Undercover Boss Shuts Down Business During Latest Episode (VIDEO)
"Undercover Boss" had a first this weekend: boss Rick Silva actually shut down one of his own restaurants.
The CEO of Checkers and Rally's drive-through restaurants had a shock when he visited a shop in Florida. The manager there was demanding and yelling at employees. At one point, one employee told Silva that being yelled at repeatedly made him "feel worthless."
That's when Silva decided to intervene, pulling the manager aside to question his method. When asked why he yelled at employees, manager Stevens explained, "You have to run them, not let them run you. If I don't scream at them, they don't listen to me."
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Silva then made the decision to shut down the restaurant to give his employees the proper training, which nearly all of them were lacking. As it turned out, Stevens was only halfway through assistant manager training before being put into the role of manager.
When the employees learned of the closure, they panicked and expressed concern for their jobs.
Silva reassured them, though, that they would be compensated and still be employed throughout their training. At the end of the episode, Silva confirmed that Stevens was being retrained under the company's new guideline of respect for all employees.
There are currently over 800 Checkers and Rally's restaurants across the nation. The two companies merged in 1999 after nearly 10 years of having identical menus and design concepts. According to the Checkers website, "Silva joined Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. as President and CEO in February of 2007."
"One of the things that makes Checkers so awesome is the exciting growth opportunities that we have. So many people out there would eat our food more often if we were more convenient to where they work and live. We owe it to all our customers, die-hards and casual eaters alike, to build more restaurants that are convenient and accessible," says Mr. Silva.
It is clear from "Undercover Boss" that Silva is working to improve the quality of Checkers and Rally's for both customers and employees alike.
