Recently, I have seen shop requirements that prohibit doggy bags or leftovers on a dining shop. I am just curious as to why. Does it make you memorable? Any thoughts on this?

It gives the client the impression that the shopper has "over-ordered" in an attempt get more benefit from the assignment.

I figured if you were getting reimbursed, then you are not out any money if you leave the leftovers behind.

I have not encountered this, but could it be that the client wants to make sure the shopper eats then meal in the restaurant instead of rushing through the timings and requesting a doggie bag just to get out of there.

Sounds good to me!

I haven't encountered that yet. I would hate to waste food, though. On shops where an appetizer and/or dessert are required in addition to the entree, I would think most people would be unable to finish all their food.

Since most restaurant shops pay little if any fee in addition to the reimbursement, I view maximizing the reimbursement as taking full advantage of my salary for the job.

There's a fast food joint I do where I take a few bites and then throw it away...or, when no one's looking, give it to the birds. I get reimbursed, so it doesn't matter to me really.

Is it reasonable to assume that, if they DON'T say anything about a doggy bag, that it's okay to ask for one? I'm not talking fine dining here, just regular restaurant. After all, ordering the requirements, and not eating them, could make you memorable, too. (I haven't doing it so far, but I have an assignment coming up that makes me think I need to fast for a day or two, first, to prepare!)

Ishmael Wrote:
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> Is it reasonable to assume that, if they DON'T say
> anything about a doggy bag, that it's okay to ask
> for one? I'm not talking fine dining here, just
> regular restaurant. After all, ordering the
> requirements, and not eating them, could make you
> memorable, too. (I haven't doing it so far, but I
> have an assignment coming up that makes me think I
> need to fast for a day or two, first, to prepare!)


If it doesn't no, then it should be fine. I've never thought about having to order something I'm not going to eat.... I almost always take my bf and he will eat whatever I don't.

jonk Wrote:
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> Since most restaurant shops pay little if any fee
> in addition to the reimbursement, I view
> maximizing the reimbursement as taking full
> advantage of my salary for the job.

This is precisely the attitude the MSC is trying NOT to impart to the fine-dining clients when they put in the no doggie bag requirement. The client is not concerned with how little you are being paid as a shopper. They are told that shoppers are happy to complete the evaluation in exchange for a good meal. If three courses are required, then you should share a light appetizer and dessert if you are not a big eater.

When I was scheduling, I learned that without limitations, shoppers will always order the most expensive items on the menu to maximize their return on the work. Knowing that you are not allowed to take the food home will generally keep shoppers from intentionally over-ordering. Without the requirement, a shopper will tend to order all of the way up to the maximum reimbursement and bag the uneaten food, like jonk suggested. That's what will make you suspect and memorable. People paying for their food tend to only order what they can consume....

Well, then, they should add a small cash payment on the side. Then the reimbursement would work like you say, but the shopper wouldn't feel underpaid. They could use that cash payment towards more food at the restaurant (which usually happens with me if I like the food) or not.

I have only seen this stipulation one time - for a MSC that has a lot of the high-end/FD places. Portion sizes tend to be more "reasonable" at these venues anyway and often times one appetizer two entrees and a dessert is a normal sized meal. Ordering more than that and then asking for food to take home would be odd in many of the restaurants this MSC does. Plus - these restaurants often have a wide range of price points (with a $15 salad appetizer and a $50 shellfish appetizer being both "starters) - so shoppers would need more limitations.

On the other hand, at family restaurants or casual (pretty much all the apostrephe s places like TGIFriday's, Applebee's, Chili's, Bennigan's, Holihan's, etc.) an appetizer, two entrees, and dessert is a huge amount of food. In those cases, then I think prohibiting taking food home can be wasteful and certainly a person who takes home a doggie bag from say the Cheesecake Factory or Claim Jumper looks totally normal (in fact, someone who orders the required dessert and then only eats a bite of their $10 cheesecake because they are stuffed and does NOT want to take it home - now that looks odd). Furthermore, many of these establishments are price controlled - with little variation from locales and within menu categories.

Something else I would be concerned with is if I go over the maximum reimbursement and am not allowed to take home my leftovers. That would upset me. Most reimbursement levels I have seen require the shopper to make smart menu choices to begin with. Selecting the higher priced items, like the lobster or filet, would bring me over the allowed reimbursed amount.

Now and again I will take a shop not knowing what it costs to eat there, and sure enough, the reimbursement does not adequately cover the required purchase. Until recently, Buffalo Wild Wings was the perfect example. Ordering even a modest entree along with the required beer plus tip would easily exceed the $15 reimbursement. I am happy to take the shop, but if I am coming out of pocket, I feel I should be able to do whatever I want with my leftovers.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
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> People paying for their food tend to
> only order what they can consume....

I disagree with this.... I know a lot of folks (and I'm sometimes one) who will save out a portion of their main meal to take home so that they can have dessert. That way you don't stuff yourself unnecessarily. Now, I wouldn't purposely order way more food than I could eat during a restaurant shop, but as someone else pointed out, many places serve portions that are just too big. Even if you go to a place where the portions are smaller, if you have to order an appetizer and dessert, then you still might honestly get more food than you can eat.

I think it's wasteful to not allow shoppers to take home extra food. There's nothing unusual about diners taking leftovers home, even in upscale restaurants these days.

If they don't want shoppers maximizing their reimbursements, then maybe they should re-balance the cash payment vs. the food reimbursement.

Doggy bags are never ( or rarely reported on a receipt) so take them home. Unless it is video checked the restaurant would not know nor ask on the report Did you take home leftovers?

Well, not if the shop instructions tell you to not ask for a doggy bag.

CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
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> Doggy bags are never ( or rarely reported on a
> receipt) so take them home. Unless it is video
> checked the restaurant would not know nor ask on
> the report Did you take home leftovers?

Really? Are you advocating that someone just ignore the shop guidelines?

You can disagree with the rules all you want, heck - YOU can violate the guidelines if you want, but come on - don't advise others to ignore the guidelines.

*Dislike*

CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
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> Doggy bags are never ( or rarely reported on a
> receipt) so take them home. Unless it is video
> checked the restaurant would not know nor ask on
> the report Did you take home leftovers?


I suppose the MSCs that have this requirement could have this as a question. And then (assuming all the shoppers are truthful) the MSCs would know.

I am saying I will not take a job where the guidelines say NO doggy bags. If you all want to waste food you go right ahead.

Mickey did I say that NO... Go ahead and toggle that is what it is there for. You go ahead and waste all the food you want.

MickeyB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Doggy bags are never ( or rarely reported on a
> > receipt) so take them home. Unless it is video
> > checked the restaurant would not know nor ask
> on
> > the report Did you take home leftovers?
>
> Really? Are you advocating that someone just
> ignore the shop guidelines?
>
> You can disagree with the rules all you want, heck
> - YOU can violate the guidelines if you want, but
> come on - don't advise others to ignore the
> guidelines.
>
> *Dislike*

CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
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> Mickey did I say that NO... Go ahead and toggle
> that is what it is there for. You go ahead and
> waste all the food you want.
>
> MickeyB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > CANADAMOMMY Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Doggy bags are never ( or rarely reported on
> a
> > > receipt) so take them home. Unless it is
> video
> > > checked the restaurant would not know nor ask
> > on
> > > the report Did you take home leftovers?
> >
> > Really? Are you advocating that someone just
> > ignore the shop guidelines?
> >
> > You can disagree with the rules all you want,
> heck
> > - YOU can violate the guidelines if you want,
> but
> > come on - don't advise others to ignore the
> > guidelines.
> >
> > *Dislike*


Uh yea, you said, "take them home" - check your post (notice I quoted it for you, just in case you might decide to edit the original.). Whatever - like I said - I could care less what you personally do. But I darn will call you out when you advise people - who may be newer to this - to do something that is wrong or could cause them harm. If I were newer to MSing, I would want someone to do that for me. Suggesting that someone just do something that is prohibited in the guidelines because there is no way the restaurant could know (or so you think), could get their shop invalidated and calls into question the entire ethics of this profession. It has NOTHING to do with the option that I have of skipping over your advise (which clearly I disagree with), it has to do with making sure that people who may turn to this board for guideance on what is acceptable and permissable know the potential downfalls of what you suggest.

I think there's a better way to make the MSC, client, and shopper all happy without having an absolute prohibition on doggy bags. Whatever MSC is doing this should more accurately spell out exactly what they are trying to accomplish, and I'm sure most professional, honest shoppers will be happy to play along.

I have done two dining shops so far and have gone over the generous reimbursement limits on neither of them. That said, here are (most of) the situations where I have maxed out my reimbursement:

1. Beauty supply store/retail portion of beauty school shops with a $10 or $20 limit. The $10 limit was on a local 2-location chain, Dermalogica cleanser travel size was $10 before tax (the size I was first shown was like $52!). At the other location I got hair gel and the best I could do was $15+tax. The beauty school shop... if you've done it, you know, you're not getting out of there for under $20 on a product.

2. Five Guys. I go out of pocket less than $1, because I love my bacon and cheese and my large drink.

3. Sonic (when I shopped them). I used to order the footlong coneys when I first did them and went over 20 to 50 cents or so every time. Eventually I decided to just order regular coneys.

4. Panda Express. $9 limit, I think it was the large drink again that put me over (again).

5. The gas station loyalty audits with a $1 reimbursement. Often a 12 oz Coke is 99 cents plus tax. If I have a half-full Coke in the car I'm going to get chips or almonds or some other snack which are all over $1 these days. So this one just can't be helped some of the time.

6. On the same vein, way back when I did them, a gas station mystery shop/revealed audit with a $2 limit. I was simply too hungry to get only a drink, and didn't mind going a buck and change out of pocket for a roller grill item.

7. One shop for a local hot dog restaurant chain where the reimbursement simply did not cover the full cost of the required item that month.

