Undercover Boss (2010) s07e12 Episode Script
Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill
1 MALE ANNOUNCER: Tonight on Undercover Boss, Lowell Hawthorne, President and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery and Grill Lowell, you're not nervous, are you? ANNOUNCER: Goes undercover in his own company.
- What? - Oh, my God! Yeah, man.
(laughter) ANNOUNCER: This Jamaican-born immigrant with an appetite for expansion You ever work in the in the restaurant industry - before, bro? - Never, never.
ANNOUNCER: Dons his dreadlocks and finds life on the road Whoa.
Whoa.
Whoa.
No.
- ANNOUNCER: Isn't so easy.
- Oh, my God.
We didn't come to America to skin teeth and play games, bro.
These people got to get in, and they got to get out.
- Okay.
- Hold it.
Hold it.
Hold it.
Whoo, you did it again.
ANNOUNCER: Along the way, he'll find employees who don't think his company is full of sunshine.
The Golden Krust franchise they have a bad name.
Really? I would say to the owner of the franchise, "You just do like that.
Everything burn.
Let it burn.
" There are warehouses where someone gets paid $15 an hour, and they do half of the work that I do here.
ANNOUNCER: And will this laid-back leader be able to keep his cover from being compromised? - Yes.
- (laughs) ANNOUNCER: Find out next on Undercover Boss.
(upbeat music) ANNOUNCER: With a base of operations in the Bronx, New York, Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill is the number one producer of Jamaican patties in the world.
Lunch special 5.
43.
ANNOUNCER: With more than 120 locations, 1,800 employees, and available on the shelves of 18,000 supermarkets and dollar stores, Golden Krust has been bringing the flavor of the Caribbean to hungry Americans since 1989.
Leading this company to the top of the food chain is one Jamaican-born boss.
I'm Lowell Hawthorne, president and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill.
Golden Krust is the first and the only Jamaican franchise company in the United States.
Golden Krust offers a variety of authentic Caribbean cuisine.
These are family recipes that go back generations.
Jerk chicken, curried chicken, oxtail, and we are the number one producer of Jamaican patties in the entire world.
Jamaican patty is something that we all were growing up eating, whether in schools, whether in church.
We grew up eating patties.
It has 3 ounces of meat and 2.
5 ounces of flaky, golden crust.
That's why the name came about, because of that golden crust.
(gentle music) I'm a product of Jamaica, where my parents, Mavis and Efram Hawthorne, ten brothers of sisters.
We came from a community where we had no light, no running water.
Growing up in Jamaica, everyone aspired to come to this United States.
It's the American Dream.
(Jamaican music) I came to the United States when I was 21 years old.
I had nothing.
My wife and I were living in the projects in New York City.
My father, who was a baker in Jamaica, came to visit us, and one day, my dad looked at us and said, "What if we start a little bakery?" I called all my siblings, most of whom had all moved to the United States by that time.
I was able to convince them to borrow money from their friends or their family and empty their saving accounts.
"Let's go and make some dough.
" We were so excited to bring the traditional, Jamaica-style cuisine to the United States, and in 1989, the first Golden Krust Bakery was opened.
It was a tremendous success.
We were able to expand our store from Queens to Long Island, from Bronx to Westchester County.
By 1996, we were growing rapidly.
We had 17 restaurants in New York City, and annual sales in excess of $16.
5 million.
By that time, we had also started our manufacturing business, supplying food to New York City school systems, the penal systems, and supermarkets.
By 1999, we had over 35 stores, and by 2004, we had 73 stores in five states.
Today, we have over 120 stores in nine states, and supplying over 18,000 dollar stores and supermarkets.
Golden Krust's model is the McDonald's of the Caribbean By 2020, all Americans we expect to be eating Golden Krust patties.
(funky music) My initial vision for the organization was just to have enough stores for my siblings and I to just take care of our families.
Today, we have over 44 family members working for Golden Krust.
LOWELL: Good morning.
Good morning.
My nieces How are you? How are you? My nephews.
- Hi, Omar.
- Hey, there.
How's it going? - Hey, Dad, what you doing? - Hey, there.
Hey, what's going on? Everything's good, yeah? My son, Omar, my son, Edwood.
- Eddy, what's going on? - Not much.
My son, Darren.
When I'm at work, all my family members they do have tremendous respect for me.
Even my wife I'm the boss of work, but when I get home, my wife is the boss.
(laughs) (upbeat hip-hop music) I am blessed to have the life that I live.
- It's movie time.
- What movie is it? - No cell phones.
- Yeah, good, old James Bond.
Good, old James Bond.
LOWELL: My number one goal in life is to be able to provide for my children.
That is why I work hard to make sure I can give them a life that I didn't have when I was growing up.
I think Roger Moore.
- Pretty good.
- All right.
- Pretty good.
- I like Tyler Perry.
(laughter) - LOWELL: Hey, Doc.
- WOMAN: How are you? Hey, how are you? So what were you thinking about doing? I would love to get some braces, so when I smile, no one would recognize who I am.
Turn a little bit toward me.
Good.
LOWELL: The Golden Krust organization has grown tremendously over the last 25 years, and my vision is that by the year 2020, we'll have over 100 new Golden Krust restaurants.
(beeps) So this is the perfect time for me to go undercover to make whatever corrections and adjustments that we need to make and take the organization to the next level.
Holy smoke.
I can't get rid of my accent, but luckily, 70% of our workforce is Jamaican.
So I'm gonna try and use that to my advantage.
One undercover had me posing as Mark, a bus driver from Jamaica.
My employees will think I'm a contestant in a reality show, competing to win $250,000 to put towards starting my own business.
Yeah, man.
(dramatic music) (Jamaican music) Yeah, I need to put a little bit more water in this.
- What? - Oh, my God! Yeah, man.
(laughter) Yeah, man.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
- You'll fit right in.
- That's what I'm thinking.
I'm ready for the journey.
LOWELL: Golden Krust is a legacy that my father started.
By going undercover, I will see things that will preserve of his legacy for generations to come.
Today, I'm here in Brooklyn, New York.
I'm gonna be working as a cashier for the lunch period.
It's spicy beef on coco bread.
LOWELL: This is one of the top stores.
It does over $1.
2 million annually.
- Next in line.
- No, me on line.
Come here.
LOWELL: So I want to learn, "What are they doing right?" And if it can be used as a model to the entire Golden Krust system.
How are you? I'm looking for Jerger.
Oh, hi.
I'm Jerger.
Please, come in.
- Okay.
How are you? I'm Mark.
- Hi, I'm Jerger.
- How are you? - Give me one second, please.
- Okay.
- All right, 5.
25 is your total.
- Thank you, darling.
- Thank you.
Have a great day.
Okay, let's get your uniform, 'cause you've got to look like me.
- Really? - Appearance matters, all right? - Whoa, I'm ready.
I'm ready.
- So let's go.
Follow me.
- All right? - Okay.
JERGER: I met Mark, and immediately, I thought he might be Caribbean, because he has dreadlocks.
You got to hurry up, because we got work to do.
- All right? Chop chop.
- Okay.
Very good.
Okay.
So he probably already is familiar with some of our rules and culture.
- Is this better? - Okay.
So it's a very exciting time.
- It's pretty busy here, though.
- Yes.
It's very busy.
And just get comfortable.
You understand? Be yourself.
You know, flow with it.
- Okay.
Okay.
- Okay, so we have three sizes.
We have our mini container.
We have our small.
We have our large.
For our rice, we have two spoons, three - (both) Four.
- Okay.
I got it.
- We have two soups today.
- Uh-huh.
Red peas with cow foot, and we have seafood stew.
Patties You sell a lot of patties? We sell a lot of patties.
I'm gonna teach you on how to use the POS system.
Patties I was a little bit nervous.
This is something that I have not done in 25 years.
- Oh, okay.
- And then you hit cash.
LOWELL: There was certainly a lot to learn.
That's for this beautiful, young lady.
You want to present her change to her.
Say, "Thank you.
" Okay, and thank you for shopping at Golden Krust.
All right.
I'm gonna take somebody's order, and we're gonna do it together.
- Okay.
Great, great.
- All right? Hi.
This is Mark, and he's gonna take your order today.
Hello.
Welcome to Golden Krust.
Okay.
You heard that? You're not paying attention.
