‘Insanely Chill’ Coffee Executive to Star in CBS’s “Undercover Boss”

In CBS’s popular series “Undercover Boss,” high-level corporate executives trade in suits for everyday workingman’s garb as they undercover inside their own operations. This doesn’t apply to Dutch Bros. Coffee president and co-founder Travis Boersma, who is shedding his typical board shorts to play the role of Sam Marshall, a preppy Texas nerd, as he’ll star in an episode this Friday (“He’s an insanely chill boss!” CBS says).

Travis Boersma in makeup and a wig for “Undercover Boss”

According to CBS, Boersma will be shown undercover with a plantation worker at a Dutch Bros. supplier in El Salvador, working as a roaster in the company’s Grants Pass, Ore., headquarters, and and as a manager and barista at various Dutch Bros. retail locations.

For viewers not familiar with the reality show, it tends to follow a formula: the executive is immersed in the lower-level operations of his or her company; he or she finds the actual work involved to be a revelation and is abundantly inspired by the people doing it; then he or she sacks an employee or two found to be insubordinate and promotes and/or rewards an employee or two who is a kind of diamond in the company rough. At this point, the viewer cries.

CBS’s promo for Friday’s show suggests the Dutch Bros. episode will be no different: “Seeing how hard these employees work and all that they’ve overcome, I’ve incorporated more gratitude in my mission statement for life,” Boersma offers. “I’m thankful to have so many great people as part of my team that I value so much.”

Dutch Bros. Coffee describes itself as the country’s largest privately held, drive-thru coffee company, with over 200 locations and over 2,000 employees in seven states. Third-generation dairy farmers, Travis founded the coffee company with his brother Dane, who passed away in 2009.

The Dutch Bros. episode will be airing Friday, Nov. 15, from 8 to 9 p.m. EST.