Restaurant Shops

I saw in another thread that someone overhead a McDonalds employee discuss how they could tell when a mystery shopper was in the store when they ordered a particular item and paid cash. This had me wondering, why would paying in cash give a mystery shopper away? Do some restaurants require you actually pay in cash? I have a sit-down restaurant shop today and was planning on paying with my credit card as the summary doesn't specify I cannot. I just want to make sure there isn't an unspoken rule about how mystery shopping must be done in cash. Yes I'm paranoid about my shop being invalidated and this is probably a silly question.

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McDonalds required that you pay in cash for their shops. If the guidelines for your restaurant don't specify how you need to pay, a credit card is fine.

We always pay cash at McDonalds. I am sure a lot of people do also.

The restaurants that cared focused on anyone ordering a "medium" meal, especially one of the three non beef options. Of course when standing in line, I would hear customers ordering the same way, paying in cash. This means the employees wasted their time worrying about it. Apparently in the UK the restaurants were alerted to the day and time range shoppers were assigned. Maybe there the requirements were more revealing?

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@hous wrote:

I saw in another thread that someone overhead a McDonalds employee discuss how they could tell when a mystery shopper was in the store when they ordered a particular item and paid cash. This had me wondering, why would paying in cash give a mystery shopper away? Do some restaurants require you actually pay in cash? I have a sit-down restaurant shop today and was planning on paying with my credit card as the summary doesn't specify I cannot. I just want to make sure there isn't an unspoken rule about how mystery shopping must be done in cash. Yes I'm paranoid about my shop being invalidated and this is probably a silly question.

I believe the big thing is that they don't want you identified as a mystery shopper by your name. Just in case they somehow narrow you down to when the MS came in the restaurant/business, if they went to the extreme of finding your name based on a credit card receipt, etc., then they could (in theory) develop a list of MSers. Would it happen a lot? I doubt it. But it's a lot harder to track MSers (or suspected MSers) if you pay in cash vs having paid by a credit card. And odds are, if you MS a place in the past, you are far more likely to MS that place again versus some other random John/Jane Doe.

Edited to add: obviously a fast food place is more difficult to track MS names, since it would be obvious if you looked at a sheet next to the cash register for every name that came in (not to mention impossibly time consuming and make every customer nervous, thinking they were being checked for something)....but for casual/fine dining and other settings, it's easier to discretely maintain a list and check against reservations/phone numbers.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2016 09:05PM by STL_shopper.

I've been instructed to pay cash at hotels before. That seems more odd to me since I had to secure the room with a card in the first place. But you do what the instructions tell you to do! Bars often want to observe cash handling skills so that's another where you will often see you are to pay with cash.

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

The shops that require cash for everything except the room are checking for "cash integrity," i.e. making sure the cash gets into the till. You do not have to be personally aware of the many ways to skim cash, but if you answer those survey questions based on your accurate observations, the client will have a very good idea of who may need extra surveillance. Ant buffet service is particularly vulnerable to cash skimming, so just assume that you are going to be told to order the buffet breakfast at any large hotel. When you do valet parking shops at hotels where you are not a guest, you can bet that they will want you to pay cash for the same reason. (It's way too obvious to have shoppers who are staying at the hotel pay cash for parking, which is why those other shops exist!)

I do a ton of garage parking shops in large cities. Those are places where cash just melts away if not closely monitored. I am learning a lot about cash diversion doing these shops. (No, these are not the $17, or less, parking shops.) And, for these, it's hard to remember NOT to ask for a receipt, lol.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2016 12:22PM by walesmaven.

Other shops will request you pay with a card to test if their machines are working correctly. Your instructions will specify if they have a cash or card requirement.

I always use a credit card unless there are specific instructions not to do so.

Agreed. For the most part, I believe, that when one is required to pay in cash it is to test integrity. Have done quite a number of high-end venues and properties. Sometimes you mark the bills, so that the back office can track the money. Many times you're doing bars, others you're testing all of the outlets - restaurants, bars, lounges, parking, valet, room service, spa, retail, car service, concierge for tickets to an event - which requires a significant outlay in cold, hard cash. Be prepared to shell out approximately $1,000.00, if not more, and then wait to reimbursed for however long the MSC specifies for reimbursement.

@walesmaven wrote:

The shops that require cash for everything except the room are checking for "cash integrity," i.e. making sure the cash gets into the till. You do not have to be personally aware of the many ways to skim cash, but if you answer those survey questions based on your accurate observations, the client will have a very good idea of who may need extra surveillance. Ant buffet service is particularly vulnerable to cash skimming, so just assume that you are going to be told to order the buffet breakfast at any large hotel. When you do valet parking shops at hotels where you are not a guest, you can bet that they will want you to pay cash for the same reason. (It's way too obvious to have shoppers who are staying at the hotel pay cash for parking, which is why those other shops exist!)

I do a ton of garage parking shops in large cities. Those are places where cash just melts away if not closely monitored. I am learning a lot about cash diversion doing these shops. (No, these are not the $17, or less, parking shops.) And, for these, it's hard to remember NOT to ask for a receipt, lol.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I always use a credit card unless there are specific instructions not to do so.

Me too. In fact, I use my credit card or debit card to pay for almost everything in life. I like those reward points and even the little purchases add up after awhile. My debit card earns a cash back incentive on certain purchases. I like having a paper trail of my expenses; it keeps me on track. I am debt-free.

Yes, yes indeed. I love paying off all my bills each month and haven't paid interest on anything in many years. Paid for house, paid for car, etc. I'm lovin' it!

We earn points with credit cards too and even the fast food shops add up. I wish I had done it when I was younger but the balance would have scared me then... even when it is all spread out over a month, it doesn't ever look like it does when that bill is looking you back in the face!

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

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