Undercover Boss (2010) s05e15 Episode Script
Sky Zone
(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 million-dollar expense.
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.
Someone's not saying something.
Welcome to Moe's.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
I know how to grow some really good weed if you're really interested.
I'm talking to you 'cause you come back here, "I need dippin'.
I need dippin'.
" Y'all better chill.
(Announcer) Tonight, the latest boss to take this leap of faith Whee! (Announcer) Is Sky Zone's Jeff Platt, Undercover Boss's youngest CEO yet I could get used to this.
Who goes undercover from one of the fastest-growing entertainment and fitness businesses in the country.
[Rock music.]
This kid-free bachelor will be forced to embrace his inner child - Both of you are out! - You Keith? - Yeah, I'm Keith.
- Keith, what's up man? Scott.
(Announcer) As he meets the people who help his company reach new heights.
I'm a natural at this foam stuff.
- You'll get tired of it.
- I'm already tired.
Push through it.
Just wondering if we could jump around on the trampolines with a three-year-old.
Our philosophy is, if you can walk, you can jump.
(Announcer) What will happen when one employee starts jumping to conclusions about his true identity? Find out next, on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 5x15 - Sky Zone Original air date March 14, 2014 (Announcer) Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Sky Zone indoor trampoline park is a fast-growing fun and fitness destination, with 2,000 employees, 50 locations, and raking in more than $52 million in revenue.
Keeping jumpers of all ages flying high is one man.
My name is Jeff Platt, and I'm the President and CEO of Sky Zone.
Sky Zone was founded in 2002 by my father, Rick.
It's the world's first indoor trampoline park.
We started an entirely new industry when we did this, but back in the 1960s, they actually had an earlier version of a trampoline park.
But it was an outdoor park, and they were individual trampolines that were actually buried in the ground.
We've evolved the concept and brought it indoors.
Sky Zone has sold over across north America.
Currently we have 50 operating sites, and we'll be in four countries by the end of first quarter, 2014.
We believe that society today is sort of looking for more ways to exercise and have fun in the process, and I think that's the beauty of a trampoline.
They allow you to fly through the air, slam dunk a basketball like Michael Jordan.
It's just this total sense of freedom.
I went to college in St.
Louis, at Washington University, and I actually ended up calling my dad and saying, "hey, why don't we open a trampoline park in St.
Louis?" The idea would be that I could manage that location.
So 2006 hits, we open, and two weeks later my mom gets diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
And my dad says to me, "you're in charge here.
I've got to go home.
" I was immediately thrown into the fire, and I had to figure it all out with the business.
And she really started to decline relatively quickly from that point.
I moved back home, and I remember, she [Sniffles.]
She she looked at me, and she just said, "I'm tired.
" And, um "I don't know how much more I can do of this," and that was the first time that she had ever really expressed that, you know, the fight was not in her.
She passed December 6, 2009.
She'll always be a part of me, and I find myself, you know, not wanting to get out of bed one day because I'm thinking about her, or I find myself, you know, randomly crying because I'm thinking about her, and that's okay.
I don't think that'll ever stop.
I don't think it has to.
After my mom died, I tried to look at it like this is just another curve ball.
I used work as a motivation because she always got joy and pleasure out of seeing me work and grow this business and become a man.
Dad, I'm here.
I think my dad's doing as okay with my mom's death as he could be.
House is getting cleaned up.
It's looking nice.
I am fixing it up after four years.
(Jeff) I don't think you ever do recover from that kind of loss.
You just find ways to remind yourself and focus on the happy times.
This, you know, I look at three time a day of mom.
(Jeff) That's a great picture.
Yeah.
I get sick looking at these.
I get so sad.
Four years last week.
You know, it's a lot of stuff to put on anybody, much less a 22-year-old kid, that this company's in your hands and your mom's dying of cancer.
But he worked 15 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, and not a lot of people do that.
Be in the office in five minutes.
I am 29 years old.
There's actually nothing that gives me greater joy when somebody says, "where's the CEO?" That's, you know, I'm Jeff.
That's me.
All right, topic for the day: - Dodgeball.
- All right.
What do we need to do differently this year in order to get to 1,000 teams, do we think? Any ideas? People can look at me and say, you know, your dad founded the business, so it makes sense that you're the CEO.
And I look to prove people wrong.
We need a season around dodgeball to legitimize it more.
That's what we need.
(Jeff) I live in West Hollywood in an apartment.
I'm like every other 29-year-old guy.
I am not married.
I date, you could say.
Am I looking for a girlfriend? If the right girl comes along, who knows? (Woman) Hi.
What are we doing today? We're gonna give me a little bit of a hipster vibe.
All right.
This is a family business, so I have a personal interest in our brand and a huge passion for it.
And I feel a responsibility to make my mom proud of how I'm running it.
It's part of what drives me every single day.
I'm going undercover because our business is experiencing tremendous growth this next year.
We are gonna double in size in the number of locations.
It's critically important that our business is running smoothly and efficiently.
This next year's gonna be a wild ride.
Have you ever done this for somebody who's, like, jumping up and down on trampolines? - No.
(Jeff) - I'm a hockey fanatic, so, while undercover, I'll be posing as Scott Emerson, an ex-janitor for a pro hockey team who's competing to win an action-adventure vacation and a large cash prize.
My Sky Zone team members will be told they're actually on a hosted competition reality show that's not Undercover Boss.
I could get used to this.
I'm in Westborough, Massachusetts today at a location that we just opened about five months ago, and I'm really excited to go inside and work as a court monitor.
Make sure you're not running through the trampolines, guys.
This park has done tremendous volume in its first five months, but I really want to make sure that they keep that up.
- Cameron? - Cam's up there.
Cam's up here? The guest experience is gonna be critical to repeat customers coming back, and a court monitor can absolutely make or break the guest experience.
- Scott.
- Cam.
Welcome to Westborough.
This is your new favorite place, Sky Zone.
My new favorite place.
I like that.
- You ready for this? - Ready to do it.
- All right.
- What are we doing? Let's go.
So today we're gonna go through the rules speech and do some court monitoring.
You're pretty much a lifeguard here.
So you're in charge of the kids' safety, just making sure they're having fun while being safe at the same time.
- Let's get to it.
(Jeff) - What are we monitoring first? - Dodgeball.
- Nice.
Yup.
I'm gonna ref the beginning of it, then you're gonna ref it by yourself, okay? - Okay.
- You got to keep your eye open on this side and this side at the same time, so look at the middle.
Got it.
All right.
Line it up, guys.
Three, two, one.
Dodgeball.
Oh, out.
So he's out 'cause they caught it.
Yeah, 'cause he caught it.
Oh, out, bud.
All right, guys, move it up.
No back row.
Five seconds to throw.
Oh! Out.
My first impression of Cam is that he is frickin' awesome.
Oh, he got you.
(Jeff) He's got personality, he's focused, he's dedicated.
[Both exclaiming.]
All right, guys, line it up.
He is wow.
He wowed me.
All right, let's see how you handle it.
Got it.
Three, two, one, dodgeball.
[Children shouting.]
Catch it.
You're out.
Both of you are out.
You're out.
You're out.
If Scott wants to work at Sky Zone, he really needs to work - on how he talks to kids.
- You're out.
You don't just point at the kids, because I've had girls run out the sport crying 'cause they don't like to be pointed out.
Every time, you say, - "hey, bud, don't worry.
" - You're out.
"Game will start in another two to three minutes.
" Got it.
Oh, out.
- How'd you feel? - Good.
It's complicated.
You got to, like, really be watching and focused.
It does get a little bit crazy, but you get the hang of it.
We're gonna go to main court and see how you do over there with kids.
- Okay.
- All right? Head always on a swivel.
So right here perfect size separation.
You have him bring over, little kids over there, medium-size here, bigger kids on that side.
Just keep walking through.
Hey, boys, make sure you're not trying to skip a trampoline, please.
Be proactive.
I like that.
Thank you.
As you can imagine, eight-hour shift of doing this, - standing around - I'm exhausted.
- I know.
- I'm so tired.
You'd think staying energetic and happy, - it would be easy, but - I'm so tired.
I know.
Now what did you do before all this? I used to work on a cleaning staff for the St.
Louis Blues.
- No way! - Yeah.
- That's exactly what I played.
- Hockey? Yeah, I played for the Junior Bruins before this.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
My senior year in high school, I got leg-checked.
- I had reconstructive - Playing hockey? Yup.
Went back the next season after recovering, got leg-checked again, called my mom saying, "mom, I can't do anything right now.
" "Meet me at the E.
