All language subtitles for Undercover.boss.S03E11.2HD.English-WWW.MY-SUBS.CO

Translated By The Community Of WWW.MY-SUBS.COM

Male announcer:
This week on Undercover Boss...

It'll be $1.75.

Announcer: The CEO of
Philly Pretzel Factory,

the country's fastest-growing
pretzel franchise,

poses as a data entry processor
on a reality show

about people swapping jobs for a day

I'm Michael. I'm here to train with Bill.

How you doing?

Just grab the tips and spin
it around two times.

Announcer: By working
alongside his employees...

Are the good enough? Can I put 'em up?

No, they're not.

Announcer: He'll find out

there's more to the job than

just twisting pretzels.

Slide that on.

Let's bring it outside.

[Car horn honks]
Honk, honk, honk!

[Car horn honks]
There you go.

And an emotional encounter
with a franchisee.

You work so hard and then
you can't pay your bills.

Announcer: Will change
his perspective forever.

I really should have done a better job.

My mom would be embarrassed of me,

not to help them.

Announcer: Coming up next on
Undercover Boss.

Undercover Boss 3x11 - Philly Pretzel Factory
Original air date April 27, 2012

Sync and corrected by atrn97g
www.MY-SUBS.com

Announcer: Headquartered in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

and with 120 stores on the east coast,

the Philly Pretzel Factory sells

more than 100 million pretzels a year,

producing $45 million in annual revenue.

Overseeing the 1,700 employees
that keep this business baking

is one man.

I'm Dan Dizio, CEO and co-founder

of Philly Pretzel Factory.

Some people say that Philadelphians eat

six times more pretzels than
anywhere in the country.

It's a real cultural thing.

Give me... two.

It's just a staple food in this area.

Philly Pretzel Factories
are in eight states,

from New York down to the Carolinas.

We're trying to create that
tradition across the country now

and eventually be one of those
billion-dollar companies.

I grew up in a happy home right
on the border of Philadelphia.

Growing up, me and my dad, we
always had a close connection.

We were best friends.

And then when I was 11 years
old, my dad got sick.

He had a cough and, uh,

at that point they diagnosed
him with lung cancer.

And, uh, very quickly passed
away in a matter of a few weeks.

I don't think at that age, when
they say "he passed away,"

you don't realize that
he's never coming back.

I miss my dad every day.

You know, it's definitely tough.

You know, at that point,
I was in seventh grade

and one of my neighbors owned a bakery.

One day a order got canceled

and he asked if I would
sell these pretzels.

He got permission from my mom.

I sold them out on a street
corner and we split the profits.

And the next day he said,
"let's do it again"

and eventually, within a couple of months,

I had 50 friends selling pretzels

on the corners of northeast Philadelphia.

It just really changed my life forever.

I graduated college and
hated my 9 to 5 job.

I had a roommate who knew
wasn't happy at his job.

So I said, let's quit the jobs
and open up a pretzel bakery.

I opened up ten different credit cards

to get our initial investment.

Everybody thought we were crazy.

We started up in 1998.

We had a lot of demand for the product.

Pretty much every year I would
open up one pretzel bakery

until about 2004,
when we had eight stores.

And that's when somebody came
to us about franchising it.

The company really
started to grow rapidly.

We have, basically 120
franchisees out there.

- Have a nice day.
- Thanks, you too.

We worked hard, but,
you know, I am surprised

from where I came from,
the success that we've had.

No one sends you to school to be a CEO.

I'm learning every day.

You know, we're two schmoes that
got lucky making pretzels.

Franchise owners are trained at corporate.

We created a system
for franchisees to follow

how to make pretzels,

how to market the pretzels,

how to do everything to become successful.

So anybody who's willing to work hard,

I think, can live this dream.

Although I am passionate
about this company,

I do not let it dictate my entire life.

- Oh, home run!
- Home run! Whoo!

Home run, Danny Dizio.

I am married to a wonderful
wife named Nicole.

We have two, uh, great children together.

Let's see who can bounce the highest.

Whoa! [Laughter]

Family is first,

and I wanna be around and be involved

in everything, 'cause you never know.

My hairdresser skills at work.

The worst struggle of the week

is going to be Dan trying
not to be himself.

Um, from the way he looks
to the way he acts,

he's gonna wanna jump out of his skin.

Oh, my God.

I'm proud of what has been
accomplished with the company

so far, but I just feel

like there's so much room for us to grow.

I'm going undercover
to get a grip on the business.

I'm not down on the front lines anymore

and I think it'll give
me a real dose of reality

of what the franchisees are feeling.

- What do you think?
- Oh, I hate it.

While undercover,
I'll be posing as Michael Downs,

a data entry processor
who is swapping jobs for a day

on a show called Job Swap.

Today, I'm in Bridgeton, New Jersey.

