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NARRATOR: Tonight on "Mystery Diners,"
Ken Looney, owner of Looney's Barbecue in Oakland, California,
is getting fired up over his *** hot sauce.
I'm concerned that my staff may be using our *** sauce
to prank my customers.
NARRATOR: Is his staff tricking customers...
Ooh! That is -- that is hot.
CHARLES: There's nothing funny about that.
NARRATOR: ...or just following orders?
Mark, what are you talking about?
The Mystery Diners are turning up the heat
in order to show Ken what's really going on.
This is worse than I thought.
Oh!
Owning a restaurant isn't easy.
You can have great food, atmosphere, and customers,
but reckless employees...
You're being a jerk, man.
...can ruin everything.
That's where the Mystery Diners come in.
Charles Stiles has helped thousands of restaurants
find their problems and remove them.
He sends in his team of undercover operatives...
I'm Chris. I'm the new supply guy.
...to show restaurant owners
what really happens when they're not around.
MAN: You were stealing from me.
I want to go over there right now! I want to go over there right now!
This is my business!
That food is my life!
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
My name is Ken Looney, and I'm the owner
of Looney's Southern Barbecue in Oakland, California.
Here at Looney's, we smoke 6 different kinds of meat,
we make 15 different sides from scratch.
Some of our customer-favorite dishes
are the the beef short rib, which we smoke with applewood
for about five hours.
We do the traditional spare ribs.
Our brisket sandwich is to die for.
When you put one of our barbecue sauces on it,
your mouth just explodes with this plethora of flavors.
When I started out, I only had one barbecue sauce.
Now I have 10, ranging from our mildest
all the way up to our spiciest barbecue sauce --
"Devil's ***."
It's made with the hottest pepper in the world --
the ghost pepper.
The reason I called Mystery Diners is,
I'm thinking that my staff is doing
some mischievous activities with our barbecue sauce.
I'm starting to hear complaints from customers
that they were given this *** sauce without asking for it.
The *** sauce is only meant for those people
who enjoy spicy food.
It can be very painful
if it's given to someone who's not expecting it.
We have customers that can't tolerate hot food,
and if they're given this sauce, it can actually injure them.
In addition to losing customers,
it could cost me a lawsuit and my business.
CHARLES: Hi, Ken.
Charles Stiles -- "Mystery Diners."
Oh, hey, Charles. Glad to meet you.
This is Brianna.
She's one of our undercover Mystery Diners.
Tell me about your restaurant.
Here at Looney's, we've created
about 10 different barbecue sauces.
But we have one very unique sauce here,
and we call it our "Devils's ***" sauce.
This has ghost pepper in it.
Ghost pepper is the hottest pepper in the world.
I'm a hot-sauce connoisseur, so you know what?
Bring it on. Let's see what you got.
Brianna, you gonna try it?
No, thank you. That is definitely not for me.
It's got good flavor.
How you feeling there, Charles?
Ooh! It's kicking in.
That's hot!
Wait five minutes.
Tell me why you called my company.
What seems to be the problem?
In the last couple of months, I've seen about a 15% decline.
Yeah.
And that's a pretty significant number.
So, you think it has something to do with
your "Devil's ***" barbecue sauce?
I'm concerned that my staff may be using our *** sauce
to prank my customers.
That's definitely a hot hot sauce.
This would hurt somebody.
If someone is sensitive and the food is extremely spicy,
that could make someone sick.
I'm afraid I could get a lawsuit.
In addition to losing customers,
I'm having a tough time keeping employees,
especially in the last couple of months, that we've hired,
and within a couple of days, they just leave.
I don't hear any reason why.
Do you have any suspects?
Ellory and Matt -- two of my new hires out front.
They seem to not take things
as seriously as I would like them to.
NARRATOR: For this sting, Mystery Diners will focus
on Matt and Ellory --
two waiters who may be serving up hot sauce
to unsuspecting customers.
SO, let me tell you a little bit about how we operate.
We put hidden cameras throughout your entire restaurant
so we can see and hear everything that's taking place.
In addition, one of the things we like to do
is bring in undercover Mystery Diners.
I'll come in as a difficult customer,
and we'll see if your staff remains professional
or if they prank me with your *** hot sauce.
I really need your help.
I can't afford to lose customers.
It will devastate me,
put me out of business within a year.
[ Gasps ] That's hot!
NARRATOR: To carry out the sting,
cameras have been hidden at key locations throughout Looney's.
