[dramatic music]
♪
announcer: "Undercover Boss" is back.
- How y'all doing?
[laughter]
- This is ten times harder than the boardroom.
- Ugh. - This is a disaster.
I would never have found out if I wasn't undercover.
announcer: The most devastating economic crisis
for a generation has been tough on American business
and even tougher on America's workforce...
- My wife and my kids and I were all homeless.
- Well, how many firemen you think you're down?
- 15 just because of the pandemic.
announcer: So there's never been a more important time
to go undercover.
- Coming through.
announcer: This season...
- Wow.
announcer: The toughest challenges...
- I got to get out of here.
I'm about to throw up in my mouth.
announcer: The biggest shocks...
- I need to rethink everything that we're doing.
- We question whether you are fit for this brand.
announcer: And the most dramatic
life-changing rewards...
- Are you serious?
This doesn't happen to people like me.
announcer: In "Undercover Boss" history.
- I need to break cover right now and shut this down.
♪
announcer: Tonight...
- I felt like the dogs were gonna eat me.
announcer: The CEO of one of America's
biggest pizza franchise companies...
- Welcome to Round Table. How you doing today?
announcer: Goes undercover. - Time to meet JJ!
announcer: After joining the business
to change its fortunes...
- Most people got laid off.
announcer: He's feeling the heat in the kitchen...
- People are hungry, and food is being made.
announcer: And facing a hot slice of reality.
- You got to toss that one; you messed up.
You weren't fast enough.
- There's so much going on right now.
announcer: He'll learn hard lessons...
- This location is very old.
- Sometimes I feel forgotten by corporate.
- It seems like we don't matter anymore.
announcer: Before making some life-changing decisions.
- That's the greatest thing you could ever do for me, man.
announcer: All this next...
- Oh, my God.
announcer: On "Undercover Boss."
[rock music]
- My name is Paul Damico,
and I'm the president and CEO of Round Table Pizza.
Round Table Pizza is a family pizza restaurant.
We have been serving pizza for 62 years.
And we're known as pizza royalty.
Seven years ago I was on "Undercover Boss"
while I was the president of Moe's Southwest Grill.
- Welcome to Moe's! - Welcome to Moe's!
Being on "Undercover Boss" made me a better boss.
You really get to see the details of your business
that you normally wouldn't see otherwise.
I learned a lot at the restaurants
and have made a lot of changes
to take the company in the right direction.
And now it's time to do it all again with Round Table Pizza.
[upbeat music]
Joining Round Table Pizza was very appealing to me,
because having Italian roots and being half Italian
I've got a passion for quality Italian food.
It spoke to all of my culinary senses.
And this brand has been around for many, many years.
And over three generations have enjoyed it.
Round Table Pizza was first opened in Menlo Park,
California, in 1959 by Bill Larson and his family.
And the Round Table name
is based on the redwood roundtables
that were from the restaurants at the time.
announcer: Over the next six decades,
the company grew to become a West Coast favorite
with 420 restaurants, 8,000 employees,
and an annual revenue of over $400 million.
In 2020 food franchise expert Paul Damico
was brought in to spearhead a new era of expansion.
- The plan for Round Table Pizza
is really to step up our growth.
Good morning, everybody.
We have so much work to do with the brand
so we can begin to grow out of the West Coast
and towards the East Coast.
We also need to attract the younger generation,
because if you don't, the brand can
become irrelevant.
That's something that I worry about every day.
So we're looking at all aspects of the restaurant.
We're looking at the food. We're looking at the design
to attract that younger generation.
All those things are underway right now.
There's hundreds of thousands of dollars
going into these plans, and they look great on paper,
but I've yet to see any of it with my own eyes.
When I first joined the company as CEO,
I didn't have a chance to visit the stores due to the pandemic.
And now it's time.
[upbeat music]
I think a part of my backstory is that I'm gonna be
a bit of a hipster wine bar owner.
- Hipster?
- Um, do I not look like a hipster?
- I don't know if that's gonna come across.
- Right now, that's not really the vibe that I'm getting.
[laughter]
- Hello. - Hi, there.
Are you ready for your disguise?
- I am. - Fantastic.
- Without really getting to know the brand,
it's very difficult to grow new markets.
I need to get out there
and really see what's happening at ground zero.
I'm going undercover, because it's critically important
for me to really get to know
Round Table Pizza at the restaurant level.
[dramatic music]
♪
It's time to meet JJ!
[laughter]
- Oh!
- I don't think anybody's gonna recognize you.
- Like, I could pull this off, right?
- 100%. - Totally.
- Yeah. - My name is Joey Johnson.
My friends call me JJ. [laughs]
The employees will be told they're on a documentary
about starting over in a new career.
And they have no idea it's "Undercover Boss."
Goodbye. - Bye-bye. Have fun.
- I'm on a mission to find out what changes need to be made
to secure the future of the company.
