Marco’s Pizza, the nation’s fastest-growing pizza franchise with nearly 700 locations in 35 states, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and India, announced that president and COO Bryon Stephens will be featured on CBS’s award-winning series “Undercover Boss.” Stephens’ undercover experience, which he described as “eye-opening,” provided new insights that resulted in meaningful changes for the brand and its employees.
The Marco’s Pizza episode will air on the CBS Television Network at 8 p.m. ET Friday, January 29. During the episode, Marco’s Pizza will be hosting a live chat on Twitter via @MarcosPizza and will respond in real-time to any conversations using #UndercoverBoss. In addition, starting January 21 until the airing of the episode, Marco’s Pizza locations will offer an “Undercover Deal” in which consumers can join the Marco’s Pizza e-club to unlock a secret promotion.
“Our mission is for Marco’s Pizza to be the pizza of choice, the employer of choice and the business partner of choice,” Stephens says. “Everything we do revolves around that mission. Being on UNDERCOVER BOSS provided a golden opportunity to get an inside look from the perspective of the employee, the franchisee and the customer. The discoveries I made during the journey were eye-opening.”
Marco’s Pizza, the only franchise pizza brand in America founded by a native Italian, added 113 new locations in 2015 alone. On average, one new Marco’s Pizza opens every third day, setting the company on track to have 1,000 locations open and operating by the end of 2017.
On the episode, Stephens, inconspicuously disguised as a bearded, middle-aged man named “Jay” trying to map out his future career, worked as a Marco’s pizza delivery driver, cashier, pizza maker, and even loading trucks late-night at the company’s distribution center in Toledo, Ohio. Along the way, he gets a first-hand look at the business model’s strengths and flaws, as well as the personal and professional struggles of employees and franchisees.
As a result of the “Undercover Boss” journey, Stephens instituted new policies at the company, including a requirement that all corporate office staff work at least one day a year at a Marco’s store to keep in touch with what it’s like to be a front-line employee.
"We are opening new stores at a fast pace,” Stephens says. “Going undercover afforded me the unprecedented opportunity to expose issues and address them so that we can continue to grow smart. I also came away from this journey with an indelible sense of pride for our employees on the front lines. When it boils down to it, it’s about our product and the hardworking people behind it.”