R.
" They said, "you broke both of your hips.
" "You tore ligaments in your hip flexor," and I just had reconstructive surgery.
- Wow.
- They cut my ITB band, my psoas tendon, shaved down the bone, dislocated it, took it out, put it back into place.
Oh.
Out of all of the surgeries I've had, and I've had six at this point, add 'em up, and they still won't compare to the pain of the reconstructive hip surgery.
I've never been in so much pain in my life.
I've been out for so long, I'm trying to get back of my body being able to walk still.
(Jeff) He was basically completely immobile for five years.
He lost a very simple function of being able to easily walk around or go down the stairs.
You know, it was the same thing that my mom went through.
She slowly lost the ability to function as a human being.
All this, and he's 21 years old.
- So you live at home right now? - Yes, I do.
The debt with that was remarkable.
For a month worth of just chiropractor, $400.
Then you go to physical therapy.
Couple grand.
So it's one of those things of, okay, if I'm in extreme pain, I'll go.
How often should you be going? If I could, I would probably go once a week.
They're predicting in the next three to five years I will have a prosthetic hip.
If you don't continue physical therapy? If I don't keep working out and doing this.
Who pays all that? It's between my dad and me.
I help him out as much as I can.
And still they're right by my side.
I gotta pay 'em back somehow.
It's kind of ironic that you're working in a place like this after going through Yeah.
Being sort of sedentary for so long.
Exactly.
I found Sky Zone when all this started happening.
And I love this place.
Instead of me at home crying, I'd rather be working.
And the difference in me being depressed in my room for so long to this is why I come happy every day.
Every single day, it's because I can walk.
'Cause I can stand.
That's pretty awesome.
It's hard to complain about anything when you're hanging out with a guy like him.
And here he is with this positive attitude.
And he does his job really, really, really well.
I think a lot of people have a lot to learn from Cam.
Not only on how to just do their job, but how they should look at life.
You want to go over to the rules and finish the rotation? - Following you.
- Yeah, all right.
(Man) I need you to do this one one more time, Scott.
(Announcer) The boss discovers that building a trampoline park isn't all fun and games.
I screwed up the tie-downs.
Not your strong point, huh? (Announcer) And later Jeff works with an employee who has suspicions about his true identity.
Today I'm in Pompano Beach, Florida, at one of our construction sites.
I'm gonna be working as an installer.
After working with Cam and seeing how passionate he is about our jumpers' safety, I want to make sure our installers have the same eye for safety when constructing the parks.
Are you Keith? - Yeah, I'm Keith.
- Keith.
What's up, man? Scott.
- All right.
Nice to meet you, Scott.
- Nice to meet you.
I hope you ready to work, man.
We got a lot of work for you today.
What we're gonna do first is the trampolines.
And after trampolines we gonna come over here - and do the pads, so - Perfect.
- I'm ready to get to work.
- All right.
(Both) Let's do it.
It's been a long time since I've been to one of our sites actually doing the construction, so I look forward to brushing up on my skills.
A lot of this stuff that I'm doing is level one stuff, because I've only been doing it for a few months, so I do all the dirty work, but I love Sky Zone.
I think you have to have a passion because you're on the road 300 days out of the year, so you better like it.
That's a lot of time on the road.
Yes.
This goes under the trampoline.
This is a safety net.
Safety is a big thing for us.
These nets are made to catch 500 pounds, so Wow.
Yeah, like, if a trampoline was to give out, instead of hitting the floor, you'll hit the net.
- Gotcha.
- All right, so now with the spring what you want to do is hook it here.
Yeah, just hook it right there.
It's almost hard to do this with these gloves on.
Yeah, but, I mean, you know, safety first.
- Absolutely.
- I got a two-year-old daughter, so I'm real big on the safety for this.
So how does she feel about you being away? She called me last night and said, "daddy, I'm crying.
" - So - So that's got to be tough.
It just crushed me, like, you know, but, I mean, I got to be where the money is.
Eh-eh.
You're messing up.
You got to put your net over your D-ring.
And you're moving kind of slow, Scott, so if I was you Just gotta pick it up? Oh, yeah.
I want these four lanes done as quick as possible.
Okay.
I'll come find you if I need you.
I'll be under one of these trampolines.
- I got it.
- All right? (Keith) Scott has never worked with his hands once.
I can tell.
They're all shaky.
[Giggles.]
I want 'em straight, Scott.
This you gotta focus in, bro.
Should I get this on the hammerlock? This got to be about here.
- Okay.
- Don't forget.
I got a deadline, bro.
Oh, you got one that's blown terribly over here, Scott.
- Gonna have to fix that one? - Yeah.
(Jeff) This is tough work.
It's exhausting.
Ended up with a little wound.
(Keith) I think overall you did pretty good.
You got the technique down.
So we gonna get on past.
You gonna put a tie like you would to start a shoe.
This is called a seesaw.
If you don't do your seesaw, this knot is gonna come right out, I'm gonna tell you to go back and do it again.
So do the seesaw back and forth? Do the seesaw back and forth.
Two knots.
All right, Scott, you good for your first tie right here on the edge.
- All right.
Moving.
- All right.
- Moving.
- All right.
- All right.
- All right.
I'm gonna jump under there right now and check all your ties.
(Jeff) How do we look? Loose.
Those first two I want done over.
I need you to do this one one more time, Scott.
It came apart as soon as I grabbed it.
Safety, Scott.
(Jeff) I think the thing that was most embarrassing for me was I couldn't tie a simple knot.
Every single knot that I tied, Keith was just going by and gently wiggling them out.
I screwed up the tie-downs.
Not your strong point, huh? It was embarrassing.
I should be able to tie a knot.
You did a lot of work, I think you earned a little five-minute break, so let's step outside for a minute.
You seem like you're pretty carefree.
Yeah, man, as long as I'm working, I'm fine, you know.
But my life's been it's been turbulent.
When did it get turbulent? As soon as I turned 18, Scott, I made a series of bad decisions, and 18, 19, 20, and 21, I was locked up.
Is that what drives you in working so hard? Is now you've got real responsibilities.
- Yeah.
- Right? It's all about my ladies.
I mean, when you're married and you have kids, you come third.
It goes child, wife, you.
Me and my wife lost a daughter last year.
Lost a daughter? Lost a daughter, yeah.
She was stillborn, yeah.
Her name was Anaya, by the way.
Her name's Anaya Destiny Kane.
The doctor held her, brought her out, and they told me, "you can take her to the room.
" "And you can keep her as long as you want, as long as you need.
" "And then when you're ready, tell us, and we'll take her.
" For me it was the most closure I would get, is being able to talk to her, because I'll never get to talk to her again in the physical form, you know.
I was ready to go.
I was ready to leave the earth and go meet my daughter, you know, like You had those thoughts.
I had those oh, yeah, man.
I was suicidal.
I was popping pills and smoking weed and drinking every day.
And you're pretty cleaned up from all that now? Oh, yeah.
I couldn't stay sad like that.
I'd have died of depression.
(Both) Yeah.
(Jeff) Keith, you know, he's been through a lot in life.
And he really seems to have this positive outlook, and he's just looking for an opportunity.
And it makes me feel really good that, you know, I can provide that to him, and I hope he just continues to grow.
Let's just roll back inside, see what else we got to do.
Today I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it's absolutely freezing cold outside, and I'm gonna be working with community relations.
I'm really not familiar with the role of community relations at Sky Zone.
This is one of our only locations that actually has that role well-defined, so I'm really looking forward to learning.
- Hi.
- Miles here? Yeah, he's right around here.
Miles, there's somebody here for you.
Hey.
What's up, bro? - Miles? - Yes.
- Scott.
- Scott.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on, man? I've met Miles several times, so I'm a little concerned that he might recognize me.
So my name's Miles, I'm in charge of community relations here at Sky Zone, Minnesota, so what we got for you today, we're gonna do a facility tour.
After that, we are gonna go to the call center and actually answer some phones, okay? I'm ready.
(Miles) So this is our dodgeball court.
This is the court that's available for private rental.
- Okay.
- The next stop on the tour the main court.
This is the biggest one that we've got.
We've got about 64 trampolines.
One last thing I want to show you the foam pit.
This is the highlight of the facility.
This is not a private area.
- Okay.
- Got it.
Okay? (Miles) Scott, he's a nice guy.
Normally we have a lot more time than we have today to work with a trainee, so I'm a little nervous.
- You must be Maria? - I am.
- I'm Miles.
(Both) - Nice to meet you.
This is Scott.
He's helping me out today.
- Hey, how are you? - Nice to meet you.
