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restaurant menu audits, how do you do them?

April 13, 2016 07:57PM
i'm thinking about picking one up tomorrow because it's in a town I have a bunch of shops, but i'm not sure how I would pull it off. if I could just grab a take out menu and take pictures off that it'd be easy, but how do you take photos of the actual menu without actually dining in?
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April 13, 2016 08:05PM
I've only done two. Even if you dine in, they don't always like you taking pictures. Of the two I did, one was easy breezy where no one seemed to care what I was doing and one was contentious and awkward. I probably won't do one again. Sorry, I doubt that helps, but I think it's probably just luck whether you get an uptight location or not.

Shopper in California's Bay Area
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April 13, 2016 10:11PM
There some menu audits which want sharp photos of every menu. Depending upon the restaurant, that could mean: drink and appetizer menu, children's menu, main menu, dessert menu, take-out menu. I have chosen not to do any of these. One MSC told me to ask for all of the menus and take into the bathroom to photograph? Really? Some on this forum have said that they ask for the menus and take them out to their car saying that they have an elderly relative out there. Really?

ETA: I forgot that many places also have a senior citizen's menu.

There is one MSC that states that if any prices are not clear and sharp, you will be sent back to try again.

Not for me.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2016 10:33PM by myst4au.
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April 13, 2016 10:16PM
These can be lucrative if you get a route. I tell them I have an event coming up (wedding reception, company meeting, etc) and ask if I can take a couple of photos of their menu. Most are happy to let me do it. There have been a few resistant, and I've had lunch at more than one of them, taking the photos while I am getting ready to order. I have to eat anyway, and the pay has been much more than the meal.

I have to reshoot one out of thirty, and it is, of course, the furthest one away. The scheduler, however, is not pushing a quick deadline, so I'm looking for more work in the area.

ETA: The company I'm doing them for will not let you use a take-out menu. Double-check your instructions.

Now scheduling travel shops for the day after Christmas through mid-January.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2016 10:17PM by PasswordNotFound.
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April 14, 2016 04:51AM
At the top of my 10-foot pole.
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April 14, 2016 05:43AM
If you can pull off the student or older student roll--- You could ask for if you could take pictures of their menu as part of your project for you restaurant and hotel management class. Most don't have a problem or think nothing of it.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.
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April 14, 2016 07:31PM
I did one at a restaurant where you had to dine in. Really uncomfortable for me as the servers kept walking by and asking what I needed as I was taking the pictures. I only got about half of them taken before they asked for the menu back. I just could not figure out how to look inconspicuous and was not about to bring the menu into the bathroom. However the scheduler was great and I called as soon as I exited the location and explained. Submitted what I had with an explanation and was paid. But ever since that experience I have been gun shy.
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