The head of a US drive-through chain broke cover during filming for the CBS reality show Undercover Boss and shut down an outlet on the spot.
Checkers and Rally's Drive-in Restaurants chief executive Rick Silva revealed his true identity after being harangued by the general manager of the outlet in Homestead, Florida, in the episode that aired in the US on February 17.
The confrontation began when Mr Silva raised allegations that the manager, known in the show only as "Stevens", verbally abused his employees.
The manager retorts that if he didn't scream at them they would not listen to him.
Stevens then angrily turns on the chief executive who he says has no right to question his managerial style.
"I'm not going to let you continue telling me I'm disrespecting my crew. Have you been in the fast food business before?" the manager says.
Mr Silva tries to maintain his cover, saying "no I haven't", but cracks when the manager continues to goad him over his supposed lack of experience.
"I'll be honest with you I do have experience," Mr Silva says.
"I have been in the restaurant business for over 20 years and I've been in the fast food business for over 20 years. I'm CEO for this company."
Stevens' jaw drops as Mr Silva says: "Right here, right now, we're going to shut the restaurant down."
Earlier in the episode an employee named Todd told Mr Silva that Stevens treated staff badly and once threatened to take him outside and beat him for not working hard enough.
Todd said he was worried Stevens would fire him if he stood up to him, and he needed the job to support his mother.
Mr Silva reopened the store with a new general manager the next morning and sent the offending manager away for more training.
The show later revealed the company gave Todd $15,000 to help support his mother and promised to pay for him to complete his culinary training to become a chef.
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