gosh.
You're on a show called Undercover Boss.
What? [Laughs.
Oh, my gosh.
I [Squeals.]
[Both laugh.]
Ernest, a lot of things happened in your store, and the chemistry wasn't right in there.
You and I sat down, and we made a plan, privately.
So tell me about where we are with the plan.
- First off, I did a 30-day action plan.
- Okay.
We're gonna talk about the conduct, first of all.
You know, then we're gonna talk about our organization in the dish room.
Then we're gonna talk about our professionalism.
It sounds to me like you're prepared.
- Yes, sir.
- Okay.
We're gonna bring Skye in.
- Doing all right today? - Mm-hmm.
Great, great, great.
- Skye.
- How you doing? - I'm good.
How are you? - Good.
You know who I am? Mm-hmm.
You're Mike.
Well, Skye, I got to tell you.
I'm not Mike Davis.
- Okay.
- I'm Anthony Wedo.
I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Buffets.
And I was undercover in your restaurant.
From my view, let me put it this way, it was not a good visit.
It was it troubled me.
You don't embody any of the culture that I want in our restaurants, frankly.
I only have time enough to show the basics, and then that's it.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
That's no way to treat somebody.
We're not bullies.
We don't do those kinds of things.
That's just not who we are.
How I was training you, it's basically how I got trained.
Let me back up.
There was no training, okay? There was no training in that store, 'cause I felt like I felt like I was set up to fail.
No, you weren't set up to fail.
You know, one of my biggest complaints about you was that you were complaining about how long I trained you for.
As you know, I'm very disappointed in my visit.
And it has to be changed immediately.
But you're a lucky man, Skye, because this guy likes you.
And he believes that you deserve a second chance.
I'm gonna support him in making sure that you get an opportunity to have a second chance here.
Like I tell anybody, give me a chance, and I'll surprise you, even shock you.
The reason why I backed you, Skye, on this and I know you can do better is because you guys are like my kids.
And when y'all fail, I feel like I fail.
- Ernest, let me tell you about some things I want to do, okay? - Okay.
- The cavalry is coming.
- Good.
Okay, I'm gonna turn that store upside down from managers the whole way down through processes, procedures, and all the stuff.
I want to thank you.
I'm glad you're involved, and I hope you continue to be involved.
You know, I contemplated on quitting.
You know, and I'm not a quitter.
But if you wouldn't have came in, it was gonna be it.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I can finally say, "you know what?" "I finally got somebody to listen.
" And we're gonna get this right.
(Ernest) The energy is back.
The drive is back.
Now I got my groove back, you know.
I got my own back.
So I feel relieved.
It feels real good.
You know, Joey, you took personal ownership of delivering that great steak.
- So you cut it? - Yeah, you cut it.
And then you show it to your customer and see if she's all right with that.
So I want to ask you, could I be your mentor? Wow.
Yeah.
- Is that exciting to you? - Yeah.
Like, I would've never thought that would happen, yeah.
I almost want to, you know, scream out loud, like, "yes.
" Something looks different on you.
You didn't have this mark on your head.
- What happened there, dude? - Yeah - I crashed on my long board.
- You what? You know the skateboards that are really long? Oh, yeah, you were telling me.
You ride your long board.
- Do you have a car? - Nope.
You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to give you $10,000 for a car.
Really? How do you feel about that? - Thank you.
- It's great seeing you, man.
Thank you so much.
(Joey) I'm so excited.
And, like, I'm just a cook at Country Buffet.
Like, he wants to mentor me.
And my goals don't seem too far away now.
Like, now it seems like it's right around the corner.
Shelly, so it was really valuable to me to be trained by you.
What it showed me was we have a big opportunity - to fix the whole cash-register system.
- Right.
And so what I've decided to do is invest around $3 million [Gasps.]
Oh.
into the cash-register systems of all of our stores - Well, thank you.
- because of you.
My coworkers are gonna be so happy to know that we're getting new registers.
You know, I had a really wonderful conversation with you.
When my mom got sick with cancer, I stopped going to high school to take care of her.
And it's not because I had to.
It's because I wanted to.
I would like to give you $15,000 towards your four-year college degree in California for you.
[Crying.]
Oh, my God, I really want to go to school.
Thank you.
[Sobs, laughs.]
My mommy would be so happy.
And my brothers are gonna be so happy too.
[Laughs.]
Oh, my gosh.
Your brothers very important to you.
What I'd like to do is give you $5,000 to have a reunion with your brothers, wherever you want.
You're so nice.
[Crying.]
You are so nice.
How's this? I'm gonna give you some of those.
How's that? They're gonna be so happy.
I haven't seen I haven't been together with them all since my mom passed away.
So, look, one of the things you and I talked about that meant a lot to me was that you had all this bad stuff come your way.
- Right? - Mm-hmm.
So I want to set aside $10,000 for you, okay? As a safety net.
When can I hug you? [Laughs.]
You can hug me now.
Come here.
I can hug you now? Thank you.
(Shelly) I can't believe what just happened out there.
I'm shocked.
I haven't had an opportunity since my mom passed away, and she would be crying right now.
Oh, my God, she is so happy.
- Whitney.
- Yes.
I was enormously impressed by you.
Our main thing is trying to keep them happy.
That's first and foremost, number one.
Makes sense, yep.
We've introduced a new job called hospitality captain.
I'd like to offer you the job as hospitality captain in your store.
Oh, my God.
That would be so awesome.
And I'd like to double your pay.
- Is that okay? - That sounds great.
Yeah.
I don't I'm kind of speechless.
I'm not used to you know, getting, you know, help from other people.
Thank you.
It's awesome.
I don't mean to be personal, but how much do you owe on your car? [Sighs.]
Like, $10,000.
$10,000 approximately.
Well, I'd like to pay off your car.
Oh, my God.
[Crying.]
Oh, my God.
Oh, I don't even know [Sniffles.]
what to say.
Thank you so much.
That means so much.
So, happy to do it for you, but more importantly, I'm happy you're on my team.
- And I'm glad to be.
- Good.
I see you and Jacob I sort of reflect back to my childhood, growing up.
I mean, my mom and dad worked - in a restaurant together.
- Yeah.
So your story is really personal to me 'cause it really relates to my personal story.
So I'd like to do one more thing for you, if I could.
Oh, you've done so much for me already.
I would like to buy you a house.
Oh, my God.
[Sobbing.]
I don't know what to say.
But thank you so much.
We're gonna buy you a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.
I want to make sure there's a yard in the back for the girls.
I want to make sure we get you play-set set up for the girls.
- Thank you.
- Oh, come here.
I'm happy to do it.
You have no idea what this means to me.
(Whitney) I just got a house.
It feels like a dream come true.
That is the best way to put it.
It is a dream come true.
Fairy tale.
Mom, mom, mom! Babe, it is Undercover Boss.
They're paying our car note.
They're buying us a house, and I'm getting a promotion.
I promise.
I promise.
Wow.
That's crazy.
Hey! Jacob, what's up, man? How you doing, buddy? Nice to meet you.
(Wedo) I came here thinking I was gonna learn a lot about four different jobs in my restaurants.
But what you really do is you really visit people's lives.
Most of these people had incredible stories, just a lot of pain in their lives.
But they were still charging ahead.
It reminded me of my life growing up.
My parents worked multiple jobs.
They had a lot of worries.
But they never complained.
[Voice breaking.]
I am richer by a factor of ten by doing this.
[Clears throat.]
I'll see you again soon.
- Yes.
Yes.
- All right.
Bye-bye.
- Yay.
- Oh, my God.
- I know.
- That was amazing.
I know.