Stew chicken with rice and peas with - Did you hear the sides? - With - Oxtail gravy.
- Oxtail gravy.
A mini.
- Okay.
- So all right.
- Stew chicken, huh? - Mm-hmm.
Do you know how many pieces to go in there? Depends.
Three? Stew chicken is normally two pieces.
All right.
Go, ring her up.
Well, so far, Mark is going a little slow.
Time is important.
These people got to get in, and they got to get out.
Okay.
All right.
She's gonna get a small rice and peas with fried chicken, and you remember how many spoons? - Yes.
- How many? - Two.
- Uh-uh, are you sure? - Yes.
- Are you sure? - Three.
- There we go.
JERGER: I'm a very patient person, but when I have to be stuck repeating myself, then that's what, you know, aggravates me a little bit.
Hello.
How are you? Welcome to Golden Krust.
What kind of soup do you have? What kind of soup we have? We have, um Do you remember? I don't believe in failure.
- Tell her the soups of the day.
- Red peas.
We have red pea soup with cow foot, and we have I don't remember the second one.
So he's gonna have to get it.
Let's go, Mark.
- Seafood.
Seafood.
- Way to go.
That's great.
Oh, my God.
That's great.
That's too great.
- Hello.
Can I help you? - Hi, how are you? Welcome to Golden Krust.
What are you - This and a chicken patty.
- Okay, a chicken patty now.
Your total is 4.
98.
Oh, you have to spend $5 before okay.
- But this is 4.
98, right? - Yeah.
I was quite taken back on a couple of occasions.
The local policy here is that you cannot take credit card unless it exceeds $5.
To see a customer walking out for 2 cents that is not right.
Your total is $8.
70.
Also, they were using I Love New York shopping bags.
Every store must use Golden Krust shopping bags.
So I'm gonna be speaking to the franchisee to ensure that this practice is discontinued.
- Okay So how you feel so far? - All right.
So far, so good.
You feel like you're getting it? Yeah.
Slowly but surely.
- Practice makes perfect.
- Okay.
LOWELL: Although there are some issues and problems Your patties are in the bag here.
Jerger was impressive to say the least.
- She knows what - Yeah, She's my regular.
- Yes, yes.
- She's a regular? Okay.
Okay.
She's gonna get rice and beans.
Very much customer-driven.
She knew what the customers were ordering before they even placed the order.
At the end of the day, your customers smile.
You smile.
All right? All right.
She eats the patties too? Yeah, it's for her.
- Really? - Yeah.
Oh.
So far, I'm having an amazing day here.
JERGER: Um, so how was it for you? - MARK: Yes, it's going great.
- JERGER: You feel it? - You feel it in your legs? - (both) I feel it in my legs.
That's where I feel it.
So you know, I want you to tell me about Mark.
You know, why is it so important for you? So I'm in L.
A.
, you know, just driving bus around, but I came from Jamaica that's where I came first.
Oh, so you're Jamaica? - Yeah.
- Oh, my God.
- I - You didn't know that? No.
I you know what, I had been meaning to ask you.
- When you gonna give me a hug? - I have to Oh, my God.
Because what part of Jamaica are you from? - Near St.
Elizabeth.
- St.
Elizabeth? - Yeah.
- I'm from St.
Mary.
St.
Mary.
Whoa, whoa.
I'm very close to which areas yes.
Oh, okay.
How do you like working here? You know, I love working here now.
I love working here, but this is not something - that I plan to do long-term.
- Uh-huh.
Oh.
It's all about, you know, making ends meet, because sometimes, the money is not even enough to cover, you know, your bills and stuff, but you just got to figure out a way to, you know, make ends meet.
So I decided I wanted to go into nursing.
I finished nursing school already, so Oh, you finished nursing school? Yeah.
I finished nursing school already.
- My kids are excited for me.
- Great.
And I'm really doing this for me and them.
Yeah.
Pretty soon, I'll be leaving.
So I know I know I'm gonna be a little sad, but I have to better myself so, you know, I can make a better life for them.
- You know? - Yeah.
LOWELL: I was really disappointed when Jerger mentioned that she'll be leaving Golden Krust.
She's an amazing, young lady.
She knows her customers.
She knows her community.
That's the kind of people we are looking for.
We still have more work to do, so let's go.
- All right.
- All right.
She's the number-one reason why the store is doing so well.
I don't want to lose her, so I'm going to do everything I can to keep her within the Golden Krust system.
(gentle music) ANNOUNCER: Coming up Yes.
ANNOUNCER: Will Mark be able to hide his true identity? And later Right now, the Golden Krust franchise - they have a bad name.
- Really? ANNOUNCER: One employee gets fired up.
We are a broken restaurant.
I would say to the owner of the franchise, "You just do like that.
Just burn it.
Let it burn.
" (upbeat music) LOWELL: I'm here this morning, in Fort Lauderdale.
Florida is a great market for us.
We are hoping to do over 50 stores a year over the next two years.
Today, I'm gonna be working with one of the head chefs.
Consistency is critical to move forward with this rapid expansion.
This location just had a grand opening here four months ago, so I want to ensure that the system here is flawless.
Odean is here, huh? WOMAN: Just go straight to the back, sir.
- Okay.
Thank you.
- He's in the back.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Sir, may I speak to Odean? - Hmm? - Odean? - Odean? - Yeah? - Hey, sir.
How are you? All right.
That's me, man.
Nice to meet you, bro.
- I'm Mark.
How are ya? - Mark? Yeah, man.
I'm the head chef in Fort Lauderdale Golden Krust.
- Okay, okay.
Great.
- Yeah, man.
I'm a great cook at home, but I've never gone in at a commercial level to cook.
What's going on here? But I'm ready to get the job done.
You ever work in the in the restaurant industry before, bro? - Never, never.
- All right.
This is my knife? (suspenseful music) Knife's sharp, man.
Knife (laughs) That's when it's gonna hurt you.
All right.
All right - I don't want - Let me use a smaller one.
I don't want to lose my finger here, huh? Yes.
Do you have any kind of protective glove? Because I can't afford to lose my finger, so I wonder if you have wonder if you have - a special cutting glove? - No.
Just get nails.
Keep them under.
That's it.
All right.
it's called knife glide, you know? - Knife glide.
- Yeah.
Let it glide.
Take your time.
Practice become perfect.
- Yes, yes, man.
- Yeah, man.
- Let it glide.
- Gliding.
See, I move the knife? Man.
Yeah.
Wow, wow.
(laughs) Yes.
(indistinct chatter) All right, bro.
And now I stop.
Unbelievable.
Oh, my God.
All right.
MARK: Porridge, yeah.
Okay.
Let's cut them up into small pieces so it can get blend smoothly.
Uh-huh.
How about this? This is good? Yeah, man.
That's good, man.
- Perfect.
- Okay.
Put in your banana in the blender.
Add a little of that water.
You're a pretty young, little chef, yeah? - Yeah.
- How long you been doing this? - Since high school, bro.
- Oh, my God.
Yeah, man.
So how long you been with this restaurant? I been here two years, but not at this location.
- Okay - But that's with the company.
- Oh, okay, okay.
- Yeah.
(blender whirring) - Yeah, stop it.
All right.
- Okay All right.
Okay, man.
(blender whirring) - Uh-huh.
- Yeah, that's good, bro.
How do you remember all of this? You don't have, like you don't have, like, a recipe book or anything? Yeah.
LOWELL: One of the ways in which Golden Krust maintains consistency is through a corporate recipe book.
It's essential within the Golden Krust system.
So who was responsible for your training Because you're pretty good? Oh, you went to the other store.
Okay.
LOWELL: That book needs to be there.
Every chef needs access to it, because whether I'm in New York, Florida, the taste must be the same.
MARK: Yeah, man.
How long you live here, man? - Oh, you're just 22? - Yeah.
I'm just 22, bro.
You're the same age as my son.
Yeah, bro, We didn't come to America to skin teeth - and play games, bro.
- You're right.
- Absolutely right.
- We come here and to see if we can live the American Dream.
Everybody talk about the American Dream, from when I was a little boy, about coming so we come here.
We come to work hard.
Talk about the American Dream, what's your dream? What's your really dream? - Okay, okay.
- But everything every great move begin with the first step.
First step.
So right now, this is a first step.
Uh-huh.
Odean has great aspirations.
He so much reminds me of when I was a young boy.
I came to this country when I was 21.
I had the same drive.
Nothing can stop me, bro.
Only me can stop me.
He's one of the most positive kids that I've ever met, and I'm gonna see how I can help him achieve his American Dream.
All right, all right.
Okay, man.
(gentle music) (upbeat music) LOWELL: Today, I'm here in the Bronx, at Golden Krust's distribution center, and I will be working as a forklift operator.
This is where we distribute all the finished products.
The forklift operators here play a very important role.
They're responsible for loading and unloading the hundreds of thousands of patties that are produced here per day.
Bread, cake, pastries, you name it.
If things is not going well here, it's a disaster.
So it's important for me to understand exactly how these guys do get the work done.
I'm looking for Mike.
- Hi.
How you doing today? - Hey, Mike? - How are you, man.
- How you doing, bro? - I'm Mark, man.
- Mark? Nice to meet you.
- Good, good, good, good.
- You must be my trainee? - Yes, yes, yes.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, I'm the forklift operator, and today, we're gonna be shipping out some orders, - loading some trucks.
- Yeah.
Um, you look like you might be cold.
Man, it's cold inside, brother.
Yeah, you might want to get a jacket.
What's the temperature in here, man? I think it's about 0 degrees.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Yeah, yeah.
(both laugh) Let's get you a jacket though.
- Come on.
Come on.
- Oh, man.
When I first met Mark, he had a lot of energy, and that's great.
That's perfect.
We love people like that.
- I have a surprise for you.
- Uh-huh? We have the iceberg that sunk the Titanic? - The iceberg? - Yes, it's right here.
- Oh, my God.
- Yeah.
(both laugh) So we're gonna be working on that today.
Man, that's a that's an iceberg here.
Yeah, that is an iceberg.
Yeah.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no.
(both laughing) Man.
(both laughing) Mark completely fell on his ass.
Yeah, okay.
Thanks, man.
Thanks.
MIKE: It's not every day you get to see someone bust their ass right in front of you, so I guess it was it was pretty funny.
Yeah.
First, I think we need to get you trained on the forklift.
- Okay.
- All right, you're gonna take a seat right on up there.
I have never driven a forklift.
This lever is to go up and down.
That's to go reverse, and that's to go forward.
Okay.
I love to drive, you know? So I'm sure it's gonna be all fun.
- Ready? - I'm ready.
All right, go forward.
Come on.
Roll with me.
All right.
Watch it.
Whoa, wait.
Wait.
Hold it.
Hold it.
Hold it.
Mark has trouble not hitting things.
(rock music playing) (forklift horn honks) MIKE: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- These boxes are huge.
- Oh, man, that's not good.
He's kind of bad at the forklift job.
No, no, no.
(thuds) You did it again.
He's horrible, actually.
MIKE: All right.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Look what just happened.
You owe Golden Krust $50 now, okay? - $50? Why? - Time schedule.
Let's go.
Bring it up.
We've got a couple of damaged cases, and it's not good not good for business.
MIKE: We're gonna drop this one right here.
All right, bring her forward.
All right.
All right, slow it down for just a second.
Yes.
(both laugh) Oh! One of my employees recognized me, and right away, "Hey, boss.
Hey, boss.
" He kept on looking.
Many of the employees looking at me, staring at me.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to say.
(laughs) I am nervous.
(suspicious music) (laughs) I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to say.
(forklift horn honks) Very good.
Very good.
I am nervous.
All right, we have to get a sledgehammer and break some of this down.
- Have a go at it.
- Man.
Very good.
So I kind of remember seeing a couple of, uh of pictures with your face on it.
- Really? - Yeah.
It kind of makes me think about maybe Undercover Boss? You found the wrong guy.
Are you sure, Mr.
Hawthorne? (laughs) - Yeah.
- I'm busted.
Yeah, you're busted.
(both laugh) You got busted.
You got busted.
But, listen, so you can forget about Undercover Boss.
Yeah, forget about Undercover Boss.
I need to know what's going on to make this company better.
Ugh, I'm, like, a little nervous saying this, but there are a lot of things like this that kind of go on a lot.
I've spoken to people about it before, but it's one of those things that just doesn't get fixed.
As far as the organization of the freezers, space is an issue.
LOWELL: So, it's pretty tight inside here.
Yes.
There's a lot of skill that's required.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
And cheap labor doesn't come with skill, and skilled labor doesn't come for cheap.
- Okay.
- So if you want someone to come into the company with some skill, you got to pay for that skill.
- Yeah.
- There are warehouses where someone gets paid $15 an hour, and they do half of the work that I do here.
(gentle music) Mike is doing his utmost best, and all of these issues that he has to deal with should not be, and it's totally unacceptable, and it's not fair to him as an employee.
- So you live around here? - Not too far.
- I live in the Bronx.
- Yeah.
I'm living with my best friend, sleeping on a couch, basically to be here for my daughter.
She's ten, so I don't So you actually sleep on the couch now? Yeah, been about a year and a half now.
And you are still smiling the way you are? Yeah, well, I'm alive.
- You're alive and well.
- I'm alive.
I'm alive.
Listening to Mike it reminds me about what we're all about, family.
One of the things that my father has expressed on numerous occasions is that we must always put people before profit, and having worked with Mike today, that is something that I will never forget.
- It's been great, man.
- Great, man.
- It's been great.
- Great, great.
We'll talk.
All right.
(upbeat music) LOWELL: This is my last job.
Today, I am in Queens, New York, and I'm gonna be working with the head chef.
I have had one job as a head chef already.
The previous chef that I worked with got no corporate recipe book to ensure that recipes were being followed.
- Hi, morning.
- Hi.
I'm looking for Durrant.
LOWELL: So I'm here to work with the head chef again to make sure that this is not a system-wide problem.
- Would you like a bag? - Hey, Durrant.
Hello.
Good morning.
State your name.
Hey, I'm Mark.
How are you, sir.
I am always fantastic.
You? Great, great, great great.
Great, great, great.
Doing well.
You know, I've trained a lot of people.
- Uh-huh.
- And I hope you, you know, show me that you got, you know, what it takes to work into a kitchen.
I'm ready I'm like a sponge.
I'm gonna take it all in today.
All right, so here's what we're gonna do.
- You're gonna change.
- Okay.
We're gonna be professional.
- Am I right? - Yes, sir.
And you and you want to win this thing? - Yes.
I have to win.
- Okay.
Let's win.
All right.
- I assume you're a Jamaican.
- I'm a Jamaican.
Yes.
You're gonna cut this one for me, like this.
Okay? Chop this one for me right now.
When you work here, this is gonna be your job.
All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna do the onions while you And let me finish up that for you.
Let me finish up, because we got to catch that before it gets overcooked.
Open that for me.
All about speed.
This business calls for speed, you know? Hey, no.
No, you got to lift this up.
Okay.
Just a little tomato paste and a little ketchup.
Little all-purpose seasoning, little garlic powder.
MARK: Uh-huh.
I'm gonna get a cover and let it simmer.
Start smelling good already here.
Start smelling good already, huh? MARK: Yeah.
I'm gonna make a curry sauce now.
- Okay? - Okay.
Burn the curry into the margarine inside.
- Okay? - Okay.
I like Durrant.
He's passionate.
He was cooking so many things.
I'm gonna make you some pretty macaroni and cheese.
Okay? As good as Durrant is, nothing was systematic.
Little pinch of allspice in there for you.
That should be good.
Everything he tells me was a pinch.
"A little bit of this.
A little bit of that," and as I looked around, there was no manual.
There were no recipes.
There was nothing to follow.
So you have a book for this? No.
So you are the book, then? - I'm the book.
- You are the book.
Oh, you see, I you hit it right there.
A restaurant must have a recipe book - in order to keep standard - Uh-huh.
- And consistency.
- Uh-huh.
Okay? And I'm gonna say this to you.
Every Golden Krust you go to, they cook different, and it's a big problem.
Right now, the Golden Krust franchise - they have a bad name.
- Really? People call me.
They say, "Oh, I like your food.
It's not like the other one.
" You think it's because they don't have the recipe manuals? Absolutely.
That was a really big shocker for me.
This is a system-wide problem.
I have invested thousands and thousands of dollars on recipe books.
Unless this information is passed down to our chefs, we cannot have consistency.
We cannot expand with issues like these.
You think people need to be educated in this business? - You have to be.
- If you're not educated, and you try to run a restaurant business, what are you doing? This is what you're doing.
This is your $100 bill, and you just do like.
You just burn it.
Everything burn.
- Just burn it.
Let it burn.
- Uh-huh.
I would say to the owner of the franchise Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
- "Seek to find good chefs" - Uh-huh.
But sometimes, they don't want to spend the money.
I've been working since I'm 14 years old in this business.
Here, I am not allowed to interview no cook.
That's why we have a broken restaurant.
That's a very good point.
The chef should hire the The chef should hire from the pot washer, because this business about experience.
I hope these few words are gonna make somebody wiser.
Uh-huh.
Durrant's very vocal about some of his concerns.
He cares.
He wants to help the store.
But he feels as if he's being held back.
We, as an organization we have to do better than that.
Okay.
This is the macaroni.
I've never had anything like this.
This is great.
This is my recipe.
- Is that a hot seller? - Yes.
Sells well.
This business is my life.
My father was a chef in Jamaica, and he was where I grew the passion from.
- Like father, like son.
- Yes.
- You married? - Yes, I am.
- Kids? - Yes, I have six children.
They live in Pennsylvania.
I live in New York City, because here's where the money is at.
That's why you're out here, working every day? I want their life better than mine.
LOWELL: Before this experience, I thought I was doing a pretty good job taking care of my employees, but having seen what I've seen, there is room for improvement.
We're gonna go to our next task.
- Next task, all right.
- We're gonna make some chicken.
Employees are the backbone of this company.
- Okay.
- LOWELL: And without them, there is no Golden Krust.
However, we have to give them the tools to be successful, and we have not done that, and that is something that I must fix.
(gentle music) ANNOUNCER: Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide whether or not Mark deserves an investment to start his own business.
- I'm not Mark.
- Okay.
ANNOUNCER: How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? I am the Undercover Boss.
Oh, for real? (bouncy music) Have a seat.
Yeah.
LOWELL: My undercover experience has been tremendous.
I've learned that all my employees they are more than packers and cashiers and bakers and drivers.
These are people with dreams and aspirations, and we have to do all we can to make a difference in their lives.
(sneaky music) Hello.
How are you? - Doing fantastic.
- Good, good.
So what do you think about Mark? I'd give Mark, like a like, a six.
Why are you smiling so much? You look like Mark, minus the - I'm not Mark.
- Okay.
Have you heard of the show Undercover Boss.
- Absolutely.
- This is Undercover Boss.
- Okay.
- And I am the Undercover Boss.
Oh, for real? Yes.
I want I wanted to meet you a long, long time ago.
You wanted to meet me a long time ago? - Yes, indeed.
- Or Mark? Mike.
(both laugh) See, I got busted, huh? Yeah, you got busted pretty bad.
I kind of remember seeing a couple of pictures - with your face on it.
- You found the wrong guy.
Are you sure, Mr.
Hawthorne? (both laughing) I really wanted to understand exactly what you do, and I've learned a lot.
Yeah, don't walk on ice.
- That's an iceberg here.
- Yeah, that is an iceberg.
Yeah.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no.
We can laugh about it now, but it was - Yeah, yeah, but it - But it was really, really It could've been bad.
Yeah, you could've been hurt.
That is something that I've instructed my crew to fix immediately.
That sounds great.
Yeah.
You know the business in and out.
So what I want to do for you I'm gonna promote you as our inventory manager, and I'm gonna give you an increase of $18,000 a year.
Really? - Are you ready? - I'm ready.
Yes, sir, I am.
You mentioned also about your daughter.
Yeah.
I want to give you $25,000 to establish a scholarship fund for your daughter.
Really? Can I hug you? Like I'm kind of speechless.
Just to be able to provide for my daughter it's really all I wanted.
- This is so great.
- Great, great, great.
Thanks a lot, brother.
There aren't enough thank-yous in the world for me to be able to provide him for what he's doing for my life.
Jerger, you worked me to death.
I was tired.
- Your portions - And portion control.
And you remember how many spoons? - Yes.
- How many? - Two.
- Uh-huh.
Are you sure? - Yes.
- Are you sure? - Three.
- There we go.
- You were excellent.
- Thank you.
Which really saddens me, that you may be leaving the company.
- To pursue nursing, yes.
- To pursue nursing.
And I am trying to see what I can do to keep you at Golden Krust.
What do you think about being a store manager? Managing a store wow.
I'm prepared to give you a $25,000 a year increase in salary.
Whoa.
My heart is jumping.
I don't know what to say.
I know this is a big decision for you.
It is a big decision.
I really want to help you.
I'm gonna write you a check for $20,000 to take care of your children's education, your bills.
I don't want you to think about that when you're coming to work.
(exhales sharply) I'll take a deep breath.
Can I do these things for you? Never in my life has anybody has ever been so generous to me.
So what do you think? I think it's a great opportunity for me and my children.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
They deserve it.
If you are ready, we are ready.
I'm ready.
I'm ready.
You're ready? - Yeah.
- Great, great.
All right.
Give me a hug, then.
- Oh, my God.
- This is great, great.
I'm I'm I'm so overwhelmed.
I'm so, like, in awe.
I want to cry.
I want to scream.
I want to dance.
It's, like, a dream come true.
Durrant, I want to ensure that all the stores are using the recipe books, and I didn't see that in your store.
- Yes.
- So you have a book for this? - No.
- So you are the book, then? - I'm the book.
- You are the book.
Suppose you don't come tomorrow.
What do I do? Oh, you see, you hit it right there.
How important is consistency to you? Absolutely, extremely, abundantly.
Have you ever given the manuals or the recipe manuals? - No.
No.
- So everything that you cook at your store, at your location - that's your recipe? - Yeah.
Yes, that's my recipe.
- That's your recipe.
- Yes.
I am gonna make sure that the Golden Krust recipe manual is in every Golden Krust store.
But that mac and cheese, man, was amazing, and I'm gonna ensure that that recipe is used system-wide.
Thank you.
I like your enthusiasm.
I like your passion.
I would like to make you one of the executive chefs within the organization.
Yes, yes.
And I would like to pay you $25,000 more than what you are getting now.
Thank you very much.
But if you do come to corporate headquarters - Yes.
- You can't be the book.
You got to follow systems and procedures.
- Are you willing to? - Absolutely.
Everything in me you're going to get.
- Excellent, excellent.
- Absolutely.
Your six children in Pennsylvania? - Yes, yes.
- I had a hard time - raising four children.
- Yeah.
So I can't imagine what you're going through trying to raise six.
So there's something else I want to do for you.
I want to buy you a new car.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Can I embrace you? You can do anything you want to do.
You proved to me that today that God searches for his people, and he brings his people together.
- You know what I'm saying? - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- I want to thank you very much.
- Yes, yes, yes.
DURRANT: Mr.
Hawthorne demonstrated to me that he loved what I'm doing.
It's gonna be our book.
His book and my book.
Gonna be our book.
That's all I say.
Odean, you impressed the hell out of me.
That sounds good coming from you.
You are an exceptional employee.
Whoa, whoa.
Unbelievable.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
When people see me, they say, "Oh, that's Mr.
Golden Krust.
" So you're part of this brand, you know? Of course, I support this brand, man.
That's one of the things I love for you, man.
So one of the things I would love to do for you I would love to give you a check in the amount of $15,000.
Really? Nobody ever really give us a thing in life, and so now, you know, I'm not used to this, because we have to work hard for everything, man.
Thanks, man.
Very, very thanks.
And one other thing I wanted to do for you you mentioned about the restaurant business.
You want to start a restaurant.
I like your aspiration.
Whenever you're ready, I am gonna waive the franchise fee of $25,000.
That's when you're ready for your Golden Krust franchise.
We'll be able to make your dream come true.
Yes.
That's very good.
I have a bright future ahead, thanks to you.
Thanks to you.
Yes, I see, you know, really appreciate everything that you done for me man, because when you bless me, you bless somebody else, you bless somebody else.
So it goes on and on, you know? - I really appreciate it.
- Respect, man.
ODEAN: I came here to live the American Dream, so I guess this is what happiness feels like.
You remind me feel like family, man.
Yes, yes, yes.
We're gonna continue to work hard and make the best out of this business.
I'm not gonna let Golden Krust down.
- What? - Oh, my God! Yeah, man.
(laughter) ANNOUNCER: This Jamaican-born immigrant with an appetite for expansion You ever work in the in the restaurant industry - before, bro? - Never, never.
ANNOUNCER: Dons his dreadlocks and finds life on the road Whoa.
Whoa.
Whoa.
No.
- ANNOUNCER: Isn't so easy.
- Oh, my God.
We didn't come to America to skin teeth and play games, bro.
These people got to get in, and they got to get out.
- Okay.
- Hold it.
Hold it.
Hold it.
Whoo, you did it again.
ANNOUNCER: Along the way, he'll find employees who don't think his company is full of sunshine.
The Golden Krust franchise they have a bad name.
Really? I would say to the owner of the franchise, "You just do like that.
Everything burn.
Let it burn.
" There are warehouses where someone gets paid $15 an hour, and they do half of the work that I do here.
ANNOUNCER: And will this laid-back leader be able to keep his cover from being compromised? - Yes.
- (laughs) ANNOUNCER: Find out next on Undercover Boss.
(upbeat music) ANNOUNCER: With a base of operations in the Bronx, New York, Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill is the number one producer of Jamaican patties in the world.
Lunch special 5.
43.
ANNOUNCER: With more than 120 locations, 1,800 employees, and available on the shelves of 18,000 supermarkets and dollar stores, Golden Krust has been bringing the flavor of the Caribbean to hungry Americans since 1989.
Leading this company to the top of the food chain is one Jamaican-born boss.
I'm Lowell Hawthorne, president and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill.
Golden Krust is the first and the only Jamaican franchise company in the United States.
Golden Krust offers a variety of authentic Caribbean cuisine.
These are family recipes that go back generations.
Jerk chicken, curried chicken, oxtail, and we are the number one producer of Jamaican patties in the entire world.
Jamaican patty is something that we all were growing up eating, whether in schools, whether in church.
We grew up eating patties.
It has 3 ounces of meat and 2.
5 ounces of flaky, golden crust.
That's why the name came about, because of that golden crust.
(gentle music) I'm a product of Jamaica, where my parents, Mavis and Efram Hawthorne, ten brothers of sisters.
We came from a community where we had no light, no running water.
Growing up in Jamaica, everyone aspired to come to this United States.
It's the American Dream.
(Jamaican music) I came to the United States when I was 21 years old.
I had nothing.
My wife and I were living in the projects in New York City.
My father, who was a baker in Jamaica, came to visit us, and one day, my dad looked at us and said, "What if we start a little bakery?" I called all my siblings, most of whom had all moved to the United States by that time.
I was able to convince them to borrow money from their friends or their family and empty their saving accounts.
"Let's go and make some dough.
" We were so excited to bring the traditional, Jamaica-style cuisine to the United States, and in 1989, the first Golden Krust Bakery was opened.
It was a tremendous success.
We were able to expand our store from Queens to Long Island, from Bronx to Westchester County.
By 1996, we were growing rapidly.
We had 17 restaurants in New York City, and annual sales in excess of $16.
5 million.
By that time, we had also started our manufacturing business, supplying food to New York City school systems, the penal systems, and supermarkets.
By 1999, we had over 35 stores, and by 2004, we had 73 stores in five states.
Today, we have over 120 stores in nine states, and supplying over 18,000 dollar stores and supermarkets.
Golden Krust's model is the McDonald's of the Caribbean By 2020, all Americans we expect to be eating Golden Krust patties.
(funky music) My initial vision for the organization was just to have enough stores for my siblings and I to just take care of our families.
Today, we have over 44 family members working for Golden Krust.
LOWELL: Good morning.
Good morning.
My nieces How are you? How are you? My nephews.
- Hi, Omar.
- Hey, there.
How's it going? - Hey, Dad, what you doing? - Hey, there.
Hey, what's going on? Everything's good, yeah? My son, Omar, my son, Edwood.
- Eddy, what's going on? - Not much.
My son, Darren.
When I'm at work, all my family members they do have tremendous respect for me.
Even my wife I'm the boss of work, but when I get home, my wife is the boss.
(laughs) (upbeat hip-hop music) I am blessed to have the life that I live.
- It's movie time.
- What movie is it? - No cell phones.
- Yeah, good, old James Bond.
Good, old James Bond.
LOWELL: My number one goal in life is to be able to provide for my children.
That is why I work hard to make sure I can give them a life that I didn't have when I was growing up.
I think Roger Moore.
- Pretty good.
- All right.
- Pretty good.
- I like Tyler Perry.
(laughter) - LOWELL: Hey, Doc.
- WOMAN: How are you? Hey, how are you? So what were you thinking about doing? I would love to get some braces, so when I smile, no one would recognize who I am.
Turn a little bit toward me.
Good.
LOWELL: The Golden Krust organization has grown tremendously over the last 25 years, and my vision is that by the year 2020, we'll have over 100 new Golden Krust restaurants.
(beeps) So this is the perfect time for me to go undercover to make whatever corrections and adjustments that we need to make and take the organization to the next level.
Holy smoke.
I can't get rid of my accent, but luckily, 70% of our workforce is Jamaican.
So I'm gonna try and use that to my advantage.
One undercover had me posing as Mark, a bus driver from Jamaica.
My employees will think I'm a contestant in a reality show, competing to win $250,000 to put towards starting my own business.
Yeah, man.
(dramatic music) (Jamaican music) Yeah, I need to put a little bit more water in this.
- What? - Oh, my God! Yeah, man.
(laughter) Yeah, man.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
- You'll fit right in.
- That's what I'm thinking.
I'm ready for the journey.
LOWELL: Golden Krust is a legacy that my father started.
By going undercover, I will see things that will preserve of his legacy for generations to come.
Today, I'm here in Brooklyn, New York.
I'm gonna be working as a cashier for the lunch period.
It's spicy beef on coco bread.
LOWELL: This is one of the top stores.
It does over $1.
2 million annually.
- Next in line.
- No, me on line.
Come here.
LOWELL: So I want to learn, "What are they doing right?" And if it can be used as a model to the entire Golden Krust system.
How are you? I'm looking for Jerger.
Oh, hi.
I'm Jerger.
Please, come in.
- Okay.
How are you? I'm Mark.
- Hi, I'm Jerger.
- How are you? - Give me one second, please.
- Okay.
- All right, 5.
25 is your total.
- Thank you, darling.
- Thank you.
Have a great day.
Okay, let's get your uniform, 'cause you've got to look like me.
- Really? - Appearance matters, all right? - Whoa, I'm ready.
I'm ready.
- So let's go.
Follow me.
- All right? - Okay.
JERGER: I met Mark, and immediately, I thought he might be Caribbean, because he has dreadlocks.
You got to hurry up, because we got work to do.
- All right? Chop chop.
- Okay.
Very good.
Okay.
So he probably already is familiar with some of our rules and culture.
- Is this better? - Okay.
So it's a very exciting time.
- It's pretty busy here, though.
- Yes.
It's very busy.
And just get comfortable.
You understand? Be yourself.
You know, flow with it.
- Okay.
Okay.
- Okay, so we have three sizes.
We have our mini container.
We have our small.
We have our large.
For our rice, we have two spoons, three - (both) Four.
- Okay.
I got it.
- We have two soups today.
- Uh-huh.
Red peas with cow foot, and we have seafood stew.
Patties You sell a lot of patties? We sell a lot of patties.
I'm gonna teach you on how to use the POS system.
Patties I was a little bit nervous.
This is something that I have not done in 25 years.
- Oh, okay.
- And then you hit cash.
LOWELL: There was certainly a lot to learn.
That's for this beautiful, young lady.
You want to present her change to her.
Say, "Thank you.
" Okay, and thank you for shopping at Golden Krust.
All right.
I'm gonna take somebody's order, and we're gonna do it together.
- Okay.
Great, great.
- All right? Hi.
This is Mark, and he's gonna take your order today.
Hello.
Welcome to Golden Krust.
Okay.
You heard that? You're not paying attention.
Stew chicken with rice and peas with - Did you hear the sides? - With - Oxtail gravy.
- Oxtail gravy.
A mini.
- Okay.
- So all right.
- Stew chicken, huh? - Mm-hmm.
Do you know how many pieces to go in there? Depends.
Three? Stew chicken is normally two pieces.
All right.
Go, ring her up.
Well, so far, Mark is going a little slow.
Time is important.
These people got to get in, and they got to get out.
Okay.
All right.
She's gonna get a small rice and peas with fried chicken, and you remember how many spoons? - Yes.
- How many? - Two.
- Uh-uh, are you sure? - Yes.
- Are you sure? - Three.
- There we go.
JERGER: I'm a very patient person, but when I have to be stuck repeating myself, then that's what, you know, aggravates me a little bit.
Hello.
How are you? Welcome to Golden Krust.
What kind of soup do you have? What kind of soup we have? We have, um Do you remember? I don't believe in failure.
- Tell her the soups of the day.
- Red peas.
We have red pea soup with cow foot, and we have I don't remember the second one.
So he's gonna have to get it.
Let's go, Mark.
- Seafood.
Seafood.
- Way to go.
That's great.
Oh, my God.
That's great.
That's too great.
- Hello.
Can I help you? - Hi, how are you? Welcome to Golden Krust.
What are you - This and a chicken patty.
- Okay, a chicken patty now.
Your total is 4.
98.
Oh, you have to spend $5 before okay.
- But this is 4.
98, right? - Yeah.
I was quite taken back on a couple of occasions.
The local policy here is that you cannot take credit card unless it exceeds $5.
To see a customer walking out for 2 cents that is not right.
Your total is $8.
70.
Also, they were using I Love New York shopping bags.
Every store must use Golden Krust shopping bags.
So I'm gonna be speaking to the franchisee to ensure that this practice is discontinued.
- Okay So how you feel so far? - All right.
So far, so good.
You feel like you're getting it? Yeah.
Slowly but surely.
- Practice makes perfect.
- Okay.
LOWELL: Although there are some issues and problems Your patties are in the bag here.
Jerger was impressive to say the least.
- She knows what - Yeah, She's my regular.
- Yes, yes.
- She's a regular? Okay.
Okay.
She's gonna get rice and beans.
Very much customer-driven.
She knew what the customers were ordering before they even placed the order.
At the end of the day, your customers smile.
You smile.
All right? All right.
She eats the patties too? Yeah, it's for her.
- Really? - Yeah.
Oh.
So far, I'm having an amazing day here.
JERGER: Um, so how was it for you? - MARK: Yes, it's going great.
- JERGER: You feel it? - You feel it in your legs? - (both) I feel it in my legs.
That's where I feel it.
So you know, I want you to tell me about Mark.
You know, why is it so important for you? So I'm in L.
A.
, you know, just driving bus around, but I came from Jamaica that's where I came first.
Oh, so you're Jamaica? - Yeah.
- Oh, my God.
- I - You didn't know that? No.
I you know what, I had been meaning to ask you.
- When you gonna give me a hug? - I have to Oh, my God.
Because what part of Jamaica are you from? - Near St.
Elizabeth.
- St.
Elizabeth? - Yeah.
- I'm from St.
Mary.
St.
Mary.
Whoa, whoa.
I'm very close to which areas yes.
Oh, okay.
How do you like working here? You know, I love working here now.
I love working here, but this is not something - that I plan to do long-term.
- Uh-huh.
Oh.
It's all about, you know, making ends meet, because sometimes, the money is not even enough to cover, you know, your bills and stuff, but you just got to figure out a way to, you know, make ends meet.
So I decided I wanted to go into nursing.
I finished nursing school already, so Oh, you finished nursing school? Yeah.
I finished nursing school already.
- My kids are excited for me.
- Great.
And I'm really doing this for me and them.
Yeah.
Pretty soon, I'll be leaving.
So I know I know I'm gonna be a little sad, but I have to better myself so, you know, I can make a better life for them.
- You know? - Yeah.
LOWELL: I was really disappointed when Jerger mentioned that she'll be leaving Golden Krust.
She's an amazing, young lady.
She knows her customers.
She knows her community.
That's the kind of people we are looking for.
We still have more work to do, so let's go.
- All right.
- All right.
She's the number-one reason why the store is doing so well.
I don't want to lose her, so I'm going to do everything I can to keep her within the Golden Krust system.
(gentle music) ANNOUNCER: Coming up Yes.
ANNOUNCER: Will Mark be able to hide his true identity? And later Right now, the Golden Krust franchise - they have a bad name.
- Really? ANNOUNCER: One employee gets fired up.
We are a broken restaurant.
I would say to the owner of the franchise, "You just do like that.
Just burn it.
Let it burn.
" (upbeat music) LOWELL: I'm here this morning, in Fort Lauderdale.
Florida is a great market for us.
We are hoping to do over 50 stores a year over the next two years.
Today, I'm gonna be working with one of the head chefs.
Consistency is critical to move forward with this rapid expansion.
This location just had a grand opening here four months ago, so I want to ensure that the system here is flawless.
Odean is here, huh? WOMAN: Just go straight to the back, sir.
- Okay.
Thank you.
- He's in the back.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Sir, may I speak to Odean? - Hmm? - Odean? - Odean? - Yeah? - Hey, sir.
How are you? All right.
That's me, man.
Nice to meet you, bro.
- I'm Mark.
How are ya? - Mark? Yeah, man.
I'm the head chef in Fort Lauderdale Golden Krust.
- Okay, okay.
Great.
- Yeah, man.
I'm a great cook at home, but I've never gone in at a commercial level to cook.
What's going on here? But I'm ready to get the job done.
You ever work in the in the restaurant industry before, bro? - Never, never.
- All right.
This is my knife? (suspenseful music) Knife's sharp, man.
Knife (laughs) That's when it's gonna hurt you.
All right.
All right - I don't want - Let me use a smaller one.
I don't want to lose my finger here, huh? Yes.
Do you have any kind of protective glove? Because I can't afford to lose my finger, so I wonder if you have wonder if you have - a special cutting glove? - No.
Just get nails.
Keep them under.
That's it.
All right.
it's called knife glide, you know? - Knife glide.
- Yeah.
Let it glide.
Take your time.
Practice become perfect.
- Yes, yes, man.
- Yeah, man.
- Let it glide.
- Gliding.
See, I move the knife? Man.
Yeah.
Wow, wow.
(laughs) Yes.
(indistinct chatter) All right, bro.
And now I stop.
Unbelievable.
Oh, my God.
All right.
MARK: Porridge, yeah.
Okay.
Let's cut them up into small pieces so it can get blend smoothly.
Uh-huh.
How about this? This is good? Yeah, man.
That's good, man.
- Perfect.
- Okay.
Put in your banana in the blender.
Add a little of that water.
You're a pretty young, little chef, yeah? - Yeah.
- How long you been doing this? - Since high school, bro.
- Oh, my God.
Yeah, man.
So how long you been with this restaurant? I been here two years, but not at this location.
- Okay - But that's with the company.
- Oh, okay, okay.
- Yeah.
(blender whirring) - Yeah, stop it.
All right.
- Okay All right.
Okay, man.
(blender whirring) - Uh-huh.
- Yeah, that's good, bro.
How do you remember all of this? You don't have, like you don't have, like, a recipe book or anything? Yeah.
LOWELL: One of the ways in which Golden Krust maintains consistency is through a corporate recipe book.
It's essential within the Golden Krust system.
So who was responsible for your training Because you're pretty good? Oh, you went to the other store.
Okay.
LOWELL: That book needs to be there.
Every chef needs access to it, because whether I'm in New York, Florida, the taste must be the same.
MARK: Yeah, man.
How long you live here, man? - Oh, you're just 22? - Yeah.
I'm just 22, bro.
You're the same age as my son.
Yeah, bro, We didn't come to America to skin teeth - and play games, bro.
- You're right.
- Absolutely right.
- We come here and to see if we can live the American Dream.
Everybody talk about the American Dream, from when I was a little boy, about coming so we come here.
We come to work hard.
Talk about the American Dream, what's your dream? What's your really dream? - Okay, okay.
- But everything every great move begin with the first step.
First step.
So right now, this is a first step.
Uh-huh.
Odean has great aspirations.
He so much reminds me of when I was a young boy.
I came to this country when I was 21.
I had the same drive.
Nothing can stop me, bro.
Only me can stop me.
He's one of the most positive kids that I've ever met, and I'm gonna see how I can help him achieve his American Dream.
All right, all right.
Okay, man.
(gentle music) (upbeat music) LOWELL: Today, I'm here in the Bronx, at Golden Krust's distribution center, and I will be working as a forklift operator.
This is where we distribute all the finished products.
The forklift operators here play a very important role.
They're responsible for loading and unloading the hundreds of thousands of patties that are produced here per day.
Bread, cake, pastries, you name it.
If things is not going well here, it's a disaster.
So it's important for me to understand exactly how these guys do get the work done.
I'm looking for Mike.
- Hi.
How you doing today? - Hey, Mike? - How are you, man.
- How you doing, bro? - I'm Mark, man.
- Mark? Nice to meet you.
- Good, good, good, good.
- You must be my trainee? - Yes, yes, yes.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, I'm the forklift operator, and today, we're gonna be shipping out some orders, - loading some trucks.
- Yeah.
Um, you look like you might be cold.
Man, it's cold inside, brother.
Yeah, you might want to get a jacket.
What's the temperature in here, man? I think it's about 0 degrees.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Yeah, yeah.
(both laugh) Let's get you a jacket though.
- Come on.
Come on.
- Oh, man.
When I first met Mark, he had a lot of energy, and that's great.
That's perfect.
We love people like that.
- I have a surprise for you.
- Uh-huh? We have the iceberg that sunk the Titanic? - The iceberg? - Yes, it's right here.
- Oh, my God.
- Yeah.
(both laugh) So we're gonna be working on that today.
Man, that's a that's an iceberg here.
Yeah, that is an iceberg.
Yeah.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no.
(both laughing) Man.
(both laughing) Mark completely fell on his ass.
Yeah, okay.
Thanks, man.
Thanks.
MIKE: It's not every day you get to see someone bust their ass right in front of you, so I guess it was it was pretty funny.
Yeah.
First, I think we need to get you trained on the forklift.
- Okay.
- All right, you're gonna take a seat right on up there.
I have never driven a forklift.
This lever is to go up and down.
That's to go reverse, and that's to go forward.
Okay.
I love to drive, you know? So I'm sure it's gonna be all fun.
- Ready? - I'm ready.
All right, go forward.
Come on.
Roll with me.
All right.
Watch it.
Whoa, wait.
Wait.
Hold it.
Hold it.
Hold it.
Mark has trouble not hitting things.
(rock music playing) (forklift horn honks) MIKE: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- These boxes are huge.
- Oh, man, that's not good.
He's kind of bad at the forklift job.
No, no, no.
(thuds) You did it again.
He's horrible, actually.
MIKE: All right.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Look what just happened.
You owe Golden Krust $50 now, okay? - $50? Why? - Time schedule.
Let's go.
Bring it up.
We've got a couple of damaged cases, and it's not good not good for business.
MIKE: We're gonna drop this one right here.
All right, bring her forward.
All right.
All right, slow it down for just a second.
Yes.
(both laugh) Oh! One of my employees recognized me, and right away, "Hey, boss.
Hey, boss.
" He kept on looking.
Many of the employees looking at me, staring at me.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to say.
(laughs) I am nervous.
(suspicious music) (laughs) I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to say.
(forklift horn honks) Very good.
Very good.
I am nervous.
All right, we have to get a sledgehammer and break some of this down.
- Have a go at it.
- Man.
Very good.
So I kind of remember seeing a couple of, uh of pictures with your face on it.
- Really? - Yeah.
It kind of makes me think about maybe Undercover Boss? You found the wrong guy.
Are you sure, Mr.
Hawthorne? (laughs) - Yeah.
- I'm busted.
Yeah, you're busted.
(both laugh) You got busted.
You got busted.
But, listen, so you can forget about Undercover Boss.
Yeah, forget about Undercover Boss.
I need to know what's going on to make this company better.
Ugh, I'm, like, a little nervous saying this, but there are a lot of things like this that kind of go on a lot.
I've spoken to people about it before, but it's one of those things that just doesn't get fixed.
As far as the organization of the freezers, space is an issue.
LOWELL: So, it's pretty tight inside here.
Yes.
There's a lot of skill that's required.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
And cheap labor doesn't come with skill, and skilled labor doesn't come for cheap.
- Okay.
- So if you want someone to come into the company with some skill, you got to pay for that skill.
- Yeah.
- There are warehouses where someone gets paid $15 an hour, and they do half of the work that I do here.
(gentle music) Mike is doing his utmost best, and all of these issues that he has to deal with should not be, and it's totally unacceptable, and it's not fair to him as an employee.
- So you live around here? - Not too far.
- I live in the Bronx.
- Yeah.
I'm living with my best friend, sleeping on a couch, basically to be here for my daughter.
She's ten, so I don't So you actually sleep on the couch now? Yeah, been about a year and a half now.
And you are still smiling the way you are? Yeah, well, I'm alive.
- You're alive and well.
- I'm alive.
I'm alive.
Listening to Mike it reminds me about what we're all about, family.
One of the things that my father has expressed on numerous occasions is that we must always put people before profit, and having worked with Mike today, that is something that I will never forget.
- It's been great, man.
- Great, man.
- It's been great.
- Great, great.
We'll talk.
All right.
(upbeat music) LOWELL: This is my last job.
Today, I am in Queens, New York, and I'm gonna be working with the head chef.
I have had one job as a head chef already.
The previous chef that I worked with got no corporate recipe book to ensure that recipes were being followed.
- Hi, morning.
- Hi.
I'm looking for Durrant.
LOWELL: So I'm here to work with the head chef again to make sure that this is not a system-wide problem.
- Would you like a bag? - Hey, Durrant.
Hello.
Good morning.
State your name.
Hey, I'm Mark.
How are you, sir.
I am always fantastic.
You? Great, great, great great.
Great, great, great.
Doing well.
You know, I've trained a lot of people.
- Uh-huh.
- And I hope you, you know, show me that you got, you know, what it takes to work into a kitchen.
I'm ready I'm like a sponge.
I'm gonna take it all in today.
All right, so here's what we're gonna do.
- You're gonna change.
- Okay.
We're gonna be professional.
- Am I right? - Yes, sir.
And you and you want to win this thing? - Yes.
I have to win.
- Okay.
Let's win.
All right.
- I assume you're a Jamaican.
- I'm a Jamaican.
Yes.
You're gonna cut this one for me, like this.
Okay? Chop this one for me right now.
When you work here, this is gonna be your job.
All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna do the onions while you And let me finish up that for you.
Let me finish up, because we got to catch that before it gets overcooked.
Open that for me.
All about speed.
This business calls for speed, you know? Hey, no.
No, you got to lift this up.
Okay.
Just a little tomato paste and a little ketchup.
Little all-purpose seasoning, little garlic powder.
MARK: Uh-huh.
I'm gonna get a cover and let it simmer.
Start smelling good already here.
Start smelling good already, huh? MARK: Yeah.
I'm gonna make a curry sauce now.
- Okay? - Okay.
Burn the curry into the margarine inside.
- Okay? - Okay.
I like Durrant.
He's passionate.
He was cooking so many things.
I'm gonna make you some pretty macaroni and cheese.
Okay? As good as Durrant is, nothing was systematic.
Little pinch of allspice in there for you.
That should be good.
Everything he tells me was a pinch.
"A little bit of this.
A little bit of that," and as I looked around, there was no manual.
There were no recipes.
There was nothing to follow.
So you have a book for this? No.
So you are the book, then? - I'm the book.
- You are the book.
Oh, you see, I you hit it right there.
A restaurant must have a recipe book - in order to keep standard - Uh-huh.
- And consistency.
- Uh-huh.
Okay? And I'm gonna say this to you.
Every Golden Krust you go to, they cook different, and it's a big problem.
Right now, the Golden Krust franchise - they have a bad name.
- Really? People call me.
They say, "Oh, I like your food.
It's not like the other one.
" You think it's because they don't have the recipe manuals? Absolutely.
That was a really big shocker for me.
This is a system-wide problem.
I have invested thousands and thousands of dollars on recipe books.
Unless this information is passed down to our chefs, we cannot have consistency.
We cannot expand with issues like these.
You think people need to be educated in this business? - You have to be.
- If you're not educated, and you try to run a restaurant business, what are you doing? This is what you're doing.
This is your $100 bill, and you just do like.
You just burn it.
Everything burn.
- Just burn it.
Let it burn.
- Uh-huh.
I would say to the owner of the franchise Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
- "Seek to find good chefs" - Uh-huh.
But sometimes, they don't want to spend the money.
I've been working since I'm 14 years old in this business.
Here, I am not allowed to interview no cook.
That's why we have a broken restaurant.
That's a very good point.
The chef should hire the The chef should hire from the pot washer, because this business about experience.
I hope these few words are gonna make somebody wiser.
Uh-huh.
Durrant's very vocal about some of his concerns.
He cares.
He wants to help the store.
But he feels as if he's being held back.
We, as an organization we have to do better than that.
Okay.
This is the macaroni.
I've never had anything like this.
This is great.
This is my recipe.
- Is that a hot seller? - Yes.
Sells well.
This business is my life.
My father was a chef in Jamaica, and he was where I grew the passion from.
- Like father, like son.
- Yes.
- You married? - Yes, I am.
- Kids? - Yes, I have six children.
They live in Pennsylvania.
I live in New York City, because here's where the money is at.
That's why you're out here, working every day? I want their life better than mine.
LOWELL: Before this experience, I thought I was doing a pretty good job taking care of my employees, but having seen what I've seen, there is room for improvement.
We're gonna go to our next task.
- Next task, all right.
- We're gonna make some chicken.
Employees are the backbone of this company.
- Okay.
- LOWELL: And without them, there is no Golden Krust.
However, we have to give them the tools to be successful, and we have not done that, and that is something that I must fix.
(gentle music) ANNOUNCER: Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide whether or not Mark deserves an investment to start his own business.
- I'm not Mark.
- Okay.
ANNOUNCER: How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? I am the Undercover Boss.
Oh, for real? (bouncy music) Have a seat.
Yeah.
LOWELL: My undercover experience has been tremendous.
I've learned that all my employees they are more than packers and cashiers and bakers and drivers.
These are people with dreams and aspirations, and we have to do all we can to make a difference in their lives.
(sneaky music) Hello.
How are you? - Doing fantastic.
- Good, good.
So what do you think about Mark? I'd give Mark, like a like, a six.
Why are you smiling so much? You look like Mark, minus the - I'm not Mark.
- Okay.
Have you heard of the show Undercover Boss.
- Absolutely.
- This is Undercover Boss.
- Okay.
- And I am the Undercover Boss.
Oh, for real? Yes.
I want I wanted to meet you a long, long time ago.
You wanted to meet me a long time ago? - Yes, indeed.
- Or Mark? Mike.
(both laugh) See, I got busted, huh? Yeah, you got busted pretty bad.
I kind of remember seeing a couple of pictures - with your face on it.
- You found the wrong guy.
Are you sure, Mr.
Hawthorne? (both laughing) I really wanted to understand exactly what you do, and I've learned a lot.
Yeah, don't walk on ice.
- That's an iceberg here.
- Yeah, that is an iceberg.
Yeah.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no.
We can laugh about it now, but it was - Yeah, yeah, but it - But it was really, really It could've been bad.
Yeah, you could've been hurt.
That is something that I've instructed my crew to fix immediately.
That sounds great.
Yeah.
You know the business in and out.
So what I want to do for you I'm gonna promote you as our inventory manager, and I'm gonna give you an increase of $18,000 a year.
Really? - Are you ready? - I'm ready.
Yes, sir, I am.
You mentioned also about your daughter.
Yeah.
I want to give you $25,000 to establish a scholarship fund for your daughter.
Really? Can I hug you? Like I'm kind of speechless.
Just to be able to provide for my daughter it's really all I wanted.
- This is so great.
- Great, great, great.
Thanks a lot, brother.
There aren't enough thank-yous in the world for me to be able to provide him for what he's doing for my life.
Jerger, you worked me to death.
I was tired.
- Your portions - And portion control.
And you remember how many spoons? - Yes.
- How many? - Two.
- Uh-huh.
Are you sure? - Yes.
- Are you sure? - Three.
- There we go.
- You were excellent.
- Thank you.
Which really saddens me, that you may be leaving the company.
- To pursue nursing, yes.
- To pursue nursing.
And I am trying to see what I can do to keep you at Golden Krust.
What do you think about being a store manager? Managing a store wow.
I'm prepared to give you a $25,000 a year increase in salary.
Whoa.
My heart is jumping.
I don't know what to say.
I know this is a big decision for you.
It is a big decision.
I really want to help you.
I'm gonna write you a check for $20,000 to take care of your children's education, your bills.
I don't want you to think about that when you're coming to work.
(exhales sharply) I'll take a deep breath.
Can I do these things for you? Never in my life has anybody has ever been so generous to me.
So what do you think? I think it's a great opportunity for me and my children.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
They deserve it.
If you are ready, we are ready.
I'm ready.
I'm ready.
You're ready? - Yeah.
- Great, great.
All right.
Give me a hug, then.
- Oh, my God.
- This is great, great.
I'm I'm I'm so overwhelmed.
I'm so, like, in awe.
I want to cry.
I want to scream.
I want to dance.
It's, like, a dream come true.
Durrant, I want to ensure that all the stores are using the recipe books, and I didn't see that in your store.
- Yes.
- So you have a book for this? - No.
- So you are the book, then? - I'm the book.
- You are the book.
Suppose you don't come tomorrow.
What do I do? Oh, you see, you hit it right there.
How important is consistency to you? Absolutely, extremely, abundantly.
Have you ever given the manuals or the recipe manuals? - No.
No.
- So everything that you cook at your store, at your location - that's your recipe? - Yeah.
Yes, that's my recipe.
- That's your recipe.
- Yes.
I am gonna make sure that the Golden Krust recipe manual is in every Golden Krust store.
But that mac and cheese, man, was amazing, and I'm gonna ensure that that recipe is used system-wide.
Thank you.
I like your enthusiasm.
I like your passion.
I would like to make you one of the executive chefs within the organization.
Yes, yes.
And I would like to pay you $25,000 more than what you are getting now.
Thank you very much.
But if you do come to corporate headquarters - Yes.
- You can't be the book.
You got to follow systems and procedures.
- Are you willing to? - Absolutely.
Everything in me you're going to get.
- Excellent, excellent.
- Absolutely.
Your six children in Pennsylvania? - Yes, yes.
- I had a hard time - raising four children.
- Yeah.
So I can't imagine what you're going through trying to raise six.
So there's something else I want to do for you.
I want to buy you a new car.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Can I embrace you? You can do anything you want to do.
You proved to me that today that God searches for his people, and he brings his people together.
- You know what I'm saying? - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- I want to thank you very much.
- Yes, yes, yes.
DURRANT: Mr.
Hawthorne demonstrated to me that he loved what I'm doing.
It's gonna be our book.
His book and my book.
Gonna be our book.
That's all I say.
Odean, you impressed the hell out of me.
That sounds good coming from you.
You are an exceptional employee.
Whoa, whoa.
Unbelievable.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
When people see me, they say, "Oh, that's Mr.
Golden Krust.
" So you're part of this brand, you know? Of course, I support this brand, man.
That's one of the things I love for you, man.
So one of the things I would love to do for you I would love to give you a check in the amount of $15,000.
Really? Nobody ever really give us a thing in life, and so now, you know, I'm not used to this, because we have to work hard for everything, man.
Thanks, man.
Very, very thanks.
And one other thing I wanted to do for you you mentioned about the restaurant business.
You want to start a restaurant.
I like your aspiration.
Whenever you're ready, I am gonna waive the franchise fee of $25,000.
That's when you're ready for your Golden Krust franchise.
We'll be able to make your dream come true.
Yes.
That's very good.
I have a bright future ahead, thanks to you.
Thanks to you.
Yes, I see, you know, really appreciate everything that you done for me man, because when you bless me, you bless somebody else, you bless somebody else.
So it goes on and on, you know? - I really appreciate it.
- Respect, man.
ODEAN: I came here to live the American Dream, so I guess this is what happiness feels like.
You remind me feel like family, man.
Yes, yes, yes.
We're gonna continue to work hard and make the best out of this business.
I'm not gonna let Golden Krust down.