I'm getting ready to do a Five Guys shop. The requirements state that I must determine if the burger is made correctly while I'm at the counter. If there are toppings missing I must immediately notify the employee at the counter. I'm interpreting this as I must actually unwrap my sandwich while standing at the counter and before I head to the table.

Doesn't this seem a little obvious that I'm a shopper? I mean, do real customers really do this? I've never seen anyone do this before.

I interpret it to mean that I would sit and unwrap the sandwich and if it's incorrect go back and have it corrected. I think it means, do not eat any of it before correcting it. You may be taking the instructions a bit too literally. It's not that complicated.

This is what the guidelines state:

CHECK YOUR ORDER FOR ACCURACY BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE COUNTER. If any part of your order is
wrong, including toppings or size of fries/sandwich, have your order corrected before leaving the counter.

Okay then, do it as you are reading it. I will sit down first and check it. The burger is always buried beneath the fries and would be very messy to pull out at the counter.

I agree, the burger is always buried under a mound of fries. I would look obvious if I stood there and dug around for the burger and unwrapped it.

I have interpreted that to mean that while I stand at the counter, I watch my burger being made. Since I've watched it being assembled I already know if there is an error as soon as the bag is presented to me. I haven't had one made wrongly but if I had I would say something like, "My burger wasn't supposed to have any mayonnaise on it but I think this one does". At that point I would expect the staff would either recognise they'd made it wrong and take it back to correct or else would have me check it then and there.

That's a new one. Why do they write these instructions asking us to do something no real customer would ever do, at least not if they were eating in? I can see someone checking a to-go order before leaving the counter. Maybe we need to pretend we're taking it to go, then disappear around the corner to get a drink or napkins or salt, and then come back into the dining room to eat after the counter guy has lost track of us. (All the ones I've done have the drink dispenser out of sight of the counter; maybe not all are arranged that way.)

And I wonder if we started giving them feedback that it is messy and objectionable to have to dig under the fries to get the burger out if they would eventually start putting the burger on top. One of their standards is not wanting the buns crushed. So why stick the burger under a pile of potatoes? The act of digging the burger out of the bag is likely to crush the bun, no matter how pristine and fluffy it was when it went into the bag. Maybe this should be mentioned, "The bun was squashed but I think that may have happened when they dumped in the fries, or when I pulled the burger out from under them."

I wonder if it would invalidate the shop if we asked them to please put the burger on top of the fries, which would make it easy to pull it out and give a quick peek inside the wrapper at the counter without making a big production out of digging through the bag.

I'm not sure how I'll handle this next time if I get that instruction. It's just a bizarre thing to ask us to do if we're going to eat in the restaurant.

The thing you are going to "check" is your burger/sandwich because you see the fries in the bag and you get your own drink
but you literally would have to dig deep in the bag, pull out the burger, open it and see if it's right.

I think the sentence really means to check your bag to make sure you have the RIGHT sandwich but to pull it out at the counter underneath ALL those French fries, well NOBODY does that, so I get the nearest table to the fry line and check it at my table, ready to bring it back up if it's wrong.

I wonder if sending a link to this thread to the MSC would be productive. We might as well all wear our "Be Nice To Me; I Could Be Your Mystery Shopper" T shirts when we do these shops.

I think that standing at the counter and dumping out the bag would out you as their mystery shopper. I would get a table close to where they are cooking and watch from there. I never stood at the counter and dumped the bag.

Mention something that you didn't specify in your order. Example: "Did you make sure this doesn't have too much mustard?" when you didn't specify anything about mustard. They'll take a second to playback your order mentally. Use that to start peeking at your burger.

Is that store policy to dump 30 pounds of fries into the bag? I finally visited a 5 Guys for the first time a few weeks ago, and nearly shat a potato when I saw them fill up my bag with more fries. Then one of the employees brought me a cup full of mayo to dip them in. Any hospital emergency rooms being shopped?

teriraia Wrote:
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> I think that standing at the counter and dumping
> out the bag would out you as their mystery
> shopper. I would get a table close to where they
> are cooking and watch from there. I never stood
> at the counter and dumped the bag.


True that!

I'm doing one tonight and I've never pulled it out of the bag. I stand at the counter and watch them make it. Take it to the table confirm that it's mine and begin enjoying. All of my reports have been accepted.

Here's a new Guys question....what do you do if they don't allow you to buy a drink with your meal? Both machines were down when I was purchasing and manager was working on them. They wouldn't sell soda cup. Additional staff was called in and the owner came in while I was there, and no one fixed it. I noted in my report the problem with both machines, but I hate to be rejected based on the receipt alone.

I had a tough problem with one of these shops. The directions stated you must report if your burger was wrong and mine had mustard which I didn't order. I showed it to them and they fixed it quickly. The problem is the manager came out, sat at my table, apologized and went on and on about how my next meal would be free, etc. I only eat there for a "shop" so I have had to avoid that location until they forget about it. LOL I DON'T WANT A FREE MEAL--how silly is that?

challa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's a new Guys question....what do you do if
> they don't allow you to buy a drink with your
> meal? Both machines were down when I was
> purchasing and manager was working on them. They
> wouldn't sell soda cup. Additional staff was
> called in and the owner came in while I was there,
> and no one fixed it. I noted in my report the
> problem with both machines, but I hate to be
> rejected based on the receipt alone.

I don't see how they could reject this report, as long as you detail what happened. Worst case scenario, they can watch the video which shows the machines being worked on.