I'm good.
- How are you? - Nice to meet you.
Hey, bud.
Scott.
Nice to meet you.
Hi.
Miles.
Nice to meet you.
Welcome.
You want to see everything that goes on here? All right.
Let's walk.
Come on.
I think Miles is used to seeing me relatively serious, so I was going out of my way to kind of be a jokester a little bit.
So this is the foam pit.
It costs $1 million to rent this one out.
[Laughter.]
So for your party all your friends can go jump into that foam.
You want to go do it now? (Maria) Are you ready? (Jeff) See what you can do.
Whee! There you go.
Boy, customer service-wise, he is absolutely hitting it out of the park.
So you can privately rent this one out.
And you get this fancy mezzanine right here.
This is, like, the dividing line I assume.
It is.
Yup.
And some things that I didn't even remember that I had told him, there he was throwing it in, so that was impressive.
- Thanks, guys.
(Maria) - Thank you.
Come back soon.
Let's go put your shoes on, bud, okay? - Book that party.
- All right, so, Scott, that was actually that was pretty good.
Thank you.
I had no idea what I was doing.
- Didn't know the details.
- You did really well.
So we're gonna go over to the call center, do a little bit of phone answering over there.
Before that, where's the bathroom? Go down the the foam pit, take a right.
Men's room is the farthest one on the end.
Cool.
- It looks like him.
Yeah.
(Woman) - Where? Where? (Woman) Ohh.
Where? Where'd I put those gloves? I'm nervous about Miles finding out who I am.
Maybe I began to come on a little bit too strong about my knowledge.
But something feels pretty strange with Miles, so I'm curious to see how the rest of the day goes.
So five one-topping pizzas cheese, pepperoni, or sausage? Jump time would be from 5:00 to 6:00.
So this is the call center.
They're busy booking birthday parties, group events, answering general knowledge questions.
You name it, they're doing it all.
A couple of things I want to show you.
Over here to your right we've got two different computer screens.
The one on your right is gonna be your access to our computer system.
The one on the left is gonna be your cheat sheet for the information.
- Let's get into it.
- Okay, let's give it a shot.
Sky Zone.
This is Scott speaking.
How may I help you? You want the largest private room? So that would be our supreme air package.
Each guest would get a 30-minute pass to come back, and they'd get a Sky Zone wristband.
And it all comes inside of a Sky Zone water bottle, which are really cool.
I have one.
I was already suspicious of Scott, because he did way too good of a job with the tour, but the real dead giveaway was he knew a little bit better than he should how to do some of the stuff.
(Man on phone) Okay, I'm just wondering if we could jump around on the trampolines with a three-year-old.
Our philosophy is, if you can walk, you can jump.
And the for sure dead giveaway for me was when he said, as long as they can walk, they can jump, which is language that only we use.
(Jeff) I hope you enjoy your winter break, and we'll see you on the 28th.
(Woman) - Buh-bye.
- Buh-bye.
- I got to tell you, Scott - Now what? That was super impressive, man.
I'm pretty blown away by that.
You've got the lingo down, you've got the whole shebang.
I think that was fantastic.
I would hire you for sure.
Um, so I have, like, some other questions for you.
Do you have an office we can go into? - Yeah.
(Jeff) - Something really doesn't quite feel right.
I think that maybe I tipped my hat.
I feel like he's probably on to me right now.
- So, Miles - Yes.
You know what's going on? I think I figured it out.
What'd you figure out? Well, you either have a crazy, uncanny resemblance to our CEO, or you are that man.
I'm Jeff Platt, and I'm undercover in your call center right now.
I want to talk about anything that you feel like really needs to be addressed.
You want me to jump right into a couple things that I think could be better? Yeah, just lay a couple things on me.
Sure.
To be honest with you, you were not my favorite person.
Plymouth had just barely been open, and we had a crew coming in to film a commercial there.
- Mm-hmm.
- And there was just something about the way you told me to mop the floor, and it's not at all that I'm above mopping a floor, but there's a way to ask somebody.
- For that I apologize.
- Mm-hmm.
You know, clearly I have some things to work on.
While focusing on my business's growth is important, it's just as important to treat my team well.
So there's actually a reason why I'm here.
You guys have been open for a while.
- Mm-hmm.
- I respect your opinion.
I want to know what those things are that would make us better.
Our bullpen of experienced people, like you or me or Braden, is shallow and too shallow to support 50 parks opening up in one year.
I'm really happy that Miles was open and honest with me about the fact that he feels like they're not getting the support that they need.
It's definitely something that I want to figure out how we can address.
I don't know if you know this about me, but I actually lost my mom four years ago.
Lost her to cancer.
And Sky Zone was a big part of her life.
- Sure.
- It motivates me because I know how happy it would make her - Mm-hmm.
- To see this business continuing to grow.
I'm sorry to hear that you lost your mother that way.
I appreciate that.
I lost my father to cancer seven years ago.
It was pretty well advanced by the time he was diagnosed.
We tried conventional treatments in the hospital for a couple of months, and then we took him home and did home hospice.
Were you there when he finally passed? - I was the one who found him.
- Yeah.
He passed.
I developed a really severe drug addiction.
I slept in my car for a few months.
- Really? - I ended up coming to Minnesota for rehab.
For four months after that, I was living in a halfway house, and, while I was living in that halfway house, I met my franchise owner.
And I worked at one of his sandwich shops that he used to own.
And I will follow him until he has no more use for me, you know, and so that's my "how I came" "to know and love Sky Zone" story right there.
That's incredible.
I didn't know that.
- Yeah.
- So, you know, what now for Miles? I'd love to be a franchise owner one day.
My wife and I just bought a house, and we've only been married a year and a half, so things - Oh, congrats.
- Thank you.
So I hope to have kids and start a family and that whole new adventure.
I had no idea that Miles had been through such hardships, and I'm really proud of him.
I'm proud of where he is today.
I'm thankful that he met our franchise owner and that he's part of our business.
I think he's got a bright future with us, and he's got a tremendous opportunity.
See ya.
I'm in Oaks, Pennsylvania, today, and I'm gonna be working with our maintenance assistant.
This park has had over 175,000 jumpers in a little bit over nine months.
I really want to make sure the park's being well maintained.
That's a lot of wear and tear on our trampolines.
- Breckin here? - Yeah.
How you doing? - Scott.
- Breckin.
- How are you? - Good.
So I'm the maintenance assistant here, so we're gonna get a little dirty.
We're gonna go check out this broken turnbuckle.
What's a turnbuckle? A turnbuckle holds all the trampolines up.
This is what we're changing.
So we got to take these springs off of it.
Use a spring puller.
So now what do I do? So now you pull and then twist.
Twist? Here, let me try.
Scott, he didn't really strike me as much of a hands-on work kind of guy.
I think I've never used a ratchet like this.
You got to turn the ratchet to the other way.
Scott didn't know what a ratchet was, so it threw me off a little bit.
This is gonna be a big one.
You ready? That would have been bad.
He just seems like the type who would check out your groceries.
- Boom.
- There you go.
- All right.
- And that is how you change a turnbuckle.
Good work.
(Breckin) We're gonna go bubble bath court four.
We need to wash it down, make sure it's sanitized for when we open it for the public.
- There you go.
- And we're gonna come, start out here.
- We're doing the pads? - Yup.
- Okay.
- Wipe it down.
Don't want people jumping on dirty trampolines.
How often do you guys clean these? Well, they're supposed to clean three courts a night.
Sometimes they clean two.
So you don't feel like it's getting the attention from a cleanliness standpoint that it needs? - Yeah.
- I wonder if this is the best way to do this.
It's the best way that we have right now.
- Oh.
- I'll be back to check up on you.
Cool.
I think that we definitely need to look at a more efficient system.
Good timing.
I just finished.
Didn't miss any spots, did you? I don't think so.
It's looking good.
I'd like to talk to a cleaning specialist and see if there's any options out there.
(Breckin) We're gonna fluff the foam pit.
We want to find bad cubes.
So, like, something like this I want you to grab, throw out, make a pile.
- We're gonna throw these away.
- This is a bad cube? Yeah.
See the difference? - Ah.
- It's discolored also.
- That makes sense.
- This is basically deteriorating.
So we're just gonna toss these out here.
- Okay.
- Keep the new ones in there.
- So do the whole thing? - Yup.
(Jeff) I'm going in.
When I had Scott jump in the foam pit, - he did get a little off-track.
- Whee! [Gasping.]
I think he had a little bit too much fun.
So you're just basically gonna look for the ones that are, like, in the visible areas, maybe about - What do you think about that? - That's fine.
Breckin, what do you think about this one? I would say toss it.
- Toss it? - Yeah.
So that guy? That looks fine.
Yeah.
Toss it.
I'm a natural at this foam stuff.
Oh, you'll get tired of it.
Trust me.
I'm already tired.
Push through it.
How do we look from up there? - Looking pretty good.
- You think we're good? Yeah.
[Groans.]
Grab a trash bag.
So what's, like, the ultimate dream for you? I want to make a career out of this job.
Maybe one day be a building services manager.
I always have my family, who have my back.
That's cool that you're close with your family, you know.
Lost my mom actually about four years ago to cancer.
I don't know what I would do if my mom died.
She's like the most important person in my life.
Mine was too.
(Breckin) I was an easy target for all the kids in middle school to pick on.
I was actually born a girl.
- Really? - I know it's hard to believe.
My entire life, I wanted to be a guy.
So I made my first doctor's appointment at a LGBT health clinic to start my medical transition.
So, after that, like, starting testosterone, people stop misgendering me on the streets, I didn't get double takes going into the bathroom.
And I kind of just calmed down and became the person that I am right now.
And, I mean, it's still an ongoing process right now.
All I'm on is testosterone.
I haven't had any surgeries yet.
'Cause that costs money, which I don't have.
So is there, like, a surgery that you would want? I want to get top surgery first, is a double mastectomy.
- Make a male chest.
- Right.
But I have so much debt with my student loans that, at this point, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen in the near future.
It's so cool how comfortable you are with it all.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, I'm used to it.
I love answering questions.
I was really impressed with how open Breckin was with me.
Growing up, my mom always encouraged me to be who I wanted to be and allowed me to do the things that I wanted to do, and it really motivated me always to be myself.
I think Breckin's experiencing the same thing, and I think that, when you're your best self, you feel confident in who you are, and you're not hiding behind anything, and I think everybody should be like that.
All right, we're gonna take these out to the dumpster.
- Going to the dumpsters? - Yeah.
Should we put on some jackets? Uh, jackets are for the weak.
Boy, am I exhausted right now.
I think this week made me reflect a lot about my mom because, while I was focusing on my business's growth, I didn't take into consideration how my decisions affect the people who work for me.
I can't wait to get this off my face.
It's definitely taught me how important communication is within our company and the need to make sure we're hearing the voices of those that are working down in the front lines, and I think it would put a huge smile on my mom's face to see her son do this.
Coming up (Announcer) The employees think they're going to decide whether or not Jeff deserves to win the competition.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? Do you know who Jeff Platt is? Platt.
No @#$%^& way.
This has been a really emotional week.
While this has been an incredible undercover experience, it's time for me to get back to work as the CEO of Sky Zone.
My team members believe they're coming to Los Angeles, California, to meet with the industry experts of the competition reality TV show.
But actually today I'm going to reveal my true identity.
- What's up? - What's up, Keith? You look familiar.
- Me? - Yeah, you.
You look like Scott.
What was Scott like? Scott was cool.
Do you know who Jeff Platt is? Platt? Name rings a bell, yeah.
You're the CEO of Sky Zone.
You ever heard of Undercover Boss? No @#$%^& way.
Well, you guys definitely got me.
Miles, it was really nice to see how you've grown within the business, and I really respect your opinion.
Our bullpen of experienced people is too shallow to support I took to heart what you were saying about the support that you guys received when we were first starting out versus now.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I'd like you to work with our training team to provide those franchise owners the same level of support that you felt when we first came out to your park.
I would be ecstatic to do that.
We both know what it's like to lose a family member, so one of the things that I'd like to do is give you $5,000 to donate to a cancer charity of your choice - That'd be awesome.
- In honor of your dad.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
I'd also like to give you $5,000 for your family.
That's incredible.
I don't know what to say, Jeff.
That's super generous, and it's gonna make a huge difference for us.
There's one final thing that I'd like to do for you.
When we were together, one of the things you expressed to me was your desire, dream, to be able to own your own Sky Zone franchise.
I would like to give you $60,000 to pay for your franchise fee.
Wow.
Are you kidding? That's exceedingly generous of you.
I can't even wrap my head around wow.
Sky Zone really has been the second chance that I needed in my life.
Considering where I've come from with living in my car and having the drug addiction, it's impossible to fathom something like this happening.
It's my dream come true, and I'm excited to see it all materialize.
(Jeff) Keith, I had an incredible time working with you.
You're very passionate about your job.
You got to focus in, bro.
Should I get this on the hammerlock? - This got to be about here.
- Okay.
I want to see you continue to develop, so I'm gonna give you a promotion - Okay.
- To a level two installer.
All right.
And you're gonna get a 13% raise, effective immediately.
I can dig it.
I can dig that.
You've done a great job in your life taking adversity and facing it head-on.
And you have a really positive outlook for somebody who has had some really tough experiences.
When you're a parent, your child is never supposed to leave the earth before you, you know.
Is that why you put so much attention - on your daughter now? - Yeah.
Absolutely.
I just want her to go to school, and I want to be able to put her through college.
I'd like to start a college fund for her.
- For my daughter? - Yup.
And I'd like to put $10,000 in it.
You'd do that for me? I would like that.
I can't believe this is happening right now.
[Chuckles.]
- I'm not done.
- Okay.
I think you deserve some breathing room.
So I want to give you and your family $30,000.
No way.
No way.
No.
You're serious right now? It'd probably take me a year to make that.
And you're gonna give it to me.
My life has changed dramatically.
I just want to do a handstand, like I mean, I have college money for my daughter.
It gives me hope.
It's good for my spirit like Campbell soup, you know.
It's really good.
(Jeff) Hey, Breckin.
You do a fantastic job.
- Thank you.
- Wipe it down.
I wonder if this is the best way to do this.
It's the best way with what we have right now.
There's something that I want your help with.
- Okay.
- I'd like to hire a cleaning consultant.
- Okay.
- And I'd like you to directly work with that cleaning consultant to come up with a method of cleaning the entire park.
- Okay.
- And that's gonna be used across every single Sky Zone in the country.
That's cool.
I need more people like you inside of our parks.
I'm giving you an immediate 10% raise.
Really? Nothing cool like this every happens to me.
This is really awesome.
You also shared with me some personal struggles that you have.
I want to help.
So I'd like to give you $20,000 Oh, my God.
To hopefully help you in any way that you see fit.
Really? That's gonna help so much.
I can actually start living.
You know, get the surgeries that I need.
That's just [Exhales.]
That's amazing.
Thank you.
You don't have to thank me.
You deserve to live life the way you want.
And, you know, hopefully this makes you have an opportunity to do that.
Thank you.
I think today marks the beginning of my new life that I can start living and not be afraid.
It's, you know, making me shake.
- It was good meeting you.
- Thank you.
It was good doing this with you.
So much.
Thank you.
Finally I can be who I am.
And it feels really good.
Cam, I actually wanted to thank you.
Because I don't really know another word to describe how you are as a court monitor, except for awesome.
Thank you.
(Cameron) Five seconds to throw.
- Oh! - Out.
There is about 50 Sky Zones open right now.
And we're gonna double in size next year and be in four different countries.
And one of the things that we want to do is we want to create some training videos.
And I want you to be the face of the video.
I'd be honored.
I'd really be honored.
And, of course, you know, we're gonna pay you to do this.
Thank you.
So I really respect your passion for hockey.
So on my next trip out to Boston, we're gonna get glass seats, and we're gonna watch the Bruins play.
Are you serious? - Dead serious.
- You do realize you're making my dream come true right now, right? You ever sat in the glass? This will be a first.
[Laughs.]
We talked a little bit earlier - about your injuries.
- Mm-hmm.
Doctors told you that, if you don't get the physical therapy you need, that you could have two prosthetic hips.
- Mm-hmm.
- The next couple of years.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm going to pay for you to go to physical therapy every week for the next three years.
You don't understand how happy you just made me.
I can't I don't even know what to say right now.
I really don't.
Like, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Someone at your age should not have to feel the pressure of a financial burden like that.
And you said to me that you would like to figure out a way to pay your dad back.
Absolutely.
I'm gonna give you $30,000 to do that.
You're literally making my entire dreams of the last five to six years come true right now.
And I don't think I've been this happy in I can't tell you how long.
[Sighs.]
I'm so excited.
This is it's literally just a new start.
Honestly, thank you so much.
I dreamed about this every night.
Just something happening, and something did.
And here I am.
Oh, my God.
(Announcer) And implemented sweeping company-wide changes As a company, we're actually gonna restore the 401(K).
It's a million-dollar expense.
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.
Someone's not saying something.
Welcome to Moe's.
I've had one minute of training.
If you can't do it, then you can't do it.
I know how to grow some really good weed if you're really interested.
I'm talking to you 'cause you come back here, "I need dippin'.
I need dippin'.
" Y'all better chill.
(Announcer) Tonight, the latest boss to take this leap of faith Whee! (Announcer) Is Sky Zone's Jeff Platt, Undercover Boss's youngest CEO yet I could get used to this.
Who goes undercover from one of the fastest-growing entertainment and fitness businesses in the country.
[Rock music.]
This kid-free bachelor will be forced to embrace his inner child - Both of you are out! - You Keith? - Yeah, I'm Keith.
- Keith, what's up man? Scott.
(Announcer) As he meets the people who help his company reach new heights.
I'm a natural at this foam stuff.
- You'll get tired of it.
- I'm already tired.
Push through it.
Just wondering if we could jump around on the trampolines with a three-year-old.
Our philosophy is, if you can walk, you can jump.
(Announcer) What will happen when one employee starts jumping to conclusions about his true identity? Find out next, on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 5x15 - Sky Zone Original air date March 14, 2014 (Announcer) Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Sky Zone indoor trampoline park is a fast-growing fun and fitness destination, with 2,000 employees, 50 locations, and raking in more than $52 million in revenue.
Keeping jumpers of all ages flying high is one man.
My name is Jeff Platt, and I'm the President and CEO of Sky Zone.
Sky Zone was founded in 2002 by my father, Rick.
It's the world's first indoor trampoline park.
We started an entirely new industry when we did this, but back in the 1960s, they actually had an earlier version of a trampoline park.
But it was an outdoor park, and they were individual trampolines that were actually buried in the ground.
We've evolved the concept and brought it indoors.
Sky Zone has sold over across north America.
Currently we have 50 operating sites, and we'll be in four countries by the end of first quarter, 2014.
We believe that society today is sort of looking for more ways to exercise and have fun in the process, and I think that's the beauty of a trampoline.
They allow you to fly through the air, slam dunk a basketball like Michael Jordan.
It's just this total sense of freedom.
I went to college in St.
Louis, at Washington University, and I actually ended up calling my dad and saying, "hey, why don't we open a trampoline park in St.
Louis?" The idea would be that I could manage that location.
So 2006 hits, we open, and two weeks later my mom gets diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
And my dad says to me, "you're in charge here.
I've got to go home.
" I was immediately thrown into the fire, and I had to figure it all out with the business.
And she really started to decline relatively quickly from that point.
I moved back home, and I remember, she [Sniffles.]
She she looked at me, and she just said, "I'm tired.
" And, um "I don't know how much more I can do of this," and that was the first time that she had ever really expressed that, you know, the fight was not in her.
She passed December 6, 2009.
She'll always be a part of me, and I find myself, you know, not wanting to get out of bed one day because I'm thinking about her, or I find myself, you know, randomly crying because I'm thinking about her, and that's okay.
I don't think that'll ever stop.
I don't think it has to.
After my mom died, I tried to look at it like this is just another curve ball.
I used work as a motivation because she always got joy and pleasure out of seeing me work and grow this business and become a man.
Dad, I'm here.
I think my dad's doing as okay with my mom's death as he could be.
House is getting cleaned up.
It's looking nice.
I am fixing it up after four years.
(Jeff) I don't think you ever do recover from that kind of loss.
You just find ways to remind yourself and focus on the happy times.
This, you know, I look at three time a day of mom.
(Jeff) That's a great picture.
Yeah.
I get sick looking at these.
I get so sad.
Four years last week.
You know, it's a lot of stuff to put on anybody, much less a 22-year-old kid, that this company's in your hands and your mom's dying of cancer.
But he worked 15 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, and not a lot of people do that.
Be in the office in five minutes.
I am 29 years old.
There's actually nothing that gives me greater joy when somebody says, "where's the CEO?" That's, you know, I'm Jeff.
That's me.
All right, topic for the day: - Dodgeball.
- All right.
What do we need to do differently this year in order to get to 1,000 teams, do we think? Any ideas? People can look at me and say, you know, your dad founded the business, so it makes sense that you're the CEO.
And I look to prove people wrong.
We need a season around dodgeball to legitimize it more.
That's what we need.
(Jeff) I live in West Hollywood in an apartment.
I'm like every other 29-year-old guy.
I am not married.
I date, you could say.
Am I looking for a girlfriend? If the right girl comes along, who knows? (Woman) Hi.
What are we doing today? We're gonna give me a little bit of a hipster vibe.
All right.
This is a family business, so I have a personal interest in our brand and a huge passion for it.
And I feel a responsibility to make my mom proud of how I'm running it.
It's part of what drives me every single day.
I'm going undercover because our business is experiencing tremendous growth this next year.
We are gonna double in size in the number of locations.
It's critically important that our business is running smoothly and efficiently.
This next year's gonna be a wild ride.
Have you ever done this for somebody who's, like, jumping up and down on trampolines? - No.
(Jeff) - I'm a hockey fanatic, so, while undercover, I'll be posing as Scott Emerson, an ex-janitor for a pro hockey team who's competing to win an action-adventure vacation and a large cash prize.
My Sky Zone team members will be told they're actually on a hosted competition reality show that's not Undercover Boss.
I could get used to this.
I'm in Westborough, Massachusetts today at a location that we just opened about five months ago, and I'm really excited to go inside and work as a court monitor.
Make sure you're not running through the trampolines, guys.
This park has done tremendous volume in its first five months, but I really want to make sure that they keep that up.
- Cameron? - Cam's up there.
Cam's up here? The guest experience is gonna be critical to repeat customers coming back, and a court monitor can absolutely make or break the guest experience.
- Scott.
- Cam.
Welcome to Westborough.
This is your new favorite place, Sky Zone.
My new favorite place.
I like that.
- You ready for this? - Ready to do it.
- All right.
- What are we doing? Let's go.
So today we're gonna go through the rules speech and do some court monitoring.
You're pretty much a lifeguard here.
So you're in charge of the kids' safety, just making sure they're having fun while being safe at the same time.
- Let's get to it.
(Jeff) - What are we monitoring first? - Dodgeball.
- Nice.
Yup.
I'm gonna ref the beginning of it, then you're gonna ref it by yourself, okay? - Okay.
- You got to keep your eye open on this side and this side at the same time, so look at the middle.
Got it.
All right.
Line it up, guys.
Three, two, one.
Dodgeball.
Oh, out.
So he's out 'cause they caught it.
Yeah, 'cause he caught it.
Oh, out, bud.
All right, guys, move it up.
No back row.
Five seconds to throw.
Oh! Out.
My first impression of Cam is that he is frickin' awesome.
Oh, he got you.
(Jeff) He's got personality, he's focused, he's dedicated.
[Both exclaiming.]
All right, guys, line it up.
He is wow.
He wowed me.
All right, let's see how you handle it.
Got it.
Three, two, one, dodgeball.
[Children shouting.]
Catch it.
You're out.
Both of you are out.
You're out.
You're out.
If Scott wants to work at Sky Zone, he really needs to work - on how he talks to kids.
- You're out.
You don't just point at the kids, because I've had girls run out the sport crying 'cause they don't like to be pointed out.
Every time, you say, - "hey, bud, don't worry.
" - You're out.
"Game will start in another two to three minutes.
" Got it.
Oh, out.
- How'd you feel? - Good.
It's complicated.
You got to, like, really be watching and focused.
It does get a little bit crazy, but you get the hang of it.
We're gonna go to main court and see how you do over there with kids.
- Okay.
- All right? Head always on a swivel.
So right here perfect size separation.
You have him bring over, little kids over there, medium-size here, bigger kids on that side.
Just keep walking through.
Hey, boys, make sure you're not trying to skip a trampoline, please.
Be proactive.
I like that.
Thank you.
As you can imagine, eight-hour shift of doing this, - standing around - I'm exhausted.
- I know.
- I'm so tired.
You'd think staying energetic and happy, - it would be easy, but - I'm so tired.
I know.
Now what did you do before all this? I used to work on a cleaning staff for the St.
Louis Blues.
- No way! - Yeah.
- That's exactly what I played.
- Hockey? Yeah, I played for the Junior Bruins before this.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
My senior year in high school, I got leg-checked.
- I had reconstructive - Playing hockey? Yup.
Went back the next season after recovering, got leg-checked again, called my mom saying, "mom, I can't do anything right now.
