TAMPA, Fla. — Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman, Co-Founders of College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk & Moving are giving up their names to become Freddie DeLuca and Ryan Davenport, new employees of their own business.
In season 11 of the hit CBS show, "Undercover Boss," the duo travels across the country to learn more about their brand and see their business from an employee's perspective.
"We're so disconnected now from what's going on at the front lines of our business that we wanted to go undercover to really get a feel and be able to walk and experience what our employees are dealing with and perhaps things we could improve upon," Friedman said.
However, the two are no strangers to hard work. They started their business as two college students with an old cargo van from Soliman's mother's furniture store. The two hauled junk and did the legwork to grow their business.
"We started on the front lines of the truck. We would be driving the truck, answering phone calls. People would complain about erratic driving from the 1-800 number and we would be the ones in the driver's seat pretending like we weren't the ones driving," Friedman explained.
They have both come a long way since then. Their business has grown to more than 200 franchises across the country with thousands of employees. In addition to hauling junk, they also added a moving service.
Now, becoming Freddie DeLuca, a bartender out of work from New York City, and Ryan Davenport, a gym expert looking for a new opportunity, the duo are going back to their roots.
"We added moving after we sort of stopped doing the heavy lifting. So, having to go back and do the moving piece of the business was particularly challenging," Friedman said.
During all that heavy lifting, the two built relationships with employees, learning things they never would have known if they weren't undercover.
"It's very unprecedented times with COVID and all the things going on in our country," Soliman explained. "There are a lot of people who have challenging things going on in their lives and they're going through a lot. Probably the biggest takeaway for me was just hearing those stories and hearing the commitment that people have to their job and to our brand and to their families."
You can watch Nick and Omar in the latest episode of "Undercover Boss" at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 7 on 10 Tampa Bay.