Off topic questions on report

I just finished another fine-dining restaurant report. The last two pages of questions wanted to know about my favorite restauants in my area, and which I thought had the best food, service, and ambience. THEN they wanted several sentences about the category!

What does that have to do with what I thought of my actual dinner and the service I got?!?

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More About Reports

looking for a freebie at a competitor shop.
My response was " I had a great meal once at XXX""

Was never asked to clarify or expand.

Or you can answer
This was the first time Ive ever eaten a meal out...

I can think of a couple reasons: 1) the client probably wants to know if you fit their target audience (by finding out if you eat at similar places), and 2) how they stack up against their competitors.

Totally legitimate.

The problem is that my favorite restaurant is the one I'm eating at right now :-)

My area has a very large proportion of independent restaurants, and Hubby and I go out of our way to try many of them. I rarely eat at the same place more than twice a year (except the carrry-out Chinese joint a half mile away from the house, and I don't think that's what they're looking for.)

I spent almost as much time thinking of the answers to their 'favorite' and 'best' questions than I did on the rest of the report.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

You just write what you can, getting an idea of where you normally eat and what you like is something that most shops miss. One shop says you need to judge the bun by how they toast them, not that hard to do. For pizza I like a crisper crust than others may like so finding out what place you enjoy and why is a good place to set your baseline. Much like being middle income most people would consider themselves to be in the middle when the middle.

[www.investopedia.com]

The Median
The median income amount is the amount that divides the U.S. incomes in half, with the median income being $50,054. Approximately half of Americans will fall below this household income amount, and the other half will fall above. Although this may help you learn which half you and your family fall under, figuring out which specific class your household exactly falls under isn't so simple

So if you are doing a shop for Outback and usually eat at Ruth's Chris they know you might judge the steak with a different point of view if you usually eat at Outback.

When you are at a bar how much noise is too much, if you are 25 you might get a different answer than if you are 55.

What effect the waitress at Tilted Kit has will depend on your age possibly too.

You could write something like this:

"Although your $75 steak with steamed broccoli was delicious, I prefer a place called "Hedgehog" where you can get a complete lunch with drink, for $5.72 if you don't mind hot dogs..."

I think these sort of questions can serve to calibrate the report for the client. As objective as we strive to be as mystery shoppers, some element of personal experience and preference informs our work. Many assignments, even those that insit on objective feedback only, have questions about "sufficient lighting," "comfortable noise levels," or "attentive service."

People who prefer independent restaurants may be more (or less) likely to notice "corporate, franchise" service elements than a shopper who frequents chain restaurants. Someone who prefers quiet, intimate dining rooms may have a different idea of what consitutes comfortable noise or lighting levels than folks who spend their time in bustling, energetic venues.

There may not be one or another shopper demographic that is "right" or "wrong." Still, it's probably helpful to put data in context so that it can be used most effectively.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You could write something like this:
>
> "Although your $75 steak with steamed broccoli was
> delicious, I prefer a place called "Hedgehog"
> where you can get a complete lunch with drink, for
> $5.72 if you don't mind hot dogs..."

Or Arches, which I love so much that I will go out of my way to dine there alone, so I can relax and spend a full fifteen minutes enjoying my meal. Arches is such an amazing place that I usually get two meals when I eat there, one in the dining room and one in the drive-thru!

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Off topic questions on report

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine