Undercover Boss (2010) s04e09 Episode Script
Boston Market
This week on Undercover Boss The CEO of Boston Market, the nation's leader in on-the-go home-style meals, sends his Chief Brand Officer, Sara Bittorf, on a crucial assignment.
If you see anything that needs to be fixed, make sure we get it done.
The Chief Brand Officer goes undercover, posing as an unemployed diner waitress.
- I'm Rachel.
- I'm Sash.
Her employees think she's on a reality show where she's competing to win her own fast-food franchise.
Have a runner.
- You have another car.
- Oh.
White chicken salad.
By working in the field Okay, so now we gotta get ice for the customers.
Follow me.
Sara discovers she risks losing her best employees.
And one employee's outrageous behavior forces her to take the most drastic action in Undercover Boss history.
This is really not good.
I feel like I need to shut this down.
This is my worst nightmare.
Coming up next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x09 - Boston Market Original air date February 1, 2013 Based in Denver, Colorado, Boston Market offers home-style comfort food at 470 locations across the country.
Making sure this $1/2-billion-a-year brand stays alive in the face of tough competition is one woman.
My name is Sara Bittorf, and I'm the Chief Brand Officer at Boston Market.
We need to make sure that we're establishing new.
It's our new product.
It's tuscan chicken.
As the Chief Brand Officer, my job is the Boston Market brand.
It's the rotisserie chicken you love in a brand-new way.
The brand is the sum of all of the interactions that you have with Boston Market.
It could be a television commercial.
It could be the food that you eat.
How many chickens are we testing today? We're testing six today.
And the restaurant level employees are at the front line of the brand.
If they're not delivering our brand values, nothing that I can do from a marketing perspective can change that.
This is a winner.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Boston Market was started in 1985 by two entrepreneurial guys that had an idea and some of their grandmother's recipes.
It started as Boston Chicken.
It was a great idea that took advantage of this trend of women going back into the workforce and having to put a dinner on the table that they could be proud of.
It took off, and it went from 200 restaurants to 1,200 restaurants in a matter of four years.
And that growth was just too much for the company, which caused us to declare bankruptcy.
We had to close some of our restaurants.
We weren't quite as visible.
And people wondered where Boston Market had gone.
It's been a rollercoaster ride.
We're now at a very crucial time for the company.
We are taking our beloved food, we're contemporizing it for the future, and we have to get it right.
I was born in Warner Robins, Georgia.
My parents got divorced when I was eight years old.
My sister and I lived with my mother, and she had to go to work to support us.
You know, she was all alone, taking care of two young girls.
She was a hero.
She sacrificed everything.
She worked two jobs so that her daughters could be successful, they could pursue their dreams.
And she never let us stop dreaming.
Almost two years ago, my mother died suddenly.
She had kidney failure, and she died in the doctor's office.
The goal is to continue to try and make her proud.
And that's what I try and do every day.
I've only been at Boston Market for seven months.
Hi.
Hi, Sara.
Have a seat.
Over the past four years, there's been a somewhat inconsistent marketing effort here, which is one of the reasons why I've been brought in.
I've spent so much time in the field, they're gonna recognize me right away.
You have a great advantage.
They're not gonna know who you are, and you're gonna get down to the issues - working alongside of them.
- Okay.
And if you see anything that needs to be fixed right away, make sure we get it done.
The CEO is putting a lot of faith in me for this assignment, and I have to get it right.
So you're on chicken duty.
- I'm gonna pick the chicken.
- Pick the chicken.
I was married rather young, and I had my son, David.
But that marriage didn't last.
Chicken salad is just about done.
Just needs to be mixed.
And then I married my husband Bill Bill had two sons, Matthew and Drew, from a previous marriage, and so now we have a happy family of five.
What are you most afraid of? I'm afraid of saying the wrong thing or not having a quick answer for a question.
Yeah, what high school did you go to? I I went to North Miami Beach - Not quick enough! - Senior High School.
I would say Sara's way out of her comfort zone right now.
She doesn't really know what to expect and, uh, has had a few sleepless nights.
This is the first step of the brand-new you.
It's cold.
I'm going undercover because I need to figure out how to take this brand further.
Holy moly.
I'm hoping to get a better feel for how our employees are representing our brand My husband's gonna freak out when he sees this.
And then learn how the customer interaction happens so that I can influence the customers as well.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Rachel Rand, a diner waitress who hopes to open her own restaurant.
Throughout my undercover journey, the employees will be tricked into thinking they are on a hosted reality show, where contestants compete for the opportunity to open their own restaurant.
They think they're going to give feedback on whether or not Rachel deserves to win.
We are here in Duluth, Georgia, today.
The woman pretending to be the host of the fake show will keep asking questions about whether Rachel deserves the money.
So my employees will have no idea this is secretly Undercover Boss.
Here I am.
- I've never seen - Oh Do you like me as a brunette? You look so different.
This is a big responsibility.
I'm new, but I'm joining at a great time, because we have had this success over the last two years, so people are counting on me to continue the sales momentum that's been built up.
- I love you.
- I love you.
I'm nervous because the CEO is putting a lot of faith in me.
- Bye.
- Bye.
And if I screw this up, it's going to cost me my job.
I'm in Duluth, Georgia, today to work as an hourly shift supervisor.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
Because our hourly shift supervisors are in a leadership role, they set the tone for all of the employees in the restaurant, so we want them to be energetic.
We want them to have a great, positive attitude, and we want them to be really focused on delivering warm and friendly service.
- Regular or large? - Large.
- For here? - Yes, please.
All right.
I've never really done these jobs before, so I'm a little nervous.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
Hi.
My name's Rachel, and I'm here to see Ronnie.
- I'm Ronnie.
- Hi.
Rachel.
- It's nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
So we're gonna be working together today, yeah? - Yes.
- On your competition.
- Are you excited? - Yeah.
- Yeah? - A little nervous, but excited.
It's okay.
Don't worry about it.
You have a great teacher.
That's me.
Oh, good! Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
This is how everything unfolds.
Standard procedure is to greet the customer as they walk in and say, "hello, welcome to Boston Market.
" You know, blah blah blah, whatever.
'Cause we have to make customers, you know, on a pedestal.
We can go walk around the lobby, and we'll introduce you to Nil.
This is the store's Hey, Rachel, how are you? - Hi.
- General Manager.
- Oh, hi, Nil.
- welcome to our team.
If you need anything, let me know.
- Okay, thanks.
- Okay.
This is the lobby.
It does get busy.
- Mm-hmm.
- But it's generally just people taking too long to eat.
Okay.
But, you know, you'll love me.
It's okay.
It's weird, so My first impression of Ronnie is that some of his jokes are on the inappropriate side, but but he's he's he's really kind of fun, and he's funny.
You should be asking customers, like, hey, would you like to sample our loaded mashed potatoes? When putting pecan pie into the thing, it has to look like that at all times.
Otherwise, we get in trouble because Boston Market, again ridiculous standards.
Remember that.
Ronnie kept referencing that, "this is the way we do it" "because corporate tells us to.
" Well, we don't make rules just to make rules.
So that concerns me a little.
This is the sandwich station.
I hate making sandwiches.
Customers always have something picky about a sandwich to do.
So My least favorite part is the customer always has to be right.
I absolutely hate that.
We have some mundane activities that we need to get done.
And I hate doing them, so I'm basically gonna make you do them.
Oh, great.
I am a little bit of a diva.
Everyone always has something to say about me.
Someone is always hating on me, even though I'm the best, and there's not really that much to hate on me about.
You need to take this inside.
- What? - Can you take this inside? - I'm gonna go smoke.
- Okay.
- I'll be over there.
- That's what I'm here for.
A little bit of Ronnie goes a long way.
Gonna kill somebody.
And so, in the beginning, I was really amused by him.
The jokes about Kim Kardashian those were all kind of charming.
Until they, you know, sort of piled on top of each other.
These are our new napkin dispensers.
Customers will literally sit here and take about 500 napkins and then just throw them all on the floor.
They didn't actually need them.
Customers do not care what it's like.
Like, you could be 10 hundred customers over there, and they'll just come up to you and be like, "um, the raspberry lemonade's out.
" He started saying really negative things about customers, which sends up an immediate red flag.
Because none of them know what they want, and they're, like, literally can't talk.
So you just kind of have to deal with it.
Our guests are our bread and butter.
They pay our checks.
They keep our businesses open.
They pay his paycheck.
They're just gonna be here, dealing with their children, and we just have to wait.
At Boston Market, one of the things that we serve the most are family meals.
And families include kids, and they include older people.
We can't have him disparaging our guests like that.
So what what, like, drove you to do this TV show? It was kind of a fluke.
I mean, they came into the diner, and, you know, they just said, you know, anybody interested in, you know, talking to us? And so I did.
How come you got a job at Boston Market? Oh, that one's kind of greasy.
- It'll be okay.
- It's fine? I fell in love with the people of Boston Market, not the customers or the corporation.
You just really don't like customers.
God, I just customers are such, like, little bitches, and, like, all the time, just all about, like, pleasing the customer, like Yeah.
Well, that's the business that we're in, right? Yeah.
It's not fair.
We're doing awesome, by the way.
Oh, that's okay.
- Are you sure? - I'm not hungry.
I'm getting progressively more upset as he continues to talk.
- I have a question.
- Yes.
How much? Okay.
I'm gonna tell you, like, They'll throw a hissy fit, and I'm just like, bitch, no.
You c you don't have the right to do that.
You can't do that.
We depend on our management to put forth the best product and experience that we can, so I was dismayed to hear that.
It's unacceptable to our brand.
Wow.
It's all good.
My job's on the line.
Here I am, I'm a representative of this brand And this is what happens? You know, it's not it can't happen on my watch.
It just can't.
Um, you know what? - Go ahead.
- Okay, thanks.
Yeah, just go ahead.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
I feel like I need to shut this down.
This is ridiculous.
Not acceptable at all.
This is really not good.
This is this is this is my worst nightmare.
This is, like, my worst nightmare.
I can't have someone who just told me that they hate customers more than anything in the world serving our guests.
I mean, that's the complete antithesis of what we stand for.
I can't stand by and and let this happen for one minute longer.
Ronnie, can I talk to you outside? Yeah, sure.
Everything all right? - Um, not really.
- Why? Um So, Ronnie, I wanted to reintroduce myself to you.
I'm not actually Rachel.
- Who are you? - My name is Sara Bittorf, and I am the Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market.
No! And you're on Undercover Boss.
Oh, my God.
Oh.
So there is no restaurant competition show? There is no restaurant competition show.
- Oh, my God, really? - Yes.
You got me.
- I did get you.
- Ooh.
I got you saying a bunch of things about our customers - I did.
- That are really not very nice.
Ohh.
I'm angry, and I'm heartbroken, and I'm disappointed.
One of our values is "love to serve.
" Yes.
And you don't seem like you love to serve.
Without the guests in there, - we don't have a business.
- Yeah.
And you don't have a paycheck, and neither do I.
So I don't know if this is the business for you.
Oh, my God.
Um, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna send you home for the day.
You might want to think about whether this is really the right job choice for you.
- And, um - I do enjoy my job.
It's just, Boston Market me and, like, real Ronnie, who is is left usually outside of Boston Market, are two very different people.
Well, you you should've bought brought Boston Market me to work today.
I should've.
Because you're a professional, you know.
- I know.
- And this is a job.
Your employer is Boston Market.
You're a representative of that.
And I should've respected them.
You should've respected them.
So Nil does Nil know? I'm gonna talk to him.
So So go home, and Nil will follow up with you.
So that's it? That that's all? Like, I would tell them my attitude would change, but, like I don't know.
I didn't think it was that terrible.
It's not wrong of me to hate people.
I'm not trying to justify, like, how mean I was to a customer, like, behind their back.
Like, they don't know I'm saying it, so it's not really that big a deal.
But now, like, you know, the giant lady of Boston Market knows what was going on.
That's just not fair.
Ronnie's behavior is not acceptable in any circumstance.
Nil, let's go outside for a second.
Let's go.
As Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market, I cannot let that behavior exist, ever.
So I need to take decisive action.
Nil, um, I'm not actually Rachel.
My name is Sara Bittorf.
I'm the Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market.
All right.
How did we do? Well, your store looks great.
- Okay.
- Your food looks wonderful.
Okay.
But we have a little problem with Ronnie.
Oh.
He has been saying some things to me that are really not appropriate for somebody who serves customers.
Okay.
He he said that customers are difficult.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it's not fair and they don't deserve the things - that they're asking for.
- Whoa.
And he doesn't want to give it to them, but he does because Boston corporate, you know, - tells him to.
- Mm-hmm.
He actually called himself a robot.
- Wow.
- You know, he he said a few things, several times, actually, about hating customers.
He what? He actually used the words, - "I hate our customers.
" - I'm surprised.
- Oh, no, no, no.
- I'm sure you understand.
We can't have that.
We can't have that, no.
So we're gonna need to terminate his employment.
Wow.
It makes me you know, it really upsets me.
Yep, upsets me too.
Upsets me too.
We got to do what we got to do.
Okay.
I hate to see him go, but, you know Well, it'll be a good lesson for him for his future life.
- I hope so.
- Yep, I hope so, yeah.
Our CEO asked me to go on this undercover assignment to find the good and the bad.
You know, I knew that I was liable to find some things that needed to be fixed.
But this never entered my head.
Oh, I'm exhausted.
There's no way that Ronnie can stay at Boston Market after what he did.
I really hope I don't have to have another day like today.
I lost a little bit of my faith today, and now I'm more afraid than I had been of what I might find in the other restaurants.
Today I'm in Tampa, Florida, and I'm gonna be working as an Assistant General Manager.
Here we are.
You're welcome.
Have a great day.
The restaurant I'll be working in today is a relatively new store but one that is not one of our top performers.
After working with Ronnie, I'm curious to see if there's an employee attitude problem that's bigger than just one restaurant.
- How's it going? - Hi.
I'm Rachel.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm here to see Sash.
- I'm Sash.
- Hi, Sash.
Nice to meet you.
How's it going? Good, good.
All right, come on back.
Thank you.
Have you ever been to a Boston Market? Yeah, I've been to it a couple times.
- I'm Rachel.
- Olivia.
I'm gonna show you how to cut a chicken today, so that's pretty awesome.
That's kind of scary.
Oh, you're gonna be fine.
You're gonna be fine.
So I have to pull a spit out to teach you how to cut it.
Tongs.
Arm extender.
Kind of just sits like this, so you'll put pressure on your arm so you can pick it up.
Grab it.
Hook it on this side, if you can see that.
Yeah, okay.
And then you push in and unhook it like that.
Comes right off.
Now, you don't want to tear that chicken at all.
So you just kind of want to do a Wow.
It comes right off.
Voila.
Oh, yeah, you make it look easy.
You've had chicken before, right? - Yes.
- All right.
You want to do a slice here, so you keep the skin, and then you want to cut really hard through that breastplate.
None of the customers want to have a spine when they're eating, so you just cut it out.
I'm a little nervous about Manning the carving station because I've never done it before.
There you go.
Oh, so I actually have to take it out of here? Oh, my God.
See how it's separated? Now grab it firmly.
Lift it up to get it in the hole right there.
- Oh! - There we go.
Now pull it out.
See, you kind of hit it right there.
Harder.
Oh, man.
This one's stubborn.
When you hit it, move this.
- Oh.
- Like, out.
And then All right, there we go.
It's okay.
Some of them got mangled, but you'll be fine.
Cut this one up.
She's holding.
I, like yep, sometimes it's hard to find.
Okay, 71¢ is your change.
What do you need? A half chicken? Oh, man.
Carving is a lot of pressure because you're serving people as well as providing production.
She needs 1/4 white.
Keep it going.
Keep it going.
- This feels like it's - Hey.
Taking an eternity.
Rachel's skills with a knife, uh It's awkward.
The chicken's already dead.
You're really not gonna do anything to it that isn't really already done.
Wow, this is very stubborn.
I destroyed that bird.
- No, no, no, you don't wanna - Oh, my God, aah! You're all right.
You're all right.
Okay, that one just disintegrated.
We're gonna put that on the side.
Yeah, let me see the tongs.
Sometimes when they're really hot like this, they just take a little finesse.
It's like cutting butter.
Even if that skin moves a little bit, you're okay.
As long as all the pieces are there, he's gonna be just fine.
Half chicken up.
There you go.
Have a nice day.
Did you want to grab a drink with me? - 'Cause I'm dying.
- Sure.
God, I'm not used to this.
That's really not our policy.
In fact, we installed some software to remind managers when breaks are due, because we want people to get off their feet.
So I want to investigate that a little more.
So tell me about this competition.
Are you nervous? The whole thing is very nerve-wracking, the cameras and everything.
Well, if this was your restaurant, what would you do? Like I said from the very beginning, it just goes all the way back to staff.
The people who staff my store is like my family.
I just really wish there was a way that I could take care of them a little bit better.
You know? I also have a second job.
I work at Toys "R" Us.
And then I want to be a nurse.
I'm still working on getting that degree.
So, you know, working two jobs and trying to go to school, you know, you have to have a really good support group.
And that's what they are and if this was my store, I would make sure that they get breaks, you know? I'd make sure that they get a meal a day.
That's something that I would definitely change.
- But - Hmm.
It's frustrating to find out that some of our employees are are not happy, but it is very satisfying to see that Sash is so passionate about doing a good job.
We need to keep our employees like that.
So I'm gonna have to look into how we can do a better job there.
I'm definitely not gonna eat the rest of this - Okay.
- 'Cause I can't fit it in.
But if you want to go over to the carver station, we're probably gonna get a couple more people, so we can start cutting up some chicken.
- Okay.
- All right? Coming up, the boss delivers a drive-thru disaster.
White chicken salad.
Does he mean a salad or a sandwich? Add a little honey habanero to it.
And later, she must fight to keep one of her best employees.
Do you have opportunity with Boston Market? The position I'm in, it's gonna be a long time.
Does that mean you're gonna have to go somewhere else? That's exactly what that means.
Sara Bittorf, the Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market, is a boss undercover in her own company.
Customers are such, like, little bitches.
So far, on her journey, she's made some shocking discoveries.
Wow.
I cannot let that behavior exist, ever.
Normally, Al don't ever get a break.
I mean, aren't you supposed to get a break? Actually, no.
Her journey continues in Fort Lauderdale.
Today I'm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and I'll be working in the drive-thru.
The drive-thru is a significant part of our business.
I'm hoping to see people who are really trying to get our drive-thru customers in and out quickly with full, complete orders.
Hi, I'm Rachel.
I'm here to see A.
J.
Hello, how you doing? I'm A.
J.
- Hi.
- Come on over.
Let me show you around.
So this is the drive-thru.
This is where I Yeah, spend the majority of my time here.
See, Miss Charmaine, the G.
M.
, she's not here today.
She's on vacation.
She always focuses on the time.
See the thing that says we have to be done in 60 seconds? Well, how do oh, I oh, I see.
- It's flashing.
- Yeah.
That's the time.
When it's green, it's good.
- Red is - Oh, okay.
You're doing bad.
So it's a lot of pressure.
I only been here for three months now, and I do it, like, no problem.
We always have to smile.
We always have to welcome our customers back, make them feel warm and welcome, like, "hey, how you doing? Welcome to Boston Market.
" "My name is such-and-such.
" And make 'em feel welcome.
Today I'm nervous about doing the drive-thru because it's really critical that you be fast.
Clearly, it's a skill that I haven't practiced in many, many years, since I worked in fast food.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
My name is A.
J.
, store 230.
How can I help you today? Will that be all today for you, ma'am? - Yes, thank you.
- All righty.
Drive around for your total.
All righty.
Here you go, ma'am.
Have a great day.
Come again.
The next car, I'm gonna let I'm gonna let you do it.
Oh, no.
Oh, no, no.
That's that's too soon.
It's not that hard as it seems.
Hi, welcome to Boston Market.
This is Rachel.
Can I take your order? Yes.
Just 1/2 a chicken.
Would you like anything to drink, any pumpkin pie or raspberry lemonade? No, that'll do.
All righty.
Drive around for your total.
Have a runner.
- You have another car.
- Oh.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
My name is A.
J.
, store 230.
Can you hold one moment? The drive-thru's really stressful.
Somebody's ordering in your ear, and then someone's waiting at the window, and then, to put the clock on top of it, it's just a very stressful combination.
- Oh.
- Whoops.
Rachel was a little bit out of her comfort zone, but you always have to keep your cool, always, because you don't want them going to corporate on you.
Okay.
So go ahead.
- Uh, hello? - I'm stepping back.
Hi, welcome to Boston Market.
Can I take your order? A white chicken salad.
White chicken salad? And, uh, mashed potatoes.
Does he mean a salad or a sandwich? Sir, you said you wanted a chicken salad sandwich? An all-white chicken salad.
Add a little bit of that honey habanero to it.
Sure, no problem.
$9.
21 is your total.
It seems like there's a lot of things that are all happening at once.
Chicken sandwich.
And you need, like, octopus arms to get it all done.
Chicken pot pie, please.
There were some moments when I wished the beep would just stop beeping.
Hope to see you again.
Thank you.
Chicken pot pie, cornbread.
Your pot pie.
- Thanks for your help.
- Thank you.
So how you feel so far? How you like it? Pretty stressful, you know, when you got one car who's ordering and - Right, right, right.
- And everybody's talking in your ear, and you seem to have learned this pretty quick for only being here for three months.
I mean, I'm a fast learner.
I pick up real fast.
I don't try to be better than anyone or ever get big-headed.
I just want to be great at what I do.
I was out of work for two years.
I met Miss Charmaine, and she gave me an opportunity.
I mean, I got in a little trouble when I was about 17.
I got arrested and went to the county jail for about two months.
But right now, I'm doing good.
So I had the repair by working hard.
It's nice that Boston Market gave you a second chance.
It's amazing, and that's why, whatever they need me to do, I would do it, because they didn't have to give me that chance.
You never know.
That sign out there say hourly shift manager.
I might be one one day.
Who knows? That's very nice.
A.
J.
has an amazing attitude.
It's one of gratitude and respect.
It's really refreshing, and it's great to see.
See how you get it on your own right here.
Got another car.
- I'll be back.
- Okay.
Hi, welcome to Boston Market.
This is Rachel.
May I take your order? Today I'm in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and I'm going to be working as an assistant general manager.
Hot, fresh turkey pot pie.
When I was working with Sash, we focused on the carving station.
But a great assistant general manager really is a multitasker, somebody who can keep their eyes on the customers, the employees, all of the little things that need to get done.
Hi, my name's Rachel.
I'm here to see April.
Oh, come on back, Rachel.
I'll take you right back.
Okay.
This restaurant is one of the top 30 restaurants in terms of sales, so I'd be really interested to find out what they're doing right so we can take those best practices and spread them to the rest of the restaurants.
April, I got somebody here to see you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Hi, I'm Rachel.
Hi, I'm April.
Well, today we gonna be doing a little bit back here, a whole lot up there.
Gonna be out in the dining room.
So we'll be multitasking.
- Okay.
- Oh, don't be scared! - I'm ready.
- You're gonna be okay! You're gonna be okay.
Okay, so let's go check the front.
My first impression of Rachel, I could see she's very, very nervous.
It's our job to make sure everything looks presentable.
She's gonna be a little bit unnerved.
I'm gonna get her out of her comfort zone.
I'm trying to make sure she wins this contest, you know.
So just like, you know, how you being a contestant, you got the pressure same thing as in a restaurant.
You still have that pressure to make sure the customers are taken care of.
Come around to the front so we can see what I'm talking about.
April's like a bouncing ball.
She goes from one place to another.
Come on, let's go to the back.
You move very quickly.
Oh, you have to.
Okay, so now we gotta get ice for the customers.
Customers don't have any ice.
Follow me.
You wanna hand me that container? And, see, like you got water on the floor? First thing you need to do is get a "wet floor" sign down.
- Come on, Rachel.
- Okay.
Time to speed it up.
She's like the Energizer Bunny.
I'm thinking I'm gonna have a hard time keeping up with April.
I mean, she's already going pretty fast.
So you really want to run your own restaurant? Well, I'm kind of excited about it, yeah.
Oh, wow, okay.
How about you? What do you dream about? Oh, I always dream about moving up the corporate ladder.
I'm in school.
I'm in college.
- Yeah, I'm a sophomore.
- Really? - Yes! - Oh, that's fantastic.
So when do you go to school? On my days off.
We get two days off a week.
So I'm in school right now full-time.
I'm Assistant General Manager.
That's full-time.
And I'm a single mom.
So you're being pulled all over the place.
Yeah, you want to give it a try? Yeah.
So So do you feel like you have opportunity with Boston Market? The position I'm in, it's gonna be a long time, unless, um, get a degree and then come in from the outside in, versus moving up the ladder.
When you say come in from the outside, does that mean you're gonna have to go somewhere else - and get a job? - Yes.
That's exactly what that means.
What April's telling me about the lack of opportunities is really news to me, because I thought that we provided great opportunities for them.
See, you're good at this! I really don't want to see April leave.
I think we need to look at how we grow our people by giving them the opportunities they need to thrive in our organization.
I think you really got a good shot.
Oh, thank you.
- I hope you win.
- You're a good example.
I'm gonna try and follow.
The undercover journey was enlightening, but I'm glad it's over.
I had no idea it would be this hard.
I look like I aged a year in a week.
I loved meeting April.
She had such a positive attitude.
But what really saddened me was that she had to find a future outside of Boston Market, and I don't want to lose somebody like April.
I've really learned how absolutely critical our employees are to our brand.
And we need to make sure that we work as hard to prove that we value our employees as much as our guests.
I mean, without them, we're really nothing.
Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide whether or not Rachel deserves money to start her own fast-food franchise.
How will they react when the boss reveals her true identity? My name is Sara Bittorf.
I'm the Chief Brand Officer for Boston Market.
Wow.
All of the people that I worked with think they've been called to Colorado to meet with the judges and give them feedback on whether or not I deserve to open my own restaurant chain.
Hi.
Hey.
So how was working with Rachel? Working with Rachel was awesome.
I liked working with her.
She was a good person.
She seemed like she knew what she was doing.
That's very nice of you to say.
Feel like I've seen you somewhere before.
So who am I? Rachel.
What's going on? - Who am I? - Sash.
Well, I was Rachel.
Oh! Okay, I was like, "okay, am I seeing things?" But I'm not actually Rachel.
My name is Sara Bittorf, and I'm the Chief Brand Officer for Boston Market.
What? And you are on Undercover Boss.
Oh, my gosh.
Really? Oh, my God.
Undercover Boss.
My heart oh, wow.
My heart just whew.
All right, so what now? Sash, I was really impressed with you.
You're young, but you're wise beyond your years.
You do a great job for us.
Thank you.
It's amazing to hear, especially coming from now knowing that you're, you know, up there and one of my bosses.
You had me up to my elbows in chickens, and that was quite an education for me.
You demonstrated to me that you really care about your employees, maybe even more than you care about yourself.
It's the crew that runs the store for me, so and I, you know, I 110% still stand by that.
We'd like to see you take care of yourself too in the process, so, you know, we really want you to take your breaks.
I mean, it's not our policy for you not to take your breaks, and in fact, there's a little software program on the computer in the office that schedules the breaks in, and so we would like for you to become the expert at that program - Wow.
- And then go around your area and train the other restaurants on how to use that system.
And we will pay you for your time.
Wow.
Um That's great.
I'm just so shocked.
I'm sorry.
It's just Thank you.
Really, thank you.
The other thing is that I know I know Boston Market is a stopover for you, that you want to become a nurse.
But we want to make sure that while you're here with us, you're happy, you're engaged, and you're committed.
And it's gonna be hard to do that if you're so exhausted from working two jobs.
So what I'd like to do is give you $20,000 so that you can quit your second job.
What? I'm sorry, what? Um, wow.
Thank you.
That's gonna change my life.
I thought I was coming here today to help someone else change their life.
And I did not expect it to turn the other way and be mine, so Thank you, thank you.
Thank you, guys.
You're welcome.
When I think about the future, it feels so much easier.
It feels like I'm gonna be okay and I'm gonna be able to do the things that I want to do with my life, really.
A.
J.
, I had a great time with you.
I was honored to work with you in the drive-thru.
I'm not sure I did such a great job.
All right, can I trouble you for a white chicken salad? You did your best.
I did my best, but I was actually quite impressed that in the short time that you've been working the drive-thru, that you've become so expert at it.
I love it.
I wake up in the morning, and I look forward to going to work.
I was so impressed with you and your work ethic that I'm gonna have a word with Miss Charmaine, and we're gonna talk about that promotion to hourly shift supervisor.
Wow.
This is so overwhelming.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
I thought this was something else, you guys.
Oh, wow.
You were so inspiring, your story that you shared so willingly with me, and how you turned your life around.
I'm I'm inspired by you.
This is amazing.
We'd like to give you $20,000 towards achieving your dreams.
Ohh.
Ohh.
Wow Wow.
I wish I could hug you.
Oh, gosh.
- You can hug me.
- Oh, my God.
You're so Wow.
Wow.
That was amazing.
Such a blessing.
It's I don't even know where to start.
It's just God works in mysterious ways.
Wow.
You never know what can happen.
You just have to have hope, faith, and belief.
Anything's possible.
And I just been showed that today, that everything and anything's possible.
April, you really embody the values of our company.
- Okay.
- You know, we we talk about warm and friendly service.
Yeah.
And you certainly have that in spades.
We talk about loving to serve.
Mm-hmm.
And you really seem to enjoy your job.
Thank you.
I was not happy to hear that you think you need to leave there in order to advance your career.
Yeah.
Well, I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure you don't leave Boston Market.
We are always in need of good people.
We need some general managers in the South Florida area.
Wow.
And we're always looking for good talent.
Oh, awesome.
So if you were willing to relocate - for a General Manager job - Uh-huh.
We would pay all of your expenses for that.
Are you serious? Wow.
Now you got me crying for real, now.
Oh, thank you.
So I lied about being Rachel, but I didn't lie about having a son.
And I know your son is getting ready to go to college.
Yes.
And we'd like to give you something to help with that.
We'd like to give you $10,000 towards his education.
No! Oh, my God.
That would do so much for him.
This is so unbelievable.
Thank you.
You also told me that you always want to be better.
Yes.
So you're back in school, trying to get your degree.
And you talked about some student loans.
Mm-hmm.
Well, we'd like to help offset some of that.
We're gonna give you $20,000 towards your student loans.
Are you serious? For my student loans? See, now I'm speechless.
For for for me? For my student loans? Mm-hmm.
Really? I can't contain it anymore.
Thank you so very much.
Oh, my God.
It it - You're welcome.
- Oh, my God.
And one more thing.
I'm going to give you $5,000 towards a vacation.
Wait, wait, wait.
I get to go to school.
My son gets to go to school.
I can go to Florida.
I can move up.
- Mm-hmm.
- High five! Awesome! That is the icing on the cake.
Oh, my gosh.
She s She totally said that I can move up the chain.
Oh, my God! I have never had a job that would step up and say, you know what? We see what you're doing, and we appreciate it, and we want you to stay with us.
Ronnie doesn't represent Boston Market.
Wow.
Most of the people that I met are exactly what we want to see.
They're high-energy, great attitude, and really focused on our guests.
This experience will allow me to do my job better and serve our employees better and serve our guests better.
If you see anything that needs to be fixed, make sure we get it done.
The Chief Brand Officer goes undercover, posing as an unemployed diner waitress.
- I'm Rachel.
- I'm Sash.
Her employees think she's on a reality show where she's competing to win her own fast-food franchise.
Have a runner.
- You have another car.
- Oh.
White chicken salad.
By working in the field Okay, so now we gotta get ice for the customers.
Follow me.
Sara discovers she risks losing her best employees.
And one employee's outrageous behavior forces her to take the most drastic action in Undercover Boss history.
This is really not good.
I feel like I need to shut this down.
This is my worst nightmare.
Coming up next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x09 - Boston Market Original air date February 1, 2013 Based in Denver, Colorado, Boston Market offers home-style comfort food at 470 locations across the country.
Making sure this $1/2-billion-a-year brand stays alive in the face of tough competition is one woman.
My name is Sara Bittorf, and I'm the Chief Brand Officer at Boston Market.
We need to make sure that we're establishing new.
It's our new product.
It's tuscan chicken.
As the Chief Brand Officer, my job is the Boston Market brand.
It's the rotisserie chicken you love in a brand-new way.
The brand is the sum of all of the interactions that you have with Boston Market.
It could be a television commercial.
It could be the food that you eat.
How many chickens are we testing today? We're testing six today.
And the restaurant level employees are at the front line of the brand.
If they're not delivering our brand values, nothing that I can do from a marketing perspective can change that.
This is a winner.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Boston Market was started in 1985 by two entrepreneurial guys that had an idea and some of their grandmother's recipes.
It started as Boston Chicken.
It was a great idea that took advantage of this trend of women going back into the workforce and having to put a dinner on the table that they could be proud of.
It took off, and it went from 200 restaurants to 1,200 restaurants in a matter of four years.
And that growth was just too much for the company, which caused us to declare bankruptcy.
We had to close some of our restaurants.
We weren't quite as visible.
And people wondered where Boston Market had gone.
It's been a rollercoaster ride.
We're now at a very crucial time for the company.
We are taking our beloved food, we're contemporizing it for the future, and we have to get it right.
I was born in Warner Robins, Georgia.
My parents got divorced when I was eight years old.
My sister and I lived with my mother, and she had to go to work to support us.
You know, she was all alone, taking care of two young girls.
She was a hero.
She sacrificed everything.
She worked two jobs so that her daughters could be successful, they could pursue their dreams.
And she never let us stop dreaming.
Almost two years ago, my mother died suddenly.
She had kidney failure, and she died in the doctor's office.
The goal is to continue to try and make her proud.
And that's what I try and do every day.
I've only been at Boston Market for seven months.
Hi.
Hi, Sara.
Have a seat.
Over the past four years, there's been a somewhat inconsistent marketing effort here, which is one of the reasons why I've been brought in.
I've spent so much time in the field, they're gonna recognize me right away.
You have a great advantage.
They're not gonna know who you are, and you're gonna get down to the issues - working alongside of them.
- Okay.
And if you see anything that needs to be fixed right away, make sure we get it done.
The CEO is putting a lot of faith in me for this assignment, and I have to get it right.
So you're on chicken duty.
- I'm gonna pick the chicken.
- Pick the chicken.
I was married rather young, and I had my son, David.
But that marriage didn't last.
Chicken salad is just about done.
Just needs to be mixed.
And then I married my husband Bill Bill had two sons, Matthew and Drew, from a previous marriage, and so now we have a happy family of five.
What are you most afraid of? I'm afraid of saying the wrong thing or not having a quick answer for a question.
Yeah, what high school did you go to? I I went to North Miami Beach - Not quick enough! - Senior High School.
I would say Sara's way out of her comfort zone right now.
She doesn't really know what to expect and, uh, has had a few sleepless nights.
This is the first step of the brand-new you.
It's cold.
I'm going undercover because I need to figure out how to take this brand further.
Holy moly.
I'm hoping to get a better feel for how our employees are representing our brand My husband's gonna freak out when he sees this.
And then learn how the customer interaction happens so that I can influence the customers as well.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Rachel Rand, a diner waitress who hopes to open her own restaurant.
Throughout my undercover journey, the employees will be tricked into thinking they are on a hosted reality show, where contestants compete for the opportunity to open their own restaurant.
They think they're going to give feedback on whether or not Rachel deserves to win.
We are here in Duluth, Georgia, today.
The woman pretending to be the host of the fake show will keep asking questions about whether Rachel deserves the money.
So my employees will have no idea this is secretly Undercover Boss.
Here I am.
- I've never seen - Oh Do you like me as a brunette? You look so different.
This is a big responsibility.
I'm new, but I'm joining at a great time, because we have had this success over the last two years, so people are counting on me to continue the sales momentum that's been built up.
- I love you.
- I love you.
I'm nervous because the CEO is putting a lot of faith in me.
- Bye.
- Bye.
And if I screw this up, it's going to cost me my job.
I'm in Duluth, Georgia, today to work as an hourly shift supervisor.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
Because our hourly shift supervisors are in a leadership role, they set the tone for all of the employees in the restaurant, so we want them to be energetic.
We want them to have a great, positive attitude, and we want them to be really focused on delivering warm and friendly service.
- Regular or large? - Large.
- For here? - Yes, please.
All right.
I've never really done these jobs before, so I'm a little nervous.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
Hi.
My name's Rachel, and I'm here to see Ronnie.
- I'm Ronnie.
- Hi.
Rachel.
- It's nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
So we're gonna be working together today, yeah? - Yes.
- On your competition.
- Are you excited? - Yeah.
- Yeah? - A little nervous, but excited.
It's okay.
Don't worry about it.
You have a great teacher.
That's me.
Oh, good! Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
This is how everything unfolds.
Standard procedure is to greet the customer as they walk in and say, "hello, welcome to Boston Market.
" You know, blah blah blah, whatever.
'Cause we have to make customers, you know, on a pedestal.
We can go walk around the lobby, and we'll introduce you to Nil.
This is the store's Hey, Rachel, how are you? - Hi.
- General Manager.
- Oh, hi, Nil.
- welcome to our team.
If you need anything, let me know.
- Okay, thanks.
- Okay.
This is the lobby.
It does get busy.
- Mm-hmm.
- But it's generally just people taking too long to eat.
Okay.
But, you know, you'll love me.
It's okay.
It's weird, so My first impression of Ronnie is that some of his jokes are on the inappropriate side, but but he's he's he's really kind of fun, and he's funny.
You should be asking customers, like, hey, would you like to sample our loaded mashed potatoes? When putting pecan pie into the thing, it has to look like that at all times.
Otherwise, we get in trouble because Boston Market, again ridiculous standards.
Remember that.
Ronnie kept referencing that, "this is the way we do it" "because corporate tells us to.
" Well, we don't make rules just to make rules.
So that concerns me a little.
This is the sandwich station.
I hate making sandwiches.
Customers always have something picky about a sandwich to do.
So My least favorite part is the customer always has to be right.
I absolutely hate that.
We have some mundane activities that we need to get done.
And I hate doing them, so I'm basically gonna make you do them.
Oh, great.
I am a little bit of a diva.
Everyone always has something to say about me.
Someone is always hating on me, even though I'm the best, and there's not really that much to hate on me about.
You need to take this inside.
- What? - Can you take this inside? - I'm gonna go smoke.
- Okay.
- I'll be over there.
- That's what I'm here for.
A little bit of Ronnie goes a long way.
Gonna kill somebody.
And so, in the beginning, I was really amused by him.
The jokes about Kim Kardashian those were all kind of charming.
Until they, you know, sort of piled on top of each other.
These are our new napkin dispensers.
Customers will literally sit here and take about 500 napkins and then just throw them all on the floor.
They didn't actually need them.
Customers do not care what it's like.
Like, you could be 10 hundred customers over there, and they'll just come up to you and be like, "um, the raspberry lemonade's out.
