‘Undercover’ Boosts Brands?
YouGov’s BrandIndex examined three establishments featured on the hit program to learn if the exposure persuaded consumers that these were places they’d consider working for.
• 7-Eleven took a decent ride upward and has actually settled above where it was before the show aired.
• White Castle experienced a substantial leap over a three-week period, which has since tumbled close to pre-show levels.
• Hooters enjoyed a mild bump, only to settle back to its previous level.
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‘Undercover Boss’ teaches a valuable management lesson
MBA lesson coming from Business Matters:
At Hooters the CEO saw a manager abuse the serving staff, and at White Castle, the CEO observed the lack of teamwork that existed at many of the restaurants. Additionally, White Castle CEO David Rite saw how policies and procedures imposed by his top staff just did not work in practice.
The lesson is that for the CEO, your perception of the business is vastly different from that of your employees. Further, the problems you think staff is having are a whole lot different than their actual problems. In one case, a manager at Hooters thought he was doing a great job because he was making his sales numbers, but his staff despised him and morale was in decline.
It is amazing to me to see entrepreneurs who conduct their regular visits to various parts of their operation, see everything looking great and staff appearing so happy, then leave thinking everything is going well. However, management knew the owner was going to visit, so of course the place was cleaned up and everyone was on their best behavior.
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‘Undercover Boss’: What Execs Can Learn Flipping Burgers
White Castle was founded on the belief that happy employees make for happy customers. The company’s employee retention statistics are impressive. About 20 percent of its 11,000 employees have been with the company for over a decade, and about a quarter of those have over 25 years of service.
bnet has an interview with Dave Rife, owner and executive board member of White Castle and the oldest member of “the family’s” fourth generation. Here are the highlights:
Tobak: White Castle was the first fast-food hamburger chain. Given what McDonalds and others have done in terms of corporate growth, do you have any regrets?
Rife: Our people are first, that’s what it’s all about for us. We have a slow and consistent growth model that has taken us from one restaurant in 1921 to 420 today. As well as the bakeries, the meat plants, the frozen hamburger facilities, and we’ve done all that without taking on any debt. That’s a big key to survival especially in today’s economy.
Tobak: White Castle seems to be a throwback to a time when employees were treated differently, like part of the family. How do you pull that off?
Rife: My great grandfather founded this company on the belief that happy team members make for happy customers and it still holds true today. That’s the one thing that, as a company, we’ve been able to embrace, hang on to, and stay true to that course. We really do try to make everybody feel like they’re part of the family.
Tobak: Can you be more specific about how you do that?
Rife: We try to treat everybody with respect, the same way we would like to be treated. We have a long term view of what we think our business should be, and that long term view enables us to focus on those people that are behind the counter. We don’t sit back and talk about our earnings per share; we’re looking way down the road.
You know, we sat down a long time ago as a family and came up with what we call our vision, values, and guiding principles, which is the cornerstone that we base our decisions on and run our company by. Our team members are the center of that.
Tobak: Undercover Boss seems like a risky proposition. With such a conservative business model, what was your motivation for doing the show?
Rife: When they first contacted us, we sat down as a family and had a discussion. We decided the opportunity to really find out what’s going on and live the life of our frontline people and see what we can take away from that to make our organization stronger was huge. The more we can learn about that, their trials, their tribulations, and what we can do to make things easier for them, to help them succeed, the better off we all are.
Also, as a family member and owner, when I go out in the field, people know I’m coming. I’m not saying you don’t see reality, but you see maybe a polished version of reality. To truly understand what your people go through, you’ve got to live their lives.
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Great-Grandson of White Castle Creator Featured on CBS ‘Undercover Boss’
- Image via Wikipedia
Why would the head of the uber-successful White Castle burger chain risk public humiliation by going on the hit CBS TV show Undercover Boss, and possibly bungling even the simplest tasks?
“I wanted to get an honest look at what happens on the front lines,” says Dave Rife, the oldest member of the fourth generation of the family that originated White Castle, the world’s first fast-food hamburger chain, started by Rife’s great grandfather back in 1921.
