I've been checking out other companies and it seems like the requirements to do a fine dining (or even casual dining) shop is nuts.
I mean, 3 pages of material to sort through, remember this and that. Then fill out like 4-5 pages of questions.

I'm working with one company that's pretty straight forward and standard when it comes to fine dining and they reimburse pretty decent. I don't have to jump through a million hoops to prove myself.

Then I look into other companies and it's just so overwhelming for less reimbursement.

Has anyone had this experience? Is this even worth it?
I mean, if I have to spend 3-4 hours reading and writing out my assignment only to be reimbursed $50 at the end, I might as well eat out at home and do something enjoyable.

Most people who do the fine dinning do it for the enjoyable meal and don't mind taking a few hours to do the report plus the hour memorizing the guidelines. I work for money and would rather do easy shops then use that money to eat out. I don't do fine dinning as most times its just higher price for ambience and the same steak or chicken or whatever. Just my 2 cents

For me, I have to find a sweet spot on the restaurant offered, the fees, breakdown of the report, the specificity of the narrative style of the MSC (the more loose and freedom to allow me to write, the easier it is for me as I can automate the majority of narratives), etc.

Use $15 teller shops as your metric. Or gas stations. Then you can decide if a given meal is worth whatever number of those other shops.

@1cent wrote:

Use $15 teller shops as your metric. Or gas stations. Then you can decide if a given meal is worth whatever number of those other shops.

Gotta factor in the tax aspect of things, as it isn't a black and white metric to use..... A $15 teller or gas station shop isn't a clear $15 in the end, as that's taxable income before appropriate deductions; whereas, a dining shop with a reimbursement limit (or a guideline that requires set purchases to write off against your state fee) is NOT taxable income.

Once you have done one or two fine dinning shops for a company, the following visits are usually much easier. You will know what is expected and the prep time is greatly reduced. A lot still depends on the MSC though. Some are easier than others.

@Tarantado wrote:

Gotta factor in the tax aspect of things, as it isn't a black and white metric to use..... A $15 teller or gas station shop isn't a clear $15 in the end, as that's taxable income before appropriate deductions; whereas, a dining shop with a reimbursement limit (or a guideline that requires set purchases to write off against your state fee) is NOT taxable income.

It is still a way to decide how you value your time.

If you are spending that much time for a $50 reimbursement, I’d suggest that it’s not worth it. Do three $20 shops instead (which will take less time), pocket the money, and go enjoy your meal out without menu restrictions, etc.

For the most part, dining shops only really have value of you actively want the meal.

I look at the dining shops as a way to take a friend or family member out for a really nice dinner to a place neither of us would choose under normal circumstances.Just this weekend I took a friend who has been having a really rough time to a nice place for dinner and drinks. We had a blast catching up and getting her mind off of 'life' for a little while. Spending an hour or two on the report so that I could give her that 'gift' was 100% worth it to me. It might not be worth it for others. I have a regular 9-5 job so mystery shopping for me is 1/2 cash earnings and 1/2 lifestyle enhancement.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2020 02:47PM by callinectes.

According to my log, I completed my first fine dining job in 2006, which was also the last year for me. As has been stated, it is a matter of what is important to the individual shopper. In addition, if it is a $150 meal and the report is rejected, it will take a slew of gas stations to recover that lose. I stick strictly to casual dining, as ambiance, a tuxedo wearing server and violins mean absolutely nothing to me.

I have done some casual dining shops that have very uncomplicated and easy reports. I do find though that most of the nicer dining shops, like most other shops I do, ask pretty much the same things of you. Once you have done a few you can just pay closer attention to the few questions that are unique to that client. Pretty much the rest is the same for every shop and you tend to just automatically notice those points every time you enter a restaurant after you have been shopping them for a while.This happens when not on a shop too!
I have done some long reports but rarely 4 hours. I do not work for the notoriously long reports company though. If you are spending 4 hours on every restaurant shop casual and fine, then you need to register for some more companies.

Casual dinning is a whole different ball game. Buffalo Wild Wings, Ruby Tuesday and Texas Roadhouse equals easy, fair, and super easy report maybe an hour at most for report and prep. Sbarro, Chipotle, Burger King, Popeyes, and Carl Jr's all are fast casual or fast food and easy shops that I have or would do. The only fine dinning if you can even call it that I have done was Texas de Brazil which was about $150 for the two dinners, dessert, and drink at bar. The guidelines took about 45 minutes to learn and the report 90 minutes to do. I am faster than most at learning. I would do this one again but is the only fine dinning shop I feel worth it.

To answer the OP's original question, yes it is normal in this business, no it is not worth it if you shop as a business (IC), and that is the reason I do not do fine dining shops unless they are part of a larger shop such as a hotel resort stay.

When is it too much?

It became too much when I finished & submitted the report at 3:00 A.M. That was my 1st and last fine dining.

We all shop for different reasons. My shopping is a combination of lifestyle enhancement shops and money making shops. I like fine dining shops from time to time to give my husband a special treat.

I have had those occasional shops where it has taken three or four hours to finish the report. Mostly this happens when either my computer or the report site is acting up, slow or there were several mishaps in the visit. We all hate it when things do not go smoothly on a visit as that requires extra reporting time. But after all, isn't that why we have been hired? So once in a while there is a visit full of incorrect service/food. But I find, although it is annoying to do those reports, most of the visits do not require extra reporting.
For those full time shoppers who need the income and where time is money I can understand not wanting to do reports with no or little fee. And I can also understand those of you who can consistently find large bonuses on simple shops replacing an expense at a fancy restaurant with several smaller shops and paying out of pocket. I personally would have to spend a lot more than 2 hours shopping to be able to use shop money to pay for a fancy dinner.
So location, location, location is important in your decisions as is your financial status including your tax status and your level of enjoyment going out for a fancy meal at a fancy place. For me those $10 quick and easy jobs are not worth it as they take me over an hour each. Driving, parking, walking, waiting in lines all eat up a lot of time in my market.

If you are already thinking it's too much, then it probably is too much already. I do a lot of fine-dining shops and don't mind the reporting, but the first time with a new MSC is always time consuming and stressful. With each subsequent report, it gets easier.

To decide whether the work will be worth the amount of time I spend, I calculate how long I'd have to work at a regular job in order to afford it. For instance, $200 dinner would be 10 hours at $20 an hour (before tax) at a regular job. It usually works out in my favor.

But of course it's up to you to decide. Lots of people think they are a waste of time. My family, friends and I enjoy fine dining shops.

@Rho* wrote:

When is it too much?

It became too much when I finished & submitted the report at 3:00 A.M. That was my 1st and last fine dining.

@Rho* wrote:

When is it too much?

It became too much when I finished & submitted the report at 3:00 A.M. That was my 1st and last fine dining.

True That

Think I may start charging DH.

For Coyle shops, it seemed like "too much" at first, but I just learned to give a minute-by-minute account of whenever anyone came to our table. The corrections I needed to make later were therefore minimal. And they're pretty nice to work with. Other companies, like i-SPY, are tremendously picky and don't treat you well.

My answer to the original question: Always!

For a $200 dinner the restaurant is only paying the food cost, the sales tax, and the tip, so about $70. Not bad for a 2 hour dinner, but too often the requirements make it hard to enjoy the meal so I count those two hours as work time. Add in 3 hours for study and report writing and you end up around $15/hr as a relative value. I might do that for the lifestyle if it is a place I like or one I want to try.