I also witnessed firsthand the physical and mental work they require. Until Undercover Boss, I was not aware of how heavily some stories rely on these types of promotions. Promotions like $5 Fridays drive sales and are appreciated by loyal and new guests. We must do a better job of getting franchisees and their team members to embrace and rally around the vision – prior to execution. We need to work harder next time to more clearly explain the “why” behind what we are doing. My big takeaway here was that we can’t assume franchisees and their team members are going to be as excited about our strategic decisions as we are at the corporate level. During the undercover journey, I learned our goal and intention was not properly communicated to our franchise system prior to rollout. Our introduction of Clean Blends was a wise and sound strategy for Smoothie King. When introducing new products, communicate earlier and more clearly Getting a first-hand look at what Smoothie King’s guests see and what our team members and franchisees do daily was an incredibly moving and humbling experience.īelow is a sample of my main discoveries. The lessons I learned, the new outlook I gained and the incredible team members I was blessed to “work” alongside were nothing short of remarkable. In the end, the previous bosses were 100% right.
#BEST UNDERCOVER BOSS EPISODES HOW TO#
So, this wasn’t about training or learning how to make our smoothies or run stores. I grew the brand to 130 stores there and was extremely familiar with our day-to-day operations. Before I was CEO, I was Smoothie King's first international master franchisee in South Korea. My Key Takeawaysįirst, I must clarify that unlike some of the other bosses featured on Undercover Boss, I had walked in a franchise owner’s shoes. Going undercover provided a unique opportunity to make key discoveries, pinpoint problems and implement solutions now as we continue on our trajectory to becoming the world’s largest and best smoothie franchise. Now, we have grown to more than 1,200 units.Īt this moment, we are at a pivotal point.
When I bought the company in 2012, we were at 533 locations. My goal is to grow Smoothie King to be bigger than McDonald’s, inspiring people to live healthy and active lifestyles around the world. So I sucked it up, got over myself and took the leap. I thought to myself, “Maybe going undercover is a golden opportunity to see for myself how our employees are adjusting to the new operational procedures, and even how guests are responding to the healthier options.” I also wanted to see if our brand’s vision, culture and guidelines are being followed.Ĭonsidering all the positive outcomes my undercover journey could have for Smoothie King’s franchisees, team members and guests, it seemed almost selfish not to do it. On the other hand, previous “bosses” who had gone undercover told me the experience and the resulting new perspective they gained made them better leaders, ultimately improving their respective brands.Īt the time we filmed, we had recently introduced our Clean Blends initiative system-wide. Do I really want millions of eyes and ears focused on me disguised as a millennial hipster for nearly an hour of national prime time TV? This was not something I ever imagined doing as a CEO. As someone who prefers to stay out of the spotlight, taking part in “Undercover Boss” was way out of my comfort zone.
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