Undercover Boss (2010) s04e12 Episode Script
Fatburger
This week, on Undercover Boss, a former inmate turned CEO I spent 14 months in custody in federal prison, and it was it was a horrible experience.
Goes undercover in one of the fastest-growing hamburger chains in the world.
Rocelle, do you got my medium and my smalls? His employees think he's on a reality show, trying to win money to start a new life.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Are you the contestant? I'm Myron.
I am.
So you have to be, like, "hi, how are you?" "Welcome to Fatburger.
" - Good.
- You know? You gotta be super happy and super excited.
I'm looking forward to that.
By working in the field, this boss finds that flipping burgers isn't as easy as it looks.
Uh-oh.
And along the way, he discovers that not everyone feels Fatburger is a fast food paradise.
If you're going to run a burger place, you have to make sure you have your hamburgers.
"Sorry, we're out of hamburgers today.
" Yeah, we've done that's happened here before.
By the time we get our paychecks, there's no money in the bank.
And so it's really like, "so I'm working for you, but why?" Sure.
Of course.
What will happen when the boss's mission is compromised? Okay, you look like you've done that before.
Yikes.
You know, you look like the President of Fatburger.
I'm done.
I've blown my cover.
This is a total disaster.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x12 - Fatburger Original air date April 5, 2013 Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Fatburger is one of the fastest-growing hamburger chains in the world.
Medium-large, Manny.
In its 150 restaurants worldwide, Fatburger's 3,800 employees grill up gourmet burgers in 27 countries.
At the top of this $100 million a year burger empire is one man.
I'm Andy Wiederhorn.
I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Fatburger.
Fatburger started in 1952 in South Central Los Angeles by Lovie Yancey.
She started it in a shack out in front of her home, where she was cooking burgers, serving them to the black entertainment industry after their gigs.
Fatburger grew and grew in Los Angeles, and Lovie Yancey franchised it to about 20 stores.
And today, we operate or are under construction in 27 countries around the world, from the Middle East to Asia and here in the U.
S.
and Canada.
Fatburger's really Hollywood's burger chain, so when we had franchise partners like Queen Latifah and Kanye West buying franchises to build them, it's because it's their favorite burger.
I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon.
At 23 years old, I started my real estate finance company, and the growth of that company was incredible.
Growing my company in Portland certainly, it was one of the biggest companies to operate there.
So I found myself, at 30 years old, with more than $100 million in stock in my company that had gone public, billions of dollars of assets, and it led to a very high-profile lifestyle with jets and houses and all those kind of things.
I was in a small city with a huge lifestyle.
I felt the people resented me a little bit and were looking for a way to crucify me.
And all of a sudden, I just get knocked down on the canvas, as if somebody hit me from behind with a 2x4.
In 1998, there was a world economic crisis, and that forced our real estate finance company into bankruptcy, literally in a few weeks.
So I tried to make a business deal and save the company, and I was successful at that.
And I was in the middle of a room full of lawyers who all said that was okay.
But suddenly, I found myself at the center of a federal investigation where I was accused of violating some obscure pension fund law that I had never even heard of.
And I really felt like that was coming out of a small-town vindictiveness for wanting to prosecute me for my lifestyle, not because of the business deal.
I felt like the negotiations with the government never ended.
I fought it and fought it and fought it for seven years.
This was consuming me and my family, and so I settled.
Part of my settlement was 14 months in custody in a federal prison.
Every day in prison is a long time.
It's scary to be in a maximum security federal prison.
I was terrified.
There are times where terrible things happen.
I saw them happen.
And it was a it was a horrible experience.
It was so hard on my family.
It was hard on my six children.
It was hard on my wife.
It's hard the whole thing is hard on everyone.
The day I walked out of prison, I felt relieved.
I was elated, but found myself needing to start over.
Before I settled with the government, our family investment company bought Fatburger in 2003.
At the end of 2006, as we smelled the economy starting to unravel, I stepped in as CEO full time.
Fatburger was an excellent chance for me to start over, and I felt that people in the restaurant industry didn't care about my past problems.
And so Fatburger has been a great opportunity to rebuild myself.
You're going to look so different.
When you look at how much competition is trying to catch up with us, it's frightening, so I'm really excited to go undercover.
I'm counting on you to make my disguise work.
We have 150 restaurants open, but another 300 we're building, so I think it's really important right now that I take a temperature check of what's going on in the restaurants with our employees, with our customers, to make sure I really have my finger on the pulse of how we're doing.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Myron Leeds, a former real estate agent looking to trade in his desk job for the opportunity to win his own restaurant.
A little bit more cheese.
What do you think? Are you serious right now? You look so weird.
So weird? Like my necklace? Did you dye your eyebrows? - What do you think? - You look so creepy.
They'll never tell.
Right? - Wow.
- Wait, here's your shoes.
It might work.
I'm really excited to go undercover.
Of course I've cooked a hamburger.
Of course I've worked the cash register.
But I haven't run it while the restaurant's open and operating with customers.
See you guys.
- Bye.
- Love you.
I think I'm going to nail every one of the jobs, and I can't wait to prove that to everyone.
Today, I'm visiting Fatburger in Sherman Oaks, California.
I'm going to be working the assembly station, putting together the burgers.
Rocelle, do you got my medium and my smalls? This location has been here for more than 30 years.
It really sets the standard of what our customers expect.
I've visited it a number of times, but I really want to see how the employees treat our customers and their interaction together when they don't know who I am.
This is the store where I am the most frightened that I'll be discovered.
Hi.
I'm here to see Val? Val? - Hi.
- Hi, I'm Myron.
Hi.
Hi, Myron, how you doing? - Nice to meet you.
- I'm Val.
Nice to meet you.
- Thanks.
- Welcome to my home.
Thank you.
Okay? When I first walked in, Val shouts, "you're the CEO of Fatburger.
" I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
And then she didn't say anything, and I realized she had said to me she's the CEO of this Fatburger.
Let's go on this side, where we make sandwiches at.
Okay.
I was so relieved after that.
Okay, this is our assembly station.
So you want to grab the burger.
All the condiments are to enhance the flavor of the burger, not to overwhelm it.
Mustard, you want a thin layer of mustard.
Relish.
Is there, like, a chart to follow, or I just gotta learn this? You gotta learn it.
- Okay.
- There.
Luvia just took a phone order, okay? Medium fat! - Fat fries.
- Make it a large, Jess.
Okay, you ready? Your order's up.
Want grilled onions, no mustard, no pickle, no relish.
Grilled onions, no mustard, no pickles, no relish.
There you go.
- Uh-oh.
- Okay.
I just put mustard on and I shouldn't have, right? Yeah.
Okay, so Jess, I need another.
Mucho rapido, por favor, because this one has mustard.
Yikes.
Sorry.
This is the one I messed up, right? Uh-huh.
There you go.
Uh-oh.
That's it.
No harm, no foul.
Instead of scolding me, Val was very reassuring.
"Hey, no problem.
" So if there's no mustard, no relish, where you go? You start - Onions.
- There you go, exactly.
She was talking me through how to build a burger properly, and at the same time, she wanted to make sure that the burger was made the right way for the customer.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
How long have you worked here? - Oh, since '05.
- Wow.
But I've been doing this industry since I was 18.
- Really? - So 29 years.
- That's a lot of hamburgers.
- Yeah.
Well, I used to sell houses in Vegas.
- Uh-huh.
- Didn't work.
But if I'm lucky enough to win, I get enough money to to buy a restaurant or start a restaurant, so this is my chance.
You tough? You got tough skin? It's a lot of work.
I want to own a restaurant.
I want to win.
I gotta win.
So now we're ready for the next order.
You want to get this ready, so - Now what do I do? - Got your paper.
You want to fold it in half.
Half the burger, grab it.
- Okay.
- Make a nice little package.
Okay? Mm-hmm.
Oh, you look like you've done that before.
Okay, you look like you've done that before.
Go ahead.
All right.
Yikes.
Something about Myron just didn't feel it didn't feel right.
I was kind of looking at his face because he looked so familiar.
Wow, it takes people a long time to learn how to do it that way.
Very good job.
Thanks.
Okay.
Val says, "you know, you might have done this before.
" Like, she keeps looking at me and making eye contact.
I can't tell if I'm getting away with this or not.
Think I can take a break for a minute? You can finish this? - Sure.
- Okay, thanks.
He's a he said he's into real estate, but the real estate market is really bad.
No.
Mm-mm.
- I thought he look - Exactly.
- He look like - Don't he look like Andy? He look like Andy.
Exactly.
I'm not crazy.
- You wash your hands? - Yes, I just did.
You're good to go.
Okay.
This where we gonna be number eight.
- Okay.
Everything, right? - Yes.
You know who you look like? The, um, President of Fatburger.
I'm done.
I've blown my cover.
This is a total disaster.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
You know who you look like? The, um, President of Fatburger.
I'm done.
I've blown my cover.
This is a total disaster.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
I'm pretty sure at this point that she knows who I am.
You look really, really like him.
And I'm worried that if I don't come clean with her she's not going to be honest with me, and I don't want her to think I'm lying to her.
So, Val - Yes? - When when you were saying that, you know, I look like the CEO? - Uh-huh.
- Right.
You know you know it's me, right? Have you figured that out? Yes.
I figured that out.
- You did? - Yes.
You keep looking at my hair - Yes.
- And you're making me nervous.
No, you making me think I'm crazy.
No, you know what? I went undercover to try to figure out what's going on in the restaurants.
Yes.
You know, this is this is Undercover Boss.
Okay.
Kim, it is Andy.
- Yes? - See? - It is.
- Really? Yeah, it is.
Hi.
- Yes.
- You Andy? - Hi.
- I can't believe.
All right.
When he said, "Val, you recognize me?" That was the funniest thing to me, 'cause something about Myron just didn't feel right.
You don't like my wig? I almost snatched it off.
Kind of make me want to pop my collar.
Like, you know you know what? That's kind of cool.
So, Val, you know what? I want to hear, um, your thoughts about what can be done that isn't being done.
I know you've had a lot of experience.
I think that we should have a centralized maintenance list that can function for all of us.
- Keeping the store in repair? - Yeah.
Because what happens is, if something breaks example, my parking lot lights are out.
We, you know, depending on your franchise, who are we calling? Okay.
We've had many marketing directors come in, and they go, "oh, please, let me know" "if there's anything that I can help with.
" Okay, so you kind of suggest some things, and nothing.
- Right.
- It's frustrating.
It's frustrating, and it make you not want to do your best, or not make you want to care.
Val gave me so much information.
I'm worried that this is the tip of the iceberg, and I'm going to have a notebook overflowing of ideas by the time I finish.
But I'm going to take the time to think about all of them.
I'm glad you're telling me this.
You do want to acknowledge your employees.
Things that I've done for my employees, I may give them free meals.
Um, I try to give a weekend off a month.
She's been here ten years, Raselda's been here ten years, she's been here seven years.
I want to be able to take care of them, because I want them to know that I have their back.
Right.
Sure, sure.
I was really glad to hear about Val's ideas of how she recognizes her employees and appreciates them.
She's a very talented manager, going the extra mile to take care of her staff, and obviously, it's working.
We're lucky to have her, and I'll consider all of Val's different ideas.
And those that make sense, we'll communicate to our franchise partners all over the system.
I want to ask you a favor.
Okay.
Don't tell anybody, 'cause this is a secret.
Absolutely.
I've had a long journey to finish here.
I bet you have.
- Thank you - Yep.
- Okay.
All right.
- Thank you.
I feel like I kind of blew it with Val yesterday, so I want to get out of L.
A.
, to see if I can still pull off this undercover journey.
Today, I'm in Reno, Nevada, and I'll be working as a shift leader.
Hi.
Welcome to Fatburger.
I've heard that this store is kind of a disaster, and I know that it has always underperformed.
This store is in the bottom 10% of all our stores in the system, and I want to go undercover and find out what's going on.
- Hi.
Are you Lisa? - I'm Lisa.
- Are you the contestant? - Myron.
How are you? - Hi, nice to meet you.
- Good to meet you.
So I'm the shift leader here.
I make sure everything's going good, we have everything we need for the day.
So I'm going to train you.
Are you ready? - I'm ready.
- All right, let's go.
We have our register right here.
When you're doing the register, you are the front person.
They walk in, and they see you.
- Right.
- So you have to be like, "hi, how are you? Welcome to Fatburger.
" You know, you gotta be super happy and super excited.
I'm looking forward to that.
So say they want a small fat.
They want to add cheese, egg, and bacon.
It's really self-explanatory.
And you want to try to call it out before.
Like, say they're standing here ordering, "oh, I want a small fat and a medium fat.
" You go, "small fat, medium fat.
" Okay, what would you like on that burger?" So they can drop the meat, get it cooking, 'cause it does take a while to cook, so all right, you ready? Just help me out with one, please.
Yeah, yeah.
Hi, welcome to Fatburger.
How are you guys? What would you like? A single with cheese.
What cheese would you like cheddar, Swiss, or American? Okay, don't forget to call it out, okay? - Small fat.
- Small fat.
- Medium fat.
- Medium fat.
- Skinny fry.
- Skinny fry.
My first reaction to Myron he kind of seemed stiff and kind of rigid and scared and nervous.
Hi, welcome to Fatburger.
Okay.
Cheddar, Swiss, American? Cheddar.
Okay.
Cheddar.
Wait, hold on.
So how do I open modify? Modify.
Gotta highlight and hit delete.
I'm familiar with how the cash register system works, but it's still complicated to do it in front of customers for the first time.
That's all right.
Okay, you're going to have to help me with this.
There you go, yeah.
You gotta have them sign it.
It's over $20.
Oh, my gosh.
Sorry.
Thanks for your patience.
Oh, no problem.
You didn't get their name.
- What's your name? - Melissa.
Okay, try and be a little more "yeah! How you doin'?" Right.
I'll do the best I can.
All right.
You can do it.
Don't be nervous.
It's okay.
- Small fat.
- Small fat.
- Skinny fry.
- Skinny fry.
- Medium fat.
- Medium fat.
Two skinny fry.
Myron would definitely have to loosen up a little before he worked at Fatburger, but it wouldn't take long.
- Yes.
- Do we have ranch? - No.
- Oh, you don't have it? No, we don't have any ranch.
- Toni.
- Yeah? We don't have any more large bags? No, we just have mediums right now.
Okay.
It's really, really, super important to do your orders correctly.
Like, if you're going to run a burger place, you have to make sure you have your hamburgers.
"Sorry, we're out of hamburgers today.
" Yeah, we've done that's happened here before.
Believe it or not, we have run out of meat before.
We've had to turn people away, and they get upset, and they don't come back.
How do you run out of meat? You didn't order it, or you didn't pay for the order? - What happened? - It just didn't get ordered.
Nobody was doing the paperwork that says you need to order this much meat for this week.
It's very important.
Yeah, no.
I get it, loud and clear.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
I was really concerned when I found out that things weren't being ordered correctly.
They can't be missing items like meat.
How are you going to make a Fatburger if you're missing ingredients? I need to look into who's supervising the manager and how they ordered.
All right, so we're going to go outside and clean up.
- Oh, it's a mess.
- Yeah, it is a mess.
So are you married? Kids? Um, I was married, actually.
I have three kids.
- U do? - Um, yeah.
My husband passed away.
Oh, he did? What happened? We had separated in January of last year because he was doing drugs.
So we separated, and then we found out he had a heart condition.
The drugs basically ate his aortic valve.
Um this is still kind of hard for me to talk about.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
And he actually passed away the day after our son's first birthday.
And then when he passed away, I.
.
I lost everything.
I lost my house.
I lost my car.
I lost everything.
I still don't have a car.
I was sleeping in my sister's living room - With the kids? - With the kids.
How buried are you in debt, and how Oh, gosh.
His medical bills alone, 'cause we didn't have insurance $250,000.
Wow.
- I'm sorry.
- It's okay.
And I know it's not my fault, but that still is always in the back of my mind.
Well, you can't be responsible for someone else not taking care of themselves.
- Yeah.
- You can't.
Even though you feel like you are.
But you have to be responsible for you.
Right.
I'm here to raise those kids and give them a good life, so I'm sure you will, too.
I have three kids, and it's, um it's not easy.
There isn't anything about it that's easy.
Yeah.
So I got locked up in jail a few years ago for being in the middle of a bad business deal and getting some really bad legal advice.
And I know how difficult it was to go through that process.
It's tough, and I think you've got a great attitude.
It's great that you've got your head around it to say, like, you know, "lookit.