Among the things Rife learned? That the individual restaurants could be managed better — there were incidents where too many employees had nothing to do and just stood around idly. He learned that even the simplest tasks, like taking a drive-through order, can be difficult.
But most important, he learned that many Americans truly care about their employers and are happy and dedicated to their jobs. They told him some very poignant stories about their lives when he was undercover. One woman who had been with White Castle more than 20 years confessed that she was concerned about her weight and health, and said it was the happiest day of her life, when, after the reveal, Rife set up a healthy living program for her. Another employee who was interested in food science had the initiative to concoct a burger sauce and let undercover Rife sample it. His resourcefulness was later rewarded with a scholarship. And a very engaging and supportive manager was given financial support for the special needs of his beloved son. Viewers find it almost impossible to watch this show with dry eyes.
Read the full story on AOL.
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UNDERCOVER BOSS “White Castle” Episode 4 Preview
Watch a sneak peek of the new episode of UNDERCOVER BOSS “White Castle” Episode 4 which airs Sunday, Feb. 28 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Episode Synopsis: UNDERCOVER BOSS “White Castle” Episode 4 – Dave Rife, the owner of White Castle, goes undercover in his own company where he accidentally ruins thousands of hamburger buns after mishandling equipment in one of his bakeries, and also discovers low morale among his employees at a local factory, on UNDERCOVER BOSS, Sunday, Feb. 28 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
Read more: UNDERCOVER BOSS “White Castle” Episode 4 (David Rife – CEO) | Daemon’s TV
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VIDEO: WHITE CASTLE OWNER BECOMES AN ‘UNDERCOVER BOSS’
Dave Rife, the owner of White Castle, is the latest head honcho to go undercover in his own company on “Undercover Boss,” and ET has your sneak peak!
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Local eateries star in ‘Undercover Boss’
The middle-aged trainee serving White Castle hamburgers in Covington and Hamilton last July wasn’t a new employee after all. He was the “Undercover Boss.”
Dave Rife, an executive of the Columbus-based family-owned fast food chain, is the star of the episode that airs Sunday. It was shot in two area restaurants and in the Covington plant that prepares the tiny, square frozen hamburgers and cheeseburgers shipped to grocery stores.
In Covington, Rife did an overnight shift cooking and cleaning at the busy Third Street store near I-75.
“That place was jumping. Twice we got call-in orders for a couple hundred White Castles going to a wedding reception. And when I was leaving, about 2 a.m., there was a bride and groom in the dining room,” says Rife, nephew of CEO Bill Ingram.
At Hamilton’s new High Street restaurant, he worked lunch at the counter and griddle.
“They taught me the proper technique how to take burgers off the grill, and how to clean the stainless steel counters and most of the restaurant. Most of the team members (employees) do whatever it takes to makes sure our customers have a good experience,” Rife says.
“I met some really amazing people down there. Having worked with them, I understand why they’re so successful. They do a great job,” he says.
Rife encourages any company owner to go undercover for TV.
“We got some great insights into the day-to-day operation,” he says.
“Usually when the bosses come into a store, all the people are on their best behavior and everything is clean, to make a good impression. If you want to know the true reality, this is the way to do it,” he says.
Read the full story on Cincinnati
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‘Undercover Boss’ works at Hamilton White Castle
Dave Rife found himself behind the counter of a White Castle restaurant for a second time. This time cameras were following him.
Rife, the executive of White Castle restaurants, was commissioned by the CBS reality television show, “Undercover Boss” and worked at multiple White Castle restaurants for 10 days in the month of June 2009. He said he had once worked at White Castle as an employee about 10 years prior to the filming.
“When I started my career with White Castle, I started behind that counter,” Rife said. “A lot of technology has changed but the basic job itself is the same.”
“I learned that there’s some opportunities for our company to capitalize on,” Rife said.
“I would call it an emotional roller coaster,” Rife said. “We have long days. I worked all three shifts, met some remarkable people. We covered a lot of ground.”
Read the full story on Middletown Journal
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