I'm here to work undercover
with a franchisee.

Who are these hot sausages for?

Somebody that wants to eat them.

It's real important to go
undercover with this location

because it's underperforming.

So getting out here may lead me

to some reasons why the store's
not performing well.

Last time I saw this franchisee was

at our annual expo about two years ago,

so I'm really nervous this
franchisee's gonna recognize me.

- Hey.
- Hi, I'm Michael.

- How you doing?
- Good, how are you?

I'm Bill. I'm the franchise owner here.

Nice to meet you.

I'm gonna do deliveries.

You wanna come out with me?

Yeah, that'd be great.

- Want some help?
- Yeah.

- Take my little beat-up car.
- Okay.

My truck broke down.

- You usually have a van or...
- Yeah.

Where are we headed to?

- Sir Speedy's.
- Okay.

They're small little accounts,

but they all add up at the end of the wk.

- All right, give me my bag.
- Okay.

These smell good.

- Hi, this is...
- I'm Michael.

Michael? Aaron, nice to meet you.

- Michael.
- Nice to meet you.

Get a twist in.

They put a dollar in the box and
they take it back out.

- Okay.
- It's under the honor system.

The honor box has been
successful for some franchisees,

but what he brought in maybe
delivering $4.00 worth

of pretzels, maybe it cost him $5.00.

If all his deliveries are like this,

I have to sit down with Bill
and see if they're worthwhile.

What time you open till?

I'm in here 5:00 in the morning.

- And what time is it...
- I stay open till about 7:00.

You're in there all that time?

Yeah.

It's just my wife and I that run it.

You know what I mean?

She does all the book work...

And I do everything there, you know?

You, like, get a day off?

Do you, like... do you get...

I get a half a day off on Thursday.

And guess what I do on my half a day off?

- What do you do?
- I sleep.

We're gonna make some rolls.
Okay. Perfect.

50 pound makes... for 50 pounds of flour.

When I first opened this
store, I was experimenting

with different temperatures and...

why'd you have to experiment?

They didn't teach you everything?

Well...I had these variable amounts.

They don't give you an exact figure.

A lot of people don't realize
how much is involved with this.

They didn't teach you any of that?

- No.
- No?

We'll put it in and we'll make some rolls.

Oh, we're gonna make rolls? Okay.

Yeah, this ain't a regular roll.

- This is a pretzel roll.
- A pretzel roll?

It's my idea.

- Okay.
- Yeah, same dough...

- Same dough.
- As a pretzel.

No salt.

Salt doesn't taste good on it?

Well, you gonna make a
sandwich with the roll.

- With meat and cheese on it.
- Oh, okay.

I mean, I'm doing it wholesale.

- I'm not doing it retail yet.
- Right.

It's not on the Philly Pretzel
Factory menu.

Right.

Bill was telling me about his
special rolls that he does.

I'm sort of frustrated and
annoyed that he even carries

a product that he's not supposed to be.

It drives me nuts when I go into stores

and they're not even following the system.

They're doing their own thing.

And if they're not gonna follow it,

we really don't want them
in the franchise system.

- You take the string.
- Okay.

Yeah, just regular twists.

They seem easy to make.

- You married?
- Yeah.

How long you been married?

- How many years has it been?
- 33.

Is she upset that you work so many hours?

She works that many hours too.

Does she really?

She's a deli manager for Shoprite.

Then she'll come home and do all
the book work for my place.

Over the bills, man. Like...

- You're struggling?
- Yeah, we're struggling.

I can't even fix my window.

I got a cracked window over there.

That's, like, $500 for that.

I'm worried about paying my next bill.

Business doesn't pick up,
we're gonna go under.

This year alone we took out 23,000

from our home equity loan.

We have a chance of losing
everything we have.

Look at them bad boys.

Been making these for over two
years, and guess what?

They pay the bills.

They pay the bills for me.

This is not the Philly Roll Factory.

We can expand.

We can be a deli pretzel factory.

- I'll double... triple my profit.
- Right.

They ain't buying pretzels,
they're buying my pretzel rolls.

- Right.
- You know what I'm saying?

These rolls, this is a secret weapon here.

Why don't you try it?

Bill's looking at me really
closely and staring right at me,

making me a feel a little uncomfortable.

Got a twin brother?

No twin brothers, I know that.

I definitely have a sense he
thinks I look familiar to him.

- I'll be right back.
- Okay.

Want me to just keep going or what?

Yeah.

- Peek-a-boo!
- Hey, honey.

I need your honest opinion on something.

I want you to take a look.

Hi, how you doing?

- Good, how are you?
- Good.

I'm Michael.

This is my wife, Donna.

Hi, Michael, nice to meet you.

- Pleased to meet you.
- You look familiar, though.

- Do I?
- You do.

You don't look like a Michael to me.