I'm very excited to really hit it head on.
♪
[twangy guitar music]
During COVID, deliveries became critical,
accounting for over 90% of our sales.
If we want to get the younger customer to Round Table Pizza
we've got to get delivery right,
because that's how the millennials
are ordering our product.
Today I'm in Elk Grove, California,
working with general manager Steve
at a restaurant that's 21 years old
but still in the top 10% for sales thanks to deliveries.
[quirky music]
♪
Hi. I'm looking for Steve. - That's me.
- I'm JJ. - JJ. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- You're gonna be working with me today?
- Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
- First thing we need to do is get you into uniform
and then meet me in the kitchen.
- All right, I'll do that.
[rock music]
- All right, JJ, so first we're gonna be doing
our cut and wrap station.
It is where all of the pizzas come out,
and we get them prepared for the deliveries.
- My first job today is gonna be the cut and wrap station.
And I feel a little anxious,
'cause it's the busiest position in the restaurant.
- So we use our spatula.
Basically, you're gonna put a plus sign on it
and then an X.
Into the box, and that one's done.
All right, on to the next one. It's already coming out.
Go ahead and cut it into 12 slices.
All right, so you're starting to get backed up.
You've got to get a little bit faster.
On cut and wrap, speed is everything.
All right, so you're not moving fast enough;
you got to get onto the next one.
The pizzas are coming out of the oven,
so you have to be fast enough
to get it before it hits next pizza.
All right, now you got multiple things coming out right now.
This is all about speed.
So it comes out really fast; you got to keep up with it.
Whoa! Get rid of your tray. You're gonna crash.
♪
All right, leave it, leave it, leave it.
- Working on the cut and wrap station
was about as hectic as you can imagine.
- Order number 62. Keep going.
There's no time to stop, though.
- Steve kept yelling, "Speed, speed, speed!"
And while that is happening, these pizzas are backing up.
[tense music]
When the pizzas collide, the toppings stick together
and get pulled off.
The ones that are stuck start to burn.
- You had your first crash. I need a remake.
- There were pizzas that got totally destroyed.
Toss this one? - Yep.
You got to toss that one; you messed up.
You weren't fast enough.
Now look what happened.
Look what happened. You got to get faster.
When you mess up a pizza once, that's one thing.
All right, toss them in trash. It's garbage.
When you mess up twice or three times,
that's just basically unacceptable.
♪
announcer: Coming up... [dog barking]
The boss' day goes from bad...
- Hello--Oh.
announcer: To worse.
- You got a tip, right? - Got a tip.
- You didn't do anything for the tip. That's the problem.
- Wow.
I really failed at this job.
[dramatic music]
- It's my first day undercover working with Steve
in the hectic takeout side of our business.
- All right, so you're not moving fast enough;
you got to get onto the next one.
- The cut and wrap station
is not just about cutting and wrapping.
It is the last point of quality control.
And I screwed it up pretty bad today.
- Toss them into the trash. It's garbage.
- So I'm hoping things get easier from here.
- All right, JJ. The next job we have up for you today is,
we're gonna be doing deliveries.
- Okay. - Let's grab our stuff.
Let's go. - All right. Let's go.
[upbeat music]
- All right.
♪
So how long you been with Round Table?
- This would make 16 years this year.
- Wow.
- So enough about me. What about you, JJ?
- I have--I had a wine bar in Manhattan.
And when COVID hit, I closed it.
- Oh, man. - So it was--
it was really tough.
And that's why I'm here really to learn about pizza,
and is that my next thing?
I was worried at first about being undercover.
I really don't think he knows who I am.
So tell me what it's like working here at Round Table.
- When we first started, it was more of a family company.
They wanted a lot of input from the stores.
- Right.
- Now it seems like everything is just so corporate,
they kind of got away from that.
- That's interesting.
- We actually had a corporate conference call
where nobody was allowed to talk.
And we're the ones on the ground level.
- Sure.
- We're seeing the customers' reactions to our products,
but it seems like we don't matter anymore.
- It really bothered me that Steve felt that he didn't have
a voice or a way to share his ideas.
I really care what Steve thinks.
I really care what all of our general managers think.
- All right, so tips for delivering,
you want to be friendly.
Get them in a good mood,
because you're working for your tip.
You want to connect with the customer in some way.
♪
- Hi. - Hello!
- Hi! - I have your pizza.
- Yes. Hi. Thank you.
[quirky music]
- JJ seemed a little tense. - Sign that.
- You have to be more engaging
when you're dealing with customers.
- There's your tip.
♪
- You got a tip, right? - I got a tip.
- You didn't do anything for the tip.
That's the problem. - Wow.
- You didn't really engage her in a conversation.
Kind of got lucky on that one.
But all we can do is get better.
- It really bothered me that Steve said
I didn't earn my tip.
But the truth is, I didn't do what he told me to do.
- This one's actually gonna be all you.
I'm gonna stay in the car, and you'll handle this one.
- Ah, okay, see how this goes.
♪
[dogs barking]
[doorbell rings]
When you approach someone's front door,
there's a lot you're thinking about,
greeting the customer, barking dogs.
Hello. - Hi!
- Oh, what a beautiful dog.
Once the door opens, dogs are charging out at you.
There's a lot happening on that front stoop.
- I thought I ordered one of the 5-ounce ranches.
- Oh. Let me see.
They gave you two 2-ounce ranches.
- Oh, okay. - Should I come back?
Would you like me to come back? - No, it's fine.
I think I have some leftover. - Are you sure?
I thought delivery was going to be a piece of cake.
But I really failed at this job.
- How did it go?
- I felt like the dogs were gonna eat me.
And I got no tip. But I tried.
[light music]
♪
So how did I do today?
- Well, so far, okay.
Not the greatest. There's a lot of room
for improvement. You'll be fine.
You just gotta--you gotta work on little things.
- Okay. So tell me a little about you.
- You know, I grew up not far from here.
Not in the best neighborhood.
I started getting into a lot of trouble.
I actually ended up doing meth when I was 16.
My mom kicked me out of the house,
said, "You can't come back." And so one night,
I broke into a garage that was being renovated,
and I found a-- I found a piece of carpet.
I put one piece of carpet on the ground.
And I put the other piece of carpet around me.
That was my blanket for the night.
And at that point, I just said, you know,
"Something's got to change," you know.
There was a Round Table Pizza that was opening.
General manager said, "All I got left right now
is a dough roller. It's basically
the hardest position we have. But that's what I got."
And I said, "You know what? I'll take anything."
If I didn't get this job at Round Table,
I--I would be dead right now.
Um, you know, Round Table really did--it saved my life.
- It's amazing. - Yeah.
- You should be so proud of yourself.
It's amazing to hear anybody credit Round Table
with turning their life around. It's a fascinating feeling.
- I've done great things since then.
I have a six-year-old, and I have a six-month-old.
- Oh, wow.
- As long as I give my son the opportunity to surpass me,
I'll feel like I've accomplished my--
my duty as a father.
- To hear Steve talk about his family,
and he's so determined to ensure that those children
have better chances than he did
makes me emotional,
because I have a strong family too.
Thanks for sharing that story.
- No problem, man. You know, you can't change your past.
You can only change your future.
- After spending time with Steve today,
I'm so proud of the employees that work in this restaurant.
But we can do a better job
communicating with the store-level general managers.
♪
[rock music]
♪
Today I'm in Spokane, Washington,
and I'm going to work with Patrick.
He's a manager in one of the oldest restaurants
in the area.
This location has been operating for over 30 years.
And in recent years
the sales have really been soft.
When we have a low-volume restaurant like this one,
it's critical to understand why
so we can secure the future of this location.
[quirky music]
♪
- Hey, I'm looking for Patrick. - That's me.
- Hey, Patrick. How are you? I'm JJ.
- Nice to meet you. - Good to meet you.
- Are you excited for today?
- I can't wait to find out what this is all about.
- All right. Here, there's a shirt and a mask.
- Okay.
- And I'll meet you right through that door over there.
- Sounds great. Thanks. - JJ seemed cool.
He first came in, I wasn't expecting the hair.
You know. It's cool, though.
[upbeat music]
♪
Our first thing for the day, we got to make the dough.
- Okay.
- Then we're gonna turn it into pizza skins.
- Great.
- All right, this is the base of the dough.
We got to mix this in the water in our mixer.
And it's ready to go. So we're gonna come bring that
right over here and dump it right in there.
- Dough is what makes or breaks a pizza,
so I'm very intrigued on how it is done here.
- Go ahead and hit the start button.
This is a dough hook.
- Yep. - Oh. Uh-oh.
While we were mixing the dough,
the bowl actually fell out of the mixer.
- We're gonna have to reset it.
It's a very old machine.
It's missing parts.
[machine whirring]
- With the loud noises coming out of that machine,
there were clearly some maintenance issues going on.
- So I'm gonna explain the dough roller to you.
- Great.
- All right, so once it's going,
we're just gonna pull it out.
So you do want to support the dough.
All right, so fold this piece over.
And you're gonna snake it and then go ahead
and throw it up top.
Uh-oh. Turn it off.
Don't reach in there when it's on, please.
- That was not good. While I am trying
to sheet the dough, the machine gets stuck.
- Happens all the time.
- It was obvious that the lack of modernization
creates extra work for the staff.
- That's what a new machine does not do.
- Yeah?
I'm shocked.
Things are worse than they seem.
- If you go to the other locations,
they have very nice machines.
You know, this location is very old.
The dining room is dark. - Yeah?
- It looks like a cave. There's no windows.
- The younger customers,
are they coming into the restaurant?
- Not as much. It is an outdated restaurant.
It looks like a museum to Round Table.
- The restaurant's a bit old and tired.
And it's certainly not the image of the new design
of Round Table Pizza.
It needs to be updated to attract the younger customer.
- All right, so our next job is learning the takeout room.
Are you ready to get some customers in here?
- I think so. I think I'm ready.
- Hello. - Hello.
- Can I get a medium pepperoni and jalapeño, please?
- Uh. - Pepperoni meat.
- Pepperoni. - Yeah.
[phone rings]
- You can answer it, put them on hold real quick.
- Round Table Pizza.
Can I put you on hold for one second, please?
- Takeout order is ready.
- Thank you. - And what else?
- Jalapeño, please.
- Jalapeño. - All right.
You got to pick it up, 'cause things are piling up.
We like to go a little bit quicker normally,
and JJ wasn't used to the pace.
- Credit card.
- We had a line growing out the door.
- Thank you for holding. How can I help you?
- Uh, can I just order a pepperoni pie?
- Hold for one second, please.
Working in the takeout area is very, very hectic.
Round Table Pizza. How can I help you?
There's just so much to take in at one time.
- We do just have to make sure
we introduce ourselves on the phone.
[phone ringing]
- Round Table Pizza. JJ speaking.
Thank you for calling Round Table Pizza. This is JJ.
Round Table Pizza. JJ speaking.
Round Table Pizza. This is Paul speaking.
I pick up the phone, and I say my real name
right in front of Patrick.
Can I put you on hold for one second, please?
I'm terrified that I'm gonna blow my cover.
Thank you. Thank you.
[dramatic music]
♪
- Round Table Pizza. How can I help you?
I'm in Spokane, Washington,
working with restaurant manager Patrick.
- All right. - He thinks my name is JJ,
but I may have just blown my cover.
This is Paul speaking. How can I help you?
I pick up the phone, and I say my real name
right in front of Patrick.
Can I put you on hold for one second, please?
- All right, guys, pick up for Scott.
- So you want to find Scott on here real quick.
- With the takeout area being so hectic,
I don't think Patrick noticed.
- Thank you very much. - All right. All right.
- Thank you.
[upbeat funky music]
- All right, our next task,
we're gonna clean up after lunch.
The carpet looks like a '90s arcade,
and flour gets caked in pretty bad.
So we got to vacuum every day. - Okay.
[upbeat music]
♪
Is it normally the general manager's
responsibility to vacuum?
- No, but due to staffing...
- How do you feel about having to do that?
- It's not ideal. - Yeah.
- Anybody can vacuum.
Not everybody can do scheduling.
- Sure. So what's happening with the staffing right now?
- Due to COVID,
it's hard to find employees and keep employees.
Yeah. When we went into shutdown,
you know, most people got laid off.
There just wasn't hours.
But we would work every day seven days a week,
and it was generally a handful of us
coming in early, staying late.
- You're doing everything you can though to hold it together.
- Oh, absolutely. We all had to take salary cuts as well.
You know, every penny mattered.
- What kind of pay cut did you have to take?
- About 30%.
- That's steep. - It is.
I'm very grateful to Patrick
in keeping this restaurant afloat throughout the pandemic.
- The pandemic was hard, because my dad finished
his chemotherapy in February.
And then everything happened in March.
So I actually didn't get to see him after his chemo,
so it was really difficult
for him to be alone for an entire year.
- Sure.
Patrick's had a tough time recently
personally and professionally.
And running an old restaurant is only making things worse.
That's something we need to address.
[upbeat rock music]
♪
Having checked out an older restaurant,
I'm excited to see what our future looks like
at one of the newest Round Table Pizzas.
We've chosen Texas as our new market for growth.
And so far, we've opened three restaurants here.
In order to attract a younger generation,
we've designed a restaurant that's more modern
and has a full bar.
Succeeding here is absolutely key
to our plans for expanding the business.
- You gotta do these right here.
- I'm gonna be working today with Anthony,
one of our managers that has worked across
all three locations here in Dallas.
[quirky music]
Hey, I'm looking for Anthony. - Welcome to Round Table.
I'm Anthony. How you doing today?
- Anthony, how you doing? I'm JJ.
- Everybody call me Mac. Never made a pizza before?
- Never made a pizza before. - Okay. Can I get you to...
- Sure. - Put your Round Table shirt
on for me, please, sir? - Thank you.
- All right. I'ma show you step-by-step
how to make a Round Table Pizza. Okay?
- All right. - You pull this out.
Now we get to saucing the pizza.
Put it on and just come around.
- Yeah. - There you go.
Get 8 ounces of cheese. Now, one thing about
Round Table Pizza, all of it goes to the edge.
Here's your salami, sausage at 250.
Next should be mushrooms, huh? - Mushrooms.
- Yeah. You got to do this kind of fast.
Like, today, we're kind of busy.
- Green peppers.
- Put it in the oven.
- Making the pizzas is a very fast-paced job.
Anthony was pretty impressive.
- Are you ready to make a pizza for yourself right now, Big JJ?
- I'm ready. - Let's go, big dawg.
- This is the first time that I've made a Round Table Pizza.
- As you're putting it, you can turn it, turn it.
There we go. Now we can start picking up your speed.
Work on your little speed.
[receipt printer clacking]
See how that thing keeps running?
When that thing keeps running it means we got to pick it up.
[receipt printer clacking]
When you get somebody new that's not as good,
it kind of slows everything up.
Let's go. We're kind of getting behind, JJ.
Let's--let's pick it up.
Uh, JJ, really, he can do a lot better.
♪
We're gonna put the pizzas in right now.
You got a pick up?
It was kind of hectic tonight, so we had to
keep him to the side 'cause we got to make sure our customers
get their food on time.
- I thought I was pretty fast
but apparently not fast enough for Anthony.
[bluesy rock music]
Our next job, we're gonna do a thing called B2B.
B2B is called business to business.
We'll go to local businesses,
give them one of them free coupon for a pizza.
- So what's the reason we're gonna do this?
- We're based out of California.
So a lot of people in Texas don't know about
Round Table Pizza. - Okay.
- Anthony knows that this is a tough market.
The brand is new here.
All right, let's hit the road.
And so you just can't stay inside your restaurant
and hope that the customers come.
You've got to go out and drum them up.
- Hello. How y'all doing today? - Hi. Good. How are you?
- I'm here to give you a coupon for one free pizza.
We're right around the corner. And then we also deliver.
- We'll have to try out. - How does it sound?
- All right, so I think I can do that.
I'm really impressed that Anthony is taking
the initiative to meet the local people
to grow the business. - All right. Here we go.
- Hello, ladies. I wanted to invite you guys
over to our store for some free lunch.
Please stop in and try us out. Okay?
- Okay.
- Thank you. - Thank you, guys.
- Thank you. - Seems like you're doing
a lot of outreach to the local communities.
- I beat the streets, try to get the local people in
that's close by. But, uh,
when I first seen this place, we thought it'd be really
a jam-packed place for the younger crowd.
And we're not really getting that right yet.
- What's a busy day look like?
- We hold 170 people.
We're getting probably half of that,
because this is very new to the Texas people.
But once we get them in here... - Right.
- They love it. - Got to build traffic in here.
- Just got to build traffic, you know?
And we're gonna need a lot more help from the corporate.
Me going five-mile radius, that's good,
but we got to get, you know, radio, TV.
- Right, right.
- We have to have some commercials, you know.
We have to compete with the competitors.
- Yep. - You know?
And right now, I don't think, overall, as a big brand
that we're competing with the competitors.
- The fact that the marketing support from corporate
is not adequate was a little shocking to me.
So I'm gonna have to really think about how we might market
these restaurants differently here in Dallas.
So how long you been with Round Table?
- Two years. - And how has it been?
- It's been pretty good. It's different.
I never did nothing like this before in my life.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Well, went to school, played freshman football.
- What position did you play in football?
- I was a fullback.
I've been in sports all my life.
Got a scholarship to Texas Tech University
and did what I had to do.
- And you got drafted. - And I got drafted,
200 pick overall for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
- I was not surprised he's a football player.
Anthony's a very big guy.
- My last year I actually played was in '94.
- That must have been amazing. But what happened then?
- I tried out with the Redskins in '96 and got cut.
You know, it kind of hurt. So it was bad.
No education, job to job,
not making the money that you really wanted
and trying to take care of your family.
So I ended up hustling in the streets.
- Right.
- And, you know, I got locked up.
You know, I was in the county jail,
you know, 4 1/2 years. - Wow.
- Possession with intent to deliver.
- Yeah.
- Round Table gave me a second chance.
And I ain't ever look back.
- That's fantastic. - I still deal with football.
I mentor some kids from 4 years old to 12 years old,
right before they get to middle school,
and just dealing with them kids and dealing with Round Table,
you know, it gave me my life back.
- Great. - It gave me my life back.
- To have such a stellar career in the NFL and have that come
to an end and enter a dark part of your life
and then emerge from that darkness
into mentoring young athletes is very admirable.
- Now I'm at a job where I can take care of my family
a little better and a stepson. He's special needs.
- How old is he? - He's--he just turned 17.
But he will be with us for the rest of our life.
- Oh, he will? - You know, so--yeah,
so we got a little backyard. We probably want to build him
a little--a little house back there...
- Yeah.
- If we can afford it and everything.
- Yeah. That's awesome. - Yeah.
- I think Anthony's story is incredibly inspirational.
Every CEO loves to hear that their company
gives people second chances. And I'm pretty proud of that.
- Today I got to work a little late.
So it's time for you to go, dude.
- All right, man, I appreciate it.
- Appreciate you. - Thank you very much.
- Thank you. - Best to you.
- All right.
- But it doesn't make me feel good
that there's not enough marketing support
for the brand here in Dallas.
- I got a taco pizza. Who the taco pizza for?
- And that's something that we need to work on
if our expansion plans for Texas are going to succeed.
[upbeat music]
- This is not one of the easiest restaurants to get to.
I am literally in the middle of nowhere.
It took me two flights
and a four-hour car drive to get here.
Today I'm in Fort Bragg in remote northern California.
I'll be working with Laudalina.
This location is in the top 25% of our total system.
It's a very successful restaurant.
I really want to know what's driving that success.
[quirky music]
Hi, guys. I'm looking for Laudalina.
- Oh, I'm Laudalina. Hi.
- Hey. How are you? I'm JJ. It's great to meet you.
- I'm so excited you're here. So change into the uniform...
- Okay. - And meet me in the kitchen.
So your first job is gonna be,
I'm gonna teach you how to do side dishes.
- Okay. - Those are really important,
because they bring our sales up.
- Okay. - First we're gonna start
with the wings. - Okay.
- The wings are under here.
- Okay. - Go ahead and put them in.
Go ahead and put them there.
As they are in the oven, we get one of these scoops.
- Okay. - So we'll put them ready.
Okay, so now when they come out, toss them.
- This looks good.
- Order up, please.
Okay, so we've got two orders for two more wings.
So I'm gonna let you do that.
- Okay.
- So we've got to try to be fast,
because the orders are coming out.
You gotta hurry up and do this fast.
There you go. Put them in.
In my employees, I look for somebody that can move fast,
doesn't want to be a slug.
Things are coming out of the oven, so you got to
go faster and faster.
So you want to grab that, pull them out.
JJ did really good for his first day.
But he needs to move a little faster.
Come on. Fast, fast. Move it. Order up.
Do you have any questions? - Not yet. I have to think.
There's so much going on right now.
- A lot of people think it's an easy job. It's not.
My employees, they don't make that much an hour.
It's hard work basically.
- So if you want to take care of your employees here,
what do you do for them?
- Maybe give them, you know, a gift certificate
to Starbucks. Doesn't take much, and it makes
the morale so much better when you give them something,
'cause then they feel like they're appreciated.
- Got it. Who pays for that for them?
- I do. - You do?
- Yes. - Out of your own pocket?
- Yeah. Sometimes I feel, like, forgotten by corporate.
We don't get much, you know, from them at all.
And they need to be appreciated.
- Got it. - 'Cause they work hard.
- So you care about them.
- They're like my family.
- I really appreciated the fact
that Laud rewarded her employees.
But the fact that she takes her own money
out of her pocket is not something
that I'm very proud of.
I think that's something that corporate
should really play a role in.
- I've been here since 1977. - Over 40 years?
- Yep. So I've had employees from my age,
then I had their daughters,
and their grandkids in shifts working here.
- And did you grow up here? - I came to this country
when I was about ten from Portugal.
So we ended up here, and we never left.
So the next job is gonna be cleaning the grease trap.
So I'm gonna let Trish over here help you do that.
This is JJ. - Nice to meet you.
- She'll tell you what to do.
- All right. - Let's go have some fun.
The grease trap is made
to catch all the stuff that comes through the sink
so it doesn't go through the drain.
- A grease trap to catch congealed fat
is a standard piece of equipment in all restaurants.
But it's not something that I really want to deal with.
- And...
- Ahh, it's horrible!
- Ugh!
- After we took the cover off the grease trap,
I literally felt nauseous.
The smell is so bad from that.
- What we're gonna do is to scoop this
into those containers.
- Okay. Ugh!
- I'm sorry, buddy.
- This has got to be the worst job in the restaurant for sure.
- It is.
- I've never cleaned a grease trap before.
And I will probably never clean a grease trap again.
Ugh.
Tell me how you came to work here.
- I was an active alcoholic
trying to get sober at the time.
So Laud hired me in a time I was struggling.
I had about 18 days sober.
Came into work one morning, and Laud said, "Are you okay?"
And I'm like, "No.
No, I'm not okay, Laud." - Yeah.
- Like, "I just want to get drunk."
And she just said, "Why aren't you going to AA?"
And, you know, that was the day she saved my life.
She called somebody she knew in the program.
And I've been going ever since.
- That's fantastic.
- This Saturday will be four years.
- Congratulations. - Yeah, thank you.
- It's amazing. - Yeah. I've gotten sober.
I am a good and healthy mom.
I graduated college.
I couldn't have done that without her.
You know, like, I would have never--
- She's amazing.
Meeting with Trish was an emotional session for me.
Laud has built an incredible team here
that truly love to support her and ensure her success.
That's why I think this restaurant does so well.
- How was it? - It's been a great day.
- Did you like that?
- I did not like the grease trap.
- One good thing, you don't have to do it every day.
- I won't. - You won't.
[laughter]
- So I was wondering, do you want to come out to my house
and have a few little snacks and meet my grandkids?
- Sure. I'd love to do that. - Okay, let's go.
- Thank you. - Bye.
[upbeat music]
- Come on in.
That's Kinsey.
- Hi. - Hi.
- And that's Colton. - Hi.
- How are you, Colton? Nice to meet you.
- Ever since COVID started, they've been staying with me.
My daughter works six days a week.
And, you know, she's a single mom.
- You guys like living with your grandmother?
- Yeah.
- How often do you go back to Portugal?
- Been once 12 years ago.
- And what was it like? - It was awesome.
I still remember the house we lived in.
At the time, I thought we had a big house.
It was a tiny little thing.
You know, it was a different kind of lifestyle.
- Have you guys ever been to the homeland?
- No. - No?
- Not yet. - The last time I went
was with my mom
and my brother and sisters. Yeah.
- I really want to go.
- So maybe someday I will be retired.
And I have no retirement at Round Table.
- Yeah. - So that's something I got
to start saving for my retirement.
- It's important. - It's very important.
- It's important. - Yeah.
- You guys, take care of your grandmother.
I wish you the best. - Thank you.
- And thank you for all you've done for me today.
Hopefully someday I'll meet you again.
- I hope to see you again. - Thank you.
- See you, guys. Take care. - See ya.
- Thank you.
- One of the things I've learned today
is that all the employees of Round Table Pizza
should be appreciated
like they are in Laud's restaurant.
This little place in the middle of nowhere
is successful because of her. In our focus to modernize,
we can't lose sight of this type of spirit
that makes Round Table Pizza so special.
[gentle piano music]
I had an incredible experience being undercover.
As the CEO, this was the perfect opportunity for me
to really get to know what's happening
in the business. I've been touched
by the stories of the employees that I've met.
But I've also seen things that were tough to take in.
I am more confident now that I can make decisions
that will help move the company forward.
[dramatic music]
Today all of the employees
have been invited to Sacramento, California.
- I don't know exactly what's gonna happen.
It's kind of scary.
- They think they're coming to the set
of the fake documentary to film the final interviews.
But actually, I'm going to reveal my true identity.
- I know that he tried his best.
And that's all I can ask from somebody who's new.
- And they have no idea it's "Undercover Boss."
[quirky music]
♪
Do I look familiar?
- Kinda.
- What's my name? - JJ.
- Yeah, my name's not JJ.
My name is Paul Damico.
- [laughs]
- I'm the CEO of Round Table Pizza.
- Whoa. - Oh, wow.
- And you're on "Undercover Boss."
- And I had you at my house? [laughs]
- Nice to meet you again for the first time.
[laughs]
announcer: Coming up... - Oh, my God.
announcer: The boss delivers life-changing news.
- This is the most wonderful day of my life.
- Steve, I've been touring Round Table Pizzas.
And when I spent time with you,
it was one of my favorite times of the trip.
- Thank you. I'm--I'm honored, man.
- There was one thing that I didn't enjoy.
And that was when you said that the Round Table
had lost its family feel.
- Don't get me wrong. I mean, I love Round Table.
It's what I've chosen to do for my life.
But it makes me feel like
our voices don't mean anything anymore.
- I heard what you said.
And I want you to know that you--you are being heard.
I want you to attend the Round Table Association's Conference
this year. That's gonna get you a seat
at the table so everybody can hear what you have to say.
- Wow, that's awesome.
- We talked about your family. And we talked about
your childhood and how it was a bit tough.
- It was a low part of my life,
you know, being addicted to drugs to being homeless.
I mean, the past in the past. It's gonna stay back there.
So I just look forward to my future.
- When I think about kids and making sure
that their future is better than ours,
I think it starts with a fantastic education.
And so I want to give you $30,000
to start their college fund.
- That's life-changing.
I'm not, you know--I mean, not even for my life;
that's life-changing for their life.
I just wished that my kids
had a chance that I didn't have growing up.
And, you know, I didn't get to go to college.
So that's the greatest thing you could ever do for me, man.
- I'm just glad that I'm in a position to help you do that.
- Thank you. Thank you.
[sniffles]
What just happened? I mean, being able to,
like, put money away for my kids' college.
That's, like, the greatest gift I could have ever got
in my life.
- Hey, Anthony. - Hey. How you doing?
- How are you? I'm all right.
- Okay, I enjoyed spending that day with you,
even though I really couldn't sauce the pizza properly.
Don't laugh at me.
