Oh, I hadn't that of that. I think I was thinking of places no longer shopped (for whatever reasons - be it oob or temporarily suspended).@sandyf wrote:
Just because it is gone from your list of shops does not mean it is gone. Did you want a list of food shops that have gone out of business? Those that are still in business may return to mystery shopping once they can re open and start making some money.
I logged into ACL for the first time in a year and all their dining shops are gone off the board. There isn't even the shaded section showing others having taken them. Not that I did those shops per se, but just in seeking the lay of the land, I noticed they were wiped out.@ wrote:
The only one I know that is oob and not coming back is Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes and I dearly miss them, even on my own dime.
@shoptastic wrote:
Which food shops have disappeared since COVID?
I am just now logging into my MSC accounts for the first time in almost a year. They look very bare, despite getting emails with lots of shops for my Top 7 companies (I kept them out of curiosity). . . .Now that I'm browsing around, it seems a lot of food shops (understandably) are gone.
Any that you know of/can confirm are 100% gone?
Eeek. If I hadn't mentioned ACL by name, I'd be glad to list their dining shops. In my area, I don't see a single one. They were casual sit-down dining types. I only did two of their myriad restaurant shops, though. I typically dislike ACL shops, but made exceptions for those two restaurants.@Madetoshop wrote:
What food shop disappearances have you noticed since COVID??
I hope so for the industry. February saw huge increases in payroll for restaurants, so that is good news. They are hiring again and that must be a relief to so many in the industry.@sandyf wrote:
I am sure more will show up in the next months as people get vaccinated and start eating out again.
A month can sometimes make a huge difference in sentiment, though. Cases and hospitalizations are dramatically falling (though still elevated in absolute terms) and 50% of seniors in America have gotten at least 1 vaccine dose now.@ wrote:
Forty-one percent said they plan to spend the same amount of money on dining out post-vaccination, while 24% said they plan to spend more, and 22% will spend less.
@shoptastic wrote:
I hope so for the industry. February saw huge increases in payroll for restaurants, so that is good news. They are hiring again and that must be a relief to so many in the industry.@sandyf wrote:
I am sure more will show up in the next months as people get vaccinated and start eating out again.
CNBC had this article on January 27th, 2021 detailing results from two separate surveys - one by First Insight and another by NielsenIQ - on consumer sentiment/plans for shopping post-vaccination:
[www.cnbc.com]
The NielsenIQ survey had some interesting dining out data:
A month can sometimes make a huge difference in sentiment, though. Cases and hospitalizations are dramatically falling (though still elevated in absolute terms) and 50% of seniors in America have gotten at least 1 vaccine dose now.@ wrote:
Forty-one percent said they plan to spend the same amount of money on dining out post-vaccination, while 24% said they plan to spend more, and 22% will spend less.
I'm hoping to eat out with my parents for the first time in a year some time in June. We'll do take-out a lot more after they get fully vaccinated (only have gotten first shot so far).
Oh, I definitely take those surveys with a grain of salt. You're correct, too, that online sampling has some built-in biases (e.g., often skewing younger to the more technologically savvy). But, I like to keep them in mind, nonetheless, and cross compare them with other consumer surveys and tracking data. Open Table data was popular in 2020 for tracking dining patterns, but even it has some major drawbacks. Many restaurants aren't even on the platform/network, for example!@sandyf wrote:
Shoptastic, I would not really take much from a survey of a small sample like a thousand that was done online to those who are spending time online and are more likely to be people more comfortable doing things online
These numbers (granted, for only a very small sample period) just don't give restaurants much room to survive who are not deep pocketed or had corporate-level or PPP aid. If Joe's Hot Dog Diner typically has (made up #'s for ease of calculation):@ wrote:
- 87% percent of full-service restaurants (independent, chain, and franchise) reported an average 36% drop in sales revenue.
How much do you have to pay out-of-pocket to cover? No fee at all (old MSC had a small one)?@foodluvr wrote:
Panda Express is still shopped although it's not a full reimbursement. It's on a text-based one off from an MSC that does a lot of dining reimbursement shops
@dafizisblue wrote:
I haven't seen:
Papa John's
BJs Brewhouse
Panda Express
El Pollo Loco
Applebee's
Habit Burger
Peet's Coffee
That's a good list as I used to shop all of them here in California except Peet's. Here's a couple more that I shopped in 2019 on a regular basis (some may have already been mentioned above by others):
Baja Fresh
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
Presto Pasta
Souplantation
Sizzler's
Wingstop
Mimi's Cafe
Shake Shack
Urbane Cafe
Jamba Juice
El Pollo
Chipotle
Pinks Hot Dogs
Sharky's
The Grill on the Alley
Yardhouse
Lazy Dog
Red Robin
Cheesecake Factory
Chilis
P.F. Chang's
Wow, prior to Covid 19 we ate almost all our meals in the above places and had leftovers for several days. Now its just the occasional pizza from Little Caesar's, In N Out Hamburger or Arby's (tomorrow).
@sandyf wrote:
Wow Kenasch nice list, I guess I need to sign up for a few more companies and find Pinks!
Pink's hot dogs?@sandyf wrote:
Wow Kenasch nice list, I guess I need to sign up for a few more companies and find Pinks!
@shoptastic wrote:
How much do you have to pay out-of-pocket to cover? No fee at all (old MSC had a small one)?@foodluvr wrote:
Panda Express is still shopped although it's not a full reimbursement. It's on a text-based one off from an MSC that does a lot of dining reimbursement shops
True but in my area, Sonic's fees are so woeful that I'm better off going $1.44 or whatever over reimbursement at Five Guys, considering I can get fees from them that regularly run $10-$15 above what I can get from Sonic. Plus, for my money, the food is better at FG.@2stepps wrote:
Five guys need to up the reimbursement amount. Heck Sonic has.
Me either. Their black bean burger was pretty lousy.@KokoBWare wrote:
Getting back to topic, I haven't seen Smashburger shopped in a while.