What company has regular restaurant shops? The companies I am signed up with seem to only have fast food restaurant shops.

Stutzcm,

try JC and Associates.

[www.jcandassociates.com]

Jacob

JC&Associates, Retail eyes, intellishop..good luck.

Thanks, for the information. I just signed up with them.

A Closer Look also has restaurants.

Does ACL do mainly restaurants? I noticed that their app. requires a dining narrative.

What I mostly see from ACL is restaurants though from time to time they have other types of evaluations.

Thanks. I don't do food shops, so I don't have a dining narrative. I guess I'll skip this msp. I was going to sign up because there's slim pickins around here right now. Sure wish more April shops would post. They're all too worried about clearing out the March jobs.

Hi, Joan--
I'm not registered with ACL, but I think you're mistaken about paragraphs on applications. I been asked to do a great variety of paragraphs, and the purpose is to see the quality of your writing, not specifically to see a restaurant narrative. Some of them ask about memorable real (as opposed to professional) shopping experience, or your best and worst shop, or why you want to shop for them. While some let you list your shopping experience, others ask specifically to put it in paragraph form. I keep all the paragraphs in my clipboard program for re-use.

It says to describe a recent dining experience in detail. I've also had one ask for a grocery experience narrative. I'm like you. I keep a folder of common paragraphs that are asked for. If I have a shop that I really like the narrative I've done, I file it and hope it will come in handy at some point.

Great minds think alike. I've used the shortened version of a few shops too.
.....................

Wish I knew who does Applebees, but DO NOT post it here, nudge, nudge, wink wink.

hi sneakers, my name is nancy and i have been a ms for 4 years....check out speedmark....lots of good jobs, also i like THIS site, am able to get some good ideas and referrals.....nancy

I do Applebee's, along with their other amazing restaurants, but we all know, my lips are sealed. I do them on a rotation, every other month, and their others on the other month. I have never eaten so well as Applebee's is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sneakers, the above grammer would be...I have been asked, as opposed to I been asked.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2008 02:47PM by shop 4 u.

So, are you saying that some restaurant chains hire their own secret shoppers? Not sure what you what you mean by my lips are sealed.

You are not allowed by MSPA to give both the name of the company and the jobs they do. Since Applebee's was mentioned, I cannot give the company name, one or the other...it's in the agreegement we all signed. I joined many companies and have been lucky in finding this one. The trick is to register with as many companies as possible, and you hit on some good ones that have shops you want to do. Sneakers knows that by asking and mentioning the name of the restaurant, she cannot be told the name of the company.

I guess I need to read the fine print again. Seems unrealistic, though.

stutzcm -

SOME companies (Taco Bell and Walmart, for example) use people who are already their specialized "employees" to do any shops. OCCASSIONALLY, they will solicit applications from people who are interested in working for them to do shops.

COMPETITORS or SUPPLIERS (Coca-Cola, Cell Phone Companies, etc.), however, DO shop them, so usually any shop that you see offered will be for them.

Airlines also have their own shoppers. I found out that a huge home development co. uses their renters and owners as secret shoppers....I love doing new home development's, as that was our business before I retired. I have done a couple, but alot of them use there own people. This is a business of differences, depending on the company you work for...they all have their own rules and ways. Unrealistic, maybe, not for us to judge, for us to find which works the best and try and get rid of the one's that nickel and dime us to death.

I need an example of a description of quality of food

Talk about taste, freshness, color quality, presentation, hot enough, time it took to get to your table, be creative and give them details. They will tell you what they want in your instructions.....read carefully, follow and you'll be fine.

It is actually the ICA (Independent Contractor Agreement) with the companies you work for that prevents you from mentioning the client and company name in the same thread. It has to do with the confidentiality with which you hold the information to which you have been exposed as a contractor with the company.

