Undercover Boss

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In 1986, my wife and I lived in Lake Forest, California. At the time, the address was El Toro. Down on Rockfield Blvd there was a pizza place. I don’t remember anything special about this place except that it was one of those places where you ordered and picked up your pizza over here, and over there you got your drinks. We had ordered our pizza and my wife found us a pretty good table and I went to get the drinks. There were several people in front of me and a lady directly in front of me who I’d say was about 55 years old. She didn’t strike me as being special. She was dressed just like the rest of us in jeans and a tee. She did have an empty pitcher in her hand. We all waited silently and if any contact was made at all, it was just a polite smile or a nod. Finally, it was her turn in line. There were two guys at the drink bar. One was younger taking orders and the other in probably his late 20’s was filling those orders. The lady popped the pitcher on the bar and politely asked “can I just get half a pitcher?” The young man immediately responded by saying “I’m sorry, we can only sell by the mug or by a full pitcher.” She then said she’d take a whole pitcher. The older guy filling the orders, turned and said, “for you, we’ll make an exception,” and presented her with a half pitcher and continued “it’s on the house.” She then thanked the young man, grabbed the pitcher and turned to walk away. I thought to myself “How cool was that, maybe I can get some free beer, too.” Before I could order, the older guy leaned to the younger guy and said “that lady owns this place.”

In 1960, there was a Bing Crosby movie “High Time” where Bing was a successful owner of a chain of burger restaurants. Once he got successful (MILLIONAIRE successful) , he decided to fulfill his dream of getting his college degree. Bing joins a fraternity and decides to treat his college friends to what he said were the best hamburgers ever. When they got there and ordered, the burgers came out horrible. Bing told the waiter so. The waiter was kinda snobbish and begged to differ. Bing then announced who he was and then gave the waiter and the cook a much needed lesson on how the burgers were supposed to be cooked and how his restaurants are run.

I have a friend who owns two chain fast food restaurants. He is also retired from another successful career. I ask him one day why he went into the fast food restaurant business when I know he makes a pretty decent retirement check from that previous career. His reply was “Visions of Grandeur.” He told me he thought he could buy the already successful restaurants, hire someone else to run them, and sit back counting his cash. He’s owned them over ten years now and still can’t find anyone he trusts enough to turn the business over to. He gets up everyday and goes in and runs his business. Even when he’s not there, he’s continuously on the phone to his managers.

I have the same dream of owning a place where I don’t have to do anything but kick back and count the cash. Once in a great while, I can pop in for a surprise visit. What lessons can we learn from these three stories?