Covert Menu Board Price Audits

Just wondering if anyone has done covert price audits for fast food menu boards. I would like to share my recent experiences. I find it very difficult to do these assignments while being covert. The menu board prices are hard to see and there isn't always an available seat in front of them. Drive thru is also difficult because you can't get close enough and a bright, sunny day makes it impossible to see. The instructions suggest using binoculars for the outside menu board. You also need to take approximately 4 clear pictures, again being covert. Recently I found myself in the parking lot being double-teamed by two employees coming in opposite directions. The employees were actually great and to make a long story short, they even invited me in to obtain the information that I needed. They said there is no way in the world that I could be covert. They were observing me from start to finish. They saw I had binoculars and a camera. When they first approached me, they asked if I was a private investigator. I reported my experience to the scheduler. She suggested I get out of the car by the drive thru, and if anyone approaches me I should just say I was getting info for my marketing class. This always worked for her. I tried that but that didn't work either. I was told by an employee that for safety reasons, I was not allowed to be in the middle of the drive thru. They also say these audits should take about 15-20 minutes. You need to obtain a whole sheet of prices, not just a few. This would be true if you could reveal yourself. I found it to take at least twice as long. I have decided never to accept these jobs again unless they become revealed. About six months ago when I first did them, they actually wanted you to take a picture of the play areas. I found this to be very uncomfortable. I did it but I said to the scheduler, in this day and age if I was a parent who observed "my actions" I would have reported it to management and authorities. Thanks for listening, I just needed to vent!

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I have several shopper friends who do these. After the first few they have simply parked where their vehicle was near the drive thru menu board or they would have to walk near the drive thru menu board to return to their vehicle. I gather you have to make an inside purchase to prove you were there? They are looking to see if the drive thru board looks pretty complete, going inside to see if the inside menu board looks pretty complete and then taking a careful, in focus shot of the menu board as they return to their vehicle and getting out of there. They then get the required pricings off the drive thru board photos and if it doesn't appear in the photo "it wasn't available".

Indeed this is a poorly designed job and the binoculars suggestion is just plain bogus. In this day and age you were lucky the employees approached you as an investigator/auditor rather than calling the cops. That was downright friendly of them.
Yes, I do feel I was lucky and I'm glad they were so understanding. I'm sure they had my license plate # and obviously I was on all the security tapes and cameras. I did try parking close to the menu board, but unfortunately it was not close enough to see the prices and I could not obtain all the prices from the pictures. I also had to keep waiting for the drive-thru traffic so I was there for quite some time. As per directions, you're supposed to obtain as many prices from the drive-thru as possible. You are then to go make a purchase and obtain the rest of the prices from the inside menu board. There's always a few prices that are not on both boards. The inside menu board also has only breakfast or lunch prices depending on the time of day. On your way out of the restaurant, they also expect you do get a good picture of the store hours posted on the door. Again, try to be covert with customers walking in and out. Not worth the effort, time, or $10 pay!
It didn't strike me as worthwhile when I read it through intially. Among other things, I can read the menu boards while standing at the counter but not when seated somewhere else in the restaurant. The eyesight just isn't that good. So why take a job where you can't win even if the price is right?
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