male announcer: More than 100 of America's biggest bosses...
- I just hope I can keep up with the guys.
announcer: Have gone undercover
in their own companies.
- That wasn't as easy as it looks.
- Here we go. - Lift me up!
- I'm about to just flip out here.
- I would almost swear you look like somebody else.
- Right here, right now, we're gonna shut the restaurant down.
announcer: More than $20 million
has been awarded to employees.
- So I'll write up check for $250,000.
- Oh, my God.
announcer: And millions of lives...
- I'm gonna pay off the mortgage.
announcer: Changed forever.
- For real? - This is real.
The greatest reward is to see people live their dream.
[dramatic music]
announcer: This season...
- Oh, that's pretty cold.
announcer: The most incredible...
- We just got an emergency response.
- Let's rumble!
announcer: Surprising...
- Ooh! - Oh, my God.
- Oh, jeez. - Like that.
announcer: And challenging journey so far.
- Blech. - Nuh-uh.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- Coming up!
- Let's talk about getting you out of this system.
announcer: Tonight...
[dish shattering]
- Oh, man.
announcer: What happens when an NFL superstar
goes undercover...
- Hey, guys, it's me.
announcer: In one of the most competitive industries
in the world?
- Let's step on it, boss. Let's go.
- All right, man. All right. All right.
- You got to get it.
announcer: Super Bowl champion quarterback Drew Brees
and his business partner, Brandon Landry,
founder of America's fastest-growing
sports bar chain, Walk-On's...
- Oh, my goodness.
announcer: Will be hiding in plain sight.
- If we can pull this off, this is a big, big deal.
- Uh-oh.
announcer: They'll join their staff on the front line...
- It's pretty smelly down here, Mike.
Shrimpin' ain't no joke.
announcer: To discover the truth...
- It's unsafe. It's unsanitary.
Announcer: As the heat rises...
- Is the A/C even on? - It breaks every summer.
announcer: One employee
comes face-to-face with his hero.
- Oh, my God.
announcer: All this next on "Undercover Boss."
[upbeat music]
*
- I'm Brandon Landry, and I'm the founder
and CEO of Walk-On's Bistreaux & Bar.
*
This company is very personal to me.
It's my identity.
I am Walk-On's, and Walk-On's is me.
[upbeat rock music]
announcer: Headquartered in Louisiana's capital,
Baton Rouge, Walk-On's is
a 130-million-dollar-a-year business
operating in four states across the country,
serving around 10 million customers a year.
CEO Brandon is captain of the 4,000 employees
of this sports bar mega team.
- What makes Walk-On's different is our food.
South Louisiana is known for great cuisine
all around the world, and so one of our taglines
is "Game day with a taste of Louisiana."
I grew up a farmer's son.
The rest of my family became farmers.
But although it was in my blood,
I wasn't passionate about it.
I just wanted to be a professional sports athlete.
Every kid's dream, right?
In college, I was a walk-on on the LSU basketball team.
Walk-on is a player
that is literally playing for the true love of the game.
You don't get awarded a scholarship.
You're going out there trying to be a great teammate.
As a walk-on, I played just seven minutes my senior year,
so a reality set in
that I probably wasn't gonna play in the NBA.
It was very hard giving up on the dream,
but I just took that work ethic and that passion,
and I think that's what's carried over
into our business today.
In the beginning, the restaurant was just an idea
with my fellow walk-on, Jack Warner.
We were literally on the way home from a basketball game.
We had just got beat by a lot.
We started doodling on the napkin on the plane.
It just came to us, and we said, "You know what?
We need to open up a place called Walk-On's."
But we worked every position possible when we first opened,
whatever it took to get customers in the door.
and by 2011, we had three locations in Louisiana.
I was keen to build and expand the brand,
but Jack and I didn't share the same vision,
and he sold out of our business,
and I decided to take the Walk-On's brand
and hopefully take it to the next level.
In 2015 the biggest name in Louisiana sports came calling.
NFL star quarterback Drew Brees approached me.
Being a Saints fan, of course, when you get a call
from Drew Brees, it kind of blew my mind.
It was like, "Wow. This is really, really cool."
And soon after, he bought a 25% stake in the company.
And sitting here today,
we have 28 open locations in 4 states.
- How was your day? - It was good.
It was good. Busy.
- So tell me a little bit about the undercover identity.
