'Actually, I DO know something about this business': Moment fast food 'Undercover Boss' shut down burger restaurant on the spot
- Revealed his secret identity in the middle of an episode after manager threatened to beat an employee for not working hard enough
- Manager defended himself saying 'If I don't scream at them, they don't listen to me'
The point of the CBS show 'Undercover Boss' is that the CEOs are supposed to stay 'undercover' as they work in the trenches of their own companies, their identities hidden from their employees.
But Rick Silva, the head of Checkers & Rally's drive-in hamburger restaurants, was so horrified at the abusive tone of one of his managers in Homestead, Florida, that he broke character and revealed himself in the middle of the episode.
And then he shut down the restaurant for the night, stunning the employees and shocking the manager, known only in show as 'Stevens.'
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Board room to drive through: Rick Silva, the CEO of the Rally's/Checkers hamburger chain, went undercover to work in his own restaurants
Revealing talk: When Silva takes the manager outside to talk about his behaviour, he initially keeps up his undercover identity, but then pats him on the shoulder and takes him for a walk to explain the truth
Shocked: The abusive manager is stunned when Silva reveals he is the head of the company
Silva's undercover name was Alex Garcia, and he posed as a failed pharmacy owner from Philadelphia.
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While working alongside an employee named Todd at the fry station of the restaurant, Todd is in the middle of telling Silva about his ambitions to be a chef, when Stevens yells at Todd to stop talking and cook the meat.
At one point, Stevens threatened Todd outside and beat him for not working hard enough.
When Silva questioned the employee about why he allowed himself to be treated so badly, Todd replied that he had to keep his job so he could support his mother and he worried that if he stood up for himself, he would be fired.
In response to Steven's abusive behaviour and barking orders at his employees, Silva responds by asking Stevens to speak with him outside.
When he asked why Stevens yelled at his employees, the manager explains: 'If I don't scream at them, they don't listen to me.'
Gaining confidence, the manager added: 'I'm not going to let you continue telling me I'm disrespecting my crew. Have you been in the fast food business before?'
Keeping up: Silva said he learned it was hard to keep up with his best employees during the lunchtime rush
Empire: Rick Silva, manages one of the largest fast food chains in the country with more than 800 stores in 28 states
After initially attempting to not answer the question directly, Silva, who manages one of the largest fast food chains in the country with more than 800 stores in 28 states, shot back:
'I have been in the restaurant business for over 20 years. And I've been in the fast food business for over 20 years. I'm CEO for this company.'
Stevens' face shows that he is clearly stunned and he opens his mouth in disbelief, looking away.
'Right here, right now, we're going to shut the restaurant down,' Silva says.
When he calls the employees out to inform them of the news, they are afraid the closing will be permanent and their jobs are lost.
However, Silva reopened the store with a new general manager the next morning and sent the offending manager in for more training.
'I came to the conclusion that he wasn’t prepared to run that shift and wasn’t convinced that when I walked away the restaurant would provide the level of service we need,' he told the trade magazine Nation's Restaurant News later.
He also accepted responsibility for the manager's poor behavior, saying it was his own fault as CEO that the company didn't have the proper training procedures in place.
As for Todd, at the end of the show, Silva awarded him with $15,000 to take care of his mother and money to finish culinary school.
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