" He started saying really negative things about customers, which sends up an immediate red flag.
Because none of them know what they want, and they're, like, literally can't talk.
So you just kind of have to deal with it.
Our guests are our bread and butter.
They pay our checks.
They keep our businesses open.
They pay his paycheck.
They're just gonna be here, dealing with their children, and we just have to wait.
At Boston Market, one of the things that we serve the most are family meals.
And families include kids, and they include older people.
We can't have him disparaging our guests like that.
So what what, like, drove you to do this TV show? It was kind of a fluke.
I mean, they came into the diner, and, you know, they just said, you know, anybody interested in, you know, talking to us? And so I did.
How come you got a job at Boston Market? Oh, that one's kind of greasy.
- It'll be okay.
- It's fine? I fell in love with the people of Boston Market, not the customers or the corporation.
You just really don't like customers.
God, I just customers are such, like, little bitches, and, like, all the time, just all about, like, pleasing the customer, like Yeah.
Well, that's the business that we're in, right? Yeah.
It's not fair.
We're doing awesome, by the way.
Oh, that's okay.
- Are you sure? - I'm not hungry.
I'm getting progressively more upset as he continues to talk.
- I have a question.
- Yes.
How much? Okay.
I'm gonna tell you, like, They'll throw a hissy fit, and I'm just like, bitch, no.
You c you don't have the right to do that.
You can't do that.
We depend on our management to put forth the best product and experience that we can, so I was dismayed to hear that.
It's unacceptable to our brand.
Wow.
It's all good.
My job's on the line.
Here I am, I'm a representative of this brand And this is what happens? You know, it's not it can't happen on my watch.
It just can't.
Um, you know what? - Go ahead.
- Okay, thanks.
Yeah, just go ahead.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
I feel like I need to shut this down.
This is ridiculous.
Not acceptable at all.
This is really not good.
This is this is this is my worst nightmare.
This is, like, my worst nightmare.
I can't have someone who just told me that they hate customers more than anything in the world serving our guests.
I mean, that's the complete antithesis of what we stand for.
I can't stand by and and let this happen for one minute longer.
Ronnie, can I talk to you outside? Yeah, sure.
Everything all right? - Um, not really.
- Why? Um So, Ronnie, I wanted to reintroduce myself to you.
I'm not actually Rachel.
- Who are you? - My name is Sara Bittorf, and I am the Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market.
No! And you're on Undercover Boss.
Oh, my God.
Oh.
So there is no restaurant competition show? There is no restaurant competition show.
- Oh, my God, really? - Yes.
You got me.
- I did get you.
- Ooh.
I got you saying a bunch of things about our customers - I did.
- That are really not very nice.
Ohh.
I'm angry, and I'm heartbroken, and I'm disappointed.
One of our values is "love to serve.
" Yes.
And you don't seem like you love to serve.
Without the guests in there, - we don't have a business.
- Yeah.
And you don't have a paycheck, and neither do I.
So I don't know if this is the business for you.
Oh, my God.
Um, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna send you home for the day.
You might want to think about whether this is really the right job choice for you.
- And, um - I do enjoy my job.
It's just, Boston Market me and, like, real Ronnie, who is is left usually outside of Boston Market, are two very different people.
Well, you you should've bought brought Boston Market me to work today.
I should've.
Because you're a professional, you know.
- I know.
- And this is a job.
Your employer is Boston Market.
You're a representative of that.
And I should've respected them.
You should've respected them.
So Nil does Nil know? I'm gonna talk to him.
So So go home, and Nil will follow up with you.
So that's it? That that's all? Like, I would tell them my attitude would change, but, like I don't know.
I didn't think it was that terrible.
It's not wrong of me to hate people.
I'm not trying to justify, like, how mean I was to a customer, like, behind their back.
Like, they don't know I'm saying it, so it's not really that big a deal.
But now, like, you know, the giant lady of Boston Market knows what was going on.
That's just not fair.
Ronnie's behavior is not acceptable in any circumstance.
Nil, let's go outside for a second.
Let's go.
As Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market, I cannot let that behavior exist, ever.
So I need to take decisive action.
Nil, um, I'm not actually Rachel.
My name is Sara Bittorf.
I'm the Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market.
All right.
How did we do? Well, your store looks great.
- Okay.
- Your food looks wonderful.
Okay.
But we have a little problem with Ronnie.
Oh.
He has been saying some things to me that are really not appropriate for somebody who serves customers.
Okay.
He he said that customers are difficult.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it's not fair and they don't deserve the things - that they're asking for.
- Whoa.
And he doesn't want to give it to them, but he does because Boston corporate, you know, - tells him to.
- Mm-hmm.
He actually called himself a robot.
- Wow.
- You know, he he said a few things, several times, actually, about hating customers.
He what? He actually used the words, - "I hate our customers.
" - I'm surprised.
- Oh, no, no, no.
- I'm sure you understand.
We can't have that.
We can't have that, no.
So we're gonna need to terminate his employment.
Wow.
It makes me you know, it really upsets me.
Yep, upsets me too.
Upsets me too.
We got to do what we got to do.
Okay.
I hate to see him go, but, you know Well, it'll be a good lesson for him for his future life.
- I hope so.
- Yep, I hope so, yeah.
Our CEO asked me to go on this undercover assignment to find the good and the bad.
You know, I knew that I was liable to find some things that needed to be fixed.
But this never entered my head.
Oh, I'm exhausted.
There's no way that Ronnie can stay at Boston Market after what he did.
I really hope I don't have to have another day like today.
I lost a little bit of my faith today, and now I'm more afraid than I had been of what I might find in the other restaurants.
Today I'm in Tampa, Florida, and I'm gonna be working as an Assistant General Manager.
Here we are.
You're welcome.
Have a great day.
The restaurant I'll be working in today is a relatively new store but one that is not one of our top performers.
After working with Ronnie, I'm curious to see if there's an employee attitude problem that's bigger than just one restaurant.
- How's it going? - Hi.
I'm Rachel.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm here to see Sash.
- I'm Sash.
- Hi, Sash.
Nice to meet you.
How's it going? Good, good.
All right, come on back.
Thank you.
Have you ever been to a Boston Market? Yeah, I've been to it a couple times.
- I'm Rachel.
- Olivia.
I'm gonna show you how to cut a chicken today, so that's pretty awesome.
That's kind of scary.
Oh, you're gonna be fine.
You're gonna be fine.
So I have to pull a spit out to teach you how to cut it.
Tongs.
Arm extender.
Kind of just sits like this, so you'll put pressure on your arm so you can pick it up.
Grab it.
Hook it on this side, if you can see that.
Yeah, okay.
And then you push in and unhook it like that.
Comes right off.
Now, you don't want to tear that chicken at all.
So you just kind of want to do a Wow.
It comes right off.
Voila.
Oh, yeah, you make it look easy.
You've had chicken before, right? - Yes.
- All right.
You want to do a slice here, so you keep the skin, and then you want to cut really hard through that breastplate.
None of the customers want to have a spine when they're eating, so you just cut it out.
I'm a little nervous about Manning the carving station because I've never done it before.
There you go.
Oh, so I actually have to take it out of here? Oh, my God.
See how it's separated? Now grab it firmly.
Lift it up to get it in the hole right there.
- Oh! - There we go.
Now pull it out.
See, you kind of hit it right there.
Harder.
Oh, man.
This one's stubborn.
When you hit it, move this.
- Oh.
- Like, out.
And then All right, there we go.
It's okay.
Some of them got mangled, but you'll be fine.
Cut this one up.
She's holding.
I, like yep, sometimes it's hard to find.
Okay, 71¢ is your change.
What do you need? A half chicken? Oh, man.
Carving is a lot of pressure because you're serving people as well as providing production.
She needs 1/4 white.
Keep it going.
Keep it going.
- This feels like it's - Hey.
Taking an eternity.
Rachel's skills with a knife, uh It's awkward.
The chicken's already dead.
You're really not gonna do anything to it that isn't really already done.
Wow, this is very stubborn.
I destroyed that bird.
- No, no, no, you don't wanna - Oh, my God, aah! You're all right.
You're all right.
Okay, that one just disintegrated.
We're gonna put that on the side.
Yeah, let me see the tongs.
Sometimes when they're really hot like this, they just take a little finesse.
It's like cutting butter.
Even if that skin moves a little bit, you're okay.
As long as all the pieces are there, he's gonna be just fine.
Half chicken up.
There you go.
Have a nice day.
Did you want to grab a drink with me? - 'Cause I'm dying.
- Sure.
God, I'm not used to this.
That's really not our policy.
In fact, we installed some software to remind managers when breaks are due, because we want people to get off their feet.
So I want to investigate that a little more.
So tell me about this competition.
Are you nervous? The whole thing is very nerve-wracking, the cameras and everything.
Well, if this was your restaurant, what would you do? Like I said from the very beginning, it just goes all the way back to staff.
The people who staff my store is like my family.
I just really wish there was a way that I could take care of them a little bit better.
You know? I also have a second job.
I work at Toys "R" Us.
And then I want to be a nurse.
I'm still working on getting that degree.
So, you know, working two jobs and trying to go to school, you know, you have to have a really good support group.
And that's what they are and if this was my store, I would make sure that they get breaks, you know? I'd make sure that they get a meal a day.
That's something that I would definitely change.
- But - Hmm.
It's frustrating to find out that some of our employees are are not happy, but it is very satisfying to see that Sash is so passionate about doing a good job.
We need to keep our employees like that.
So I'm gonna have to look into how we can do a better job there.
I'm definitely not gonna eat the rest of this - Okay.
- 'Cause I can't fit it in.
But if you want to go over to the carver station, we're probably gonna get a couple more people, so we can start cutting up some chicken.
- Okay.
- All right? Coming up, the boss delivers a drive-thru disaster.
White chicken salad.
Does he mean a salad or a sandwich? Add a little honey habanero to it.
And later, she must fight to keep one of her best employees.
Do you have opportunity with Boston Market? The position I'm in, it's gonna be a long time.
Does that mean you're gonna have to go somewhere else? That's exactly what that means.
Sara Bittorf, the Chief Brand Officer of Boston Market, is a boss undercover in her own company.
Customers are such, like, little bitches.
So far, on her journey, she's made some shocking discoveries.
Wow.
I cannot let that behavior exist, ever.
Normally, Al don't ever get a break.
I mean, aren't you supposed to get a break? Actually, no.
Her journey continues in Fort Lauderdale.
Today I'm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and I'll be working in the drive-thru.
The drive-thru is a significant part of our business.
I'm hoping to see people who are really trying to get our drive-thru customers in and out quickly with full, complete orders.
Hi, I'm Rachel.
I'm here to see A.
J.
Hello, how you doing? I'm A.
J.
- Hi.
- Come on over.
Let me show you around.
So this is the drive-thru.
This is where I Yeah, spend the majority of my time here.
See, Miss Charmaine, the G.
M.
, she's not here today.
She's on vacation.
She always focuses on the time.
See the thing that says we have to be done in 60 seconds? Well, how do oh, I oh, I see.
- It's flashing.
- Yeah.
That's the time.
When it's green, it's good.
- Red is - Oh, okay.
You're doing bad.
So it's a lot of pressure.
I only been here for three months now, and I do it, like, no problem.
We always have to smile.
We always have to welcome our customers back, make them feel warm and welcome, like, "hey, how you doing? Welcome to Boston Market.
" "My name is such-and-such.
" And make 'em feel welcome.
Today I'm nervous about doing the drive-thru because it's really critical that you be fast.
Clearly, it's a skill that I haven't practiced in many, many years, since I worked in fast food.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
My name is A.
J.
, store 230.
How can I help you today? Will that be all today for you, ma'am? - Yes, thank you.
- All righty.
Drive around for your total.
All righty.
Here you go, ma'am.
Have a great day.
Come again.
The next car, I'm gonna let I'm gonna let you do it.
Oh, no.
Oh, no, no.
That's that's too soon.
It's not that hard as it seems.
Hi, welcome to Boston Market.
This is Rachel.
Can I take your order? Yes.
Just 1/2 a chicken.
Would you like anything to drink, any pumpkin pie or raspberry lemonade? No, that'll do.
All righty.
Drive around for your total.
Have a runner.
- You have another car.
- Oh.
Hello, welcome to Boston Market.
My name is A.
J.
, store 230.
Can you hold one moment? The drive-thru's really stressful.
Somebody's ordering in your ear, and then someone's waiting at the window, and then, to put the clock on top of it, it's just a very stressful combination.
- Oh.
- Whoops.
Rachel was a little bit out of her comfort zone, but you always have to keep your cool, always, because you don't want them going to corporate on you.
Okay.
So go ahead.
- Uh, hello? - I'm stepping back.
Hi, welcome to Boston Market.
Can I take your order? A white chicken salad.
White chicken salad? And, uh, mashed potatoes.
Does he mean a salad or a sandwich? Sir, you said you wanted a chicken salad sandwich? An all-white chicken salad.
Add a little bit of that honey habanero to it.
Sure, no problem.
$9.
21 is your total.
It seems like there's a lot of things that are all happening at once.
Chicken sandwich.
And you need, like, octopus arms to get it all done.
Chicken pot pie, please.
There were some moments when I wished the beep would just stop beeping.
Hope to see you again.
Thank you.
Chicken pot pie, cornbread.
Your pot pie.
- Thanks for your help.
- Thank you.
So how you feel so far? How you like it? Pretty stressful, you know, when you got one car who's ordering and - Right, right, right.
- And everybody's talking in your ear, and you seem to have learned this pretty quick for only being here for three months.
I mean, I'm a fast learner.
I pick up real fast.
I don't try to be better than anyone or ever get big-headed.
I just want to be great at what I do.
I was out of work for two years.
I met Miss Charmaine, and she gave me an opportunity.
I mean, I got in a little trouble when I was about 17.
I got arrested and went to the county jail for about two months.
But right now, I'm doing good.
So I had the repair by working hard.
It's nice that Boston Market gave you a second chance.
It's amazing, and that's why, whatever they need me to do, I would do it, because they didn't have to give me that chance.
You never know.
That sign out there say hourly shift manager.
I might be one one day.
Who knows? That's very nice.
A.
J.
has an amazing attitude.
It's one of gratitude and respect.
It's really refreshing, and it's great to see.
See how you get it on your own right here.
Got another car.
- I'll be back.
- Okay.
Hi, welcome to Boston Market.
This is Rachel.
May I take your order? Today I'm in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and I'm going to be working as an assistant general manager.
Hot, fresh turkey pot pie.
When I was working with Sash, we focused on the carving station.
But a great assistant general manager really is a multitasker, somebody who can keep their eyes on the customers, the employees, all of the little things that need to get done.
Hi, my name's Rachel.
I'm here to see April.
Oh, come on back, Rachel.
I'll take you right back.
Okay.
This restaurant is one of the top 30 restaurants in terms of sales, so I'd be really interested to find out what they're doing right so we can take those best practices and spread them to the rest of the restaurants.
April, I got somebody here to see you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Hi, I'm Rachel.
Hi, I'm April.
Well, today we gonna be doing a little bit back here, a whole lot up there.
Gonna be out in the dining room.
So we'll be multitasking.
- Okay.
- Oh, don't be scared! - I'm ready.
- You're gonna be okay! You're gonna be okay.
Okay, so let's go check the front.
My first impression of Rachel, I could see she's very, very nervous.
It's our job to make sure everything looks presentable.
She's gonna be a little bit unnerved.
I'm gonna get her out of her comfort zone.
I'm trying to make sure she wins this contest, you know.
So just like, you know, how you being a contestant, you got the pressure same thing as in a restaurant.
You still have that pressure to make sure the customers are taken care of.
Come around to the front so we can see what I'm talking about.
April's like a bouncing ball.
She goes from one place to another.
Come on, let's go to the back.
You move very quickly.
Oh, you have to.
Okay, so now we gotta get ice for the customers.
Customers don't have any ice.
Follow me.
You wanna hand me that container? And, see, like you got water on the floor? First thing you need to do is get a "wet floor" sign down.
- Come on, Rachel.
- Okay.
Time to speed it up.
She's like the Energizer Bunny.
I'm thinking I'm gonna have a hard time keeping up with April.
I mean, she's already going pretty fast.
So you really want to run your own restaurant? Well, I'm kind of excited about it, yeah.
Oh, wow, okay.
How about you? What do you dream about? Oh, I always dream about moving up the corporate ladder.
I'm in school.
I'm in college.
- Yeah, I'm a sophomore.
- Really? - Yes! - Oh, that's fantastic.
So when do you go to school? On my days off.
We get two days off a week.
So I'm in school right now full-time.
I'm Assistant General Manager.
That's full-time.
And I'm a single mom.
So you're being pulled all over the place.
Yeah, you want to give it a try? Yeah.
So So do you feel like you have opportunity with Boston Market? The position I'm in, it's gonna be a long time, unless, um, get a degree and then come in from the outside in, versus moving up the ladder.
When you say come in from the outside, does that mean you're gonna have to go somewhere else - and get a job? - Yes.
That's exactly what that means.
What April's telling me about the lack of opportunities is really news to me, because I thought that we provided great opportunities for them.
See, you're good at this! I really don't want to see April leave.
I think we need to look at how we grow our people by giving them the opportunities they need to thrive in our organization.
I think you really got a good shot.
Oh, thank you.
- I hope you win.
- You're a good example.
I'm gonna try and follow.
The undercover journey was enlightening, but I'm glad it's over.
I had no idea it would be this hard.
I look like I aged a year in a week.
I loved meeting April.
She had such a positive attitude.
But what really saddened me was that she had to find a future outside of Boston Market, and I don't want to lose somebody like April.
I've really learned how absolutely critical our employees are to our brand.
And we need to make sure that we work as hard to prove that we value our employees as much as our guests.
I mean, without them, we're really nothing.
Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide whether or not Rachel deserves money to start her own fast-food franchise.
How will they react when the boss reveals her true identity? My name is Sara Bittorf.
I'm the Chief Brand Officer for Boston Market.
Wow.
All of the people that I worked with think they've been called to Colorado to meet with the judges and give them feedback on whether or not I deserve to open my own restaurant chain.
Hi.
Hey.
So how was working with Rachel? Working with Rachel was awesome.
I liked working with her.
She was a good person.
She seemed like she knew what she was doing.
That's very nice of you to say.
Feel like I've seen you somewhere before.
So who am I? Rachel.
What's going on? - Who am I? - Sash.
Well, I was Rachel.
Oh! Okay, I was like, "okay, am I seeing things?" But I'm not actually Rachel.
My name is Sara Bittorf, and I'm the Chief Brand Officer for Boston Market.
What? And you are on Undercover Boss.
Oh, my gosh.
Really? Oh, my God.
Undercover Boss.
My heart oh, wow.
My heart just whew.
All right, so what now? Sash, I was really impressed with you.
You're young, but you're wise beyond your years.
You do a great job for us.
Thank you.
It's amazing to hear, especially coming from now knowing that you're, you know, up there and one of my bosses.
You had me up to my elbows in chickens, and that was quite an education for me.
You demonstrated to me that you really care about your employees, maybe even more than you care about yourself.
It's the crew that runs the store for me, so and I, you know, I 110% still stand by that.
We'd like to see you take care of yourself too in the process, so, you know, we really want you to take your breaks.
I mean, it's not our policy for you not to take your breaks, and in fact, there's a little software program on the computer in the office that schedules the breaks in, and so we would like for you to become the expert at that program - Wow.
- And then go around your area and train the other restaurants on how to use that system.
And we will pay you for your time.
Wow.
Um That's great.
I'm just so shocked.
I'm sorry.
It's just Thank you.
Really, thank you.
The other thing is that I know I know Boston Market is a stopover for you, that you want to become a nurse.
But we want to make sure that while you're here with us, you're happy, you're engaged, and you're committed.
And it's gonna be hard to do that if you're so exhausted from working two jobs.
So what I'd like to do is give you $20,000 so that you can quit your second job.
What? I'm sorry, what? Um, wow.
Thank you.
That's gonna change my life.
I thought I was coming here today to help someone else change their life.
And I did not expect it to turn the other way and be mine, so Thank you, thank you.
Thank you, guys.
You're welcome.
When I think about the future, it feels so much easier.
It feels like I'm gonna be okay and I'm gonna be able to do the things that I want to do with my life, really.
A.
J.
, I had a great time with you.
I was honored to work with you in the drive-thru.
I'm not sure I did such a great job.
All right, can I trouble you for a white chicken salad? You did your best.
I did my best, but I was actually quite impressed that in the short time that you've been working the drive-thru, that you've become so expert at it.
I love it.
I wake up in the morning, and I look forward to going to work.
I was so impressed with you and your work ethic that I'm gonna have a word with Miss Charmaine, and we're gonna talk about that promotion to hourly shift supervisor.
Wow.
This is so overwhelming.
Wow, wow, wow, wow.
I thought this was something else, you guys.
Oh, wow.
You were so inspiring, your story that you shared so willingly with me, and how you turned your life around.
I'm I'm inspired by you.
This is amazing.
We'd like to give you $20,000 towards achieving your dreams.
Ohh.
Ohh.
Wow Wow.
I wish I could hug you.
Oh, gosh.
- You can hug me.
- Oh, my God.
You're so Wow.
Wow.
That was amazing.
Such a blessing.
It's I don't even know where to start.
It's just God works in mysterious ways.
Wow.
You never know what can happen.
You just have to have hope, faith, and belief.
Anything's possible.
And I just been showed that today, that everything and anything's possible.
April, you really embody the values of our company.
- Okay.
- You know, we we talk about warm and friendly service.
Yeah.
And you certainly have that in spades.
We talk about loving to serve.
Mm-hmm.
And you really seem to enjoy your job.
Thank you.
I was not happy to hear that you think you need to leave there in order to advance your career.
Yeah.
Well, I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure you don't leave Boston Market.
We are always in need of good people.
We need some general managers in the South Florida area.
Wow.
And we're always looking for good talent.
Oh, awesome.
So if you were willing to relocate - for a General Manager job - Uh-huh.
We would pay all of your expenses for that.
Are you serious? Wow.
Now you got me crying for real, now.
Oh, thank you.
So I lied about being Rachel, but I didn't lie about having a son.
And I know your son is getting ready to go to college.
Yes.
And we'd like to give you something to help with that.
We'd like to give you $10,000 towards his education.
No! Oh, my God.
That would do so much for him.
This is so unbelievable.
Thank you.
You also told me that you always want to be better.
Yes.
So you're back in school, trying to get your degree.
And you talked about some student loans.
Mm-hmm.
Well, we'd like to help offset some of that.
We're gonna give you $20,000 towards your student loans.
Are you serious? For my student loans? See, now I'm speechless.
For for for me? For my student loans? Mm-hmm.
Really? I can't contain it anymore.
Thank you so very much.
Oh, my God.
It it - You're welcome.
- Oh, my God.
And one more thing.
I'm going to give you $5,000 towards a vacation.
Wait, wait, wait.
I get to go to school.
My son gets to go to school.
I can go to Florida.
I can move up.
- Mm-hmm.
- High five! Awesome! That is the icing on the cake.
Oh, my gosh.
She s She totally said that I can move up the chain.
Oh, my God! I have never had a job that would step up and say, you know what? We see what you're doing, and we appreciate it, and we want you to stay with us.
Ronnie doesn't represent Boston Market.
Wow.
Most of the people that I met are exactly what we want to see.
They're high-energy, great attitude, and really focused on our guests.
This experience will allow me to do my job better and serve our employees better and serve our guests better.