As you can see, none of these are out of greed or intentional over-ordering. Some of the reimbursement limits are actually there to be exceeded, as I have seen a shop with a $25 reimbursement limit and then they say you have to spend *at least* $25 and can't return the item, so you're going out of pocket no matter what.

Personally my family never orders dessert (or even an appetizer) when we go out to eat. I only order the dessert on mystery shops because I am required to. Sometimes I eat it but I would much rather eat it some other time at home do usually just take a bite or two and like another shopper said I would not want to waste food. In addition, if I order a dessert at an upscale place it is often in the $10 range or more. I would think it would look worse taking one bite and leaving a $10 dessert on the table than mentioning to the server that you discovered you were fuller than you thought or your eyes were bigger than your stomach, or nothing at all and asking for a doggie bag.
By the way, where I live Cheesecake Factory does not require a dessert be ordered and since you get a gift card and get the leftover money if there is any, there does not seem to be a reason to order it if you are not planning to eat it. Hopefully they do not have this policy of no doggie bags but if they do and you want the cheesecake for home, just bring your gift card back another time and get some.
I for one would not accept a fine dining shop where I know I would have leftovers if I was not allowed to take them home. So you who don't mind can have those. It's just too much work on the reports with no pay and often out of pocket to not be able to at least take home a little something when it happens there is food left.

I guess I must be the exception because I often don't max out the reimbursement. Sometimes I go way over. It just depends. I order what I want within the guidelines. I would not take a shop that did not allow doggie bags. For one, there is a doggie in the car expecting a treat. And for two, I may not look that way, but honestly, most of the time the food served in a restaurant is way too much for me to eat unless I want to be miserable and sleepy for the rest of the day.

My standard MO, if allowed, is a dinner salad and iced tea, an entre I eat about 1/3 to 1/2 of, and dessert only if they have small ones, like a single scoop of ice cream or something. More often than not, I skip the dessert. Part of the doggie bag goes to the princess and the other part is lunch for me the next day.

Since the MSC wasn't mentioned, can we have the name of the restaurant. I'm curious and I will avoid the shop.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2014 02:33PM by whiterosie.

Many people are on diets and when I order in a restaurant, I usually request a box up front and put half the meal in the box before I start eating. But if the guidelines say "NO DOGGY BAGS" I am not going to do that. I've never seen that though so no worries. My favorite Cheesecake Factory doesn't have that requirement so my Jambalaya Pasta is going home with me. It will feed me three times over. lol

"I learned that without limitations, shoppers will always order the most expensive items on the menu to maximize their return on the work."

NOT 'always'. I do a $40 max reimbursement shop (which only 'pays' a few dollars) where I have spent anywhere between $20 and $65, depending on what time of day, who I'm with, whatever. I just get a meal for myself and whomever I am feeding that particular meal. And it's not an 'eat in' shop, so there is no weirdness about doggy bags or looking odd ordering all-expensive-things if I'm by myself.

Sheesh.

LA

I'm with you all who won't take a shop that has a "no doggie bag" policy. I just can't stand the thought of wasting good food. Sometimes you just can't eat everything you order, and not because you intentionally ordered enough to max out the reimbursement!

Personally, I'd be suspicious of someone who left a lot of food on his/her plate and didn't ask for a box to take it home! That person/those people would be far more memorable to me as a server than someone who gets a doggie bag. At an upscale restaurant DH & I eat at on occasion, the waiter or waitress, if they see food left on our plates, will specifically ask if we want to take it home. It would seem odd if we didn't say "yes." So I think if the issue is the MSC is "worried" that ordering a lot of food and taking the leftovers home is a tipoff to being a shopper, their concern is misguided. Maybe back in the "old days," like 40 years ago, this was true--people were embarrassed to ask for a doggie bag to take their leftover steak home. But no more!

I've only seen the "no doggie bag" rule for fine dining shops. I always assumed it was because high end customers are less likely to ask for a box, and/or it was to keep you from ordering the largest steak. They usually tell you that you can't order lobster too.

I would probably not take a casual dining shop that prohibited doggie bags if reimbursement was the only payment.

The main reason I do the Cheesecake factory shops is because I can make a meal of the leftovers. Otherwise, I often go over the gift card value when I can't resist getting dessert.

If you are on a shop where taking the remaining food is not allowed, just say that you would like to, but you are traveling and your hotel room does not have a refrigerator. End of story.

walesmaven Wrote:
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> If you are on a shop where taking the remaining
> food is not allowed, just say that you would like
> to, but you are traveling and your hotel room does
> not have a refrigerator. End of story.


That's a good way to solve the problem of meeting the shop guidelines, but it doesn't address the problem of wasting the food.... Personally, just my own POV, I think it's irresponsible to waste food, and I wouldn't want to work for a MSC that mandated it.

(And I honestly don't think that people in fine-dining establishments are less apt to ask for a doggie bag. It's totally acceptable nowadays. Sometimes you tend to get smaller portions in high-end restaurants, where you get more courses and less food in each. So you may not have leftovers, or enough to take home. But if you do, it's not taboo any more to take them home.)