Generally when describing food you are looking at something along the line of: The Peter's Pride plate was served with an attractive half rack of baby back ribs and a generous serving of thinly sliced smoked pork. There was a serving of french fries that dominated the plate, covering part of the sliced pork. No garnish was provided to the plate at all. The baby back ribs were moist and flavorful and were tender enough that the bones could be lifted cleanly out of the meat. They were very pleasantly spiced. The sliced pork was tender, properly cooked and juicy, but was very salty. The french fries were served hot and crisp and were properly seasoned.

So what you have here was 1) did it look appetizing, 2) how did it taste. You need to be objective, so you have to be very careful about opinions. I definitely try to avoid "good" and "bad" but rather talk about the positives and negatives. In this case I am trying for them to get the picture that this plate was looking like mostly fries even though there were correct portions of the meats. If the plate had been decorated with parsley or some other appropriate item to make it more appealing I would have mentioned it, but the absence should also be noted. If the crockery had been attractive and added to the visual enjoyment of the meal, I would have noted that. Then for the products themselves, I really don't get to comment much on whether I liked the food or not. In this case I personally liked the ribs and the positive attributes were mentioned along with my general approval of the outcome. With the sliced pork, it met the client criteria of thinly sliced and juicy and I will state that and that it was very salty rather than the reality that, "It was just too darn salty for me!" Hot, crisp and seasoned is what is usually sought in an average french fry. If the fries were better or worse than that there would be expansion on the topic.

The point is getting impressions across of what you see and experience while staying the detached observer.

I did not feel I needed to write the report for him here, just a sample of what he needed to address....With one company, I am asked for my opinions at the end, ways to improve, suggestions, would I tell my friends, come back., so, it is not always about being detached. It is more about being objective. I once mentioned they needed a vase and flowers on the table of a very pricey restaurant. They wrote back and thanked me for the insightful suggestion.

Your critic is good, we all have our own sytles of writing....and Sturzcm needs to develop his own. I think he was asking for the details they are looking for.

Funny, his comment was "I need an example of a description of quality of food" which is what I was trying to provide as well as why I would deal with the way I would. I feel sure that I do not need to "write the report for him", but certainly an example of what could/would be written by someone else is what he was requesting.

stutzcm--

About mentioning both names in the same thread. It breaks your ICA, your contract. That's why I said, "DON'T POST." I just said "I wish." Actually, it's partly about internet search engines. If both names show up on the same thread, they become linked forever more in all the search engines, and we know where that goes.

Flash--not everyone wants to know about the food, as you know. I'll share this story with the group.

It's not actually a restaurant shop, but did a bunch of those famous donut shops. Asked about the taste, I stated the eggs in their egg sandwiches taste like homogenized pancakes from batter, without the bumpy texture and bubbles of the white and yellow of a fried egg.

They faulted me. The reviewer said they're all made like that, so it's not the store's fault. I replied "Don't you think ---- would want to know what their eggs taste like, since they would want to improve their food?" No answer. What they want to know is whether the clerk smiled and thanked me. A far cry from a restaurant shop!

Yes, it is important to figure out whether the shop is about speed of service or quality of the experience. I am about to undertake a string of shops where there is little concern about the quality of the product beyond the visual and whether you could have hammered nails with the bread or not. I go into this with my eyes wide open that the right signs, the smiles, the eye contact, the upsell and charging the right amount are what is being determined, not whether the product was edible. They already paid the focus groups to determine that it was "delicious" [barf, barf].

I appreciate all the information everyone has been giving on the questions. I think it's great to have a place to go to ask them and get several responses. I am still learning alot about MS, I haven't done alot of shops yet.

Take your time till you feel comfortable. Do easy ones first.

Flash--I guess you're talking about fast food?

Yes, my little string of shops is ff. Its only "upside" is that it isn't grease burgers. They really rarely care if the food is edible or not. But when you are looking at casual or fine dining they do care how the food looks when it comes to the table, whether it seemed well prepared and was worthy.

"...and were properly seasoned." - Opinion. Should NOT be included in a report.

"...and were seasoned with a light coating of salt." - Factual. An acceptable report should tell WHY/HOW they "were properly seasoned".