When we met, you thought we should be doing more to promote
Round Table Pizza in Texas. - Mm-hmm.
- I want you to know that I agree with you.
And because of you, we're gonna launch a new PR campaign
to drive more traffic into that restaurant.
How does that sound?
- Sounds great. It sounds great.
- You also shared with me
about the youth league that you're involved in.
- It's a football organization. And I do it for the kids.
Hopefully, they can get a scholarship
and try to, you know, do what I didn't do,
is to get a degree. - I think it's special that you
give back to those young kids.
And because of that, I want to give you $10,000.
And I want you to get helmets and pads and jerseys...
- Oh, man.
- To help that team become
the Round Table Pizza sponsored team.
- This is--this is wonderful.
I mean, them kids is really gonna appreciate it.
- We talked about your stepson. - Now, Kaleb,
that's my--that's my buddy. When you talk to him,
you wouldn't think he was special needs.
But he's gonna be with us for the rest of our lives.
But he's a real good kid. You know, real good kid.
- That story touches my heart.
And because of that, I want to give you $25,000
to help modify your home.
You can do whatever you have to do
to get the house ready for him.
- Wow.
We've put a plan together and trying to figure out.
And I never thought it would happen like this, you know?
I really appreciate it, man. I'm--I'm shocked.
You know, I'm grateful. I'm happy.
Thank you, Mr. Paul. It's crazy. It's crazy.
- Patrick, thank you for the time
that we shared together. You were amazing.
- That means a lot to me.
- The restaurant's a bit old, right? A bit--
- A bit?
- A bit tired. - Yeah.
- Yeah. So one of the things I'm gonna do is,
I'm gonna talk with your franchisee,
and I want to get a feel for his plans
for revamping that restaurant.
- Um, don't get me wrong, I love that restaurant.
And I know it inside and out. But--
- Yep.
- Thank you.
- Patrick, you also shared with me how difficult it was
to work in the restaurant during the pandemic,
the amount of hours that you put in.
- It was just every day all the time.
- And you did all that and took a 30% cut in your pay.
- Yeah.
- You kept that restaurant afloat.
And I want to reward you for that.
I want to give you $10,000.
Thank you for your loyalty to Round Table Pizza.
- I'm speechless. Thank you.
Can I share any of that with my crew?
- They've done just as much.
- That shows you have a big heart.
So I'm gonna give you another $10,000
and share that how you feel fit.
- That means a lot to me. - Thank you.
- You also shared some personal challenges with me
that your dad had recovered from cancer.
- I didn't get to see him for a very long time, so--
- You're pretty close with your dad.
- I am. - Well, one of the things
I'm gonna do for you,
'cause I think relationships are important...
- Mm-hmm.
- So I'm gonna give you $15,000 for a trip for you and your dad
to get some real R&R in a post-pandemic,
post-cancer environment.
- I--I would love that.
I haven't seen him happy in a long time.
- You think this will make him happy?
- Yeah. He'll be speechless.
I'm just in shock.
To have somebody recognize all of that, it just shows
that things will be good again.
- Hey, Laudalina. - Hi.
- I have to say that my time with you was spectacular.
- Thank you.
- One of the things you shared with me
is that you feel a little neglected,
because you have to use your own money
to help the employees feel appreciated and taken care of.
- Yeah.
- 'Cause that is what you are great at.
- Thank you.
- But I want to do something for you.
I want to give you $5,000 in gift cards...
- Oh, my God.
- To take care of those employees.
- Oh, thank you.
- And I want you to use them whenever you see fit.
- Oh, they will be so happy. Thank you. Thank you so much.
- When I met your grandchildren,
we started to talk about how you came from Portugal
and what it was like growing up there as a young girl.
I want you to live out that dream
of taking your grandkids to your homeland.
And so I'm gonna give you $15,000...
- Oh, my God.
- So that you can take them and show them
where you started to become a young woman
that today does nothing but care for people.
- That's a lifetime dream. Thank you so much.
- I think you're the longest-term employee
I've ever met. Talk to me
about your retirement; how's it gonna happen?
- I probably have to work for the rest of my life.
You know, I really don't have a retirement.
- I want to help you with that. - Oh, my gosh.
- So I want to give you $25,000
to start a retirement fund.
You've given 40 years to Round Table Pizza.
So I want you to enjoy your retirement.
And I just want to help kickstart it. Is that okay?
- I have to say,
this is the most wonderful day of my life.
- I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart
for what you do for this company.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much. Thank you.
- I'm in shock still. He was so generous.
I just can't--I just can't believe this happened to me.
[uplifting music]
- My undercover experience has given me the knowledge
to really understand this brand.
And I've learned that we have some amazing people,
a level of loyalty and dedication
that I don't know that I've really ever seen.
And I feel positive and energetic about the future
and how to go about attracting the younger generation.
♪
announcer: Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode.