OK, I searched and didn't find any direct feedback to my question. Is this job worth it? Are there timings? Lots of observations? Is it difficult? Are you allowed to bring a guest? TY for your feedback.

One timing. Once you do one they are easy. If you want a burger and fries then go for it. They often have bonuses.

Madetoshop Wrote:
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> OK, I searched and didn't find any direct feedback
> to my question. Is this job worth it? Are there
> timings? Lots of observations? Is it difficult?
> Are you allowed to bring a guest? TY for your
> feedback.


"Worth it" is a subjective evaluation that takes into account many factors for each of us and our businesses. I'll give it a shot to help you decide.

For me, it sometimes is when I am in the mood for the food and can get one where I am at and for a good fee.

Yes, there are timings. Beyond the normal in and out times you must time to the second how long it takes from order to calling your number.

Observations are on par for a fast casual place. Observe elements of the building inside and out, bathroom, the employees and how they are working as you wait and eat, and your interactions with employees.

Is it difficult? No, not really I think. I would call it easy enough. You are required to stand near the counter while waiting for your food, make one timing to the second, and learn a few things about their operations for observations. The report is fairly easy with some narratives. Those are cut off at a particular character limit. They don't want much writing.

Yes, you can bring guests.

PS: They are introducing variations on ordering such as phone and internet. I have little experience with those new methods so it may be different.

PPS: Calorie count is high. Don't eat it all, bring help or exercise more.

PS the PS: Some of the new requirements have the milkshake factor

BTW: They cook with peanut oil and have peanuts all over the store. So don't take anybody whom has a peanut allergy. You will probably luv their shop. Free meal and picker-upper on a route.

"Worth it?" Sure, I think it is. Work is work. For an $10+ meal and a little pay, it'll cover your gas and a little of your time.

Enjoy it, but remember to switch to bunless hamburgers, or else you'll see some five pounds add up just like that haha.

Sure it's worth it. I limit myself, and wait until they're bonused so that I'm not eating there often. Order the Little Burger and Little Fry... they are NOT little, but it'll keep you just under reimbursement.

My Five Guys told me they're hearing word that turkey burgers will be on the menu soon. I can't wait.

oh my! I must find out who does 5 guys shops! (I know you can't say, drat!!)

mmmmm 5 guys.

Regarding the peanut oil, unless you are highly sensitive to peanuts, it should be OK. My husband is somewhat allergic. He can't eat peanuts but he can be around them, even when they are on the floor. So when we found out Chick-Fil-A cooks in peanut oil, we wondered why he had never had an attack. We wrote the company and their scientist wrote back.

She said most people with peanut allergies are not allergic to peanuts (which are not nuts - they are a legume - but I digress). They are allergic to a naturally-occuring mold in peanuts. If I remember right it's called an aflatoxin. When peanuts are made into oil, there are at least two grades. The highest is what is sold in stores. The oil is highly refined and removes the aflatoxin.

Restaurants who use peanut oil use the high-grade oil to reduce the chance of an allergic reaction. My husband found out the hard way that some companies use the lower-grade oil to produce goods. He bought a bag of Krunchers potato chips and had an allergic reaction.

niteowl Wrote:
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> She said most people with peanut allergies are not
> allergic to peanuts (which are not nuts - they are
> a legume - but I digress). They are allergic to a
> naturally-occuring mold in peanuts. If I remember
> right it's called an aflatoxin. When peanuts are
> made into oil, there are at least two grades. The
> highest is what is sold in stores. The oil is
> highly refined and removes the aflatoxin.

This is fascinating!! Thanks for sharing....

I did my first Five Guys last week and the one thing that I will comment on is that because I had never eaten there and wasn't at all familiar with their menu, I overspent my reimbursement limit by quite a lot.

Mine was a phone shop and I learned that in the future, I should check online for the menu before calling! But I was out, and figured how much could a burger, fries and a soft drink cost??? GULP! My husband was with me, and since we were allowed to order something for our guest (unreimbursed, of course!) we ordered 2 bacon cheeseburgers, 1 fries to share and 1 drink to share and the total came to $24!!! I nearly had a heart attack!

It was a great learning experience, and since the food was delicious, I didn't mind that much, but WOWIE, at the time it was a bit of a shock.

I felt the shop was quite easy, especially compared to the crazy McDonalds ones where you have to go to the drive thru AND inside for the same shop fee!

Thanks so much everyone for your input and advice. Think I'm going to take one close to work.

what are the bunless burgers? I've never had one.

It's a burger with all the usual stuff, but no bun. But be careful because some shops require you to get it with a bun so you can evaluate the bun's freshness and whether or not they squashed it.

But you can order it with a bun and not eat the bun to save the carbs.

tracyvp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did my first Five Guys last week and the one
> thing that I will comment on is that because I had
> never eaten there and wasn't at all familiar with
> their menu, I overspent my reimbursement limit by
> quite a lot.
>
> Mine was a phone shop and I learned that in the
> future, I should check online for the menu before
> calling! But I was out, and figured how much
> could a burger, fries and a soft drink cost???
> GULP! My husband was with me, and since we were
> allowed to order something for our guest
> (unreimbursed, of course!) we ordered 2 bacon
> cheeseburgers, 1 fries to share and 1 drink to
> share and the total came to $24!!! I nearly had a
> heart attack!
>
> It was a great learning experience, and since the
> food was delicious, I didn't mind that much, but
> WOWIE, at the time it was a bit of a shock.
>

I look at those types of shops as having an $11 coupon on my food. I have taken my neices and nephew out for Five Guys and my parents. It is nice to have even a little discount like that. All our Five Guys just raised the prices of their burgers by 50 cents.