" "Here's here's what I have to live for, these kids.
" Yeah, yeah.
Having a job has really made me feel better.
And I, like like, we're family here.
We're the Fat Crew.
Look at the ownership you take of your job here.
I mean, it's very telling.
I hope that when I own a restaurant, I can take that kind of ownership, and say, you know, you're a stellar example of how it should be run.
I certainly understand what it's like to get kicked down on the canvas and have to pick yourself back up and get back in the ring.
I had to reinvent myself after going to jail, so I admire how hard she's working to give herself and her kids a better life.
Well, thank you again for taking so much time today.
- Yeah, you're very welcome.
- I appreciate it.
- Yeah, definitely.
- Wish me luck, okay? Yeah.
Oh, you'll do great.
I know you will.
Yeah.
All right, you ready to go back inside? - Yeah, I am.
- All right.
Let's grab those chairs.
Coming up Whoa.
The boss experiences a bun overload.
Guys, you gotta stop the line.
You gotta stop it.
And, later So I'm working for you, but why? Because you don't care about me.
Andy finds an Arizona Fatburger in dire straits.
If you're going to run a business, you gotta be sure you pay your employees.
Of course.
Andy Wiederhorn, the CEO of Fatburger, is a boss undercover in his own company.
His employees think he's a contestant on a reality show, trying to win his own restaurant.
Uh-oh.
You know, you look like the president of Fatburger.
Well, some of his employees.
You know, this is, um this is Undercover Boss.
He'll try harder to keep his cover as his journey continues in California.
Today, I'm in Carson, California, at the Puritan Bakery, where we make the hamburger buns for Fatburger.
Our bun recipe is one of our secrets to our success.
It's a sponge dough recipe that keeps that burger from falling apart while you're holding it.
The most important thing I want to learn today at Puritan is the consistency in the product they're generating.
I want to make sure that every bun looks the same, every bun feels the same, every bun tastes the same.
How you doing? I'm looking for Ramon.
- Oh, hi.
- Ramon? Uh, yes, I'm Ramon.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Myron.
Oh, nice meeting you.
I'm Ramon Gonzalez.
I work I'm the supervisor in the bakery.
- Oh, cool.
- Follow me, okay? Okay, great.
Thank you.
My first job for about four weeks when I was locked up was working in the prison bakery.
I made thousands of cinnamon rolls, hot dog buns, and loaves of bread.
So I think I know what I'm doing in a bakery.
Okay.
- You have any questions? - No, we just gotta move fast.
Because as soon as Not only are you trying to make sure the buns are perfect, but you're trying to line them up so they go into the packaging straight, dozens at a time, and it's hard.
There are so many coming so fast.
Sure, okay.
Go this way or that way? Myron, I think, is he's too slow.
I don't think he can do that job.
All those buns, you're looking on the crate there? You have to put it in the rack and stack them up.
So are you ready? - I'm ready.
- Okay.
Okay.
Yeah, this is wrong, okay? This is wrong.
Okay, you gotta do this.
Make sure there's only one tray.
This is two trays.
You're gonna smash the buns.
Uh, Myron, what I want to do is this.
Okay.
Working the bakery is a physically demanding job.
It's grueling.
It's intense.
You gotta keep your eye on it.
It's happening quickly.
There's a lot of stress.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Whoa, guys.
Whoa.
We should stop the line here.
Guys, guys, you gotta stop the line.
You gotta stop it.
Stop it.
Okay, Myron.
I think this is too much.
Too much? You can't sell these buns like this, right? Oh no, no way.
I think Myron is good at may get better job on the cleanup department.
I know this was too much for a minute.
I'm sorry about that.
I know you tried.
So you deserve a break.
You worked hard.
Let's go back and take a break, okay? How long have you worked here? Oh, my God.
25 years.
- 25 years? - 25 years.
This year, I'm going to turn 25 years.
This is the right place to work.
This is a family, a family business.
- So that's amazing.
- Oh, absolutely.
It's really nice to be part of the family.
Exactly.
That we're a part of the family.
- For sure.
- It's my job every day.
Every day for 25 years? Really? How old are you? - Uh, 53.
- 53.
How many children do you have? I have four.
We have a great family, and I'm very happy.
Your wife raised all the kids with you? Does she work, or does she stay at home? No, she usually work a little bit.
We've been through, you know, like, family problems.
What happened? We went to Mexico for vacation, and, uh, she had a problem, with the immigration, uh, papers So it's a legal problem she's fighting? Yeah, so she was she was deported for seven months.
- Seven months.
- Yeah.
She was stuck in Mexico seven months? Yeah.
Man, it was so terrible.
It was so believe me.
It's your wife, your best friend.
It's a it's a huge burden to have.
Ramon is going through an unnerving experience with his wife and her legal status.
Having been in prison, I know what it's like to be separated from your family, and there's just nothing good about it.
It's still going on? It's still going on, yeah.
We're still there.
We're hanging in there.
You know, like, we're looking for a good lawyer.
Ramon has a very stressful family legal problem to deal with right now, regarding his wife's immigration status, and yet he's committed to his family, and he's committed to his job.
He's been here 25 years.
And to come to work with such a positive attitude is a great testament to what a man he is.
'Cause you know something's always going on? Yeah.
It's busy, busy, busy.
Today, I'm visiting Fatburger in Mesa, Arizona.
I'll be working as an assistant manager.
This is one of our oldest franchisees in the system.
Their sales have hit an all-time low.
I want to understand what's going on in this community that's not driving customers into this restaurant.
Hi there.
I'm looking for Angelica? Yeah.
She's back here.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Are you the contestant? I'm Myron.
I am.
Hi, my name's Angelica.
I'm the assistant manager here at Fatburger.
Why don't we go ahead an give you your uniform? Uh, just a hat and apron.
Looking good.
So I'm going to show you around real quick.
Um, all the fries you will need are down here.
Up top, you'll have the onion rings, and then this is all the shake stuff.
Interesting thing about our fryer is that this side doesn't work.
Absolutely can't use it.
Uh, shakes are going to be over here.
Blenders, shake sink.
Um, this is kind of broken.
I can't turn it off, and it just sprays everywhere, but if you push on it, it turns off.
Let go, keeps going.
I don't really know.
- Got it.
- I know, I know.
It's hard, right? Messy fix? Okay.
When Angelica was walking me around the restaurant, telling me about the different pieces of equipment that weren't working right just annoying little details that make that restaurant not quite as efficient and it makes the job frustrating for the employee.
So today, I'm going to start you on onion rings.
How long have you been here? Uh, 2 1/2 years.
Actually, I think it's 2 years and 7 months this month.
With the onion rings, you drop it in the basket.
I've been married almost as long as I've worked here.
Really? What else do you do when you're not working in the restaurant? I really want to go to school.
- What kind of school? - I really want to be a nurse.
How about, um, vacations? Have you guys have you taken a vacation? Oh, no.
Please.
- Not happening? - We don't even know that word.
Um, let's go see what cleaning tasks we can't get done, since it's going to be a little bit slow here.
I hope I win my own restaurant, but we'll see.
I hope so, too.
Um, something to to really, um, think about? If you're seriously going into wanting to own a restaurant - Right? - Is employee appreciation.
Like, um, for example, the only time that we ever really see the owner is if something's broken and we can't fix it, and even then, if it's not a high priority, we won't ever see him.
I mean, he doesn't come around, he doesn't check up to see how we're doing.
Every the time he calls, it's to because something else is going on at another store, and he needs either food or more materials from us, and and so it's really like, "so I'm working for you, but why?" "Because you don't care about me.
" Also, like, payroll.
We're struggling so hard, by the time we get our paychecks, there's no money in the bank.
If you're gonna run a business, you've gotta make sure you pay your employees.
Sure.
Right.
Have you have you told him that? The man signs my paychecks.
I am not about to to start that.
There's so many red flags going on in this restaurant.
Normally you would say, "okay", there's a whole bunch of little problems here, but to hear how this franchise operator is having to hold a payroll check until it can clear the bank I mean, who wants to come to work and have to deal with that? I mean, if you you keep your employees happy, then the restaurant runs great.
It creates a whole vibe.
- Yikes.
- It's okay.
It's obvious to me that I need to sit down with this franchisee and talk to him about how he's managing his relationships with his employees.
All right, team work.
This process has reminded me that our family business has an extended family, and that is our employees and our franchise partners.
And we have to band together when times get tough and make sure that everyone in the family is being taken care of.
As CEO, it's my responsibility to make sure that that's happening.
Coming up how will the employees react when they find out that Myron is really the boss? My name's Andy Wiederhorn, I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Fatburger.
What? Really? And what will happen when Andy tries to fix Angelica's problem? All of the people that I worked with think they have been called here to give feedback on whether or not I deserve to win the money to start my own restaurant.
And I also called our franchise partner in Arizona.
I really want to make this connection between Angelica and her franchise owner and fix this problem for both of them.
Hi.
Do you recognize me at all? Um No.
Do you think Myron would win the competition, or maybe not so much? I think you already know, 'cause you're sitting right in front of me.
- Do I look like Myron? - I know you're him.
You are my I remember your lips and your face.
You're right.
My name's Andy Wiederhorn, and I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Fatburger.
Wow.
You're on Undercover Boss.
What? Really? Cool.
Whew! Fun.
That's a nice, big surprise for me.
Ramon, you've worked for Puritan for 25 years.
Yes.
I like to.
I like my job.
And the whole thing is like family there.
We work together really hard, every day, single day.
And your team you have great team members there, and you were showing them that passion every bun's gotta be perfect or we're not shipping it.
Exactly.
Ramon, you told me about your wife's legal problems.
Yes.
Your wife's immigration struggle is very scary.
Yeah, it's scary, yeah.
I've been in the situation where there was uncertainty, and it eats you alive.
- Yeah.
Yes.
- And I want to help you.
And we're gonna set aside $50,000 and hire the best lawyer to deal with these immigration problems for your wife and you.
Thank you.
And get this stress off your back.
I'm sorry.
It's, uh It's okay.
Andy, I think I really I really that is really amazing for me.
And I will say thank you.
Thank you so much, very much, for all those opportunity you given to me.
I wish you the best of luck with it.
It's amazing, I mean, it's incredible for me, somebody that have a big heart and help me.
I'm so happy, and I will say thank you so much for everything that happen to me.
Angelica, you got it.
You knew with absolute detail why things worked, how they had to be done.
You did a brilliant job.
Well, thank you.
I'm already gonna start crying.
You shared with me that you got married recently.
And you told me you've never even been on a vacation together.
And so I'm gonna give you guys $10,000 for a honeymoon together.
Holy crap.
That would be amazing.
You told me that you want to go to nursing school.
I'll help you figure out how to get through nursing school and I'll take care of the tuition So you can live out your dream to become a nurse.
It's something that I really want, and I appreciate all of your generosity.
Thank you so much.
This is really, really big.
This is a big thing.
I get excited when I win $3 on a scratcher ticket, so this is huge.
Okay, one last thing.
'Kay.
One of the things you shared with me was about employee recognition.
The owner doesn't come around, he doesn't check up to see how we're doing, and so it's really like, so I'm working for you, but why? I came to your store because I knew something was really wrong with it, and you told me that you didn't feel that you were appreciated.
That really upset me.
And I want to do something about it.
That would be amazing.
So hold on a second.
Hi.
Can you come in? Great.
- Hi.
- Hey.
How are you? Hi, there.
I'm a little nerve-wracked, but yeah.
So Marcus is the franchise owner for the store that you work for.
Your boss.
I'd like you to tell Marcus what's on your mind here.
'Cause it's important to me that this problem get solved.
Um I feel that there is a lack for positive reinforcement.
Especially when we're short on equipment, and things don't work out the way they're supposed to.
And it's not recognized that we still work under those conditions and make everything flow.
For customers to be upset at us because they don't know what's going on, it's frustrating, because we want them to come back.
That's that's tough.
I I really feel like, you know, I wish I could do more for you.
Marcus, you understand what Angelica's talking about, which is there's frustrations with the equipment and things being broken, but the most important thing is she wants to feel appreciated.
And it's hard for an employee who's hourly to not get their paycheck.
I mean, everything you're saying is is right on.
And I've I don't know, you know, if it's just embarrassment or ego, but I've you know, I've tried to keep that that side of it away from the employees as much as I could, you know.
I don't want them to worry about the burdens that that I have to face.
I'd like to do more, 'cause I feel like I don't wanna let you down, 'cause you've always been there for us.
Thank you.
I recognize how hard it is to operate in this environment.
And it's hard just trying to make payroll every week.
Marcus, I want to help you so this never happens again.
One, you have some equipment that's broken in the Mesa store.
We want to fix all of those problems in the restaurant for you.
That would be a big help.
Marcus, you came to me a year ago and were unable to pay your royalties as a franchisee.
And today, that debt is somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000.
So one thing I want to do for you is to forgive that loan from the company to you.
And I want you to take that money to try to right your ship and save these jobs and make payroll.
I don't even know how to begin to say thank you.
I want a commitment from you that you're gonna treat the employees better and you're gonna recognize them and appreciate them for what they're doing for you also.
Absolutely.
I mean, you know These guys are everything.
I mean, you know, we're A customer doesn't see you, they don't see me, they see them.
And they're they are the brand.
This is the brand right here.
I look forward to your success.
Thank you so much.
On top of everything, the fact that my voice was heard means so much.
It really does.
- Good luck, sweetie.
- Thank you.
It feels so good to finally have someone that's listening and responding back, it's amazing.
Lisa.
- You taught me a lot.
- Oh, that's awesome.
- Good.
- I learned a lot from you.
Something you talked about was the supply chain at the restaurant and how from time to time you've run out of different things, including meat.
Sorry, we're out of hamburgers today.
Yeah.
We've do that's happened here before.
I mean, you don't run out of meat.
How do you run out of meat? I want to fix that problem, so I'm gonna make sure that one of our regional operations people retrains the managers of the stores to make sure that this never happens again.
Oh, wow.
Nice.
I want to talk about your personal situation, because you've been through so much tragedy.
You really lost everything, and you came back to Fatburger to try to pull it all together.
And I told you that I spent some time in prison, and that I had to go through starting my life over.
And that was actually a real comment.
- That wasn't make-believe.
- Really? Oh, wow.
And it was a very difficult time, and I had to start over.
Look, there's a couple things I want to do for you to help you.
Okay.
I want to give you money to pay your rent for the next year.
For the next year? For a year's rent, right.
Really? Okay.
Thank you.
It's probably $15,000, something like that.
Whatever it is, I want to pay your rent for the next year.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
- Will that help you? - Yeah.
A lot.
You told me that you're buried in debt.
I don't even I couldn't even guess how much I owe.
But you need to have a fresh start, and I really want to help you with that, and so I'm gonna pay for a financial advisor it's probably $10,000 or $15,000 to help you resolve all of this debt so you're debt free.
Whether that's bankruptcy or whether that's working it out, I want you to start over debt-free.
I don't even know what that would feel like.
It's been so long.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
There's one more thing.
I want to give you $10,000 to get a new car.
Thank you.
I don't feel like I deserve all this.
I just do my job.
You do deserve it, because you're so passionate about everything you touch.
And you said, "look, I'm starting over.
" "I'm making sure my kids succeed.
" "I'm gonna raise them the way they need to be raised" "so that they have a life" "different than what I've gone through.
" And you need that fresh start.
You just helped me so much with that already.
Thank you so much.
I'm so happy.
This is so amazing.
Thank you for the chance to start over again.
- Okay, good luck.
- Sure.
I'm so overwhelmed and amazed.
I can't believe this just happened to me.
The fact that he shared his life story with me about being locked up says a lot about him.
He helped me so much.
My life is gonna be so different.
Val, you didn't let me finish my job as Myron in the restaurant, 'cause you smoked me out about halfway through.
Sorry.
You know, you look like the president of Fatburger.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
You're the kind of manager that I want to have everywhere.
I wish there were a million Vals instead of one in a million.
Well That would be nice, but I'm sure some people would beg to disagree with you.
I would like you to come to work for corporate and be involved in training all of our new managers.
And that means also a substantial pay increase to you.
At least a $10,000 increase as soon as you start.
I would love to do that.
There's just one more thing.
Okay.
I wanna give you $15,000 just for you.
Whoa.
Wow.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
I appreciate that so much.
That's a lot.
It's a lot.
Thank you.
It really made me feel appreciated.
I just you know, overwhelming.
Overwhelming.
You gotta work hard.
You gotta you know.
Sometimes you gotta pay your dues.
I've paid my dues over the years, and you know Obviously, it worked out.
Goes undercover in one of the fastest-growing hamburger chains in the world.
Rocelle, do you got my medium and my smalls? His employees think he's on a reality show, trying to win money to start a new life.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Are you the contestant? I'm Myron.
I am.
So you have to be, like, "hi, how are you?" "Welcome to Fatburger.
" - Good.
- You know? You gotta be super happy and super excited.
I'm looking forward to that.
By working in the field, this boss finds that flipping burgers isn't as easy as it looks.
Uh-oh.
And along the way, he discovers that not everyone feels Fatburger is a fast food paradise.
If you're going to run a burger place, you have to make sure you have your hamburgers.
"Sorry, we're out of hamburgers today.
" Yeah, we've done that's happened here before.
By the time we get our paychecks, there's no money in the bank.
And so it's really like, "so I'm working for you, but why?" Sure.
Of course.
What will happen when the boss's mission is compromised? Okay, you look like you've done that before.
Yikes.
You know, you look like the President of Fatburger.
I'm done.
I've blown my cover.
This is a total disaster.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
Undercover Boss 4x12 - Fatburger Original air date April 5, 2013 Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Fatburger is one of the fastest-growing hamburger chains in the world.
Medium-large, Manny.
In its 150 restaurants worldwide, Fatburger's 3,800 employees grill up gourmet burgers in 27 countries.
At the top of this $100 million a year burger empire is one man.
I'm Andy Wiederhorn.
I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Fatburger.
Fatburger started in 1952 in South Central Los Angeles by Lovie Yancey.
She started it in a shack out in front of her home, where she was cooking burgers, serving them to the black entertainment industry after their gigs.
Fatburger grew and grew in Los Angeles, and Lovie Yancey franchised it to about 20 stores.
And today, we operate or are under construction in 27 countries around the world, from the Middle East to Asia and here in the U.
S.
and Canada.
Fatburger's really Hollywood's burger chain, so when we had franchise partners like Queen Latifah and Kanye West buying franchises to build them, it's because it's their favorite burger.
I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon.
At 23 years old, I started my real estate finance company, and the growth of that company was incredible.
Growing my company in Portland certainly, it was one of the biggest companies to operate there.
So I found myself, at 30 years old, with more than $100 million in stock in my company that had gone public, billions of dollars of assets, and it led to a very high-profile lifestyle with jets and houses and all those kind of things.
I was in a small city with a huge lifestyle.
I felt the people resented me a little bit and were looking for a way to crucify me.
And all of a sudden, I just get knocked down on the canvas, as if somebody hit me from behind with a 2x4.
In 1998, there was a world economic crisis, and that forced our real estate finance company into bankruptcy, literally in a few weeks.
So I tried to make a business deal and save the company, and I was successful at that.
And I was in the middle of a room full of lawyers who all said that was okay.
But suddenly, I found myself at the center of a federal investigation where I was accused of violating some obscure pension fund law that I had never even heard of.
And I really felt like that was coming out of a small-town vindictiveness for wanting to prosecute me for my lifestyle, not because of the business deal.
I felt like the negotiations with the government never ended.
I fought it and fought it and fought it for seven years.
This was consuming me and my family, and so I settled.
Part of my settlement was 14 months in custody in a federal prison.
Every day in prison is a long time.
It's scary to be in a maximum security federal prison.
I was terrified.
There are times where terrible things happen.
I saw them happen.
And it was a it was a horrible experience.
It was so hard on my family.
It was hard on my six children.
It was hard on my wife.
It's hard the whole thing is hard on everyone.
The day I walked out of prison, I felt relieved.
I was elated, but found myself needing to start over.
Before I settled with the government, our family investment company bought Fatburger in 2003.
At the end of 2006, as we smelled the economy starting to unravel, I stepped in as CEO full time.
Fatburger was an excellent chance for me to start over, and I felt that people in the restaurant industry didn't care about my past problems.
And so Fatburger has been a great opportunity to rebuild myself.
You're going to look so different.
When you look at how much competition is trying to catch up with us, it's frightening, so I'm really excited to go undercover.
I'm counting on you to make my disguise work.
We have 150 restaurants open, but another 300 we're building, so I think it's really important right now that I take a temperature check of what's going on in the restaurants with our employees, with our customers, to make sure I really have my finger on the pulse of how we're doing.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Myron Leeds, a former real estate agent looking to trade in his desk job for the opportunity to win his own restaurant.
A little bit more cheese.
What do you think? Are you serious right now? You look so weird.
So weird? Like my necklace? Did you dye your eyebrows? - What do you think? - You look so creepy.
They'll never tell.
Right? - Wow.
- Wait, here's your shoes.
It might work.
I'm really excited to go undercover.
Of course I've cooked a hamburger.
Of course I've worked the cash register.
But I haven't run it while the restaurant's open and operating with customers.
See you guys.
- Bye.
- Love you.
I think I'm going to nail every one of the jobs, and I can't wait to prove that to everyone.
Today, I'm visiting Fatburger in Sherman Oaks, California.
I'm going to be working the assembly station, putting together the burgers.
Rocelle, do you got my medium and my smalls? This location has been here for more than 30 years.
It really sets the standard of what our customers expect.
I've visited it a number of times, but I really want to see how the employees treat our customers and their interaction together when they don't know who I am.
This is the store where I am the most frightened that I'll be discovered.
Hi.
I'm here to see Val? Val? - Hi.
- Hi, I'm Myron.
Hi.
Hi, Myron, how you doing? - Nice to meet you.
- I'm Val.
Nice to meet you.
- Thanks.
- Welcome to my home.
Thank you.
Okay? When I first walked in, Val shouts, "you're the CEO of Fatburger.
" I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
And then she didn't say anything, and I realized she had said to me she's the CEO of this Fatburger.
Let's go on this side, where we make sandwiches at.
Okay.
I was so relieved after that.
Okay, this is our assembly station.
So you want to grab the burger.
All the condiments are to enhance the flavor of the burger, not to overwhelm it.
Mustard, you want a thin layer of mustard.
Relish.
Is there, like, a chart to follow, or I just gotta learn this? You gotta learn it.
- Okay.
- There.
Luvia just took a phone order, okay? Medium fat! - Fat fries.
- Make it a large, Jess.
Okay, you ready? Your order's up.
Want grilled onions, no mustard, no pickle, no relish.
Grilled onions, no mustard, no pickles, no relish.
There you go.
- Uh-oh.
- Okay.
I just put mustard on and I shouldn't have, right? Yeah.
Okay, so Jess, I need another.
Mucho rapido, por favor, because this one has mustard.
Yikes.
Sorry.
This is the one I messed up, right? Uh-huh.
There you go.
Uh-oh.
That's it.
No harm, no foul.
Instead of scolding me, Val was very reassuring.
"Hey, no problem.
" So if there's no mustard, no relish, where you go? You start - Onions.
- There you go, exactly.
She was talking me through how to build a burger properly, and at the same time, she wanted to make sure that the burger was made the right way for the customer.
- Good job.
- Thank you.
How long have you worked here? - Oh, since '05.
- Wow.
But I've been doing this industry since I was 18.
- Really? - So 29 years.
- That's a lot of hamburgers.
- Yeah.
Well, I used to sell houses in Vegas.
- Uh-huh.
- Didn't work.
But if I'm lucky enough to win, I get enough money to to buy a restaurant or start a restaurant, so this is my chance.
You tough? You got tough skin? It's a lot of work.
I want to own a restaurant.
I want to win.
I gotta win.
So now we're ready for the next order.
You want to get this ready, so - Now what do I do? - Got your paper.
You want to fold it in half.
Half the burger, grab it.
- Okay.
- Make a nice little package.
Okay? Mm-hmm.
Oh, you look like you've done that before.
Okay, you look like you've done that before.
Go ahead.
All right.
Yikes.
Something about Myron just didn't feel it didn't feel right.
I was kind of looking at his face because he looked so familiar.
Wow, it takes people a long time to learn how to do it that way.
Very good job.
Thanks.
Okay.
Val says, "you know, you might have done this before.
" Like, she keeps looking at me and making eye contact.
I can't tell if I'm getting away with this or not.
Think I can take a break for a minute? You can finish this? - Sure.
- Okay, thanks.
He's a he said he's into real estate, but the real estate market is really bad.
No.
Mm-mm.
- I thought he look - Exactly.
- He look like - Don't he look like Andy? He look like Andy.
Exactly.
I'm not crazy.
- You wash your hands? - Yes, I just did.
You're good to go.
Okay.
This where we gonna be number eight.
- Okay.
Everything, right? - Yes.
You know who you look like? The, um, President of Fatburger.
I'm done.
I've blown my cover.
This is a total disaster.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
You know who you look like? The, um, President of Fatburger.
I'm done.
I've blown my cover.
This is a total disaster.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
I'm pretty sure at this point that she knows who I am.
You look really, really like him.
And I'm worried that if I don't come clean with her she's not going to be honest with me, and I don't want her to think I'm lying to her.
So, Val - Yes? - When when you were saying that, you know, I look like the CEO? - Uh-huh.
- Right.
You know you know it's me, right? Have you figured that out? Yes.
I figured that out.
- You did? - Yes.
You keep looking at my hair - Yes.
- And you're making me nervous.
No, you making me think I'm crazy.
No, you know what? I went undercover to try to figure out what's going on in the restaurants.
Yes.
You know, this is this is Undercover Boss.
Okay.
Kim, it is Andy.
- Yes? - See? - It is.
- Really? Yeah, it is.
Hi.
- Yes.
- You Andy? - Hi.
- I can't believe.
All right.
When he said, "Val, you recognize me?" That was the funniest thing to me, 'cause something about Myron just didn't feel right.
You don't like my wig? I almost snatched it off.
Kind of make me want to pop my collar.
Like, you know you know what? That's kind of cool.
So, Val, you know what? I want to hear, um, your thoughts about what can be done that isn't being done.
I know you've had a lot of experience.
I think that we should have a centralized maintenance list that can function for all of us.
- Keeping the store in repair? - Yeah.
Because what happens is, if something breaks example, my parking lot lights are out.
We, you know, depending on your franchise, who are we calling? Okay.
We've had many marketing directors come in, and they go, "oh, please, let me know" "if there's anything that I can help with.
" Okay, so you kind of suggest some things, and nothing.
- Right.
- It's frustrating.
It's frustrating, and it make you not want to do your best, or not make you want to care.
Val gave me so much information.
I'm worried that this is the tip of the iceberg, and I'm going to have a notebook overflowing of ideas by the time I finish.
But I'm going to take the time to think about all of them.
I'm glad you're telling me this.
You do want to acknowledge your employees.
Things that I've done for my employees, I may give them free meals.
Um, I try to give a weekend off a month.
She's been here ten years, Raselda's been here ten years, she's been here seven years.
I want to be able to take care of them, because I want them to know that I have their back.
Right.
Sure, sure.
I was really glad to hear about Val's ideas of how she recognizes her employees and appreciates them.
She's a very talented manager, going the extra mile to take care of her staff, and obviously, it's working.
We're lucky to have her, and I'll consider all of Val's different ideas.
And those that make sense, we'll communicate to our franchise partners all over the system.
I want to ask you a favor.
Okay.
Don't tell anybody, 'cause this is a secret.
Absolutely.
I've had a long journey to finish here.
I bet you have.
- Thank you - Yep.
- Okay.
All right.
- Thank you.
I feel like I kind of blew it with Val yesterday, so I want to get out of L.
A.
, to see if I can still pull off this undercover journey.
Today, I'm in Reno, Nevada, and I'll be working as a shift leader.
Hi.
Welcome to Fatburger.
I've heard that this store is kind of a disaster, and I know that it has always underperformed.
This store is in the bottom 10% of all our stores in the system, and I want to go undercover and find out what's going on.
- Hi.
Are you Lisa? - I'm Lisa.
- Are you the contestant? - Myron.
How are you? - Hi, nice to meet you.
- Good to meet you.
So I'm the shift leader here.
I make sure everything's going good, we have everything we need for the day.
So I'm going to train you.
Are you ready? - I'm ready.
- All right, let's go.
We have our register right here.
When you're doing the register, you are the front person.
They walk in, and they see you.
- Right.
- So you have to be like, "hi, how are you? Welcome to Fatburger.
" You know, you gotta be super happy and super excited.
I'm looking forward to that.
So say they want a small fat.
They want to add cheese, egg, and bacon.
It's really self-explanatory.
And you want to try to call it out before.
Like, say they're standing here ordering, "oh, I want a small fat and a medium fat.
" You go, "small fat, medium fat.
" Okay, what would you like on that burger?" So they can drop the meat, get it cooking, 'cause it does take a while to cook, so all right, you ready? Just help me out with one, please.
Yeah, yeah.
Hi, welcome to Fatburger.
How are you guys? What would you like? A single with cheese.
What cheese would you like cheddar, Swiss, or American? Okay, don't forget to call it out, okay? - Small fat.
- Small fat.
- Medium fat.
- Medium fat.
- Skinny fry.
- Skinny fry.
My first reaction to Myron he kind of seemed stiff and kind of rigid and scared and nervous.
Hi, welcome to Fatburger.
Okay.
Cheddar, Swiss, American? Cheddar.
Okay.
Cheddar.
Wait, hold on.
So how do I open modify? Modify.
Gotta highlight and hit delete.
I'm familiar with how the cash register system works, but it's still complicated to do it in front of customers for the first time.
That's all right.
Okay, you're going to have to help me with this.
There you go, yeah.
You gotta have them sign it.
It's over $20.
Oh, my gosh.
Sorry.
Thanks for your patience.
Oh, no problem.
You didn't get their name.
- What's your name? - Melissa.
Okay, try and be a little more "yeah! How you doin'?" Right.
I'll do the best I can.
All right.
You can do it.
Don't be nervous.
It's okay.
- Small fat.
- Small fat.
- Skinny fry.
- Skinny fry.
- Medium fat.
- Medium fat.
Two skinny fry.
Myron would definitely have to loosen up a little before he worked at Fatburger, but it wouldn't take long.
- Yes.
- Do we have ranch? - No.
- Oh, you don't have it? No, we don't have any ranch.
- Toni.
- Yeah? We don't have any more large bags? No, we just have mediums right now.
Okay.
It's really, really, super important to do your orders correctly.
Like, if you're going to run a burger place, you have to make sure you have your hamburgers.
"Sorry, we're out of hamburgers today.
" Yeah, we've done that's happened here before.
Believe it or not, we have run out of meat before.
We've had to turn people away, and they get upset, and they don't come back.
How do you run out of meat? You didn't order it, or you didn't pay for the order? - What happened? - It just didn't get ordered.
Nobody was doing the paperwork that says you need to order this much meat for this week.
It's very important.
Yeah, no.
I get it, loud and clear.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
I was really concerned when I found out that things weren't being ordered correctly.
They can't be missing items like meat.
How are you going to make a Fatburger if you're missing ingredients? I need to look into who's supervising the manager and how they ordered.
All right, so we're going to go outside and clean up.
- Oh, it's a mess.
- Yeah, it is a mess.
So are you married? Kids? Um, I was married, actually.
I have three kids.
- U do? - Um, yeah.
My husband passed away.
Oh, he did? What happened? We had separated in January of last year because he was doing drugs.
So we separated, and then we found out he had a heart condition.
The drugs basically ate his aortic valve.
Um this is still kind of hard for me to talk about.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
And he actually passed away the day after our son's first birthday.
And then when he passed away, I.
.
I lost everything.
I lost my house.
I lost my car.
I lost everything.
I still don't have a car.
I was sleeping in my sister's living room - With the kids? - With the kids.
How buried are you in debt, and how Oh, gosh.
His medical bills alone, 'cause we didn't have insurance $250,000.
Wow.
- I'm sorry.
- It's okay.
And I know it's not my fault, but that still is always in the back of my mind.
Well, you can't be responsible for someone else not taking care of themselves.
- Yeah.
- You can't.
Even though you feel like you are.
But you have to be responsible for you.
Right.
I'm here to raise those kids and give them a good life, so I'm sure you will, too.
I have three kids, and it's, um it's not easy.
There isn't anything about it that's easy.
Yeah.
So I got locked up in jail a few years ago for being in the middle of a bad business deal and getting some really bad legal advice.
And I know how difficult it was to go through that process.
It's tough, and I think you've got a great attitude.
It's great that you've got your head around it to say, like, you know, "lookit.
" "Here's here's what I have to live for, these kids.
" Yeah, yeah.
Having a job has really made me feel better.
And I, like like, we're family here.
We're the Fat Crew.
Look at the ownership you take of your job here.
I mean, it's very telling.
I hope that when I own a restaurant, I can take that kind of ownership, and say, you know, you're a stellar example of how it should be run.
I certainly understand what it's like to get kicked down on the canvas and have to pick yourself back up and get back in the ring.
I had to reinvent myself after going to jail, so I admire how hard she's working to give herself and her kids a better life.
Well, thank you again for taking so much time today.
- Yeah, you're very welcome.
- I appreciate it.
- Yeah, definitely.
- Wish me luck, okay? Yeah.
Oh, you'll do great.
I know you will.
Yeah.
All right, you ready to go back inside? - Yeah, I am.
- All right.
Let's grab those chairs.
Coming up Whoa.
The boss experiences a bun overload.
Guys, you gotta stop the line.
You gotta stop it.
And, later So I'm working for you, but why? Because you don't care about me.
Andy finds an Arizona Fatburger in dire straits.
If you're going to run a business, you gotta be sure you pay your employees.
Of course.
Andy Wiederhorn, the CEO of Fatburger, is a boss undercover in his own company.
His employees think he's a contestant on a reality show, trying to win his own restaurant.
Uh-oh.
You know, you look like the president of Fatburger.
Well, some of his employees.
You know, this is, um this is Undercover Boss.
He'll try harder to keep his cover as his journey continues in California.
Today, I'm in Carson, California, at the Puritan Bakery, where we make the hamburger buns for Fatburger.
Our bun recipe is one of our secrets to our success.
It's a sponge dough recipe that keeps that burger from falling apart while you're holding it.
The most important thing I want to learn today at Puritan is the consistency in the product they're generating.
I want to make sure that every bun looks the same, every bun feels the same, every bun tastes the same.
How you doing? I'm looking for Ramon.
- Oh, hi.
- Ramon? Uh, yes, I'm Ramon.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Myron.
Oh, nice meeting you.
I'm Ramon Gonzalez.
I work I'm the supervisor in the bakery.
- Oh, cool.
- Follow me, okay? Okay, great.
Thank you.
My first job for about four weeks when I was locked up was working in the prison bakery.
I made thousands of cinnamon rolls, hot dog buns, and loaves of bread.
So I think I know what I'm doing in a bakery.
Okay.
- You have any questions? - No, we just gotta move fast.
Because as soon as Not only are you trying to make sure the buns are perfect, but you're trying to line them up so they go into the packaging straight, dozens at a time, and it's hard.
There are so many coming so fast.
Sure, okay.
Go this way or that way? Myron, I think, is he's too slow.
I don't think he can do that job.
All those buns, you're looking on the crate there? You have to put it in the rack and stack them up.
So are you ready? - I'm ready.
- Okay.
Okay.
Yeah, this is wrong, okay? This is wrong.
Okay, you gotta do this.
Make sure there's only one tray.
This is two trays.
You're gonna smash the buns.
Uh, Myron, what I want to do is this.
Okay.
Working the bakery is a physically demanding job.
It's grueling.
It's intense.
You gotta keep your eye on it.
It's happening quickly.
There's a lot of stress.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Whoa, guys.
Whoa.
We should stop the line here.
Guys, guys, you gotta stop the line.
You gotta stop it.
Stop it.
Okay, Myron.
I think this is too much.
Too much? You can't sell these buns like this, right? Oh no, no way.
I think Myron is good at may get better job on the cleanup department.
I know this was too much for a minute.
I'm sorry about that.
I know you tried.
So you deserve a break.
You worked hard.
Let's go back and take a break, okay? How long have you worked here? Oh, my God.
25 years.
- 25 years? - 25 years.
This year, I'm going to turn 25 years.
This is the right place to work.
This is a family, a family business.
- So that's amazing.
- Oh, absolutely.
It's really nice to be part of the family.
Exactly.
That we're a part of the family.
- For sure.
- It's my job every day.
Every day for 25 years? Really? How old are you? - Uh, 53.
- 53.
How many children do you have? I have four.
We have a great family, and I'm very happy.
Your wife raised all the kids with you? Does she work, or does she stay at home? No, she usually work a little bit.
We've been through, you know, like, family problems.
What happened? We went to Mexico for vacation, and, uh, she had a problem, with the immigration, uh, papers So it's a legal problem she's fighting? Yeah, so she was she was deported for seven months.
- Seven months.
- Yeah.
She was stuck in Mexico seven months? Yeah.
Man, it was so terrible.
It was so believe me.
It's your wife, your best friend.
It's a it's a huge burden to have.
Ramon is going through an unnerving experience with his wife and her legal status.
Having been in prison, I know what it's like to be separated from your family, and there's just nothing good about it.
It's still going on? It's still going on, yeah.
We're still there.
We're hanging in there.
You know, like, we're looking for a good lawyer.
Ramon has a very stressful family legal problem to deal with right now, regarding his wife's immigration status, and yet he's committed to his family, and he's committed to his job.
He's been here 25 years.
And to come to work with such a positive attitude is a great testament to what a man he is.
'Cause you know something's always going on? Yeah.
It's busy, busy, busy.
Today, I'm visiting Fatburger in Mesa, Arizona.
I'll be working as an assistant manager.
This is one of our oldest franchisees in the system.
Their sales have hit an all-time low.
I want to understand what's going on in this community that's not driving customers into this restaurant.
Hi there.
I'm looking for Angelica? Yeah.
She's back here.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Are you the contestant? I'm Myron.
I am.
Hi, my name's Angelica.
I'm the assistant manager here at Fatburger.
Why don't we go ahead an give you your uniform? Uh, just a hat and apron.
Looking good.
So I'm going to show you around real quick.
Um, all the fries you will need are down here.
Up top, you'll have the onion rings, and then this is all the shake stuff.
Interesting thing about our fryer is that this side doesn't work.
Absolutely can't use it.
Uh, shakes are going to be over here.
Blenders, shake sink.
Um, this is kind of broken.
I can't turn it off, and it just sprays everywhere, but if you push on it, it turns off.
Let go, keeps going.
I don't really know.
- Got it.
- I know, I know.
It's hard, right? Messy fix? Okay.
When Angelica was walking me around the restaurant, telling me about the different pieces of equipment that weren't working right just annoying little details that make that restaurant not quite as efficient and it makes the job frustrating for the employee.
So today, I'm going to start you on onion rings.
How long have you been here? Uh, 2 1/2 years.
Actually, I think it's 2 years and 7 months this month.
With the onion rings, you drop it in the basket.
I've been married almost as long as I've worked here.
Really? What else do you do when you're not working in the restaurant? I really want to go to school.
- What kind of school? - I really want to be a nurse.
How about, um, vacations? Have you guys have you taken a vacation? Oh, no.
Please.
- Not happening? - We don't even know that word.
Um, let's go see what cleaning tasks we can't get done, since it's going to be a little bit slow here.
I hope I win my own restaurant, but we'll see.
I hope so, too.
Um, something to to really, um, think about? If you're seriously going into wanting to own a restaurant - Right? - Is employee appreciation.
Like, um, for example, the only time that we ever really see the owner is if something's broken and we can't fix it, and even then, if it's not a high priority, we won't ever see him.
I mean, he doesn't come around, he doesn't check up to see how we're doing.
Every the time he calls, it's to because something else is going on at another store, and he needs either food or more materials from us, and and so it's really like, "so I'm working for you, but why?" "Because you don't care about me.
" Also, like, payroll.
We're struggling so hard, by the time we get our paychecks, there's no money in the bank.
If you're gonna run a business, you've gotta make sure you pay your employees.
Sure.
Right.
Have you have you told him that? The man signs my paychecks.
I am not about to to start that.
There's so many red flags going on in this restaurant.
Normally you would say, "okay", there's a whole bunch of little problems here, but to hear how this franchise operator is having to hold a payroll check until it can clear the bank I mean, who wants to come to work and have to deal with that? I mean, if you you keep your employees happy, then the restaurant runs great.
It creates a whole vibe.
- Yikes.
- It's okay.
It's obvious to me that I need to sit down with this franchisee and talk to him about how he's managing his relationships with his employees.
All right, team work.
This process has reminded me that our family business has an extended family, and that is our employees and our franchise partners.
And we have to band together when times get tough and make sure that everyone in the family is being taken care of.