Does look like Dan though, doesn't he?

It definitely looks like Dan.

You look just like Dan,
swear to God you do.

I'd be money on it.

You have a brother named Dan?

No, no brothers... Dan.

Dan's the corporate president
of the franchise.

- That's who Dan is.
- Of this franchise?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

I would almost swear you look
like somebody else though.

I don't know... who this guy Dan is.

What do you think?

Oh, I hate it.

Announcer: Dan Dizio,

CEO of Philly Pretzel Factory,

is a boss undercover in his own company.

I would almost swear you look
like somebody else though.

You look just like him.

Announcer: But right now,

one of his franchisees isn't buying it.

- Looks like Dan.
- You look just like Dan.

It's very hard to stand there
and lie directly to someone.

So I just couldn't take it anymore.

I had to break my cover.

Well, it is me, by the way.

So you're here to help us?

I definitely think we're gonna change

a lot of things after being
in this store today.

Okay, you have somewhere we can go talk?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

It makes me upset that things
aren't being done right.

Bill's sort of going rogue,

and it's not the way to run a business.

The one thing I gotta say when
I walked in here and, you know,

I started hearing you talk
about some of the products.

You know, this pepperoni melt
that you're sort of doing,

and, um, we know that's against protocol.

I mean, you guys know that we're
trying to create a system here,

and you bought into a franchise.

And we can't have stores
selling one product,

and it does upset me that,
you know, a store would do that.

It's just not good for us,
you know what I mean?

When you go home at the end of the day,

and you work so hard, and then
you can't pay your bills.

It's hard.

And Bill...

I think he's growing old before his time,

and that bothers me, so...

Let me ask you... how bad is it?

Well, right now I owe 500
from last month's rent,

and I haven't paid this month's.

We're a month behind
on our electric and gas.

You know what I mean,

and it's like, when you get so far behind,

then you're not breathing anymore.

Right.

Just this year alone,
I've lent the business $20,000.

Hopefully we can catch up on our bills,

and then if some of these
accounts come through,

then maybe we would be okay.

Do you know what I'm saying?

I mean, people call me any time.

And I need to have that relationship,

not with just some of our
franchise locations,

all of our franchise locations.

Well, when we came to you
that time and we left,

I was very upset.

About a year and a half ago,
we sat with Dan.

We needed solutions for our sales.

Nothing came out of it.

We left, like, feeling that

nobody there was gonna really help us.

To me, it seemed like
you forgot how you started.

And that's how it felt when I
walked out the door that day.

I couldn't tell you one sentence

that happened in that meeting.

I really don't remember it.

It hurts me that you would say that,

because you get caught in this,
you know, web of this business.

And it was never my intention
to ever be that way.

I never want to be that person.

[Voice breaking] For me not to remember

they came in to ask for help,

and I didn't remember them...

being there,

says I'm not doing that good of a job.

And, you know, I apologize for that.

You get caught up in these meetings,

and I don't get the chance
to come out here

and spend the time that I really need to,

and that's what this has done.

This chance to sort of get back,

and get in here and...
I'm glad you're here.

Well, I'm glad I'm here too. I really am.

And I'm glad I've been able
to have this honest conversation

with you, and I wanna be
able to help you guys.

I know things are real bleak right now,

and we gotta step in there
and figure out a way

to keep the doors open, okay?

- That's great, man.
- All right, buddy.

- Thanks, man.
- No problem.

- Thanks for coming, man.
- No problem.

- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.

I appreciate the honesty. Okay?

- Thank you.
- After being in there...

And understanding what he's going through,

I can't fault him for doing
his pepperoni melts.

That's the way I would be.

I have bills to pay, and I'm not gonna

let the doors close because
of some rules or protocol

about how to get something approved.

It... just something's
wrong with our system

and it has to be fixed.

I really should have done a better job

of really protecting them,
and they should be

enjoying this time of their lives.

My mom would be...

My mom would be embarrassed of me,

not to help them.

Yesterday was a very hard day for me.

It was the hardest day
as a CEO that I've ever had.

So I'm hoping I have a better day today.

I'm in Broomall, Pennsylvania.

I'm here to train with a baker.

It's about 4:00 in the morning.

It's still dark and freezing
cold out here.

I was just at one
of the worst-performing stores

and today I'm at one
of our real success stories.

So I wanna take some information
of what they're doing here,

and we can replicate that in the
bridgeton, new Jersey store.

- Hey, how you doing, man?
- Good.

- I'm Marques.
- I'm Michael.

- How you doing?
- Good, man, nice to meet you.

I'll be training with you today?

- Yes, sir.
- Okay.

- A bit early for you?
- Little bit.

Is this what time you start every day?

Every day, man.

- We get here at 4:30.
- Okay.

Looks like Michael has a little wild side.

Was noticing his haircut
and everything like that, so...

