the economy is going through tough times many hardworking Americans blame wealthy CEOs out of touch with what's going on in their own companies but some bosses are willing to take Extreme Action to make their businesses better each week we follow the boss of a major corporation as they go undercover in their own company this week the CEO of 7eleven this convenience store Empire spans five continents they've turned the local Corner Store into a global corporate icon the boss will trade in his executive office and personal putting greens for a mop and a pot of Joe
oh my goodness oh what's going on here he just goofed he'll assume a new identity hi I'm Danny hey nice to meet you Danny and pose as a new recruit this thing moves fast you got to keep up I like it would be easier if there was just a sink right here pipe dreams honey Mr Denny wasn't working very hard y I'm getting a little tired by working on the front line he'll find out what's really going on inside his company we have to get rid of these old Donuts those items are supposed to be
going to Charities I don't understand it we've got to fix that he will find the good I'm so thankful for this country which allow me to survive and be happy he will find the bad we've got lights out in the back room in the store and that's a safety issue place is just in bad shape and he'll discover the unsung heroes that make his company run Loris you're amazing how will his co-workers react when they find out he's really the boss my name's Joe depento and uh I'm the CEO here at 7-Eleven I don't know
what to think God bless him for that and how will it change their lives this will change the way I work every day as CEO in our company find out next on Undercover Boss headquartered in Dallas Texas 7-Eleven has more than 36,000 stores worldwide overseeing this 17 billion business is one man the baron of the big bite the Sultan of the Slurpee the king of convenience my name is Joe depinto and I'm the president and CEO of 7-Eleven 7-Eleven is a 24hour convenience store it's open 7 days a week 365 days a year the brand
7-Eleven is 82 years old we use a franchise model whereby we partner with independent operators and they distribute our products and we support them with our support staff back in Dallas there's roughly 200,000 plus Associates that operate 7-Eleven business and my role is obviously to ensure that this business is uh moving forward and profitable I'm originally from Chicago my father was a blue collar worker I started my first job delivering newspapers when I was 13 years old you know I've always thought it's important to work hard and I basically worked my way up to the
top my background you know I come from the military and was a graduate of West Point the time that I spent in the Army was formative for me the Army was all about ensuring that you properly led the people that were assigned to you and that you took care of them that's the approach I take every day as CEO the people that support me are my family uh I had my wife and four boys nice grab man when I first met Joe I thought he was a smart officer in the Army and people looked up
to him so I knew there was great things to come but I never could have imagined where he is now [Applause] going here at 7-Eleven we're on a mission we're on a mission to make our company better one thing I took away from when I was in the military was we always had our equipment working so that we could be Mission ready and it's the same thing in running stores in particular I want to find out how the communication from our store support center in Dallas is Flowing down through our organization and ultimately to our
stores that's why I'm going undercover I'm going to the executive committee meeting I think they're going to be really surprised when I tell them what I'm about to do I see you guys put me right at the head of the table right let's go ahead and get started I called this impromptu meeting today I'll let you guys know that I'll be going undercover within our organization I'll be spending a week in our stores in our distribution centers on the front lines do you think you'll learn anything from this experience that might cause us to take
a different look at our strategy moving forward you don't want to know the answer to that look I'll be focusing on spending time in the field where the rubber meets the road I'm going to see what we're not doing well and that's only going to make us better in the long [Music] run all right I'm going to be gone for a week okay [Music] honey when I'm undercover my Alias is going to be Danny Rossy my cover story is that I used to be in real estate I'm out of work and I'm looking for new
opportunities I'll be telling my co-workers that a camera crew will be documenting my journey as I try entry-level jobs at some of the biggest businesses in [Music] America hi how you doing have a [Music] reservation I'm look looking forward to going undercover but I have some apprehension cuz I know that I'm not going to do great in every job that that I try it's 5:30 a.m. I'm here in Shirley New York and this store is the epicenter of coffee for 711 coffee is a huge business for us we sell over a million cups a day