As CEO, it's my responsibility to make sure that that's happening.
Coming up how will the employees react when they find out that Myron is really the boss? My name's Andy Wiederhorn, I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Fatburger.
What? Really? And what will happen when Andy tries to fix Angelica's problem? All of the people that I worked with think they have been called here to give feedback on whether or not I deserve to win the money to start my own restaurant.
And I also called our franchise partner in Arizona.
I really want to make this connection between Angelica and her franchise owner and fix this problem for both of them.
Hi.
Do you recognize me at all? Um No.
Do you think Myron would win the competition, or maybe not so much? I think you already know, 'cause you're sitting right in front of me.
- Do I look like Myron? - I know you're him.
You are my I remember your lips and your face.
You're right.
My name's Andy Wiederhorn, and I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Fatburger.
Wow.
You're on Undercover Boss.
What? Really? Cool.
Whew! Fun.
That's a nice, big surprise for me.
Ramon, you've worked for Puritan for 25 years.
Yes.
I like to.
I like my job.
And the whole thing is like family there.
We work together really hard, every day, single day.
And your team you have great team members there, and you were showing them that passion every bun's gotta be perfect or we're not shipping it.
Exactly.
Ramon, you told me about your wife's legal problems.
Yes.
Your wife's immigration struggle is very scary.
Yeah, it's scary, yeah.
I've been in the situation where there was uncertainty, and it eats you alive.
- Yeah.
Yes.
- And I want to help you.
And we're gonna set aside $50,000 and hire the best lawyer to deal with these immigration problems for your wife and you.
Thank you.
And get this stress off your back.
I'm sorry.
It's, uh It's okay.
Andy, I think I really I really that is really amazing for me.
And I will say thank you.
Thank you so much, very much, for all those opportunity you given to me.
I wish you the best of luck with it.
It's amazing, I mean, it's incredible for me, somebody that have a big heart and help me.
I'm so happy, and I will say thank you so much for everything that happen to me.
Angelica, you got it.
You knew with absolute detail why things worked, how they had to be done.
You did a brilliant job.
Well, thank you.
I'm already gonna start crying.
You shared with me that you got married recently.
And you told me you've never even been on a vacation together.
And so I'm gonna give you guys $10,000 for a honeymoon together.
Holy crap.
That would be amazing.
You told me that you want to go to nursing school.
I'll help you figure out how to get through nursing school and I'll take care of the tuition So you can live out your dream to become a nurse.
It's something that I really want, and I appreciate all of your generosity.
Thank you so much.
This is really, really big.
This is a big thing.
I get excited when I win $3 on a scratcher ticket, so this is huge.
Okay, one last thing.
'Kay.
One of the things you shared with me was about employee recognition.
The owner doesn't come around, he doesn't check up to see how we're doing, and so it's really like, so I'm working for you, but why? I came to your store because I knew something was really wrong with it, and you told me that you didn't feel that you were appreciated.
That really upset me.
And I want to do something about it.
That would be amazing.
So hold on a second.
Hi.
Can you come in? Great.
- Hi.
- Hey.
How are you? Hi, there.
I'm a little nerve-wracked, but yeah.
So Marcus is the franchise owner for the store that you work for.
Your boss.
I'd like you to tell Marcus what's on your mind here.
'Cause it's important to me that this problem get solved.
Um I feel that there is a lack for positive reinforcement.
Especially when we're short on equipment, and things don't work out the way they're supposed to.
And it's not recognized that we still work under those conditions and make everything flow.
For customers to be upset at us because they don't know what's going on, it's frustrating, because we want them to come back.
That's that's tough.
I I really feel like, you know, I wish I could do more for you.
Marcus, you understand what Angelica's talking about, which is there's frustrations with the equipment and things being broken, but the most important thing is she wants to feel appreciated.
And it's hard for an employee who's hourly to not get their paycheck.
I mean, everything you're saying is is right on.
And I've I don't know, you know, if it's just embarrassment or ego, but I've you know, I've tried to keep that that side of it away from the employees as much as I could, you know.
I don't want them to worry about the burdens that that I have to face.
I'd like to do more, 'cause I feel like I don't wanna let you down, 'cause you've always been there for us.
Thank you.
I recognize how hard it is to operate in this environment.
And it's hard just trying to make payroll every week.
Marcus, I want to help you so this never happens again.
One, you have some equipment that's broken in the Mesa store.
We want to fix all of those problems in the restaurant for you.
That would be a big help.
Marcus, you came to me a year ago and were unable to pay your royalties as a franchisee.
And today, that debt is somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000.
So one thing I want to do for you is to forgive that loan from the company to you.
And I want you to take that money to try to right your ship and save these jobs and make payroll.
I don't even know how to begin to say thank you.
I want a commitment from you that you're gonna treat the employees better and you're gonna recognize them and appreciate them for what they're doing for you also.
Absolutely.
I mean, you know These guys are everything.
I mean, you know, we're A customer doesn't see you, they don't see me, they see them.
And they're they are the brand.
This is the brand right here.
I look forward to your success.
Thank you so much.
On top of everything, the fact that my voice was heard means so much.
It really does.
- Good luck, sweetie.
- Thank you.
It feels so good to finally have someone that's listening and responding back, it's amazing.
Lisa.
- You taught me a lot.
- Oh, that's awesome.
- Good.
- I learned a lot from you.
Something you talked about was the supply chain at the restaurant and how from time to time you've run out of different things, including meat.
Sorry, we're out of hamburgers today.
Yeah.
We've do that's happened here before.
I mean, you don't run out of meat.
How do you run out of meat? I want to fix that problem, so I'm gonna make sure that one of our regional operations people retrains the managers of the stores to make sure that this never happens again.
Oh, wow.
Nice.
I want to talk about your personal situation, because you've been through so much tragedy.
You really lost everything, and you came back to Fatburger to try to pull it all together.
And I told you that I spent some time in prison, and that I had to go through starting my life over.
And that was actually a real comment.
- That wasn't make-believe.
- Really? Oh, wow.
And it was a very difficult time, and I had to start over.
Look, there's a couple things I want to do for you to help you.
Okay.
I want to give you money to pay your rent for the next year.
For the next year? For a year's rent, right.
Really? Okay.
Thank you.
It's probably $15,000, something like that.
Whatever it is, I want to pay your rent for the next year.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
- Will that help you? - Yeah.
A lot.
You told me that you're buried in debt.
I don't even I couldn't even guess how much I owe.
But you need to have a fresh start, and I really want to help you with that, and so I'm gonna pay for a financial advisor it's probably $10,000 or $15,000 to help you resolve all of this debt so you're debt free.
Whether that's bankruptcy or whether that's working it out, I want you to start over debt-free.
I don't even know what that would feel like.
It's been so long.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
There's one more thing.
I want to give you $10,000 to get a new car.
Thank you.
I don't feel like I deserve all this.
I just do my job.
You do deserve it, because you're so passionate about everything you touch.
And you said, "look, I'm starting over.
" "I'm making sure my kids succeed.
" "I'm gonna raise them the way they need to be raised" "so that they have a life" "different than what I've gone through.
" And you need that fresh start.
You just helped me so much with that already.
Thank you so much.
I'm so happy.
This is so amazing.
Thank you for the chance to start over again.
- Okay, good luck.
- Sure.
I'm so overwhelmed and amazed.
I can't believe this just happened to me.
The fact that he shared his life story with me about being locked up says a lot about him.
He helped me so much.
My life is gonna be so different.
Val, you didn't let me finish my job as Myron in the restaurant, 'cause you smoked me out about halfway through.
Sorry.
You know, you look like the president of Fatburger.
I look like him? Like, really, like a brother.
You're the kind of manager that I want to have everywhere.
I wish there were a million Vals instead of one in a million.
Well That would be nice, but I'm sure some people would beg to disagree with you.
I would like you to come to work for corporate and be involved in training all of our new managers.
And that means also a substantial pay increase to you.
At least a $10,000 increase as soon as you start.
I would love to do that.
There's just one more thing.
Okay.
I wanna give you $15,000 just for you.
Whoa.
Wow.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
I appreciate that so much.
That's a lot.
It's a lot.
Thank you.
It really made me feel appreciated.
I just you know, overwhelming.
Overwhelming.
You gotta work hard.
You gotta you know.
Sometimes you gotta pay your dues.
I've paid my dues over the years, and you know Obviously, it worked out.