Undercover Boss did it again. The second week’s show not only delved into work ethics, but equality between the sexes was also involved.
Undercover Boss Goes to Hooters in the 2nd Episode
When Coby Brooks, the son and successor of his father’s business, Hooters, goes undercover, he finds that his idea of increasing his customer base may be the least of his problems.
The show began in the Hooters Board Room, with Coby Brooks announcing to his staff of executives that he was going undercover to train as an entry level employee named Scott, to see what he could do to improve his company. He explained to his staff that his father, Bob (Robert H.) Brooks had a good relationship with all of his employees before he died of a heart Attack in July 2006. Throughout the episode, Coby emphasized how he wanted to continue his father’s legacy.
The Boss Works in the Kitchen
On Coby’s first training day, he was in the kitchen, under an ex-marine manager who put him through the paces, cleaning chicken wings, lifting dishwasher trays of dishes and glasses, setting up large containers of food and the Hooters special chicken wing sauces for food preparation, and various other duties that the undercover boss could not keep up with. Coby broke some glasses. At the end of the day, Coby was exhausted, and the manager did not want to keep him
Coby also tried training as a manager. After telling Coby that the waitresses were all a bunch of prima donnas, his training manager had each of the waitresses eat a plate of beans off of the counter without utensils before they could leave for home. Showing a personal code of ethics, Coby felt that this was demeaning and disrespectful. He later reprimanded this manager when his identity was revealed at the end of the show.
The next manager that he trained under was a female. The female manager wound up getting a two week all expenses paid vacation to the place of her choice, because Coby felt sorry for the stress she was living under, not being able to see her children. And he could see how much more empathetic she was to the waitresses.
The Eye-Opener?
But, perhaps the biggest eye-opener was when he went out on the streets with some of the waitresses on a public relations mission. He was able to get real man and woman-on-the- street public opinion about the name Hooters, about the attire of the waitresses, and the Hooters image over-all.
Although this may have seemed obvious to many Undercover Boss viewers, and the Hooters websites seem to be well-aware of their image, Coby seemed shocked and crestfallen when he was criticized during his PR campaign with the girls. Yet, Hooters remains a success, worldwide. Hmmm.
Yana Marshall - Yana Ungermann-Marshall is a writer, artist and Information Professional currently working at Altadena Public Library as a Reference ...