hello Dolores you Danny I'm Danny how are you do is this for me put these on please this store sells more than $2500 cups of coffee a day more than any other in our system so I'm here to learn what their secret is is it the location is it our people is it the type of coffee I need to figure out what makes their coffee business so great so I can share it with our other stores okay I have to teach you the ropes I need to learn the whole the whole program let's do the
easy stuff good morning V good morning we'll take this one down we dump the filters hi Eugene good morning yeah you can dump this guy good morning good morning doly like you know everybody here well I've been here a long time how long have you been doing this 18 years wow hey you can do this guy okay seems like it would be easier if there was just like a a sink right here pipe dreams honey a sink over here already he's coming up with all these ideas good morning this store is unbelievably busy and I
was a little apprehensive starting out but once I got together with Dolores she made me feel a lot better you could start that one all right I don't want to let her down he's getting busy he hasn't seen anything yet the rush hour is beginning Danny we got customers behind you oh excuse me I'm sorry sir Danny this one could be changed got to take the other one out first hey where you been oops Danny okay I need French vanilla regular where is he taking care of the coffee business at the store is really challenging
the pace of it there's a lot of interaction with customers you got to keep the coffee right it's a lot of work there boom what's going on here how that happen oh my goodness a for cry out loud take care of the customers where is he Danny you just goofed I did yes you just mixed it with the French vanill for the decaf hazelnut oh yes I did okay this is no good anymore this is no good oh Danny's a little bit mushy mush until he gets into the groove of things he's Amazed by the
amount of coffee that we s hi Russell I got to hit you you know I got to hit you lores knows all the customers she knows them by name she's like everybody's mom or grandmother hey M hi you Nikki is he your son no he's a customer he's a pain in a neck customer her attitude is upbeat and positive how long have you known Dolores oh 20 years now but we are good friends arino she's very humble Dolores she's been through a lot she has five children no kid yeah and she's got a only one
kidney so she's on dialysis twice a we and Friday y she won't let her kids donate cuz she's afraid that something will happen to them and they'll only have one kidney finding out about Dolores really hit me pretty hard she seems to have so much energy and and she's so positive about things to have such a huge health issue is really surprising hey Dolores yes Susan told me that uh you go for dialysis yes how do you do that and do this is it hard on you it's some process I'll tell you you know I'm
waiting for a donor Dolores yes you're amazing no I'm not have a person like dolor in there that makes me feel real good hey good morning Tom that's why we're selling 2500 cups of coffee not because we have great coffee but because we have Dolores there I hope this wasn't an interview for Danny because is a little slow but a smaller store less high volume I think he'll do it good luck Danny coming up making the perfect pastry proves too much for Joe to handle what happened here Wheels all fell off man yeah we got
to buy some more Wheels right maybe we can use that first paycheck and later Joe finds it hard to swallow how much food is going to waste those items are supposed to be going to charities [Music] Joe depinto is the CEO of 7-Eleven he has gone undercover in his own company Bo what's going on here his journey continues at a bakery in Baltimore we have a large organization not only you have stores but we've got a network of commissaries and bakeries we make over 60 million pastries a year our organization is really trying to expand
freshly made Foods in our stores and bakery items are a key today I'm at our largest Bakery here in Baltimore I'll be looking at quality assurance and in particular be working on the line with some of our uh employees hey how are you I'm looking for um Phil I'm Phil how you hi Phil I'm Danny Phil handles the bakery training department so I'm definitely interested in seeing how he handles new employees let's do this let's do it yes all of this gorgeous dough is done up here this is what called the in feeder pick up
this tray like this flip it over it's like you fing up a sheet we're all about the perfect donut you do so how does the dough feel you feel like it's like yeah it feels like a uh don't say it but right now I'm putting the fiddles on the line so we're going to make fritters and they putting five across five across all of them look at them nice and perfect you can use your own technique oh you you you missing the spot you got to keep up with it man you got keep up always
remember put five across I missed a spot man this thing moves fast this a nice speed Miss three I know got to go on the about to get some flour I'll be right back sure you got it [Music] yeah boom can need a little help my man Bove as soon as Phil left I couldn't keep up need a little help the line was simply moving too fast and I couldn't get the five fritters in a row wow what happened here we got a lot of missing pieces Phil when you left Wheels all fell off man
the wheel did but we're back at it yeah we got to buy some more Wheels right maybe we can use that first paycheck how you like that it's clear that this is a tough job you know trying to keep up with Phil is very difficult you got way too many going by all righty Bill how long you been here oh I've been here for8 years man what did you do before you were here uh I was a United States Marine Corps now I was in the Army for a few years what was your specialist field
artillery and you here just like I am yeah well at least we we throwing on some real ammo now some nice Donuts Phil's a great trainer you know it's clearly he had a background uh as a sergeant and the Marines sometime you might have to pick up three in your hands or four that's what I'm talking about there you go cuz he's had an outstanding uh training approach I was nervous about coming here cuz I didn't know how I was going to do so what changed your mind well you guys are helping me out I
appreciate that it's like the Marine Cor in the Army all we work together yes this the break room yes it's some of my artwork I was telling you about oh that's great Phil where' you learn how to do that I was 6 years old when I start out to draw then we going get my art book there go your prfect donut it's a big dut yeah left that donut Phil's a funny guy and he works really hard he's also a really talented guy don't take it to no Museum you might it oh that's great I
really enjoyed it there was no corporate talk or anything like that it was making donuts and we're having fun cheers [Music] yep I got a real passion around soldiers having Phil in charge of this unit really sets me at ease and I know that the products coming out of this Bakery are up to the high standards that we're setting here at 7-Eleven now I'm heading back to New York where I'll be working the night shift at one of our stores one of the challenges we have is attracting folks to work on the night shift these
are the folks that are really the anchor for 7-Eleven and allow us to be a 247 business the goal for me tonight is to spend time with the store clerks and really find out why they choose to work the night shift it's important for me to figure out how we keep these folks motivated hey how are you I'm Danny Dan my name is I you you can just follow me and I'll show you what to do and you can change over here okay okay okay Mr Danny ready to work so your job is to smile
and greet all the customer stock merchandise and perform all the regular cleaning activities you have to pick all secret pieces and glass and if you find any money just leave it on the ground and I'll take care of it okay very go man there's a dime I like paper Bells only Mr Danny seems like a nice guy but he wasn't working very [Music] hard yep I'm getting a little tired so I'll make him do some work if you have to keep these rest from clean four five times a night this night shift is a tough
time to work because you're preparing for the next day yeah it's little dirty you're cleaning the store you're putting product on shelves you're taking care of a thousand plus customers a day so the challenge for me will be keeping that energy [Music] up so these are our new sandwiches and they go behind the old ones okay okay soash you've been here for 4 years yes sir why do you work the night shift cuz I can go to school easily so nice much easier for me oh you go to school uh I'm getting my Bachelor's degree
really yeah in criminal justice wellow that's pretty cool wakas is a fine young man he's been putting himself through college he's working hard to try to be successful all the things he's doing I did when I was younger okay what are we doing next first of all you have to get rid of these old Donuts so we're going to throw these away mhm I'm a little upset that we're throwing away Donuts you throw them away every day every night but yeah just wow 7-Eleven has several programs for perishable food items and those items need to
be going to Charities not being thrown into the garbage I don't like throwing stuff away uh me too I know what cost with just following Direction but it's frustrating to see so much food go to waste we got 6,500 stores in the US that's a lot of Charities we could be giving to something that I'm very passionate about I don't understand it we've got to fix that [Music] okay Danny here's my dad hi Danny how are you nice to meet you yeah my dad brings me food whenever I forget my lunch pad home so today
your first day so we treat you like a guest okay I appreciate that help yourself I'm hungry how about you yeah me too we've been working hard oh this is great where you from originally M I'm from Pakistan moved to us 7 years ago 4 years at 7-Eleven mhm how do you like it I never considered this job is my apartment and job do you think that your job is a dead end that's what I was thinking if you start working for a sales associate you have to be a sales associate for all your life
you can't grow you can't be a manager so you don't think there's other opportunities yeah no there's no other opportunities I'm not going to recommend someone to come and work for S 11 there's not much room for you to grow okay Mr Denny you're done for tonight okay thank you it was nice to work with you oh thanks it's early morning feeling pretty tired but learned a bunch of things I enjoyed working with what cost but the thing that just absolutely hurt was the fact that he doesn't believe that he has an opportunity with 7-Eleven
great people make great companies and we can't let them think their job's a dead end we can't win the battle without great [Music] soldiers coming up Joe discovers a store that doesn't meet 7-Eleven standards and he decides to take action place is just a bad and later Joe's undercover mission is put in Jeopardy I'm going to the seat of sou Lake Igor said we were going to a store in South Lake that's where I live Joe depinto CEO of 7-Eleven is a boss undercover in his own company his employees think he's taking part in a
documentary about someone trying out entry-level jobs his journey continues at a busy store in New York State this is a pretty special 7-Eleven store this store is one of the highest grossing stores in our system hi I'm Danny nice to meet you Danny I'm Lori worldwide we've got 36 000 sores so this is pretty big store for us most of our stores operate independently they rely on headquarters to provide them with equipment product and allaround support my goal today is to find out how the communication from our store support center in Dallas how it's flowing
out to our stores we keep the front windows as clean as possible this is something that we do periodically through the day because many people pass through our doors and what you do you know you have to kind of watch out for the customers okay how are you Hi how are you Hi how are you you EXC excuse me it was really good to see all of our customers coming to the store but I have to admit it was really hard to get as much done as I would have liked to yeah that looks great
it looks much better in probably about you know 10 minutes it's going to be all full of fingerprints again but we do the best that we can Lord let me know that I'd be handling a lot of floor duties keeping hot food items fresh sweeping floors and stocking shelves okay now that you're done with this I'm going to just take it into the office and let you do a maintenance call for me okay headquarters are responsible for maintenance at each store if there's a problem they call us and we'll send our folks out to fix
it I have some lights that are out got a couple here how long have those been um I have it in the office when they were here last I think they were here last like 3 weeks ago Lori said that have some lights out on the inside of the store and then all the lights in the back room are out what's going to happen is I'm I'm going to give you the number and you're going to call them and then you're going to just tell them what the the problem is [Music] [Applause] okay calling 7-Eleven
M that's my name is Jerry maybe we have have your five digit store number please yeah hi Jerry this is store 23754 all right what can we do for you we've got uh four light bulbs out we also have a light sensor um in the back room that's out thank you sir our support team rates maintenance issues by priority P1 being the highest priority and P5 being the lowest and what's that classified as what uh it's just their standard monthly visit it's called a P5 standard monthly visit so that means they're not going to come
so those lights will be out for the remainder of the month right the issue is support from maintenance was going to be sometime within the next 30 days all right sir anything else we can do for you uh no bye-bye as far as the lighning contract I've run into a few glitches with it that I haven't made me very happy I'm going to make a call to our coo and we're going to get that solved right now place is just in bad shape [Music] Daren hey Darren it's Joe we've got lights out in the back
room in the store we got four lights out on the sales floor now I think you'd probably agree that um lights out on the sales floor need to be fixed immediately um because they're a customer sensitive issue and lights out in the back room are a safety issue we we get that addressed and um make sure that's handled appropriately all right okay thanks made a call and Lor's going to get a nice surprise cuz her lights are going to get fixed really [Music] quickly okay Danny great job thank you very much I think you're done
for the day thank you okay good luck to you thanks so much we really need to do everything we can to support our stores it's really important to me and it's vital for the future of our company [Music] I'm leaving New York and I'm flying to Dallas for my last undercover job tonight I'll be working on a delivery truck making deliveries to our stores the distribution folks are really the unsung heroes customer has no idea all the work that goes into getting their products to their stores it's critically important so I'm looking forward to spending
time with these folks tonight hey guys I'm looking for uh eigor e hi are you eigor yes hi I'm Danny hey nice to meetting you Danny how are you doing I'm good how are you I guess I'm going to be uh training with you tonight no problem I will show you everything I know okay so you ready ready to go let's go my friend all right so we going to Siberia room welcome in it's cold for me it's like a Russian summertime you know a Russian summertime yeah it's kind of you see I like it
where are you from have you seen the movie Bor yeah I'm I'm from Kazakhstan so that's why you like the cold well yeah there is a there is a cold winter yeah so now we go to pick up my truck my truck is my baby you know I love it like religiously if I would have a long hands I could hug it I will you will see that's my baby is my horse okay be careful all right that's great let the fun [Music] begin do you got a family yeah I have two kids I have
a granddaughter how about your wife I'm working night she's working daytime okay this our first stop yeah okay you just pull it out be careful don't don't fall from the Le gear roller coaster Six Flag woo you like it huh yeah not bad yeah okay ready Danny this is Jacob Jacob this is Danny hi Danny Jacob nice to meet you Denny is going to be my partner I just training him and uh you might see him tomorrow after tomorrow whatever he take care of you guys oh very much definitely does his job very well listen
I just do my job nothing else nothing extra guys well all the best take it easy you don't miss being with your family working the night shift I tell you my wife I don't see her the whole week right so we only meet each other for two days Saturday and Sunday less time to argue and we are like lowers we have only two days to love each other no way to argue you [Music] see I'm enjoying this a lot this guy's itic enthusiastic positive he's the kind of guy we need to have working for us
all right number two let's do it yeah where's your next door about 5 6 minutes to drive we going to the seat of south lake eigor said we were going to a store in South Lake that's where I live who's the third shift guy here over here see I go into this store all the time everyone there knows me including the franchise owner you see that at this cool I will need you to step out please I was hoping back up the truck to the store and I saw the franchisee in the store who I
know I wanted to make sure that I didn't blow my cover so I told eore that I was going to use the restroom eor is Distributing the product as soon as he's done I'll get back in the truck and we'll get out of here without my cover being blown bye [Music] guys how do you stay so motivated I mean it's the middle of the night well I'm I'm living in American Dream now America is the best country in the world you guys just do not really know how blessed you are I've heard that many times
ah I guess you got to be from somewhere else in real life because you take it for granted I came in us with no English no knowledge of any culture 50 bucks in my pocket you came here with $50 in your pocket and I survive that's amazing that's the story about America that's not story about me I'm blessed I'm really blessed and now you ask me why I'm so motivated because I'm so so thankful for this country which allowed me to survive and be happy okay this has been a great night and Igor's been a
great guy to be with well Denny that's how it worked that was a real pleasure thank you my friend thank you thank you thanks a lot I've always been someone who's very committed to the business and to see folks working as hard as they were made me feel feel great as a CEO and makes me want to work even harder in my job to ensure we're giving them all that we can to support them in what they do coming up Joe summons his co-workers to headquarters it's frustrating cuz I don't know what's going on and
reveals his true identity my name's Joe depento and uh I'm the CEO here at 7-Eleven [Music] now my week undercover has come to an end and I'm going to report back to our executive committee and tell them all that I've learned both the good things I learned as well as the things that we absolutely need to take action on hey everyone well the experience was one that I don't get to see a lot as CEO what do you think you learned that because you were undercover that you couldn't have learned as Joe depinto the CEO
well um going undercover tells me that we have more work to do everyone knows we have a program where we give away sandwiches and bakery items to Charities but in the store I was in we threw those products away we've got these great programs but they haven't reached the stores got to get that resoled another experience we've been working extremely hard on facilities of maintenance called you Darren that one time when we were in the store hey Darren lights out on the sales floor need to be fixed immediately I think we got to zero in
on what the stores issues are that's ultimately going to enable us to put the right fixes in place every single employee I met was amazing what we have to do is better support them okay thanks [Music] everyone now's the time for me to reveal my true identity to the folks that I've worked with the past week it's frustrating cuz I don't know what's going on maybe I'll be in some kind of [Music] [Applause] trouble how are you I'm okay how are you w wakas you remember me uh you let me see you remember me I'm
trying to place you I don't I yeah I don't know I'm not Danny iiz it now you were good at Danny my name's Joe depento and uh I'm the CEO uh here at 7-Eleven get out of Dodge you're the big shot but I wanted to break away way and I wanted to spend some time in our stores undercover trying to get a real look at what the operation of our store is without people knowing that I'm the CEO wellas I think it's incredible that you're getting your education and still working the night shift at our
stores for four years that's amazing oh thank you but I want you to know this we were talking about your future and you told me that you didn't think you had any more opportunity with 7 I never considered this job is my apartment and job no that's not the thing but I want to go back to my country and help the poor people yeah people who are struggling for their Justice people struggling for their human rights I think that's awesome I commend you for it but I want you to know this you decide what you
want to do if you decide you want to stay here with our company I will personally look after you as a mentor and I'll try to help you succeed here at 7-Eleven and if you decide um that you want to go back to your country I think we can help you there also oh thank you he cares about me he's my mentor for my life and that makes me like more confident that I'll be successful in my life Phil you took care of me you picked up my slack couple things I want to tell you
about one I was amazed by your artwork we're a big business and we've got a huge marketing department and an advertising department so what I want to do is I want to give you the opportunity to do some freelance artwork for our advertising agency to help build up your portfolio I thank you twice more than once you do such a wonderful job for our company and I just I I enjoyed being with you thank you you're very welcome crazy guy seemed like a dream is coming true it's a feeling that want to reach out and
just hold on and don't let go and I almost start crying in there we got tears my ey right now on trying to try not B come out eor the clerks love you you deliver the product on time you do an unbelievable job you will never hear from me anything else I just do my job I want to tell you I want to recognize you for all your hard work and dedication and everything you do for our company and send you and your wife to a resort for a nice vacation for the two of you
so you can spend some quality time together sounds fun fantastic that's that's I'm speechless hey Igor you said it last night this is America big boss comes to the L worker I could not believe that was happen thank you or in a movie or in a book only in America might happen Dolores I have to tell you I enjoyed spending time with you more than I can ever oh thank you the thing that's most impressive to me is every customer that comes in knows you I love you Nikki and they're not coming to 7-Eleven to
buy our coffee they're coming to buy it from Dolores that's true I have to admit it's a nice store we Lov it with your situation and you saying that you wouldn't take a kidney from your family you know it's kind of like you are at the store you do it for other people I can't take it from them because they're young and if it happened to me it could happen to them I'm going to tell you what I want to do I'm going to set up a Dolores donor awareness program oh my God that's wonderful
we're going to get all of our franchisees across the United States and Canada involved Dolores this program will remind all of our customers how important it is to fill out an organ donor card so that you and others in your situation will have a better chance of getting an organ donation I love it I hope that will be okay with you that's wonderful thank you so so much I don't know what to say Dolores thank you for everything God bless him for that thank [Music] you now it's time for me to tell the company about
my undercover experience I'm very very proud to present Joda Pinto president and CEO of [Music] 7-Eleven my name is Joe depinto and for the past week I've been working undercover at [Music] 7-Eleven yeah now I want to tell you why I've been doing that it was an opportunity for me to step out of the role of CEO and work alongside employes in our business where people didn't recognize me and we've got a few video clips and I think you'll really enjoy them seems like it would be easier if there was just like a a sink
right here pipe dreams [Music] honey already he's coming up with all these ideas you kick my butt Mr Danny seems like a nice guy but he wasn't working very [Music] hard what happened here Wheels all fell off man yeah we got to buy some more Wheels right maybe we can use that first paycheck you ready roller coaster Six FL [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I thought I knew our stores the fact is I have a lot more to learn and you all taught me that and you'll be seeing me and our team working with you to find
out what your challenges are so that we can all collectively better serve our customers and that's my commitment to you this will change the way I work every day as CEO in our company so thank [Music] you I was working with the big cheese I thought it was excellent this way he knows firsthand what we're going through I thought that was great the experience I had was extraordinary as a CEO I've got a lot of responsibility to make sure that this company's vibrant for the great people that we met and I'm going to do that
[Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah stay tuned for scenes from our next episode