Three different interpretations, sounds like clarification is needed.

Stand at counter and sift through fries
Stand at counter and watch burger being assembled (easy at some locations I've been to, impossible at others)
Sit at the table, check and enjoy.

Darnit! Now I want a burger. It's only 10 a.m., too early even for me.

The guidelines for the Five Guys shop are full of ways to out yourself, but sometimes the store is too busy to notice. They want you to stare and see how your food is made and if the fries are flipped 14 times but whenever I have been there rarely if anybody else actually pays attention to their food being made. They might hang close to the counter but they are NOT actually paying attention to what is going back there until their name is called.

apajova89 Wrote:
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> The guidelines for the Five Guys shop are full of
> ways to out yourself, but sometimes the store is
> too busy to notice. They want you to stare and see
> how your food is made and if the fries are flipped
> 14 times but whenever I have been there rarely if
> anybody else actually pays attention to their food
> being made. They might hang close to the counter
> but they are NOT actually paying attention to what
> is going back there until their name is called.


That's "15 times" With their new bonus incentives, trust me, they are LOOKING out for shoppers..

If you do a shop for them and your required to use the online APP to do your ordering, you must then go to the pickup counter and "announce" yourself to them. I sat at a table that was mabe five feet from the pickup counter facing into the kitchen to avoid hovering at the counter. I expected them to either call out the order number that was on the emailed recipt or my name that was in big letters on the order ticket taped to the bag exactly where the order number would be.

Instead of them calling my name, they simply set my bag on top of the french fry heating light hood and they waited for me to approach the counter and ask for it. I waited until 10 minutes after the promised time that the order should be complete that was stated on the email to ask them about the status of my order.

Needless to say, the burger was in very cold and soggy condition by the time I got it. They already put the fries in the bag as well. They did scoop up and gave me a second bag of hot fries without my asking for it. When I asked for the receipt, the pickup counter employee asked the manager to get it, and being an online Android APP shopper and asking for a recipt immediatly put me on the managers radar screen. She started digging through the big pile of receipts next to the register for the recipt and could not find it. After I finished the shop and was outside getting in my vehicle, the manager comes *RUNNING* outside the store and hands me a receipt.

I look at the receipt and see that the time stamped on it was less than one minute from when she handed it to me. She must have figured out how to print a past orders recipt out of the register. I'm glad this location is across town from me and I will not shop there again. There is no doubt that she must have had a very good idea that I was a shopper to actually run it out to me after I had the car started.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2014 05:51PM by scanman1.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> apajova89 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The guidelines for the Five Guys shop are full
> of
> > ways to out yourself, but sometimes the store
> is
> > too busy to notice. They want you to stare and
> see
> > how your food is made and if the fries are
> flipped
> > 14 times but whenever I have been there rarely
> if
> > anybody else actually pays attention to their
> food
> > being made. They might hang close to the
> counter
> > but they are NOT actually paying attention to
> what
> > is going back there until their name is called.
>
>
> That's "15 times" With their new bonus
> incentives, trust me, they are LOOKING out for
> shoppers..

I'm glad I was wrong about the number of times the fries need to be flipped :-). It just means it's been a while since I've done a shop and never will again. It's great for beginners for sure but it's just not good.

I did one of these shops, and I have another scheduled later on. I just peeked in my bag at the counter to make sure there was a sandwich and fries in there. I checked the burger at the table. My location has seats right up by the counter so I could watch them without being too obvious. I like this shop! It's pretty close to my house, and their burgers are DELICIOUS!

scanman1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you do a shop for them and your required to use
> the online APP to do your ordering, you must then
> go to the pickup counter and "announce" yourself
> to them.

I'm confused and trying to figure out what you did on this shop. What you're supposed to do is place an order on the app, then when it's time for it to be picked up, enter the store, walk to the counter, and tell them you're there to pick up an order. Much like when you call in an order for take out, except you're using the app instead of the phone. It sounds to me like maybe you went in and sat down and ordered over the app, as if it were a replacement for the cashier in store instead of a replacement for calling in? Otherwise I don't understand why you *wouldn't* announce yourself when you entered the store. When you do call in orders do you just walk into a restaurant and sit down and expect someone to know who you are and bring you your order?

I was under the false assumption that they would call out the order when it was completed. I selected on ordering that I was ready to pick up my order then. I wrongly expected them to call my order out as they do for every other order.

So you did order from inside the store?

Also I have not done an app visit yet but the call in visit I did there was a minimum amount of time you had to wait before entering the store after the call.

I did the APP order from across the parking lot then pulled up and sat down within three minutes of placing the order. I was seated before the confirmation email hit my inbox. I'd do the same shop again, and make a point to walk up to the pickup window and tell them my name and state that I have a "Web Order" and stand there until they hand me my sack.

I really like Five Guys Burgers and it's going to take me a while to burn out on them. They have to be fresh though. After doing two of them from both sides of the metro area in one week because I was going to be there for other reasons, the MSC sent me an automated email asking me to confirm I don't have any affiliation with Five Guys.

You are reading too much into the instructions. Make sure you have your burger and fries before leaving the counter. Then at you table, make sure it was prepared correctly. If you stand at the counter and open the sandwich, you will "out" yourself as you must time the transaction to delivery to the "second".... pulling out a stopwatch then checking your sandwich would be a bit much.....lol......

relax and enjoy.... I have done over a dozen of these and they are pretty easy....