" "Meet me at the E.
R.
" They said, "you broke both of your hips.
" "You tore ligaments in your hip flexor," and I just had reconstructive surgery.
- Wow.
- They cut my ITB band, my psoas tendon, shaved down the bone, dislocated it, took it out, put it back into place.
Oh.
Out of all of the surgeries I've had, and I've had six at this point, add 'em up, and they still won't compare to the pain of the reconstructive hip surgery.
I've never been in so much pain in my life.
I've been out for so long, I'm trying to get back of my body being able to walk still.
(Jeff) He was basically completely immobile for five years.
He lost a very simple function of being able to easily walk around or go down the stairs.
You know, it was the same thing that my mom went through.
She slowly lost the ability to function as a human being.
All this, and he's 21 years old.
- So you live at home right now? - Yes, I do.
The debt with that was remarkable.
For a month worth of just chiropractor, $400.
Then you go to physical therapy.
Couple grand.
So it's one of those things of, okay, if I'm in extreme pain, I'll go.
How often should you be going? If I could, I would probably go once a week.
They're predicting in the next three to five years I will have a prosthetic hip.
If you don't continue physical therapy? If I don't keep working out and doing this.
Who pays all that? It's between my dad and me.
I help him out as much as I can.
And still they're right by my side.
I gotta pay 'em back somehow.
It's kind of ironic that you're working in a place like this after going through Yeah.
Being sort of sedentary for so long.
Exactly.
I found Sky Zone when all this started happening.
And I love this place.
Instead of me at home crying, I'd rather be working.
And the difference in me being depressed in my room for so long to this is why I come happy every day.
Every single day, it's because I can walk.
'Cause I can stand.
That's pretty awesome.
It's hard to complain about anything when you're hanging out with a guy like him.
And here he is with this positive attitude.
And he does his job really, really, really well.
I think a lot of people have a lot to learn from Cam.
Not only on how to just do their job, but how they should look at life.
You want to go over to the rules and finish the rotation? - Following you.
- Yeah, all right.
(Man) I need you to do this one one more time, Scott.
(Announcer) The boss discovers that building a trampoline park isn't all fun and games.
I screwed up the tie-downs.
Not your strong point, huh? (Announcer) And later Jeff works with an employee who has suspicions about his true identity.
Today I'm in Pompano Beach, Florida, at one of our construction sites.
I'm gonna be working as an installer.
After working with Cam and seeing how passionate he is about our jumpers' safety, I want to make sure our installers have the same eye for safety when constructing the parks.
Are you Keith? - Yeah, I'm Keith.
- Keith.
What's up, man? Scott.
- All right.
Nice to meet you, Scott.
- Nice to meet you.
I hope you ready to work, man.
We got a lot of work for you today.
What we're gonna do first is the trampolines.
And after trampolines we gonna come over here - and do the pads, so - Perfect.
- I'm ready to get to work.
- All right.
(Both) Let's do it.
It's been a long time since I've been to one of our sites actually doing the construction, so I look forward to brushing up on my skills.
A lot of this stuff that I'm doing is level one stuff, because I've only been doing it for a few months, so I do all the dirty work, but I love Sky Zone.
I think you have to have a passion because you're on the road 300 days out of the year, so you better like it.
That's a lot of time on the road.
Yes.
This goes under the trampoline.
This is a safety net.
Safety is a big thing for us.
These nets are made to catch 500 pounds, so Wow.
Yeah, like, if a trampoline was to give out, instead of hitting the floor, you'll hit the net.
- Gotcha.
- All right, so now with the spring what you want to do is hook it here.
Yeah, just hook it right there.
It's almost hard to do this with these gloves on.
Yeah, but, I mean, you know, safety first.
- Absolutely.
- I got a two-year-old daughter, so I'm real big on the safety for this.
So how does she feel about you being away? She called me last night and said, "daddy, I'm crying.
" - So - So that's got to be tough.
It just crushed me, like, you know, but, I mean, I got to be where the money is.
Eh-eh.
You're messing up.
You got to put your net over your D-ring.
And you're moving kind of slow, Scott, so if I was you Just gotta pick it up? Oh, yeah.
I want these four lanes done as quick as possible.
Okay.
I'll come find you if I need you.
I'll be under one of these trampolines.
- I got it.
- All right? (Keith) Scott has never worked with his hands once.
I can tell.
They're all shaky.
[Giggles.]
I want 'em straight, Scott.
This you gotta focus in, bro.
Should I get this on the hammerlock? This got to be about here.
- Okay.
- Don't forget.
I got a deadline, bro.
Oh, you got one that's blown terribly over here, Scott.
- Gonna have to fix that one? - Yeah.
(Jeff) This is tough work.
It's exhausting.
Ended up with a little wound.
(Keith) I think overall you did pretty good.
You got the technique down.
So we gonna get on past.
You gonna put a tie like you would to start a shoe.
This is called a seesaw.
If you don't do your seesaw, this knot is gonna come right out, I'm gonna tell you to go back and do it again.
So do the seesaw back and forth? Do the seesaw back and forth.
Two knots.
All right, Scott, you good for your first tie right here on the edge.
- All right.
Moving.
- All right.
- Moving.
- All right.
- All right.
- All right.
I'm gonna jump under there right now and check all your ties.
(Jeff) How do we look? Loose.
Those first two I want done over.
I need you to do this one one more time, Scott.
It came apart as soon as I grabbed it.
Safety, Scott.
(Jeff) I think the thing that was most embarrassing for me was I couldn't tie a simple knot.
Every single knot that I tied, Keith was just going by and gently wiggling them out.
I screwed up the tie-downs.
Not your strong point, huh? It was embarrassing.
I should be able to tie a knot.
You did a lot of work, I think you earned a little five-minute break, so let's step outside for a minute.
You seem like you're pretty carefree.
Yeah, man, as long as I'm working, I'm fine, you know.
But my life's been it's been turbulent.
When did it get turbulent? As soon as I turned 18, Scott, I made a series of bad decisions, and 18, 19, 20, and 21, I was locked up.
Is that what drives you in working so hard? Is now you've got real responsibilities.
- Yeah.
- Right? It's all about my ladies.
I mean, when you're married and you have kids, you come third.
It goes child, wife, you.
Me and my wife lost a daughter last year.
Lost a daughter? Lost a daughter, yeah.
She was stillborn, yeah.
Her name was Anaya, by the way.
Her name's Anaya Destiny Kane.
The doctor held her, brought her out, and they told me, "you can take her to the room.
" "And you can keep her as long as you want, as long as you need.
" "And then when you're ready, tell us, and we'll take her.
" For me it was the most closure I would get, is being able to talk to her, because I'll never get to talk to her again in the physical form, you know.
I was ready to go.
I was ready to leave the earth and go meet my daughter, you know, like You had those thoughts.
I had those oh, yeah, man.
I was suicidal.
I was popping pills and smoking weed and drinking every day.
And you're pretty cleaned up from all that now? Oh, yeah.
I couldn't stay sad like that.
I'd have died of depression.
(Both) Yeah.
(Jeff) Keith, you know, he's been through a lot in life.
And he really seems to have this positive outlook, and he's just looking for an opportunity.
And it makes me feel really good that, you know, I can provide that to him, and I hope he just continues to grow.
Let's just roll back inside, see what else we got to do.
Today I'm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it's absolutely freezing cold outside, and I'm gonna be working with community relations.
I'm really not familiar with the role of community relations at Sky Zone.
This is one of our only locations that actually has that role well-defined, so I'm really looking forward to learning.
- Hi.
- Miles here? Yeah, he's right around here.
Miles, there's somebody here for you.
Hey.
What's up, bro? - Miles? - Yes.
- Scott.
- Scott.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on, man? I've met Miles several times, so I'm a little concerned that he might recognize me.
So my name's Miles, I'm in charge of community relations here at Sky Zone, Minnesota, so what we got for you today, we're gonna do a facility tour.
After that, we are gonna go to the call center and actually answer some phones, okay? I'm ready.
(Miles) So this is our dodgeball court.
This is the court that's available for private rental.
- Okay.
- The next stop on the tour the main court.
This is the biggest one that we've got.
We've got about 64 trampolines.
One last thing I want to show you the foam pit.
This is the highlight of the facility.
This is not a private area.
- Okay.
- Got it.
Okay? (Miles) Scott, he's a nice guy.
Normally we have a lot more time than we have today to work with a trainee, so I'm a little nervous.
- You must be Maria? - I am.
- I'm Miles.
(Both) - Nice to meet you.
This is Scott.
He's helping me out today.
- Hey, how are you? - Nice to meet you.
I'm good.
- How are you? - Nice to meet you.
Hey, bud.
Scott.
Nice to meet you.
Hi.
Miles.
Nice to meet you.
Welcome.
You want to see everything that goes on here? All right.
Let's walk.
Come on.
I think Miles is used to seeing me relatively serious, so I was going out of my way to kind of be a jokester a little bit.
So this is the foam pit.
It costs $1 million to rent this one out.
[Laughter.]
So for your party all your friends can go jump into that foam.
You want to go do it now? (Maria) Are you ready? (Jeff) See what you can do.
Whee! There you go.
Boy, customer service-wise, he is absolutely hitting it out of the park.
So you can privately rent this one out.
And you get this fancy mezzanine right here.
This is, like, the dividing line I assume.
It is.
Yup.
And some things that I didn't even remember that I had told him, there he was throwing it in, so that was impressive.
- Thanks, guys.
(Maria) - Thank you.
Come back soon.
Let's go put your shoes on, bud, okay? - Book that party.
- All right, so, Scott, that was actually that was pretty good.
Thank you.
I had no idea what I was doing.
- Didn't know the details.
- You did really well.
So we're gonna go over to the call center, do a little bit of phone answering over there.
Before that, where's the bathroom? Go down the the foam pit, take a right.
Men's room is the farthest one on the end.
Cool.
- It looks like him.
Yeah.
(Woman) - Where? Where? (Woman) Ohh.
Where? Where'd I put those gloves? I'm nervous about Miles finding out who I am.
Maybe I began to come on a little bit too strong about my knowledge.
But something feels pretty strange with Miles, so I'm curious to see how the rest of the day goes.
So five one-topping pizzas cheese, pepperoni, or sausage? Jump time would be from 5:00 to 6:00.
So this is the call center.
They're busy booking birthday parties, group events, answering general knowledge questions.
You name it, they're doing it all.
A couple of things I want to show you.
Over here to your right we've got two different computer screens.
The one on your right is gonna be your access to our computer system.
The one on the left is gonna be your cheat sheet for the information.
- Let's get into it.
- Okay, let's give it a shot.
Sky Zone.
This is Scott speaking.
How may I help you? You want the largest private room? So that would be our supreme air package.
Each guest would get a 30-minute pass to come back, and they'd get a Sky Zone wristband.
And it all comes inside of a Sky Zone water bottle, which are really cool.
I have one.
I was already suspicious of Scott, because he did way too good of a job with the tour, but the real dead giveaway was he knew a little bit better than he should how to do some of the stuff.
(Man on phone) Okay, I'm just wondering if we could jump around on the trampolines with a three-year-old.
Our philosophy is, if you can walk, you can jump.
And the for sure dead giveaway for me was when he said, as long as they can walk, they can jump, which is language that only we use.
(Jeff) I hope you enjoy your winter break, and we'll see you on the 28th.
(Woman) - Buh-bye.
- Buh-bye.
- I got to tell you, Scott - Now what? That was super impressive, man.
I'm pretty blown away by that.
You've got the lingo down, you've got the whole shebang.
I think that was fantastic.
I would hire you for sure.
Um, so I have, like, some other questions for you.
Do you have an office we can go into? - Yeah.
(Jeff) - Something really doesn't quite feel right.
I think that maybe I tipped my hat.
I feel like he's probably on to me right now.
- So, Miles - Yes.
You know what's going on? I think I figured it out.
What'd you figure out? Well, you either have a crazy, uncanny resemblance to our CEO, or you are that man.
I'm Jeff Platt, and I'm undercover in your call center right now.
I want to talk about anything that you feel like really needs to be addressed.
You want me to jump right into a couple things that I think could be better? Yeah, just lay a couple things on me.
Sure.
To be honest with you, you were not my favorite person.
Plymouth had just barely been open, and we had a crew coming in to film a commercial there.
- Mm-hmm.
- And there was just something about the way you told me to mop the floor, and it's not at all that I'm above mopping a floor, but there's a way to ask somebody.
- For that I apologize.
- Mm-hmm.
You know, clearly I have some things to work on.
While focusing on my business's growth is important, it's just as important to treat my team well.
So there's actually a reason why I'm here.
You guys have been open for a while.
- Mm-hmm.
- I respect your opinion.
I want to know what those things are that would make us better.
Our bullpen of experienced people, like you or me or Braden, is shallow and too shallow to support 50 parks opening up in one year.
I'm really happy that Miles was open and honest with me about the fact that he feels like they're not getting the support that they need.
It's definitely something that I want to figure out how we can address.
I don't know if you know this about me, but I actually lost my mom four years ago.
Lost her to cancer.
And Sky Zone was a big part of her life.
- Sure.
- It motivates me because I know how happy it would make her - Mm-hmm.
- To see this business continuing to grow.
I'm sorry to hear that you lost your mother that way.
I appreciate that.
I lost my father to cancer seven years ago.
It was pretty well advanced by the time he was diagnosed.
We tried conventional treatments in the hospital for a couple of months, and then we took him home and did home hospice.
Were you there when he finally passed? - I was the one who found him.
- Yeah.
He passed.
I developed a really severe drug addiction.
I slept in my car for a few months.
- Really? - I ended up coming to Minnesota for rehab.
For four months after that, I was living in a halfway house, and, while I was living in that halfway house, I met my franchise owner.
And I worked at one of his sandwich shops that he used to own.
And I will follow him until he has no more use for me, you know, and so that's my "how I came" "to know and love Sky Zone" story right there.
That's incredible.
I didn't know that.
- Yeah.
- So, you know, what now for Miles? I'd love to be a franchise owner one day.
My wife and I just bought a house, and we've only been married a year and a half, so things - Oh, congrats.
- Thank you.
So I hope to have kids and start a family and that whole new adventure.
I had no idea that Miles had been through such hardships, and I'm really proud of him.
I'm proud of where he is today.
I'm thankful that he met our franchise owner and that he's part of our business.
I think he's got a bright future with us, and he's got a tremendous opportunity.
See ya.
I'm in Oaks, Pennsylvania, today, and I'm gonna be working with our maintenance assistant.
This park has had over 175,000 jumpers in a little bit over nine months.
I really want to make sure the park's being well maintained.
That's a lot of wear and tear on our trampolines.
- Breckin here? - Yeah.
How you doing? - Scott.
- Breckin.
- How are you? - Good.
So I'm the maintenance assistant here, so we're gonna get a little dirty.
We're gonna go check out this broken turnbuckle.
What's a turnbuckle? A turnbuckle holds all the trampolines up.
This is what we're changing.
So we got to take these springs off of it.
Use a spring puller.
So now what do I do? So now you pull and then twist.
Twist? Here, let me try.
Scott, he didn't really strike me as much of a hands-on work kind of guy.
I think I've never used a ratchet like this.
You got to turn the ratchet to the other way.
Scott didn't know what a ratchet was, so it threw me off a little bit.
This is gonna be a big one.
You ready? That would have been bad.
He just seems like the type who would check out your groceries.
- Boom.
- There you go.
- All right.
- And that is how you change a turnbuckle.
Good work.
(Breckin) We're gonna go bubble bath court four.
We need to wash it down, make sure it's sanitized for when we open it for the public.
- There you go.
- And we're gonna come, start out here.
- We're doing the pads? - Yup.
- Okay.
- Wipe it down.
Don't want people jumping on dirty trampolines.
How often do you guys clean these? Well, they're supposed to clean three courts a night.
Sometimes they clean two.
So you don't feel like it's getting the attention from a cleanliness standpoint that it needs? - Yeah.
- I wonder if this is the best way to do this.
It's the best way that we have right now.
- Oh.
- I'll be back to check up on you.
Cool.
I think that we definitely need to look at a more efficient system.
Good timing.
I just finished.
Didn't miss any spots, did you? I don't think so.
It's looking good.
I'd like to talk to a cleaning specialist and see if there's any options out there.
(Breckin) We're gonna fluff the foam pit.
We want to find bad cubes.
So, like, something like this I want you to grab, throw out, make a pile.
- We're gonna throw these away.
- This is a bad cube? Yeah.
See the difference? - Ah.
- It's discolored also.
- That makes sense.
- This is basically deteriorating.
So we're just gonna toss these out here.
- Okay.
- Keep the new ones in there.
- So do the whole thing? - Yup.
(Jeff) I'm going in.
When I had Scott jump in the foam pit, - he did get a little off-track.
- Whee! [Gasping.]
I think he had a little bit too much fun.