If you order a little burger and little fries you should stay within your reimbursement. I thought these shops were easy and delicious.

If I order the burger with no cheese, little fries, and regular beverage, I only go over by 36 cents after taxes.

My only problem with this shop is that I really do like the burger "all the way" as they make it and will eat the whole thing with two patties.

I had a scheduler for the same MSC call me up and ask me to schedule a fast food lunch on the same day that I'm already eating 5 guys for dinner for them. This fast food location was in a grimy area of town, so even if I took the required one bite, it's not worth visiting with the homeless that hang out in the dining area for 15 minutes and subjecting myself to the germs.

Even with a bonus, I won't go to some fast food locations. There is a reason they are calling people to go there.

5 Guys is a pretty good shop for me because I like the burger, I like the grilled cheese sandwhich and I like the hot dog. I eat a couple of fries and toss the rest, too high calorie. It's a long questionaire but it's a lot easier to conduct the shop than McD's because there's only one timing.

Five Guys needs to start saying, "Would you like some french fries with your salt?" At least around here, they salt the fries enough to preserve them.

I've done some where I mentioned in the report that I had to keep brushing salt off my fingers. I do like a lot of salt with fries, but I usually pour some salt onto a napkin, take a bite, then dip the end of the fry in the salt. I do not like it when it's all over the outside of the fries. Too messy to eat like that.

(I am blessed with low/average blood pressure. Everyone else in my family is high. Don't know how I lucked out!)

I do quite few five guys and always wait for it to be bonused, I do wish they would cover the full cost of a cheeseburger, fry and drink. But it is close to me and I do enjoy a burger. I do wish I could type more sometimes, the good part is they never come back about grammar as sometimes I will run on a sentence to save space. 99% of the time they call me rather than me picking up a shop, I just received an email from them and they offered a $5.00 bonus, I am waiting for more.

The best part of their shops is that no matter how busy I am I can always do one of theirs, I do wish they allowed 24 hrs vs the 12 hr limit.

Five Guys was my very first shop and since then I have an amazing scheduler who calles me with a very nice bonus at least once a week!! My meal is covered by all but 7 cents. I find it is a very easy shop and the 2 locations near me almost always are perfect or very darn near!! My hubby and I joke that it is our 'date night'!! LOVE, love, love their food! (I usually order my burger 'bunless'). I highly recommend them!!

I've seen these posted on the job board but was leery about taking them. I'm new to mystery shopping so is the $11 reimbursement +$9 good or should I wait to see if they slap a bonus on there near the end of the month? The area of north Louisiana I live in seems not to have many mystery shoppers so I'm not too worried about the jobs getting snatched up.

MissMandie1977 Wrote:
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> I've seen these posted on the job board but was
> leery about taking them. I'm new to mystery
> shopping so is the $11 reimbursement +$9 good or
> should I wait to see if they slap a bonus on there
> near the end of the month? The area of north
> Louisiana I live in seems not to have many mystery
> shoppers so I'm not too worried about the jobs
> getting snatched up.


If it's reasonably close (<10 miles round trip) and you WANT to try the food out, go for it.

MissMaddie, for a brand new, fresh-out-of-the-gate, let-me-find-out-what-it-is-all-about shopper, it's a fair fee. If you want to stay under (or close to) reimbursement, order "small" of everything. (Trust me, it'll be enough food to feed an army!)

After you've done that initial shop, you'll be in the position to decide if you should take it for $9.00 or wait it out. If you're in a lightly shopped area, you will be on the bonusing-schedulers speed dial and will look start salivating when you see the MSC on your caller ID. I promise.

(heart)

I love doing the 5 Guys Burger shops. The food is excellent and the shop itself, is really easy to do. Where I live, the small cheese burger, small fries and drink is always under the reimbursement. It is all I could eat and still feel comfortable in my jeans!!! I self assign one of these shops at least once a month because I really enjoy the food. I am now trying to pick up a Fatburger shop but have had no luck yet.

If you are just starting off take anything you feel you can handle and don't think about the payment. You need to build your skills and reputation with the companies. You have to work your way up to a certain extent. If you want to do fine dining shops you need to build up to it. The 5 Guys are great for learning, they include all of the major parts that others ask, but the form is simple to fill out.

5 Guys is yummy! As for bunless, my favorite in In'N Out "protein style," which instead of the bun is full lettuce leaves. I ask for extra lettuce and tomatoes. Fatburger does bunless, but if you want a bun, ask for the baby bun, I do. Have fun.

I've done several of them. They are easy, but I stopped doing them unless they are bonused because all I want to do after a Five Guys meal is sleep. Don't get me wrong, the food is delicious, but it is greasy and there is a ton of it. The reimbursement is more than enough for a meal for one. They usually get taken early and I find it difficult to decide if I want a fast food meal a week in advance. If they call me with a last minute shop with a bonus, I'll do it. Well worth the pay and reimbursement if you enjoy that type of food.

I enjoy the Five Guys shops. There is one timing and it is a breeze. The burgers are good and the fries are excellent. I typically take a friend and catch up with each other while conducting the shop.

I used to do a lot of these, especially for lunch, but when they dropped the lunch shop fee to $6 even though it requires the exact same things as the dinner shop, I stopped doing any lunches unless they're bonused for more than the $7 they originally were. Petty? Maybe. But it's the principle of the thing to me.

I do like that they allow you to get the hot dogs now. I'd never pay that much for a dog outside of a ballpark, but they're good at 5 Guys and allow you to easily stay under the reimbursement.