- I am Cal Griffin, a soybean farmer from Florence, Alabama.
- Why "Cal?" - I grew up watching baseball,
and Cal Ripken was my guy.
And so why not "Cal?" That sounds good.
- I'm into it. [laughs]
- Ready to roll.
We typically open five to ten restaurants a year,
and we're gonna double that.
And by 2022 we plan to have 120 locations in 12 states.
It's a big step for us, and so we have to make sure
that we're growing the right way,
so I'm going undercover to really find out
what's going on in each and every restaurant.
Oh, my goodness.
That is awesome.
I've never had a beard in my life.
Well, let's go, Alabama Cal.
- Oh, my God.
- Hello, darlings.
Say good-bye to Brandon.
Say hello to Cal Griffin.
My employees will be tricked into thinking
that they are taking part in a documentary
about second careers.
They have no idea this is really "Undercover Boss."
- Bye, Cal.
- Y'all be good.
[light piano music]
*
[alarm blaring]
I get up early as it is, but I don't get up this early.
We're at a pivotal point in our company
right now as our expansion starts to accelerate.
Everything that we put into this brand
was about being a great teammate.
I need to see if those values still hold true.
What I discover will make or break our expansion plans.
[bluesy music]
*
Kind of liking this minivan.
Soybean farmers drive minivans, right?
Today I'm going to our main shrimp supplier.
At Walk-On's, we currently use around a million pounds
of shrimp annually.
I love our quality of shrimp that we're getting now,
but can this company grow with us,
and can they keep supplying us as our company doubles
and triples in size?
*
[knock at door]
- Come on in. How you doing?
- What's up? I'm Cal. - How you doing? Michael.
- I'm here to work on the shrimp dock.
- Yes, sir.
It's gonna be a pretty busy day today.
We want to load some shrimp today.
Do you do anything like that before?
- No, sir, I have not. - Nothing at all.
Okay, it's fine. I hope you're ready, man.
- I'm looking forward to it. - Okay.
- Take it easy on me now.
*
This is the first time I've been at a shrimp dock.
- Okay, Mr. Cal, now you're gonna be a--
- A real shrimper? - A real shrimper.
- So how long has this boat been out, and how do we know
if the shrimp are fresh when they come in?
- These size boats, the maximum we can stay outside
is eight days.
- So will you turn shrimp away when you see shrimp that are--
- I turn it back to the boats. - Really?
- Yes. I feel sorry for these guys,
because I know they're working hard for that.
- But you got to get fresh shrimp.
- I don't want to bring to my customers bad shrimp.
- When I met Mike, you can tell
he's just a real genuine guy.
He definitely knows his business.
He's the perfect guy to find out all we need
to find out about shrimp,
in the end, how they get into our restaurants to sell.
*
Is that where the shrimp is?
- That's where the money is, man.
- Where the money is, huh? - Smell like money.
- Yeah, it smells great.
The first job was getting the shrimp off the boat.
They actually go down there with the suction hose
and get all the shrimp off the boat
as quickly as possible.
- Be careful when you go down there, okay?
- Wait, I'm going in there? - Yes.
You got to come on inside. - All right.
*
So this is sucking the shrimp all the way up?
- Yep. - Wow.
It's pretty smelly down here, Mike.
How do we know that they're fresh?
- It doesn't smell bad. This is the right smell
that you're gonna catch it with the fresh shrimp.
If the shrimps turn bad, you're gonna find out.
- You'll definitely know. Okay. - The stronger smell.
I mean, I'm talking about like a--oof.
- All right.
Mike's the gatekeeper. He's the first line of defense
ensuring the quality of our fresh seafood
coming out of the Gulf.
- Get down. Get down. Get down. - Keep going?
- Yep. - All right.
I'm glad I got my rubber boots on.
The smell was something that I didn't expect,
but I could not imagine being down there 16, 18 hours a day.
So do you ever go to any of the restaurants
that you supply shrimp to?
- Last time I go in to it, I was in a Walk-On's.
- Was it good?
Is, we don't have one around here.
We need one around here, man, because it's awesome.
The place is nice.
I mean, I just sit down, and I feel proud.
You know, I feel good when they say,
"This shrimp's come from you." - Yeah.
- When Mike said, "Yeah, I actually went to Walk-On's,"
and I had to keep my cool, but it was emotional.
It was--it just told me that we were doing something right.
- All right. - All right.
- Yeah, man. Let's get out of here.
Get me out of this shrimp--
- He never see, like, a shrimp dock before.
It's gonna be heavy and long days.
I'll think he can do it.
I think so. I don't know yet.
Okay, this is the ice hose.
- Is this for ice?
- Yeah, it's where the ice coming out, you know?
- Yeah.
- Right here's, like, a real heavy job.
You got, like, a real stronger back and--
- My back's tired already from just holding this thing.
[phone dings]
When he gave me the hose,
I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.
- You ready, Cal?
- He came over here and hit the switch,
and I wasn't even ready.
- Ice. Ice, Cal. Ice, Cal.
Coming, coming, coming.
announcer: Coming up...
[dish shattering]
One of America's most legendary quarterbacks
takes on a new position.
- That is Drew Brees on the wall right there,
the New Orleans' Saints quarterback.
- Yeah.
- Oh, man, you got to step on it.
[dramatic music]
*
- He came over here and hit the switch,
and I wasn't even ready,
and ice started going all over the ground,
so it wasn't a good way to start.
Hopefully, I'll come back strong.
- Wow. - If we don't have the ice,
we can't work.
Ice for us is like
the second important thing we got on the dock.
We just cannot dump the ice on the floor.
- The next job was getting the shrimp off the conveyer belt.
- One shrimp, it can turn your bad whole box.
One bad shrimp.
You got to keep it on ice to keep it fresh,
so we got to move it, okay, my man?
Outside it's already 100 degrees right now.
- Every layer of shrimp that dropped into the bucket,
we had to put a layer of ice on top of it.
This is a job that's definitely a race against time.
- Uh-oh. You're in trouble now.
It's coming. It's coming. It's coming.
- There was no sitting around. - Ice. Ice, Cal.
Ice, Cal.
He needed to speed it up a little bit.
- You do this every day? - Pretty much.
18 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- I did not think it was gonna be this though.
It's hard work. It's long days, and it's hot.
- More ice. More ice.
- My wife and kids would not want me to come home
smelling like I do right now,
'cause I smell like a big shrimp.
Mike, any other shrimp provider
ever tried to steal you from this company?
- Oh, yeah, I've had a lot of offers,
a couple guys around here, but I'm good right here.
When I need these guys, they help me.
- They take care of you, so you take care of them, huh?
- Yep. That's how it is, man.
- When do we get a lunch break around here?
- Maybe tomorrow.
[laughter]
If you want to, my wife's cooking something like--
- Man, I'd appreciate that. - Yeah, no problem, man.
We take care of you, man.
[light guitar music]
This is Cal.
- How are you? - Hi. I'm fine.
- He's working today. - Cal. What's your name?
- Elizabeth. - Elizabeth.
- Elizabeth. Yeah. - Very nice to meet you.
Shrimp. Finally some cooked shrimp.
- Oh, yeah, I got to stay away little before.
- This is excellent.
- It's good? - Yes. Very good.
- Thank you. - How you like the job?
- It's hard work, man. - It's a tough life.
- How'd you get in? - I had to find an odd job,
because my mama passed away when I was 12,
and I still had two sisters and another brother.
I got to leave the school to start working.
- How old were you at that time?
- I was, like, 13.
- And that's how you got your work ethic today?
- Oh, yeah. - Yeah.
He came from Mexico,
where he had to provide for his family
at 13 years old,
and then here he is working 18-hour days.
It's very humbling to see.
How many kids you have?
- I got two boys. - Two boys?
- Yeah. - Really? I have two girls.
- You do? - Yeah.
- Sometime I don't even see them.
Sometime I come back home around 9:00, 10:00.
They're sleeping already,
and when I leave, they're still sleeping.
- It must be tough being married
to a shrimping man.
Are your kids gonna get in the shrimping business?
Really?
I got to see firsthand
what this guy does each and every day.
A lot of times, you don't see what they're sacrificing,
and Mike's going above and beyond,
doing what he has to do for his family.
- I want you guys to meet a buddy of mine.
This is Mr. Cal.
- Hey, guys. What's your name? - Hello. Jonathan.
- Nice to meet you. What's your name?
- My name is [inaudible].
- What do you guys want to do when you finish school?
- I think I'm gonna be a doctor or something.
- A doctor. - Yeah.
- Good for you, man. - Like I said, even if I got to
put all my money on these guys, I will put it on...
- That's awesome. - To help them out
to make it something different.
- Good for you, Mike.
I liked Mike already when I was on the dock with him,
and then I got to come in his home
and meet his wife and meet his kids,
and knowing they don't get to see their dad much,
and it's all because of the things that he's doing
to help our business.
It's a sacrifice that deserves lots of appreciation.
[gentle piano music]
[phone trilling]
Hey, brother. I've had quite the day today.
My back is hurting. - [laughs]
- The guy that we were with, Mike, was just awesome.
If we can have every vendor that acts like this
and is as passionate about what they do each
and every day, we're in a good spot.
- Yeah. Man, it sounds like you had a crazy day.
I cannot wait to hear
what else that you got going on.
- Yeah. All right, man. See you.
*
[upbeat music]
- Today I'm in New Orleans, and it's home of one
of our very first restaurants,
opened in the shadow of the New Orleans Saints Superdome.
Our original stores are part of the blueprint
for our expansion plan,
but I'm not personally gonna go undercover here.
[upbeat rock music]
Drew Brees is a legendary quarterback
for the New Orleans Saints
and part owner of Walk-On's,
but he's never worked in one of our locations.
And just like I do, he wants to know
if we're running our restaurants correctly,
and there's no doubt this is the best way to do it.
What's up, brother?
- What's up, man? How you doing?
- So how you feel about this, man? You ready?
- Yeah. I'm nervous, but excited
all at the same time, to be truly behind the scenes
where I'm not Drew Brees, right?
I'm just a guy.
That's--that's what I'm most interested in.
- So you are the most recognizable face in this city.
Can we pull this off?
- I think we can with some good prosthetics.
[upbeat music]
Walk-On's is my team too, so it's important to me
that I'm involved in taking it to the next level.
It's actually even better than I thought it was gonna be.
How did I just become Matthew McConaughey?
[laughs]
All right, all right.
Hey, man.
- Holy-- - What's going on? Chris.
- Wow. - Nice to meet you, man.
I'm just--I'm just looking for my second career.
- They will not be able to tell who you are.
All right, I'll see you.
- Sounds good. - Knock it out.
- All right.
I wonder if my family's gonna recognize me.
Hey, guys, it's me.
[laughter]
You recognize me?
- I look like--oh, I'm Thor. Argh.
Aw, sweet girl.
[rock music]
Today I'll be working alongside Anderson,
who is a prep cook
and a pot-washer, entry-level position.
Applying my disguise has taken longer
than I thought it would,
so I'm a little late to start my shift.
Hey, guys, I'm looking for Anderson.
- How you doing, Chris?
You're gonna be shadowing me today.
- All right.
- Get your uniform on. - All right, man. Thank you.
- And you're late. - Yeah, okay.
- I got a whole bunch of dishes for us to knock out.
We got to make up for lost time.
- All right. - All right, so basically,
we're just gonna spray everything off.
We'll just pass it through and watch the magic happen.
- All right. Here we go.
- Being late is always a no-go with me.
If you're late, the girls are gonna need silverware.
We're gonna need plates, and I think I have a lot
of work cut out for me today dealing with Chris.
[dish shatters]
- Oh, man.
Shoot.
A slippery plate is a little more difficult
than a slippery football.
They get kind of slick, huh?
- Oh, yeah. It's coming out your check, boss.
- Man. - [laughs]
- Oh, gosh.
They said the plates were coming out of my check,
so we'll see.
- Yeah, Chris, if you had got here on time,
you wouldn't be rushing to do anything.
- So I got some catching up to do, man.
- Yeah, we got to step on it. [inaudible].
[clattering]
All right. - All right.
- My first impression of Chris,
I thought that he wasn't gonna be able to hang in the kitchen.
He had plates everywhere in the dish room on the floor.
- That's my fault. That's my fault.
- Yeah, you don't have to scramble around.
I'm with you. I got your back. We're a team.
- All right. - Had to light a fire under him
to get him going.
The dishes from out of the dining room,
the plates are dining room dishes.
- Okay. - Pots, pans, that's all us
back here prepping everything.
- All right.
- We got plenty more stuff to do, chef.
We got to step on it.
- Great sense of urgency in there.
There was work to do, and we've been working.
- If we don't get these dishes cleaned, boss, like,
everyone's gonna be waiting for plates.
It's gonna be total chaos. - All right.
We can't have that. All right. All right.
- You got to get it.
Yeah, he's doing a good job.
Spray 'em down clean. Send 'em through the machine.
- Got to like that, yeah. - That rhymes.
We're the heartbeat of the back of the house, man.
- Somebody might consider doing dishes
as just a menial job, you know, kind of entry-level.
But at the end of the day, that job's just as important
as any other job, and Anderson recognizes that.
He takes pride in doing it the best that he can.
- Take this trash out. There you go.
Okay, now that we have most of the dishes taken care of,
we're gonna go to the front of the house
and see what needs to be cleaned, tidied up.
- All right. - There you go.
- Football's huge down here, right?
- Yes. It gets crazy.
- They love the Saints down here, don't they?
- Oh, yes. They do.
- You a big fan of the team? - Oh, yes. Yes, I love 'em.
That is Drew Brees on the wall right there,
the New Orleans Saints quarterback.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- It was a close call.
I had to immediately make sure I was locked-in on my character
and not, you know, slip up.
- Yeah, and if it wasn't for Drew Brees,
this place wouldn't be standing, wouldn't be running.
He's part owner, and he's pretty cool.
- So it sounds like you try to pick up
whatever shifts you can to make extra money?
- Yes. Yes, I try to because my mom,
she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
- Oh, really? - Yes, I had to come back home,
help my mom out, and basically had to drop out of college.
So I'm left with $30,000 of debt,
'cause I have my student loans, so any shift they've got going
in here that's available, I'll pick it up.
- You're taking care of people here.
You're taking care of people at home.
- Yes.
- Just taking care of a lot of people.
- Yes, but I'm not a selfish person.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
- So ever since I could remember,
when I was a kid, my dream was to be
a professional athlete, to be a quarterback,
and I get a chance to live out that dream.
You know, here's a guy who just wanted to be able
to get a college degree.
He's had to put that on hold to sacrifice for his family.
He'd incurred all this student loan debt,
so he just has so much on his shoulders,
so much responsibility,
and yet he's got such a positive attitude.
- Yeah, man, I got us
some healthy snacks and stuff for lunch.
We'll take a little break and stuff.
- Perfect.
I got a perfect place we can walk to.
- Heard that.
- That wrap was really good. - Oh, I appreciate it, man.
I feel like we should have a healthy part
of the menu, like--
- Do you feel like it's not healthy enough?
- At the end of the day, it's a sports bar,
but if they could just work their way on to getting, like,
more healthier options...
I lost my father to a heart attack,
so it's, like, everything I intake is more healthy now
just for my long run.
My father was basically my inspiration
just to flip my whole life around.
- To change? - Yes. I was, like, 320 pounds.
- Wow. - Yeah. Yeah, that's me, man.
Big.
- That's amazing.
Anderson has been totally open and honest with me,
and so I feel like I want to break my cover tonight,
tell him how I feel from me, from the real Drew Brees.
I appreciate you taking me under your wing
and showing me the ropes in there
and took great care of me.
I want to tell you right now my name is not Chris.
I'm not here looking for a second career
in the restaurant industry.
I am actually...
- No.
Oh, my God.
- Anderson has been totally open and honest with me,
and so I feel compelled to want to be
completely honest with him as well.
I appreciate you taking me under your wing,
and you took great care of me.
I want to tell you right now my name is not Chris.
- Mm-hmm.
I am actually...
- No.
[laughs]
- I'm Drew Brees.
- Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
- And I just want to tell you how much I appreciate
and admire who you are and what you stand for.
- Seriously, like, my heart is pounding through my chest.
You're my favorite person.
That means so much to me, dude.
- Let me get cleaned up, and then I want to sit down
and keep talking with you, all right?
- Yes. Yes, I thank you so much, man. I'm so excited.
I'm shocked right now, dude.
This is crazy.
Oh, my God.
I can't believe I actually had Drew Brees, like,
washing dishes, taking out trash.
Just crazy. This is a very surreal experience.
- All right, Anderson.
So first thing I've got to tell you is,
you're on "Undercover Boss."
- Oh, wow. That's crazy.
- The minute I walked in, even though I was late,
you got me right to working. - Yeah.
- I felt your energy. - You did?
- Yes, I did, and that's infectious.
- Right.
- You would be a guy I would look forward
to coming to working with each and every day.
- I appreciate that. - And now knowing just
what you represent with your family,
the way that you take care of your mother,
the story with your father, just the way
that that's influenced you into who you are,
I think your best is yet to come.
- Yes. - And I believe
that's gonna be with Walk-On's too.
- I appreciate that so much, Drew.
I just want to tell you that you mean so much to the city.
You are a leader. You are a hero.
You got the city back together after Hurricane Katrina,
and I just want to thank you
from the bottom of my heart. I really do.
- Well, as you know, that's a team effort, right?
- Yes. - There are a lot of people
that are involved in that. - Yes, it's a team effort.
- But I'm just honored to be a part of it.
- I appreciate you a lot. This is--
I'm so happy to be here with you.
- You too, man. You too.
- Thank you, sir.
- I'm gonna report back to Brandon that here's a guy
who picks up every shift
he possibly can doing whatever job
he possibly can in the kitchen in order to help the team
but also to care for those that he loves most.
That means a lot.
[upbeat funky music]
*
- Today I'm at our Lafayette restaurant.
It's been one of our top-performing stores.
Literal employee turnover and sales
have stayed at the top for over eight years now.
I want to find out what we do right here
and how we can duplicate that as we keep opening restaurants
throughout the country.
I hired the employees here in the very beginning,
and so I'm concerned about lots of employees
noticing that it's Brandon.
[knocking]
- Hello. How you doing? - Hello. How are you?
- All right. - Good.
- Can I help you? - I'm looking for Jessica.
- I'm Jessica. - I'm Brandon.
- Come on in. - I had one job.
To introduce myself as "Cal," and I failed.
She looked at me a little weird.
- Can I help you? - Yes, ma'am.
I'm here--My name is Cal. I'm here to shadow you today.
- Okay. All right, well, let's go to the back here.
- But it happened so quick, I think I got away with it.
- So right here I have your uniform
and the bathroom's right here. Two minutes please.
- All right. - Thank you.
- Thank you, ma'am. - Come on, guys. Rumble.
Let's go. Let's go.
Okay, guys, we're gonna have a great shift today, y'all.
My back of the house people, please, beautiful plates.
Teamwork is all day, y'all.
Let's rumble!
[pot clanging]
Who are we? all: Walk-On's!
- What do we do? all: Win!
- "Walk-On's" on three! One, two, three!
all: Walk-On's!
- Whoo!
Whoo! - Wow.
- Yes. - That's impressive.
It looks like culture's really important to you guys.
- Yes, it is. We watch each other's backs.
Some of the girls call me "Mama Jess."
- "Mama Jess?" - Yeah.
- You're like the mama figure? - Yes, I am.
I love my family.
[upbeat twangy guitar music]
*
- Jessica referred to her teammates as family,
and that's gold to me.
That's what we preach from our corporate headquarters,
so that gives me a really, really good feeling
that we're in a good spot here in Lafayette.
- I never did [inaudible].
How you doing today?
- Pretty good. - All right then.
Good morning, Trist.
- The girls and the guys, they just look up to her.
This culture's great here. It's about the team.
It's about the family,
and she's a crucial part of this.
She's the cornerstone of this culture.
She's the quarterback. She's the Drew Brees.
*
- So, Cal, we just got finished with lunch rush,
so the most important thing is cleaning the floors
and throw away the trash,
and you got your sanitizer buckets.
- All right. - So that'll be for you.
Go on.
- Sorry.
Is this typical restaurant floors?
- No. No. No, it's not. Our floors have been like that
for as long as I've been working here, six years.
- The floor in there was in a terrible state.
I was in there scrubbing like crazy
and couldn't get all the food off the floor.
I can't even sweep 'em up. I don't know how you clean.
This restaurant gets some wear and tear,
but having floors like that,
it's unsafe, and it's unsanitary.
announcer: Coming up,
Brandon faces more hard truths.
- So yeah, we keep asking about it,
but apparently it's falling on deaf ears.
- I'm a little disappointed and pissed off.
announcer: And his employees find out his true identity.
- And you're on "Undercover Boss."
- Uh-uh. - Oh, my God.
- It's hot up in here, huh?
- Oh, yeah. - Is the A/C even on?
- It breaks every summer. - I don't see how you stand it
right here cooking with this hot grill.
- With this heat? - Man.
Working in that kitchen at 85 or 90 degrees
in front of a 400-degree grill, it's absurd.
- Our store does produce
a lot of money. - Yeah.
- So we should be first on board, you know,
to try to get these fixed, but we keep asking about it,
but apparently it's falling on deaf ears.
- I'm a little disappointed and pissed off.
There's a reason why this restaurant
is one of the top performing,
and it's because of people like her.
I need to find out what I can do
to make this right for Jessica and for Walk-On's.
- So being that you're a part of our team now,
you're gonna have to go and prep
a few things in the back.
- I'm ready.
[upbeat music]
- Today we're gonna prep these shrimp.
- Jessica, how long have you been here at Walk-On's?
- I've been working here for six years,
and I love my job here. I really do.
I started from the bottom and worked my way up to the top
with no education. Like I said, I didn't--
- No education? - No.
I didn't finish high school.
I got pregnant in high school,
and I'm doing this all for my family.
I have four kids, so...
- You have four kids? - Yes, two I gave birth to
and two I had adopted, my sister's kids.
- Wow. Four kids, single mom? - Yep.
- Why did you adopt your sister's kids?
- She died, and I had took my two nephews in, you know?
- Oh, she passed? - Yes.
- Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.
- She passed. Thank you, sweetheart.
- When you talk about a true team player, it's Jessica.
She had two kids of her own, single mom,
and then her sister passed, and she took in her two kids.
She had to make sacrifices,
but she didn't blink an eye doing it.
- I love my job, but it doesn't pay what I want it to pay,
so I still have to go out there and clean houses.
- Oh, you do? You work other jobs?
- I'm an Uber driver, and I drive for Lyft.
- Are you kidding me? - So yeah.
- I can't believe that we have an assistant manager
at our company that works 14-hour days
and still has to drive an Uber and clean houses
to take care of her four kids.
My goodness. How many hours a week do you work?
- Um, about 100-and-some odd hours.
- I feel very privileged.
I've never had to work three jobs to make ends meet.
And when you meet someone like Jessica that does,
it's a real eye-opener,
and we really have to look at the situation.
Going undercover has been more than I imagined.
It's been physically and mentally draining.
I thought I knew everything about the company,
but it turns out there are some things that I don't know.
But all-in-all, it's given me insight
to move the company forward.
[dramatic music]
I've asked for everyone to meet me one last time.
- Do you know what they're gonna have you doing today?
- I have a Q&A. That's all I know.
- They think they're coming to be interviewed about
their time spent with Cal.
They have no idea this is really "Undercover Boss."
*
Hey, Mike.
- How you doing? - You know who I am?
- Uh... - Yes, I do.
- Who's that? - Brandon Landry.
Mr. Brandon Landry.
- Have you ever seen me anywhere else?
- Not really.
- Would you recognize me if I wore a beard
and a camo hat?
What if I was on the shrimp dock with an Alabama accent?
- Uh-uh. Really? You kidding me?
- You're on "Undercover Boss."
- Oh, my God.
That's all I can say, like...
Ooh, this is--ooh.
announcer: Coming up, the employees' lives
are changed forever.
- Oh, my God. Thank you so much.
- That's crazy, man.
- So as a Saints fan, how was it meeting Drew Brees?
- Felt so bad.
- Bad? - Yes.
I was bossing him around in the kitchen, man.
He's a legend.
- Drew's a big fan of yours. - Wow.
- And he just wanted to share this with you.
- Hey, Anderson. It's Drew.
I loved spending time with you the other day.
I appreciate you taking such good care of me
in the kitchen.
I want to do something special for you this year, Anderson,
so I'm letting you know that you have season tickets on me,
any Saints games that you want to go to.
You're the best. Keep it up.
- Thank you so much. - That's not bad, is it?
- That's not bad at all. Oh, my God.
That's--that's amazing. - Yep.
- I can't wait to go and cheer him on.
I can't wait.
- Drew had also mentioned that you were in school...
- Yes. - And your mom got sick.
- Yes. Couldn't really, like, focus on school
and make sure she was okay, so I dropped out of school.
- Did you acquire some debt throughout
those years with school? - Oh, of course.
It's, like, up to 30,000 in debt.
- Really? - Yes.
- Well, Drew and I talked.
We want to relieve that debt.
- Wow.
- And so we're gonna give you $30,000.
- Wow. That's crazy, man.
[uplifting music]
- And in addition, we're gonna give you an extra 10,000
to help your mom out and to keep going.
How do you feel about that?
- [sighs]
This really helps me out a lot.
I really appreciate it so much from the bottom of my heart.
- Yeah. Well, you're very welcome.
You're very welcome.
- Being recognized by Brandon and Drew is incredible.
It's phenomenal, actually.
I know that my hard work has paid off,
and I know if I keep on going, the sky is the limit.
It's endless possibilities.
- Mike, our restaurants sell so much shrimp,
and I got to tell you, man, I've never been so impressed
about the operation that you run on a shrimp dock.
- [sighs, clears throat]
- One thing that you and I chatted a little bit about is,
there's other shrimp docks
that have tried to come and steal you.
I can say this.
I don't want you to go anywhere.
I want you to stay exactly where you are,
ensuring that we have great quality every day.
- Right. - And because of that,
I want to give you a little staying bonus.
I want to give you $5,000 cash.
- I mean, you don't have to do that, man.
- I know I don't, but I want to.
- I'm happy with what I'm making.
I'm happy with what I got. - You mean that much to us,
and so I want you to have that 5,000
and spend it however you'd like.
Mike, you invited me in your home.
Your wife cooked us an unbelievable dinner.
I got to meet your kids.
You sacrifice lots of time without them.
- It's a part of my life on every days.
- Yeah. Well, when's the last time
you were able to take the family on a vacation?
- Um-- - I got something else for you.
I'm gonna give you $10,000
to go on whatever vacation anywhere, all expense-paid.
Show the kids something different.
- Thank you, man. - Absolutely.
You deserve it, man,
and your family deserves it.
We talked about your childhood.
You don't want this life for your kids.
- I just want these guys doing something better.
- And those college fees are tough.
Well, I want to do this for you.
I want to set up a college fund for both of your boys,
15,000 for each kid,
and that way it'll be able to take care of their college
so you don't have to worry about that anymore.
- Wow.
Wow. Why you do this? - You deserve it.
- Um, I mean...
- I could tell your family was everything to you,
and if I can do this to help you
and help those boys go to college
so they don't have to work as hard as you do,
I want to do that.
- This is gonna be changes.
All my life, there's gonna be changes.
My wife, my kids' life,
there's gonna be good things to come after this.
- Jessica, as soon as we got in the kitchen,
I could see your love
for the teamwork you've created in Lafayette.
But working in that hot kitchen,
sweeping those God-awful floors,
it's not fair to you guys. Well, I can tell you this.
You will be getting a brand-new floor,
a brand new air-conditioning system...
- Oh, gosh, Jesus. - And we are also remodeling
the entire restaurant
with over a million dollars in improvements.
- Nice. Oh, my God. - So because of you,
we're getting basically a whole new restaurant.
- Thank you. - Absolutely.
- Thank you so much. - We also talked about you
went through some struggles, your sister suddenly passing.
You know, your family doubled overnight.
You work numerous hours at Walk-On's. You'll leave.
You'll clean houses. You'll go drive ride-share.
You'll do all these things to make ends meet for your family.
- Yep. - And so for you doing that,
we got one more thing for you.
- What's that? - I want to give you $40,000.
- Brandon.
[sighs]
Oh, my God.
Thank you so much.
Oh, my God. $40,000.
- I don't want you to have to work other jobs.
I want Jessica all for Walk-On's.
- Oh, my God. - And so I want to make sure
when you get off at Walk-On's
you don't have to worry about working another job.
- Oh, my God.
- That's how much you mean to us.
- Wow. - Thank you.
- You're welcome. You're welcome.
- Thank you. - Oh, my God.
40,000 is gonna lift a huge burden off of me and my kids.
This is very life-changing for me.
- By going undercover,
I definitely realized what's important to us.
Team means everything to me,
It's how we started this company.
I was a walk-on.
*
You know, Drew and I both,
we've loved this experience this week.
Seeing firsthand how hard people work humbled us both.
It's given me a real insight into our company,
and now I'm 100% confident it's ready for expansion,
and I'm glad I did it.
[uplifting music]
*