Three cameras have been set up in the main dining room
to give an overall perspective
of the restaurant and its customers.
Two cameras have been set up in the bar,
and five cameras have been set up in the kitchen
to monitor the preparation and distribution of hot sauce.
Mystery Diners Brianna and Kiel will pose as customers,
and William will go undercover as a waiter in training.
Wow!
Ken, welcome to your control room. What do you think?
This is amazing.
As you can see, we've got every angle covered.
You've got the back of your kitchen,
you've got your dining areas, bar areas.
Basically, every area an employee
can have a conversation, we've got it covered.
I'm very excited.
So, I see this server over here. Is that Matt?
Yeah, that's Matt. He's one of our newer servers.
And you can almost tell by looking at his face,
he's got that mischievous look about him.
And I assume that gentleman right there
wiping down the table is Ellory?
That is Ellory.
And who is this guy back here?
That is Mark.
He's been a great General Manager.
He seems like he really has my back.
Well, Ken, one of the things we like to do
is bring in undercover Mystery Diners.
We've got William to start as a waiter in training.
Go ahead and go out there. He's waiting out front for you.
Introduce him to your manager, Mark.
And we'll find out if there's any pranking
going on with your *** barbecue sauce.
Okay, Charles. That sounds great.
Ken believes his staff is using the restaurant's *** hot sauce
to prank the customers,
so for this sting, I'll be going undercover
as a waiter in training
to find out what's really going on from inside of the kitchen.
Mark.
So, I wanted to introduce you.
This is the new hire I was talking to you about.
This is William. This is Mark.
He's our General Manager.
I've got to go take care
of some paperwork at the lawyer's office,
so take care of him.
And I'll check in with you later.
Take care.
I don't think Mark suspects anything.
We've got our Mystery Diner
infiltrating the back end of your staff now,
so we'll find out what's going on behind the scenes.
So, is that really the proper training back there
is to introduce all your new staff
to your different sauces that you have to offer?
You know, we want the staff here to know
everything about all of our foods.
Do the sauces? Okay.
That's good.
I can definitely taste the difference.
Okay.
He's lying! That's our *** sauce!
[ Gasps ]
[ Chuckles ]
[ Gasps ]
[ Sighs ]
NARRATOR: Coming up...
Oh!
This could cause some serious injury.
Oh! Ooh!
That's unbelievable.
I got to put a stop to this.
NARRATOR: Ken Looney,
owner of Looney's Barbecue in Oakland, California,
believes his waiters Matt and Ellory
may be serving the restaurant's "Devil's ***" hot sauce
to unsuspecting customers.
That's hot!
Charles has set up a control room next to Looney's
where Ken can watch everything that happens in his restaurant
with our hidden cameras.
This is amazing.
Mystery Diner William
has gone undercover as a waiter in training,
and Brianna and Kiel will pose as customers.
And after starting the sting,
Ken watches how his manager, Mark, trains new employees.
He's lying! That's our *** sauce!
[ Chuckling ]
[ Gasps ]
[ Laughter ]
Holy [bleep]
CHARLES: Well, Ken, you were worried
that there was some hazing going on
because of your turnover of your staff.
Well, I can tell you, that's hazing right there,
and Mark is behind it.
Ooh!
The *** hot sauce was everything it was advertised to be.
My mouth was on fire.
What's going on, guys?
So, Ken, did you know anything
about this weekly contest they got?
It's news to me, and I definitely don't approve of it.
[ Groans ]
If your staff is pranking each other or your guests,
it's because they're following the example
set by your manager, Mark.
Being used in this manner as a form of punishment
is just totally unacceptable,
and it actually breaks my heart to see this.
I mean, look at this. Ellory is in some serious pain.
This could cause some serious injury
and put me out of business.
He just ran into your bathroom.
Looks to me like the *** hot sauce is kicking in.
Okay.
Well, we now know your employees
have no problem pranking each other with your barbecue sauce.
We just need to find out
if they're pranking your customers, as well.
I totally agree.
Hey, William, go ask Matt
if he ever pranks the customers with the hot sauce.
So, you guys screw around with each other,
but do you guys ever screw around with the customers?
So, what do you do?
Will you show me something?
Come on. Show me.
I can't see what Matt's doing,
but it looks like he's doing something
to your barbecue-sauce bottle.
It's not good.
Whatever Matt did, he's waiting to watch his handiwork.
That customer just grabbed the honey barbecue sauce.
For your sake, I hope that's what he gets.
[Bleep]
Maybe that customer didn't burn his mouth,
but he definitely ruined his food.
There's nothing funny about that.
Who's gonna pay for that? You are.
[ Sighs ] Oh, God.
Well, there's Mark heading over to the table.
Let's see how he handles this.
Well, Mark handled that situation properly,
but we need to find out
if he's allowing your employees to prank your customers.
I hope to God he's not.
Hey, William, go ask Mark
if he ever pranks the customers with the hot sauce.
Hey, Mark, sorry to bother you, but I got a quick question.
CHARLES: As a manager,
Mark is supposed to be setting the example for the employees,
and if he's okay with it, then he's the source of the problem.
If I find out Mark did know about this,
this will have some serious consequences
of how I feel about someone that I truly love.
I know you're okay with, like, screwing around
with the other guys and stuff,
but is it cool to mess with customers?
Mark, what are talking about?
Really?
[ Sighs ] Oh, God.
Okay.
CHARLES: First, I was worried about Mark,
but I think he's doing the right thing.
You know, he jokes around a little bit,
but he seems to have zero tolerance
for messing around with the customers.
That's good news.
Well, you know, Ken, one of the things I'd like to do
is send in a couple of our undercover Mystery Diners,
Brianna and Kiel, and have them come in
and pose as difficult customers
and find out if your employees
will actually serve them the *** hot sauce.
Let's try to find these bad apples.
All right, Brianna. Go on in.
BRIANNA: All right.
Server Matt already said that some customers
are punished by the staff for being difficult,
so for this sting, I'm gonna see how far I need to push my server
before getting the ***-hot-sauce treatment.
Looks like Ellory's back on the floor.
Good.
No.
I find that hard to believe. I'm from Texas.
We do barbecue way better.
I beg to differ.
I highly doubt that.
Sure. Yeah.
So, when a customer requests your *** wing sauce,
how do you normally sample that?
Well, we'll give them a small sample
on the end of a toothpick.
And that's probably enough to set most mouths on fire?
Right.
All right, Kiel. It's your turn.
KIEL: Okay.
We'll grab this spot over here.
HI. Good. How's it going?
Sounds good. Water's good.
Well, here comes Ellory with that hot sauce.
That sample looks a lot bigger than a toothpick.
Yeah.
CHARLES: If Mystery Diner Brianna eats all that hot sauce,
she's gonna be in as much pain as he was.
[Bleep] unbelievable.
This is worse than I thought.
Look at Matt over here in the expediting station,
how proud he is of his little prank.
He thinks it's funny.
Charles, I got to put a stop to this.
NARRATOR: With the help of hidden cameras and undercover Mystery Diners,
Ken Looney, owner of Looney's Barbecue,
has learned that his manager, Mark,
hazes and punishes employees
by forcing them to eat the restaurant's
"Devil's ***" hot sauce...
KEN: This is totally unacceptable,
and it actually breaks my heart to see this.
...and waiter Ellory serves Mystery Diner Brianna
an oversized sample of hot sauce.
This doesn't look good.
[Bleep] unbelievable.
This is worse than I thought.
I mean, thank God Ellory gave Brianna a sample
the way you instruct them, on the end of a toothpick.
You know, I don't think Ellory's really one of your concerns
and one of your issues at this point.
That's good news.
Oh! Ooh!
That is -- that is hot.
Ellory passed the test, so let's focus our attention on Matt.
Let's check it out.
Hey, Kiel, give Matt a hard time and really push his buttons.
Okay, Charles. I'll really grill him.
Guys, here's your waters.
Oh, it takes a little while to get a water, huh?
It's just water. Shouldn't take that long.
Actually, I'd like to know what you recommend.
Surely, you must have some favorites.
Okay, okay. How about one sandwich as a recommendation?
Very good. You get a point. You get a gold star.
Kiel, tell him you want your food to go
and you want a mild sauce on the side.
I would like to order a chicken sandwich...
...and a jambalaya, and if I could get both of those to go
because judging on how long it took the water to come out here,
I don't have a lot of confidence in you getting the food out.
Can I also get one more thing?
Can I get a order
of mild barbecue sauce on the side, though?
CHARLES: Matt did handle dealing with a difficult customer well,
but I'm not confident
he won't take it out on him in different ways.
I hope not.
[ Chuckling ] That guy was real tough, huh?
What do you mean? What are you gonna do?
I think Matt's your real problem.
I mean, he thinks it's okay to haze your customers.
Let's just see how far he'll actually take it.
Let's check it out.
Ken, look at that.
Are you kidding me?! He's using the *** hot sauce!
Charles, I got to put a stop to this.
There's no way I'm gonna let a customer
go home with *** sauce.
Go out there, put a stop to it,
bring Matt and Mark both back here,
Okay.
It was very disturbing to see Matt
do the pranks that he pulled.
I just can't fathom how a waiter could think
that they could get away with something like that.
They have no compassion for their employer.
Give me this food.
I'm sorry. We -- this isn't ready to go.
No. Come on. Come with me. Where's Mark?
Excuse me one second.
Where's Mark?
Mark!
We got to talk. Come on.
MARK: What's going on?
I've never seen you like this.
[Bleep]
Are you serious, Ken?
NARRATOR: Coming up...
He's my manager, he's responsible for everything I did,
and he told me to do that.
I work for Ken Looney,
and if Ken Looney wants me to tone it down --
Well, he does want you to --
Time out. Time out.
NARRATOR: After conducting an undercover sting operation
at Looney's Barbecue in Oakland, California,
the Mystery Diners have revealed that manager, Mark,
is setting a bad example by hazing the staff...
No employee should have to go through
this kind of hazing for a job.
NARRATOR: ...but even worse,
waiter Matt is causing customer accidents
and spiking to-go orders
with the restaurant's "Devil's ***" hot sauce.
MARK: What's going on? I've never seen you like this.
Whoa!
Are you serious, Ken?
My name's Charles Stiles. I'm with "Mystery Diners."
Your owner, Ken, called my company
'cause he's concerned that you guys
are scaring away customers with *** barbecue sauce,
and he's had a hard time
with employee retention over the last few months.
Take a look back here on the board.
You recognize some of these people here?
William, Kiel, and Brianna -- they work for me.
This man would be amazed
at how you're treating his food and his customers.
You think it's funny to take the *** hot sauce
and put it in his to-go order!
That could cause this man a lawsuit.
He's my manger, he's responsible for everything I did,
and he told me to do that.
He told me to do all that [bleep]
I've been waiting to say this for hours.
You are so [bleep] fired.
Get the [bleep] out of my sight.
Let the bulldog off the leash, see what happens, bro.
MATT: Justice was served today.
Customer treated me like a jerk, they deserve to get pranked.
You know, Mark, you're the manager.
Ken has put you in control
to pay attention to the business when he's not here.
You're rewarding somebody for positive sales
with the ability to drink on the job,
which is illegal, number one.
And then, you're giving another person *** hot sauce
and forcing them, saying, "You're gonna lose your job
if you don't eat this hot sauce."
Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something.
I work for Ken Looney,
and if Ken Looney wants me to tone it down,
Well, he does want you tone it down.
...and that's what I'll do! Don't talk over me, ever!
Time out, time out, time out.
You know, this is very, very emotional for me
to have to watch what I've had to watch today.
Mark, since he's come to my company,
he works harder than anybody that I've ever seen,
'cause I wouldn't be here without him.
[ Voice breaking ] So, he's very, very important to me.
And I apologize.
Like I said, this has kind of ripped my heart out to see.
But this isn't something
that can be tolerated in our restaurant
because if anything ever goes wrong in the restaurant,
they're not gonna sue you, they're gonna sue me,
and I'm gonna be out of business.
So, we have to be very, very careful
with what we do with that barbecue sauce.
You know, I'm sorry if I let you down, Ken, you know?
And if I don't harass you, I don't like you,
so, you know, I'll tone it down
and I'll fix the situation for you.
At the end of the day, I do have
a tough management style,
but I will pull back for Ken.
At the end of the day, Mark, I think, cares about you,
I think he cares about your business,
and I think he cares about your customers,
but he's gonna have to change
his leadership style a little bit.
KEN: I want to thank Charles for coming out
and help solving our problem.
Now I can get back to what I love doing --
providing a great customer experience
and getting some people to come out
and try some of the hottest barbecue sauce in the world.
NARRATOR: After being fired,
Matt has moved on to another job,
Mark has toned down his behavior and no longer hazes the staff,
and Ken is happy to report
that the only customers enjoying his hot sauce
are the ones who request it at Looney's.