So you're just basically gonna look for the ones that are, like, in the visible areas, maybe about - What do you think about that? - That's fine.
Breckin, what do you think about this one? I would say toss it.
- Toss it? - Yeah.
So that guy? That looks fine.
Yeah.
Toss it.
I'm a natural at this foam stuff.
Oh, you'll get tired of it.
Trust me.
I'm already tired.
Push through it.
How do we look from up there? - Looking pretty good.
- You think we're good? Yeah.
[Groans.]
Grab a trash bag.
So what's, like, the ultimate dream for you? I want to make a career out of this job.
Maybe one day be a building services manager.
I always have my family, who have my back.
That's cool that you're close with your family, you know.
Lost my mom actually about four years ago to cancer.
I don't know what I would do if my mom died.
She's like the most important person in my life.
Mine was too.
(Breckin) I was an easy target for all the kids in middle school to pick on.
I was actually born a girl.
- Really? - I know it's hard to believe.
My entire life, I wanted to be a guy.
So I made my first doctor's appointment at a LGBT health clinic to start my medical transition.
So, after that, like, starting testosterone, people stop misgendering me on the streets, I didn't get double takes going into the bathroom.
And I kind of just calmed down and became the person that I am right now.
And, I mean, it's still an ongoing process right now.
All I'm on is testosterone.
I haven't had any surgeries yet.
'Cause that costs money, which I don't have.
So is there, like, a surgery that you would want? I want to get top surgery first, is a double mastectomy.
- Make a male chest.
- Right.
But I have so much debt with my student loans that, at this point, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen in the near future.
It's so cool how comfortable you are with it all.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, I'm used to it.
I love answering questions.
I was really impressed with how open Breckin was with me.
Growing up, my mom always encouraged me to be who I wanted to be and allowed me to do the things that I wanted to do, and it really motivated me always to be myself.
I think Breckin's experiencing the same thing, and I think that, when you're your best self, you feel confident in who you are, and you're not hiding behind anything, and I think everybody should be like that.
All right, we're gonna take these out to the dumpster.
- Going to the dumpsters? - Yeah.
Should we put on some jackets? Uh, jackets are for the weak.
Boy, am I exhausted right now.
I think this week made me reflect a lot about my mom because, while I was focusing on my business's growth, I didn't take into consideration how my decisions affect the people who work for me.
I can't wait to get this off my face.
It's definitely taught me how important communication is within our company and the need to make sure we're hearing the voices of those that are working down in the front lines, and I think it would put a huge smile on my mom's face to see her son do this.
Coming up (Announcer) The employees think they're going to decide whether or not Jeff deserves to win the competition.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? Do you know who Jeff Platt is? Platt.
No @#$%^& way.
This has been a really emotional week.
While this has been an incredible undercover experience, it's time for me to get back to work as the CEO of Sky Zone.
My team members believe they're coming to Los Angeles, California, to meet with the industry experts of the competition reality TV show.
But actually today I'm going to reveal my true identity.
- What's up? - What's up, Keith? You look familiar.
- Me? - Yeah, you.
You look like Scott.
What was Scott like? Scott was cool.
Do you know who Jeff Platt is? Platt? Name rings a bell, yeah.
You're the CEO of Sky Zone.
You ever heard of Undercover Boss? No @#$%^& way.
Well, you guys definitely got me.
Miles, it was really nice to see how you've grown within the business, and I really respect your opinion.
Our bullpen of experienced people is too shallow to support I took to heart what you were saying about the support that you guys received when we were first starting out versus now.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I'd like you to work with our training team to provide those franchise owners the same level of support that you felt when we first came out to your park.
I would be ecstatic to do that.
We both know what it's like to lose a family member, so one of the things that I'd like to do is give you $5,000 to donate to a cancer charity of your choice - That'd be awesome.
- In honor of your dad.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
I'd also like to give you $5,000 for your family.
That's incredible.
I don't know what to say, Jeff.
That's super generous, and it's gonna make a huge difference for us.
There's one final thing that I'd like to do for you.
When we were together, one of the things you expressed to me was your desire, dream, to be able to own your own Sky Zone franchise.
I would like to give you $60,000 to pay for your franchise fee.
Wow.
Are you kidding? That's exceedingly generous of you.
I can't even wrap my head around wow.
Sky Zone really has been the second chance that I needed in my life.
Considering where I've come from with living in my car and having the drug addiction, it's impossible to fathom something like this happening.
It's my dream come true, and I'm excited to see it all materialize.
(Jeff) Keith, I had an incredible time working with you.
You're very passionate about your job.
You got to focus in, bro.
Should I get this on the hammerlock? - This got to be about here.
- Okay.
I want to see you continue to develop, so I'm gonna give you a promotion - Okay.
- To a level two installer.
All right.
And you're gonna get a 13% raise, effective immediately.
I can dig it.
I can dig that.
You've done a great job in your life taking adversity and facing it head-on.
And you have a really positive outlook for somebody who has had some really tough experiences.
When you're a parent, your child is never supposed to leave the earth before you, you know.
Is that why you put so much attention - on your daughter now? - Yeah.
Absolutely.
I just want her to go to school, and I want to be able to put her through college.
I'd like to start a college fund for her.
- For my daughter? - Yup.
And I'd like to put $10,000 in it.
You'd do that for me? I would like that.
I can't believe this is happening right now.
[Chuckles.]
- I'm not done.
- Okay.
I think you deserve some breathing room.
So I want to give you and your family $30,000.
No way.
No way.
No.
You're serious right now? It'd probably take me a year to make that.
And you're gonna give it to me.
My life has changed dramatically.
I just want to do a handstand, like I mean, I have college money for my daughter.
It gives me hope.
It's good for my spirit like Campbell soup, you know.
It's really good.
(Jeff) Hey, Breckin.
You do a fantastic job.
- Thank you.
- Wipe it down.
I wonder if this is the best way to do this.
It's the best way with what we have right now.
There's something that I want your help with.
- Okay.
- I'd like to hire a cleaning consultant.
- Okay.
- And I'd like you to directly work with that cleaning consultant to come up with a method of cleaning the entire park.
- Okay.
- And that's gonna be used across every single Sky Zone in the country.
That's cool.
I need more people like you inside of our parks.
I'm giving you an immediate 10% raise.
Really? Nothing cool like this every happens to me.
This is really awesome.
You also shared with me some personal struggles that you have.
I want to help.
So I'd like to give you $20,000 Oh, my God.
To hopefully help you in any way that you see fit.
Really? That's gonna help so much.
I can actually start living.
You know, get the surgeries that I need.
That's just [Exhales.]
That's amazing.
Thank you.
You don't have to thank me.
You deserve to live life the way you want.
And, you know, hopefully this makes you have an opportunity to do that.
Thank you.
I think today marks the beginning of my new life that I can start living and not be afraid.
It's, you know, making me shake.
- It was good meeting you.
- Thank you.
It was good doing this with you.
So much.
Thank you.
Finally I can be who I am.
And it feels really good.
Cam, I actually wanted to thank you.
Because I don't really know another word to describe how you are as a court monitor, except for awesome.
Thank you.
(Cameron) Five seconds to throw.
- Oh! - Out.
There is about 50 Sky Zones open right now.
And we're gonna double in size next year and be in four different countries.
And one of the things that we want to do is we want to create some training videos.
And I want you to be the face of the video.
I'd be honored.
I'd really be honored.
And, of course, you know, we're gonna pay you to do this.
Thank you.
So I really respect your passion for hockey.
So on my next trip out to Boston, we're gonna get glass seats, and we're gonna watch the Bruins play.
Are you serious? - Dead serious.
- You do realize you're making my dream come true right now, right? You ever sat in the glass? This will be a first.
[Laughs.]
We talked a little bit earlier - about your injuries.
- Mm-hmm.
Doctors told you that, if you don't get the physical therapy you need, that you could have two prosthetic hips.
- Mm-hmm.
- The next couple of years.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm going to pay for you to go to physical therapy every week for the next three years.
You don't understand how happy you just made me.
I can't I don't even know what to say right now.
I really don't.
Like, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Someone at your age should not have to feel the pressure of a financial burden like that.
And you said to me that you would like to figure out a way to pay your dad back.
Absolutely.
I'm gonna give you $30,000 to do that.
You're literally making my entire dreams of the last five to six years come true right now.
And I don't think I've been this happy in I can't tell you how long.
[Sighs.]
I'm so excited.
This is it's literally just a new start.
Honestly, thank you so much.
I dreamed about this every night.
Just something happening, and something did.
And here I am.