Mystery shopper Restaurants

Chas

langers1 wrote:

My parents and i have been doing this type of thing for well over 20 years and MikeLB is partly true, he must be set up with some of the rubbish ms companies though. I have had jobs where you get £15 per visit to buy a car you are in and out within 15-30 mins and can do 9 in a day, you also get milage at 45p per mile.

I think it's a little rude to say that MikeLB must be set up with rubbish companies.

You've given an example of car dealership visits but the original poster was asking about restaurant visits & MikeLB's reply gave constructive advice about restaurant visits.

I have completed lots of restaurant visits for various companies & I agree with Mike that there are occasions where I've had to order specific dishes (or choose one dish from a list of four). I also agree about the low fee & spend limits - quite often a company offer an amount towards the cost of the meal & it is usually possible to stay within the spend limit, but only if you order the cheapest items on the menu, share a starter, drink soft drinks etc.

I don't think anyone will get rich mystery shopping restaurants, but I've had some great meals/nights out & have had the chance to visit restaurants I didn't even know existed.

The other thing to bear in mind is that you have to pay for the meal & then wait for reimbursement which can be up to 6 weeks later, so restaurant visits are no good if you have cashflow problems.

Rachie_B

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=223762

Sinope_2

Rachie_B wrote:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=223762

Wow, ok, i'll sit down with a cuppa to do these

Rachie_B

lol yep tis a bit long

all the different companies are on there and some fab tips etc

any Qs ask away and someone ,usually becles ,lol will know the answer

Sinope_2

Cool, will do, just got to the bit about the paperwork, to be honest being self employed really puts me off as i hate being self employed but i'm now a full time mum who is looking for ways to earn money/spend time doing things in the day whilst my son is with me so mystery shopping seems ideal.

MikeLB

Lol, the companies I with cant be that rubbish - My monthly MS Turnover exceeds £1500 and thats as a part timer. :-) I do between 80 - 120 jobs a month, generally on my days off. I also now get flights paid for to go to other parts of the country to do work when required, but it took 2 years of a lot of loss leading to get to that stage. I do get resturants where £100 for the meal is allowed, but general rule of thumb is they are an exception as opposed to the rule. Once a month usually and I admit I do love getting dressed up in the suit etc to look the part ;-)

The reason I pass comment on the lack of fee is that a certain company I do work for used to pay a fee to complete a certain chain of resturants, but they have now scrapped the fee for doing the same jobs.

The high priced meals dont appear on general systems and they are usually only allocated to the experienced shoppers.

stamford

Quasar wrote:

I am an allocator for a company specialising in assessing middle-market to up-market restaurants. We require very high standards of reporting and out of 10 new shoppers, about 2 make our grade. This is because we specialise in restaurants and are more expensive for the clients than other mystery shopping companies, but in turn we provide very extensive report which can take up to an hour an a half to complete.

We usually prefer to employ experienced shoppers because of our strict criteria. A mystery shopping meal may be a freebie in terms of money, but certainly not in terms of time, because as I said our reports take a while to complete properly.

Would anyone with Tats or Piercings make the exclusive 20% grade ? I'm not sure how the Management of the Fat Duck would react to such a mystery shopper - probably send 'em packing

MikeLB

Lol, i remember when I got allocated my very very first Posh Hotel and resturant. I got a phone call from my handler. She asked what I was planning to wear, so I said I had dusted down my suit. She replied 'Thats good then, the last person we sent there turned up in a camper van and a poly bag for their luggage' The hotel in question worked it out straight away and the results were null and void allegedly. lol.

All depends how you blend in dress wise to the location. The Car dealers are another one - when you do the higher end makes it pays to wear a decent watch, polished shoes etc, they take you more seriously.

stamford

MikeLB wrote:

Lol, i remember when I got allocated my very very first Posh Hotel and resturant. I got a phone call from my handler. She asked what I was planning to wear, so I said I had dusted down my suit. She replied 'Thats good then, the last person we sent there turned up in a camper van and a poly bag for their luggage' The hotel in question worked it out straight away and the results were null and void allegedly. lol.

All depends how you blend in dress wise to the location. The Car dealers are another one - when you do the higher end makes it pays to wear a decent watch, polished shoes etc, they take you more seriously.

They probably pinched the towels & bed linen.

Handler - I like that sounds like MI5 !!

MikeLB

Well thats not her technical job title (obviously!) but she is in my mobile as 'The Handler'. She thought it was quite funny too. With the things she has me doing though its probably the most accurate description for her.