Gordon Ramsay Has Used Mystery Shoppers

Watching S05:E01 of Kitchen Nightmares. To quote Gordon, "I'm gonna be using a mystery diner. Basically, I've been using them for the last 10 years, and it's a great way of keeping your staff on their toes."

Looks like a video shop.

Anyone shop any of his restaurants?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2025 09:46PM by wrosie.

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In his show Secret Service (similar to Kitchen Nightmares), he has "Rock" Harper come in as a mystery diner and he is communicating with Gordon during the meal. "Rock" was someone who won Hell's Kitchen show contest.

Gordon came to two Phoenix area restaurants in the last couple of months. Created some scandal with 1 of them because the restaurant has the same name in 2 locations and the location in Tempe, AZ is getting hit with bad press because people are confusing them.

I have seen offers at one of his restaurants but its always for lunch. The reimbursement is way more that I usually pay for dinners and I hesitate to lay out that kind of $$$.

I tend to view high-end shops as getting the experience at a discount in exchange for some work. Don't do them often, as I don't often have the budget.

Haven't seen any GR locations in my neck of the woods (assuming I'm with the MSC), but I'd definitely pursue them if I could make them work from a cash flow standpoint.

I'm a big fan of all his shows. A fave hang back in my SoCal days made it on Kitchen Nightmares. That was a revelation. It usually had the absolute worst service, but we suffered through it because the food was so good, including the créme brulée by which all others continue to be judged decades later.

And I'm an even bigger fan of Tiffany Derry, who is now a judge on GR's Master Chef!

I will be having my birthday dinner for the 2nd time at one of her restaurants when I'm back home in Dallas next month. Last time back we ate at her other place in the same complex, and she was there, so we were able to recreate the picture pose from the 1st birthday. My mom, sis and I have been following her since she first appeared on Top Chef years ago.

[www.radiciwoodfiredgrill.com]

Have synthesizers, will travel...

All his restaurants around the world are shopped monthly by 2 MS, one is using sassie.

I did the counter serve deep-fryer place here in DC once through an MSC that still works for him. I was unimpressed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2025 08:54AM by weatherman2111.

The ones I have seen are not video shops. But they definitely do all the DC locations regularly. They can be tricky to get the shops, as the scheduler only likes to but a near windows of time (despite having the whole month) and reservations can be tricky that close to the meal date at the finer dining restaurant.

New show: [www.imdb.com]

@ShopperGirly

How "new" is new? They have done a couple phoenix restaurants in the past couple months on this show. Maybe it's the 1st season, so it's "new-er"

There is a new show on Secret Service tonight 6-25-25.

It's just a new way of doing the same thing the old show did.

He goes in an inspects the restaurant at night when it's closed. The rest of the show is pretty much the same as his old restaurant revamping show.

Except at the end when it's revealed who called and asked for his help.

I'll still watch it.

I used to watch Hells Kitchen the early seasons. The yelling and drama got old to me after awhile. Probably quit after 5 seasons. I would watch kitchen nightmares too, but got tired of it as well. I only watched the 2 episodes of the phoenix locations because they are close enough to me that I am interested. I don't care about other places in the country I will never go to.

I do look weekly at the health inspection reports of the places that failed or got bad grades. I'm always curious if a place I shop will show up on the list.

Gordon who?

Side note: I used to frequent a Chinese restaurant until I looked in the back prep area and saw the water glasses being dunked into a 5-gal bucket of water with the employee's finger and thumb on the edge of the glass. Nope, never went back!

I'd rather watch Sam The Cooking Guy. More relatable.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2025 12:11PM by maverick1.

I've shopped a few of his restaurants. They go much quicker than the MSC's tapas and taco clients, perhaps because it's just one location per month (maybe quarterly) instead of all the different lunch/bar/dinner shops the other clients do.

Like most celebrity chef-branded restaurant groups they're really hit or miss -- obviously Gordon isn't in the back cooking your meal. A semi-casual one here has a really nice roof deck. The most upscale one here had the kind of thing you really don't want to see scurrying around a restaurant. I discreetly pointed it out to the server and she apologized but seemed unsurprised. My better half assumed that when I put this in the report I would get some sort of call from management or the MSC, but of course all I heard was "Your report has been accepted." We won't be going back there.

I did one for a fish and chips joint he has in Florida but it was so long ago I don’t know who with.

I have done both his fine dining shop and his burger shop in Boston, beginning in 2022, and then about two a year for the last three years. However, as someone else posted, there are usually only 1 or 2 shops posted every 4-6 months or so, and they get snapped up quickly. Back in 2023, they posted a 4 person dinner, and I was able to take my (small) work group to lunch, which was super cool. And no, it was not a video shop. And I also have found the service to be rather disappointing, even though the food was generally good.

I used to live in Los Angeles and my friend and I found out that Hell's Kitchen was filmed in a warehouse studio space in nearby Culver City. We drove up one afternoon and met some production folks and asked about how we could be part of the customer group that comes in for an episode. They gave us an email address that was literally something like "reservations @ hellskitchen dot com.

We emailed it with our names & ages and got a reply from a producer saying we'd be on a wait list. Unfortunately nothing happened, but that would have been cool. This was right when it started too in the early-2000's.

@scottsteg wrote:

I used to live in Los Angeles and my friend and I found out that Hell's Kitchen was filmed in a warehouse studio space in nearby Culver City. We drove up one afternoon and met some production folks and asked about how we could be part of the customer group that comes in for an episode. They gave us an email address that was literally something like "reservations @ hellskitchen dot com.

We emailed it with our names & ages and got a reply from a producer saying we'd be on a wait list. Unfortunately nothing happened, but that would have been cool. This was right when it started too in the early-2000's.

Neat. Didn't realize they used a Sony? studio.

I found some old emails, the location was filmed in 8660 Hayden Place in Culver City which was some open warehouse in a nondescript area of town. I've been to Sony Studios which is like a 5-10 minute drive away from that warehouse. I went there a few times back for some tours. Miss those places...

@scottsteg wrote:

I found some old emails, the location was filmed in 8660 Hayden Place in Culver City which was some open warehouse in a nondescript area of town. I've been to Sony Studios which is like a 5-10 minute drive away from that warehouse. I went there a few times back for some tours. Miss those places...

Ahh, ok. I know the Culver City name from Sony. Didn't know there were other studios around there. Apparently that one is owned by Standing Room Only so I guess they do a lot of crowd shows.

Not sure if you live there or have lived there before, but as you probably know, there is an independent studio space for practically any kind of film/tv/music production in the greater LA area. Even vacant office spaces have the "filming location" option available as opposed to "for rent." If its an empty space, a recording device can be used there...

@scottsteg wrote:

Not sure if you live there or have lived there before, but as you probably know, there is an independent studio space for practically any kind of film/tv/music production in the greater LA area. Even vacant office spaces have the "filming location" option available as opposed to "for rent." If its an empty space, a recording device can be used there...

No, East Coast all the way. I just know a bit about the industry. Thanks.

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