We'll see.

Ready to make some pretzels, man?

- Yeah.
- All right, let's do it.

Okay, we're gonna start making the dough.

A full mix is 100 pounds of flour.

So just get that bag open.

I'm gonna adjust our water meter here.

We're gonna put 20.1 liters of water in.

Kay, so now the only thing
we need for this is yeast.

Okay, so we'll get that in there.

And the timer's already
set for nine minutes.

Then we just turn 'em on.

- That's it?
- Okay?

Seems pretty simple.

I think I'm pretty fast.

- Luis is fast. Very fast.
- Okay.

So you see our dough starting to come.

Though, when we're twisting at first,

- if you wanna grab a piece.
- Yep.

- Just grab the tips.
- Okay.

You can get it to dance
a little bit like this.

You're just trying to spin it
around two times.

Just get it around twice.

- There you go.
- Okay.

Open it up a little bit.

It's 5:30 now.

Store's gonna be open in a half an hour.

- Okay.
- So we... we...

we have to get this twisting done, okay?

As you can see how Luis is doing it?

I got 40 done already, man.

Do you get paid per pretzel
that you twist or...

[Laughs]
That would be good, I guess.

Hey, man, if I did I'd be able
to stop twisting soon.

Are these good enough?

Can I put 'em up?

Want me to tell you the truth?

No, they're not.

Got a few problems, Mike.

I am definitely trying
to throw Marques off.

I mean, I've twisted millions
of pretzels in my day,

so I do know how to make perfect pretzels.

This one's jacked. This one's too small.

That would be, like, a mini pretzel.

But I don't wanna get busted again.

- The next one will be better.
- Okay, I got you.

Back into the mixer.

It's okay. I gotta do mine too.

You don't have to enjoy it
so much, Marques.

What other kind of perks
are there for the job?

I mean, you get up, you're getting here

at 4:00 in the morning.

Well, I get free food.

Free food. [Both laugh]

So I have two daughters.

Sierra likes pretzels,
Brooklyn likes pretzel dogs.

Oh, okay.

I'm actually hoping that
they'll be able to stop by today

- before they go to school.
- Oh, okay.

They're the best.

These girls wanna be doctors, man.

I got some, uh...
You gotta make some money.

Got big college... got a lot
of college to pay for, man.

How's coming in that early in the morning?

Like, it's cold, man.

- It is cold.
- Wanna go back to bed?

I wanna snooze every day,

but you know something,
you know, you can't.

- You know?
- Right.

- Hi, daddy!
- Hi, daddy!

- Hey.
- Hi, daddy!

Hey.

That your little girls?

Yeah.

- Hey, guys.
- Hi, daddy!

- Good morning.
- Daddy!

This is my oldest daughter, Sierra.

This is my youngest. This is Brooklyn.

Say "hi, Mike".

- Hi, how you doing?
- Hi.

Your dad is training me
how to make pretzels.

'Cause I'm not that good.

- Daddy, I wanted to see you.
- You saw me?

- Sierra, here's your pretzels.
- Thank you.

Brooklyn, your pretzel hot dogs, okay?

Thank you, daddy.

You're very welcome.

Have a good day at school.

- Bye, daddy.
- Bye, daddy.

- Bye, girls.
- See you, baby.

Bye, honey.

Bye, nice meeting you.

I'll see you later too.

That's why I do it, man. That right there.

Marques is a guy that I would love to see

grow within the company.

The way he's such an
inspiration to his children

and wants the best for them, um,

reminds me of myself a little bit.

How many hours a week do you work here?

- 60.
- 60?

- 60.
- Every week?

Every week.

You gotta do what you gotta do, man.

If I ever wanna own my
own store, you know,

I better get used to 60s now.

How much does it cost
to open one of these?

I believe about a quarter million.

Quarter million. That's a lot.

Yes, it... it's a lot.

But, not exactly sure
what it'll be, but...

I'm actually in the process
of applying for another job

starting off at 42,000 and benefits.

Oh, that's great.

So I mean, I even have the
support of my current bosses.

So...

It was devastating to hear

that Marques might be looking
for other employment.

It's definitely something
I wasn't planning on him saying.

Now what we gotta do is bake
all the pretzels.

We got an order for 615.

All right, Mike.

When you grab 'em, you're gonna

flip 'em away from you.

- Then you scoop 'em up.
- Right.

- You fly them over there to me.
- Okay.

And then we throw
the salt on the pretzels.

Okay, we're gonna just...

as soon as our shelf stops,

we're gonna start throwing pretzels in.

Now, does the job come
with health insurance?

It does not.

We've gotta pay for those on our own.

- Do you have insurance?
- I personally do not. No.

Oh, okay.

That's kinda scary to you?

My kids, you know, I worry about them.

- It's tough.
- Yes.

If we had medical benefits,
maybe employees would

look at this as a place where
they could have... start a career.

And we'll slide this in.

There's other jobs that offer those,

even if they don't pay as much.

Benefits are worth a lot of money.

All right, Mike, order's done.

- Okay.
- Let's box 'em up.

All right, good.

It's been so beneficial

for me to go back to my roots,

and go back to those early mornings.

Um, we can't afford
to lose a guy like Marques.

I'm definitely gonna
talk to the franchisee

to see what we can do to keep him.

All right, we got those in.

- Let's grab another rack.
- Okay.

We're taking these down those steps?

Yeah, man.

Announcer: Dan loses it on the streets.

- Think you got it?
- I don't know.

- And later, he lets loose.
- Here we go.

[Muffled] Honk, honk!

[Car horn honks] Oh, that's a double honk.

Today, I'm in downtown Philadelphia

at our Sansom Street franchise location.

I'm here to train undercover,
making pretzel deliveries.

This is one of only four stores

that delivers to kiosk locations

and does more than 50 deliveries a day.

We hand carry and walk
the pretzels around the city.

I'm here today to find out how I can make

this store more efficient.

Hi, how you doing?

- What's up, man? I'm Gino.
- Hi, I'm Michael.

- Nice to meet you.
- How you doing?

We gotta get ready to head out

to, um, do our deliveries.

- We're almost about that time.
- Okay.

So I'll show you how to load the cart up.

First thing is to make sure
everything's even.

What will happen
is you have this on one side

or the other side, it will tip over.

So you have to make sure
everything's even.

You're gonna put that one
on here, on top of that.

The pretzel cart is probably
over, like, 150 pounds.

So it gets a little crazy.

All right, man, you ready?

Just go out the door?

Yeah.

We're gonna go to the left.

- Yep.
- Okay.

So I'm starting on the worst day
possible, huh?

Yeah, man. Rain.

Should have brought a rain coat.

One of the vendor carts.

I usually get my breakfast here.

You want something too?

- Yeah, it'd be great.
- All right, cool.

Park our carts right here.

Willy!

- Usual, Willy.
- Hey, Willy.

This is my friend, Mike, right here.

- How are you?
- Nice to meet you.

- I'm Michael.
- All right, Willy.

- Be back soon, man.
- Yes.

Let's take the rest of our
deliveries over.

You ready for the snow later on?

[Laughs] All right, guys.

- Take care.
- Bye, it was nice meeting you.

It was great to see the interaction

between Gino and street vendors
along the way.

- How you doing, Mike?
- How you doing?

Because they're the face of the company

and they're the ones... they're handling

our customer service in a way.

All right, so let's pick up

our food right here.

All right, so we got to stash 'em

- all right here.
- Okay..

How long have you been out in Philly?

About three years.

Do you, uh, go to school?

No, I work... do data processing.

So I sit in a cubicle all day.

It doesn't make me excited to swap jobs

doing a data entry job.

Pretzel's are really getting...

the bags are getting wet, huh?

Yeah, um, we don't have
the tarp that will go around it.

- Okay.
- So we just gotta improvise.

That also goes with, you know,
we don't have, like, rain coats.

They don't provide you anything?

Unfortunately not.

My jacket was soaked through,
right down to my clothes

just from those deliveries.
And it concerns me

that these guys are doing
this on a daily basis.

We're gonna go to suburban station store.

We've gotta take it down the steps.

We're taking these down those steps?

Yeah, man.

Watch me. I'll show you

- how to do it.
- Okay.

Think you got it?

[Laughs] I don't know.

As I push the cart down the steps,

I'm afraid I'm gonna lose control

and lose my grip on the cart.

I don't know who's at
the bottom of the steps

and I can't stop it at that
point, so it does concern me.

There's gotta be different ways to do it

without putting people's safety at risk.

Hey, Paula.

So we place our carts right here,

and we unload.

So you're at this pace all day?

Yeah.

Second box.

This is our kiosk shop.

We're gonna unload these boxes
so we can get pretzels for her.

- Thank you.
- Is that it? Do we have more?

Yeah, we have more.

It's like almost putting a
puzzle together every time, huh?

Traffic's crazy down here, right?

How do you even maneuver down here?

Have you ever, uh, bumped
into anybody with a cart?

- I think, uh, once or twice...
- Once or twice?

I might have, like, tapped somebody.

Oh, back to these steps again?

What goes down must go up.

Well at least they're empty now, right?

Oh, yeah.

It's gonna be dinner time

by the time you eat breakfast, right?

Man, that's a workout.

- Man.
- So do you like the job?

It's okay.

It's manageable.

Keeps you active, right?

Yeah, I'm very active.

I do a lot of dancing right now.

Like, I teach classes in the evening.

Is that your dream job?

I think my dream job is probably

just to be a top-notch choreographer.

I want to teach people my work

so it can be seen throughout
the whole world.

- We're gonna take our break.
- Okay.

We'll go upstairs.

[Indistinct chatter]

Oh, man.

Sandwich.

Where were you raised?

Right around here, or...

me and my brother were raised
here our whole lives.

My mom and my grandfather raised me.

My grandfather passed away a
couple of years ago...

From, uh, colon cancer.

He had such that impact in my life.

He told me everything.

He taught me, like, whatever you
want, you can always achieve.

So if you wanna go to school
and you want that degree,

you can always achieve it.

Finish high school and...

Went to college.

- Went to La salle over here.
- Okay.

Then I went to NYU.

I studied accounting, but it's
not what I wanna do right now.

I wanna do dance.

Those are two great schools.

Expensive schools too.

You know, I put myself through school.

I mean, I'm still paying off
loans, obviously, so...

How much in loans do you have?

About 20,000 deep.

Well, it's worth it, right?

- Making your grandfather proud?
- Yeah, yeah.

Now we have to go on any more
deliveries today?

- We have to...
- Yeah, we actually do.

Let's go do these deliveries.

Okay, sounds good.

So we have to go down those stairs again?

Yeah, man.

After working deliveries with Gino today,

I have some real concerns
about the delivery process.

Gino is not a huge guy,
and for him to walk around

the city all day, carrying those pretzels,

uh, I was pretty impressed.

Today, I'll be working undercover

in Absecon, New Jersey.

About 75% of our franchisees have mascots.

I'm here today to find out
if using Phil E. The Mascot

helps bring people in the store.

And if it's worth the investment.

[Indistinct chatter]

Hi, how are you?

- Good, how you doing?
- I'm good.

Good, I'm looking for Billy.

This is Billy over here.

I'm Lisa. I'm his boss.

- How are you?
- Michael. How you doing?

Hello, Michael, it's nice to meet you.

All right, so I'm the mascot here.

We're gonna be doing some mascotting today

so I'm gonna show you the outfit,

and I'm gonna kinda show you
some of the ropes.

We're gonna go outside and
you're kinda gonna dance around.

I'm definitely nervous.

I've never been the mascot before

and it's just something I'm not
necessarily comfortable doing.

Okay.

All right, slide into this
little diaper-looking guy.

- Okay.
- And then you slide up

on the top.

Through the arm holes.

Michael looked a little timid.

I don't think he really knew
what he was getting into.

All right, it's a little
different being in the suit.

So we're gonna go over the dance moves.

So we've got our Egyptian going.

Going down, there we go.

And we're shaking our hips.

We're gonna do our slide now.

You got it.

Even that's good. You just shuffle.

Just keep moving around.

Boom.

I think that's your best move
so far, is your moonwalk.

Okay.

All right, let's bring it outside.

All right, here we go.

- We're feeling good because...
- Am I overdoing it?

No, no, you can't overdo it.

- Yeah, it moves around sometimes.
- Right.

All right, so now we're gonna
wait for the red light,

- to give out coupons.
- Okay.

And while we wait, we're dancing.

We're just dancing the whole time.

Come on, lady, give me a honk honk.

Come on, I want a honk out of this guy.

It's my challenge for the day.

He's looking away.

Honk, honk, honk!

I think Michael was a little stiff.

You don't wanna have
Phil E. on a down day,

kinda depressed, dragging around.

It just doesn't set a good image.

Eight would be a good honk ratio.

Okay.

I'm not really sure if Michael
could cut it as a mascot.

All right, let's try and get
some coupons now.

Three free.

Three free the next time you come in.

[Car horn honks]
Okay we're moving... yeah.

Hi, guys, you got three free pretzels.

Hi!

Sure.

- Ooh, look!
- Yeah.

Cheese!

I feel like a celebrity.

The EMTs are pulling over
on the side of the road,

taking pictures with me.

It's just awesome.

[Car horn honks]
There's honk number three.

There you go. [Car horn honks]

Oh, that's a double honk.

I think this must be
the greatest job ever.

[Car horn honks]
I got you.

Six. [Car horn honks]

There's our eight mark.
Oh, that was eight?

[Car horn honks]
Yep.

How about you? Where do you live?

I live in... I grew up
in Pittsburgh originally.

Oh, wow.

Do you live in the area?

I live down at Stockton.

I'm still at school.

What are you going to school for?

Criminal justice.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

So I wanna be a cop.

[Car horn honks] There we go.

Although, I do think
it would be a little hot.

Summertime is bad.

It's really hot in this costume.

I'm really concerned about the employees

getting overheated or even dehydrated,

being in the costume for too long.

All right, let's head in, Phil E.

You did a good job today.

All right, Lisa, how'd we do?

You pushed in about 50 people.

- Okay.
- Did we really?

- That was a little low.
- So that's exciting.

Oh, that's great.

It's a little bit lower
than Billy usually does,

but it's not bad, it's not bad.

- I gotta suit up.
- Okay.

It's nice to see that
the mascot really pays off,

and it was able to direct
people into the store

and get them to stop.

And that's what grassroots
marketing is all about.

Pretzel break?

Yeah, sounds great.

So how many hours a week
you work here, again?

I take about, like, 35-37 and...

40 hours is a lot with school.

- Are you fulltime in school?
- Yeah, I'm full time.

So now are you paying for school?

I am.

My dad feels a little guilty.

What's he feel guilty about?

He just feels bad that he can't fully pay

for me to go to school.

My mom was actually in the world
trade center when it was...

During 9-11.

She... she made it out, um, but,
yeah, I mean it...

Changed everything?

Yeah, it was real different.

Then a couple months later,
she dropped me off

at wrestling practice,
and someone ran stop sign

and side swiped her, so, like,
her spine's been all messed up

and she's, you know...
she's now permanently disabled.

When I was talking to Billy,
and he started talking

about his mom,

I really had a pit in my stomach.

So in my junior year, I started working.

I bussed tables at a restaurant.

I, you know, did yard work
and stuff for the neighbors

and I get paid here.

Billy really works hard.

I mean, I can't imagine
when I went to school,

holding down almost three jobs.

He's definitely driven.

It's tough though.

It's definitely...

Yeah...I think it's time that we get back

- to do some more mascotting.
- Okay, sounds good.

I enjoy it, man, so...

After being here today, I could tell you

I was really surprised
about how many people

really like the mascot.

Everybody was honking.

It made me feel good that we helped create

something that so many
people really enjoy.

[Car horn honks]

I feel really relieved it's over.

And I've really learned a lot.

I never thought I'd be that touched

by everything that happened
this past week.

I mean, I really felt connected
to Bill and Donna

and what they were going through.

I may have changed over the years,

and I didn't realize it happened to me.

And it just did.

I really meant when I said
that I would fix it,

I would make it right.

The people that sign up
in our franchise system now,

they put their mortgage and their home

on the line, and to be honest with you,

just about every one of them
is gutsier than I am.

This has been an eye-opener for me.

I'm gonna use it to make me
a better person, a better CEO.

I really believe it's gonna
change me forever.

It's been a really long week,

and it's been really difficult
to hear all the criticism

of me and the company.

The people I trained
with have been summoned

to downtown Philadelphia.

They've been told they
are here to swap jobs

with Michael Downs for a day.

They have no idea why
they are really here.

I am extremely curious
to see what Michael does.

I can't wait.

Michael may be a little better

at a mascot than I'm gonna be at
doing data processing.

Hello.

Do you know who I am?

I do.

- Who am I?
- You're Michael.

Michael?

Michael.

You knew me as Michael Downs.

Actually, I'm Dan Dizio,
CEO and co-founder

of Philly Pretzel Factory.

- Surprised?
- Extremely surprised.

Hair looks a little different, huh?

- Wow.
- Billy.

You did such a good job with training me.

You understand what that
mascot's all about.

I'd like to have you at our next
convention do a breakout session

on moves that you know that you
could train other people with.

Yeah, that'd be... that'd be awesome.

I'd like to pay you for your time,

and give you $10,000.

Okay.

You're such a standup guy.

You really have taken on some
responsibilities at a young age,

and I'm sure a lot of that
had to do with the fact

that your mom was
in the world trade center,

and I know that you really work hard.

I'd like to give you $10,000
to help your parents out,

and $10,000 to help you
in your next semester.

That's a lot...

For me to just take in right now, like...

it's kind of a relief.

Like, a big weight has been lifted off.

This is definitely gonna change my life.

My parents are just gonna be proud...

Thank you.

I... was able to help them out.

And then just know that
they're proud of me.

Gino, it was great working
with you this past week.

And your energy and your vibe,
you know, it was a real treat.

But when you pulled up and you said,

"we're going down those stairs."

I thought you were joking with me.

I did, I thought you were really
joking with me.

I'm nervous for you, so it's
important that we protect you.

But it's also important that we protect

the people walking around. So I found out

that there is a loading dock underground.

I'm gonna purchase a vehicle

that we're gonna deliver the
product into the loading dock

and then be able to walk around

suburban train station with that.

Oh, that's... that sounds perfect.

- Okay.
- That sounds perfect.

- That makes you feel better?
- Yeah.

Okay.

One other thing that I wanted
to talk to you about

was you have a lot of school
loans that you mentioned,

and I'm gonna pay off your school loans.

Because that was somewhere...

Of up to $20,000 you had out there.

For somebody just
to give me a lending hand,

it's just... remarkable.

Oh, man.

I really hope you follow your dreams.

Thank you. Thank you.

