I am looking for companies that do Chain restaurant and high end restaurants shops in the Tampa, Sarasota area. any leads on which shopping companies to apply to would be appreciated.

The way to find these is to grown your money tree. You do that by reading, researching, and signing up with companies. A great place to start is this forum, supplimented by the posts on Jobslinger.com (which are free shop postings searchable by location.)

I have a job in Sarasota............it's not a restaurant, but a a hotel check in reveal shop............please contact me if you are interested!!

I have some very fun and simple hotel check-in shops available for a shopper in your area. This is a “reveal” shop, and will be conducted at a high scale hotel.
To qualify for this shop, you must have a credit card or a debit card with sufficient funds available on it to rent a hotel room (rates vary by location, but most locations will be $120 or less). You must have this amount available on your card so that the reservation will be accepted, but the amount will NOT be charged to your card, as you will check out shortly after check in. You will not spend the night for these shops.
Shops are scheduled between 3:00 and 8:00 pm, and you must schedule the shop at least 10 days out from the current date to allow time to get your hotel membership number emailed to you. When you have been approved to perform a shop, you will be provided with a link, and it will take approximately 10 days to get the number. You must have your membership number prior to making a reservation at the hotel.
To apply, please email me at MarcieBBS@aol.com and let me know what area you are interested in (the general area in which you live – there may be multiple shops available in your area). You must also apply as a shopper at www.bizshoptalk.com. When I get your email, I will know to look for your application and provide you with further information.

Thank you!
Marcie Monteleone
Scheduler
B Business Solutions

No offense to anyone but I am looking for money to fall from the skies and land in my lap. I also need someone to scrub my toilets and fix the hole in the roof. I would like someone else to type this, because my hands are tired. Actually, I really need someone to do everything for me because all this thinking and researching is exhausting.

Aren't we all? :-)

I woke up on the wrong side of the "report" today.

You are all a bunch of jerks. I have applied to hundreds of companies and most of them are a waste of time. I spend hours and hours to find out they do not do any shops in my state or area. Forgive me for coming to a shopper site and think you would be helpful. I guess I was stupid to think other shoppers would be helpful or at least civilized to other shoppers. I am sorry I wasted my time thinking this might be a helpful site for shoppers. All it turns out to be is a place were rude and ignorant people come to insult people. Thanks for the help.

C ya.

jenkinshjcj Wrote:
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> You are all a bunch of jerks. I have applied to
> hundreds of companies and most of them are a waste
> of time. I spend hours and hours to find out they
> do not do any shops in my state or area. Forgive
> me for coming to a shopper site and think you
> would be helpful. I guess I was stupid to think
> other shoppers would be helpful or at least
> civilized to other shoppers. I am sorry I wasted
> my time thinking this might be a helpful site for
> shoppers. All it turns out to be is a place were
> rude and ignorant people come to insult people.
> Thanks for the help.


I apologize for my rudeness. I was not direceting my original comments at you directly. I had a bad day, a very bad day. That was not your fault and I understand that I have offended you. Please don't write off this wonderful site due to my snarky comments. You can learn so much here. I shopped for years before finding this site and when I did, I lurked for months before posting. Read all you can this forum has so much to offer.

I am sorry. I cannot think of any companies that I would want "to sigh up with."

jenkinshjcj - The only 'shortcut' to finding which MSPs have restaurants, or other types of shops in an area may be JobSlinger. Maybe you've tried it. (Having a scheduler answer your post with an opportunity is surely something we don't see everyday!) Every shopper who's serious about finding work has been where you are in the sign-up process. It is time-consuming and perpetual. Often, one may feel it's for naught after signing-up only to find there are no shops. However, just because an MSP doesn't have anything in an area one month, doesn't mean they won't in the future. Then, you're ahead of the game, as you've already been accepted.

It's understandable that shoppers who live in your area may not rush to provide names of MSPs. You would be their competition. They have also spent time continually signing with MSPs, working their way up the ladder by paying dues, figuratively speaking.

This forum can be immensely helpful and an enjoyable place to hang out. I regret when members are rude and disrespectful.

I think it's unfortunate that jenkinshjcj applied to "hundreds of companies," most of which were a waste of time, and "spent hours and hours" to learn companies had no jobs in that area. All of us make an investment of time in MSing if we want to make money, and only those located in that specific geographical area would know which companies have jobs in that area. I don't see any rudeness or disrespect in the comments of members above. I do, however, find jenkinshjcj's first post demanding and second post rude and disrespectful. This site is helpful to shoppers who truly want to succeed and are willing to expend the effort it takes to locate the companies who have the type of shops they prefer in their area. Nobody owes anybody a free lunch ....and it's one thing to be nervy enough to come to a forum and ask for a free lunch but to become abusive when you don't get the free lunch you asked for is apallingly rude and in poor taste. jenkinshjcj, you shouldn't waste any more of your time with us.

I can only reiterate my apology for being so rude. This forum is wonderful and we are lucky to have it. I will not take my privilege of being a member so lightly.

I did not find your comment rude, fitey. I took it as a tongue-in-cheek response that affirmed dee's comment about growing your own money tree, and I think the vast majority of forum posters agree that each shopper must grow his own money tree. There's plenty of help available here, but any shopper who will be successful with MSing must be willing to put in the time to apply with a multitude of companies, of which only a few will have shops in their area at any given time (that's not to say that a company that doesn't have shops in the area right now never will; I've applied with many and seen no shops for months, then, bingo!) I think the bottom line here is most of us are willing to help with information, but no one is going to offer jenkinshjcj or any other poster a list of companies who perform a specific type of shop in a specific area.

Thank you Austin Mom. I was just joking around. I don't like ruffling too many feathers though. It was a rough week for me both with shops and personally. I kinda just let it all hang out. You know I lurked here for months before making a post, and shopped for several years prior to that. Companies I applied for years ago now have jobs in my area and my regulars seem to have gone by the wayside. Everything is up and down lately - especially my job status and my moods.

We are all entitled to have some bad days. Heck, I have them every Mon - Wed - Fri and then have senior moments on Tues - Thurs - Sat. Sunday I sleep.

jenkinshjcj:

I, too, live in Central Florida, but more toward the Daytona Beach area (Volusia County). I am more than glad and willing to share with you some companies I have had good results working for:

A Closer Look almost always has good upscale restaurant shops.
Confero sometimes has mid-level restaurant shops.
Both Reflections and Feedback Plus have single restaurant chain shops.
You could also contact joan@privateeyesonline.net, she could perhaps hook you up with some too.

Hope this helps.

AustinMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it's unfortunate that jenkinshjcj applied
> to "hundreds of companies," most of which were a
> waste of time, and "spent hours and hours" to
> learn companies had no jobs in that area. All of
> us make an investment of time in MSing if we want
> to make money, and only those located in that
> specific geographical area would know which
> companies have jobs in that area. I don't see any
> rudeness or disrespect in the comments of members
> above. I do, however, find jenkinshjcj's first
> post demanding and second post rude and
> disrespectful. This site is helpful to shoppers
> who truly want to succeed and are willing to
> expend the effort it takes to locate the companies
> who have the type of shops they prefer in their
> area. Nobody owes anybody a free lunch ....and
> it's one thing to be nervy enough to come to a
> forum and ask for a free lunch but to become
> abusive when you don't get the free lunch you
> asked for is apallingly rude and in poor taste.
> jenkinshjcj, you shouldn't waste any more of your
> time with us.


I totally agree. I would not assist this person. Not only did they demand assistance, but when it did not take the form requested (gimmee gimmee gimmee) they yelled at everyone.

I've been doing this quite a while and have signed up with lots of companies who "never have anything in my area" only to get a phone call occassionally from one that all of of a sudden needs me desperately. So I leave them all on the list. Also, it took me months to drag out the right companies to get to eat at my favorite restaurants. If I give that information out here, I don't get to eat there as often cause I'll have to shareeeeeeee. lol I don't want to share. I enjoy eating out and taking my family and friends out. If I give away the information I worked so hard to get, I am literally cutting off my money tree at the roots. So you can have all the shops you can find jenkins, but you'll have to work for them like I did. And I found my companies in this forum, so maybe you better get polite and just start reading like the rest of us had to! Maybe there aren't many shops in your area either. But you can't expect the folks here to give them away. Besides, we have agreements with the companies we work with that we won't disclose the names of their clients. And fitey, I only took your comments as tongue in cheek after a bad day. I loved the "I got up on the wrong side of the reports" comment. lol I got up today and rescheduled all of Monday's shops for Wednesday and then took my grandaughter swimming!

I, too, have been doing this for quite a while and my Roboform is filled with over 150 companies whom have never had anything in my area. I suspect I will get flack for my previous post of offering help to jenkins, but, personally I don't see anything wrong with sharing leads with a fellow shopper who lives far enough away so as not to be a threat. (I don't feel his/her original post was out of line, but his/her second post was, and deserved scolding.) I also don't see where I violated any IC as I did not devulge any client name.

I only wish that someone had been kind enough to help me when I was starting out. Not only would it have saved hundreds of hours, but most certainly would have been appreciated and recipricated. But, I suppose that is a mute point now, as I suspect jenkins has long since left here.

I see a lot of user names here I recognize from the old MSF and in retrospect looking back to those days I seem to recall a greater degree of shopper helping shopper. But that was then and this is now. I guess I'm getting too old to be controversial or sarcastic anymore. Thanks for listening to my rant.

If one truly applied for "hundreds of companies" in a heavily populated area like Florida, there most certainly are jobs on a good portion of those sites. Now I don't live in that area but if I did, I would not tell anyone where I was getting my shops! That's kind of like saying, "Hey, I don't know you, but here, take some of the money that could potentially be mine and possibly run me out of a job."

Personally, I don't care how horrendously rude and B***hy that makes me sound, it's the truth. If you can't deal with that, don't become a mystery shopper.

RJR, I personally find it difficult to believe that the person has truly applied to hundreds of companies and found no work. If they had used Jobslinger they would be able to see what companies were likely candidates for jobs in their area.

I believe, instead, that the person did not do enough research on whether or not the kinds of companies she wanted to shop were shopped at all, then if they were, did not follow through. The area the person lives in is heavily shopped, much more so than where I live. They may have been unwilling to do all the crap jobs required before you get the FD ones.

In any case, if I lived in that area, I would be upset that you handed out my money tree for me, even though you do not know me nor mean it personally. Someone out there is shopping that area....Many many someones. Just because this shopper could not find what they wanted, it doesn't mean they made a huge effort to do so. Effort and research never leave this job.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2010 03:44AM by dee shops.

I live not that terribly far from him and I'm not volunteering. It would be very difficult NOT to be seeing lots of shops in those areas as even from where I am I see enough of them I am sometimes tempted to poach up there. There are, however lots and lots and lots of shoppers in Florida. We cleared 90% of a posting of over 1000 shops today in under 30 minutes. As far as chains and high end restaurants--virtually every shop is a chain, so virtually any company that has Florida shops has chains. As far as high end restaurants, there are a number of companies that have them but oh surprise, you have to prove yourself a reliable shopper for them before you could ever get them. So what is the point of suggesting a company? He isn't going to get to waltz in and pick them like ripe fruit off an orange tree. And indeed I'm signed up with more than 200 companies and shop for only 30-40 of them per year. It is tedious going back to the job boards day after day after day to figure out when companies post (or realize they have nothing in your area). It is part of the job.

Please understand that I have the utmost respect for everyone who posts on this forum. I do not want to see this thread go the route of “quotes taken out of context,” or sprinkled with hostility. I would like to think that one of the things that sets this forum apart is that we can openly respect different points of view, whether we agree with them or not.

I have followed and truly admired postings from Flash, Dee Shops, AustinMom, Mert, Cettie, and the list goes on, for several years.

I fully understand the desire and perhaps the need to “protect” our shopping radius or “money tree” as has been described, and agree wholeheartedly. However, the point I was attempting to make was that I see nothing wrong with helping someone who was not a threat to me, (not a threat being the key phrase here.)

Analogy: If one of my neighbors was out of work and I knew of a company that was hiring, I certainly would advise him of that. This does not mean that he is going to waltz in. He is going to have to provide a resume and pass an interview, etc. to get hired. We have all had to take gazillions of crappola shops to get the FD ones. That is the nature of this business.

Aside from Email notification, I think we all can agree that it is indeed tedious to surf the job boards of so many companies day after day. In the other business world, Networking is a popular and effective tool. Perhaps I am naïve (and you can call me that,) but I believe that it can work in MSing too. I am not interested in a notification of a shop, regardless of the bonus, that is hundreds of miles from me. But, if I knew someone in that area, I would like to think that person would appreciate knowing of it. And the opposite also would be true.

In a somewhat different thread regarding the hot topic of Gold Certification, I recall Flash mentioning that she had a very close shopper friend in a market adjacent whom she compared notes and both consistently got plenty of work. I truly admire her for this as it is not only a great source of income twofold, but to some degree a tribute to her success as an outstanding shopper. This is what I've been trying to say. Isn't there a place for Networking in this business?
Thanks.

I'm not a fan of people who aren't able or willing to help themselves. If the OP wants to finds MS jobs in their area, all they have to do is search. There are many resources but one does have to put in an effort and look for them. If Volition, Jobslinger and Google are not enough help for the OP, then maybe MS is not for them.

We are all ICs. I've worked in this business for over 10 years, the last 5 full-time. I will not share my sources. Why the heck should I? I don't need the competition and I'm sure those in other markets can do without the newbie, hold-my-hand type of competition too. More than that is the fact that I worked my butt off finding those sources. I filled in all those applications and wrote up all those little essays to prove I can string together a sentence. I worked those little crappy $5 jobs in the hopes of getting the nice-paying ones later. Yes, it's time consuming, hard and tedious but it's part of growing the money tree.

I believe in sharing. However, sharing, in my world, is a two way street and the OP seemed to be here only for taking with nothing to give back. I'm sorry the OP is disappointed in being called out and in not being handed out sources on a silver platter.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2010 04:51PM by MtlShopper.

RJR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Isn't there a place for Networking in this
> business?


Not to take you out of context, but a comment about networking. Networking comes about naturally when you have interacted with folks over time on a forum. I have asked personal favors of some folks from this forum that had nothing to do with shopping. I have done favors for folks from this forum that did and did not have to do with shopping. It is about relationship building. I compare notes with other shoppers about what they or I am seeing on job boards, so yes, there is a whole lot of this going on I believe. But it is developing those relationships outside of open forum that makes networking work. PMs are a way to do that and when trust is built you may want to expand the relationships to email. I have ongoing relationships with folks who have thrown in the towel by email. An we rarely even talk about shopping since they have made a conscious decision to quit it.

RJR, IMO this person was not "networking". They have had a membership here for some years - since 2007, nine months before I found this site. The only times they have posted was in this thread. The first was offputting; the second just plain rude. Networking happens when relationships are built, and this person wanted "plum" assignment info handed to them without effort to work the systems needed in this job, or to build relationships here. I will not help people who will not help themselves.

This has been interesting. All I asked for was any info on companies in my area that did shops. It is strange to see the varied responses. Many have judged me as lazy, not applying to companies expecting people to cut their own throat to help me. I have been shopping for over four years and have applied to hundreds of companies. I do lots of shops. All I was asking for was info about other companies to sign up with. There are many places in this area that have to have shops done on them. I was just asking for suggestions of companies to try. I have been on jobslinger the MSPA site. I was asking that maybe other people in Florida who may not be in my area could be helpful with info. I have given other shoppers in my area names of companies and helped people in the local shoppers group I attend. I do appreciate those who have contacted me and have shared info with me and I with them. It is to bad shoppers do not help each other more and maybe if they did life would be just a little easier for all of us.

I agree that this thread has been interesting.

Perhaps you might have worded your first request more like your most recent one, and less like a demand, and it would have come across differently. That does not explain your second one, where you called those of us who attempted to help you "jerks."

Yes, I too agree that this thread has been interesting. And I suppose that I have learned a lesson from it.
Thanks.