I feel crazy right now.

It's definitely going to change my life.

I'm not in debt no more.

- How you doing, Bill?
- Hi Dan, how you doing?

It's good to see you again, man.

I'm glad you could make it
down to Philadelphia.

I hope you can forgive me.

I'm truly sorry that I let you guys down.

I let myself down by letting you down.

Bill, I wanna help you.

I'd like to get that
pretzel roll approved.

You'd like to get that pretzel
roll approved?

- Oh, absolutely.
- Okay.

So, I'm gonna work on that.

And if I do roll it out system-wide,

- I'll give you credit for it.
- It's a good roll.

Our product is pretzels,
and we have to figure out a way

that you can make money selling pretzels.

I wanna give you one month
of business training

where I'm gonna send someone
from corporate to your store,

and work with you on how to make
money at what you're doing.

Couldn't ask for any more than this.

Really.

Well, it means the world to me

to make sure that you're successful.

It means the world for me
that you're doing this.

Well, there's some other
things we need to work on.

We definitely need to work on
the marketing of that store.

I want to buy you
a brand new delivery van.

And I'm gonna wrap it with
the Philly Pretzel Factory logo,

so everybody in town knows who you are.

That's gonna be real great.

I know you don't get away a lot.

I don't think there's anybody

who puts as many hours
into this than I do.

I will put you and Donna up
and send you away on vacation.

I'm gonna get corporate employees

to help run your store while you're away.

Sound good?

- That's a blast.
- Okay.

You know, Donna said things
were really bleak,

and you guys were close to closing.

Well, I'm going
to pay the rent for the store

for the next year.

[Speaks indistinctly]

I'm, like, lost for words.

It can only get better now.

Well we're gonna work on it together.

I'm just glad you're there for us now.

And I forgive you.

- I'll tell Donna.
- You tell Donna, okay.

- I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
- All right.

[Phone rings]

- Hey, Donna?
- Hey.

He's gonna pay our rent for a solid year.

[Gasps]

[Sobs]

- You hear me?
- I hear you.

He's gonna educate us on the
sales aspect for a whole month.

[Cries]

And he's also gonna send us on a vacation.

[Cries]

- Ain't that something?
- Yes.

This is the miracle we asked for.

Yeah, we're gonna be all right now.

I gotta tell you, Marques.

That location was a struggling store.

It didn't do well at the beginning.

And I know you've been there
about three years.

Yes.

And I don't think it's any

coincidence that that store has thrived

over the last three years.

Thank you very much.

I know your kids are extremely
special to you.

You know, I know it's tough
with the money you're making

to really put money aside
and think about the future.

I wanna put a college fund together,

and put 2,500 hours in each one
of your kid's names.

Thank you very much.

That's probably the best thing
somebody ever did for me.

It makes me feel good to be
able to even do it.

Thank you so much.

When you told me that you were
thinking about leaving,

because there was another job
that offered benefits,

I can't lose guys like you.

We'll make sure you get medical benefits.

Oh, man.

'Cause I can't have
my partner getting sick.

Partner?

We have a new kiosk version of our stores.

I'm gonna put up all the money,
and open up a business together

that I want us to be 50/50 partners.

And I'm gonna teach you everything

you need to know about the business.

This is...

I have never had anything like
this happen to me before.

I really appreciate it.

That really means a lot.

Oh, man.

From an $8.00 an hour baker
and 60 hours a week

to, like, a partial owner, it's...

it's amazing.

I'm gonna be able to do
so much for the girls.

It's just amazing.

I want my legacy to be one
that people knew I cared.

I have great people that work for me,

and I have great franchisees.

And it's just been overwhelming.

- Hey, how you doing, Dan?
- Good, man.

Thanks for meeting me.
Hey, man, no problem.

This is the building I just bought.

- Okay.
- And we're storing a kiosk here

while we're renovating the building.

- Okay.
- So you wanna come in?

- Check it out?
- Yeah, sure.

Wow.

This is nice.

- This is it.
- This is beautiful.

This is our brand new kiosk,
it's just here temporarily

- right now...
- Okay.

While we're looking for a home for it.

- So why don't I show you around?
- Okay.

I'm really not a self-made guy.

There was other parties that
came into my life

that made me who I am.

It feels great to be able to help Marques,

which really is helping his whole family.

And this may change the course
of their lives.

I'm speechless.

This is... it's beautiful.

I really think that what
happened this week

and giving back to people

that didn't have the same
opportunities that I did,

I know my dad would be really proud of me.

I hope the people I was able to help

will pay it forward in the future.

It's nice to know that I'm
living my dad's dream too.

I really appreciate this opportunity.

We're gonna do it together, okay, buddy?

I'm all in.

- Thank you very much.
- No problem.

Sync and corrected by atrn97g
www.MY-SUBS.com