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BJ's Brewhouse on the move?

February 04, 2026 03:33AM
I see a "promo" shop for BJ's Brewhouse listed with the reimbursement only company at $75 max reimbursement. I guess the race to the bottom continues. I remember some people complaining when they moved last time because the fee went down to $4 with payment of a gift certificate after the shop so that you were out the initial meal. I never understood that criticism since the dine in shops gave your a $100 certificate each time which more that covered the next meal and you could keep rolling the profits. BJ's actually was one of the more lucrative dining shops out there. I guess we can say goodbye to that. If they can get people to do them for free at only $75 reimbursement, why wouldn't they?
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February 04, 2026 04:14AM
I just signed up for a dinner shop this morning...$4 fee with $100 gift card
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February 04, 2026 10:50AM
I just did one for $4 fee/$100 gift card and once again, was not impressed. I wonder if the "promo" shops require pictures. The $4 fee ones do not.
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February 04, 2026 05:23PM
I've done a couple of these. I just saw one from the same MSC for $65 gift card plus the $4 fee. Well worth it if you go find a solo bar shop. You get the $65 GC regardless of your spend amount. I think I spent $30 once to get $65 GC.
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February 05, 2026 06:03AM
hoping current MSC doesn't lose the BJ brewhouse shop. I'm guessing the "promo" place might have been the knee ligament 3 letter MSC that I have not done anything for since Blaze pizza went away.
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February 05, 2026 06:23AM
@hbbigdaddy wrote:

hoping current MSC doesn't lose the BJ brewhouse shop. I'm guessing the "promo" place might have been the knee ligament 3 letter MSC that I have not done anything for since Blaze pizza went away.

And I think Blaze really needs mystery shoppers . i keep thinking they are going to close up someday. The pizza counter where you choose toppings and sauces is always splattered with all sorts of items, they run out of items at all times of the day, the staff is different people every time i go in. They do a good business in order ahead and carry out. those people never get to see the assembly line counter and how messy it is.
As for BJ I like the company it is with now. But many places I have done promo shops for in the past have NOT later gotten the contract. Some of the promo shops I did were for places that none of my msc had and I had not seen them mentioned by other shoppers. But some were for places with an established program. So just becasue they are doing a promo does not mean the job will go to them.
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February 05, 2026 12:08PM
Blaze has been shopped in my area for over a year now. They stopped a few years ago and are back. This time, no requirement to get every employees name.
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February 05, 2026 03:55PM
@gigishopper wrote:

Blaze has been shopped in my area for over a year now. They stopped a few years ago and are back. This time, no requirement to get every employees name.
That is interesting and encouraging. Is it the same company that did them before? They are franchised however so it may be that a franchise owner in your local area is ordering the shops. I will keep my fingers crossed they start doing them here although there is only one left nearby except for the college campus ones.
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February 05, 2026 04:23PM
The good franchisee groups want to know how their restaurants are doing even if it's not a corporate push to know. It's amazing how many places are so cheap and don't want to know to save a couple hundred dollars per location.

There is small pizza chain where I'm at and the owner posted on FB group about wanting someone to evaluate a specific location. I think they had something set up for the other locations and this might have been a newer one. So instead of paying some MSC...this owner got a list of people interested and created their own program. I was not selected because they wanted someone in the area of that particular store. But it was smart of them to want to know how they were doing even if they were doing it organically instead of using an MSC.

I really miss Cheesecake Factory and when they did it. So many places could use it (not saying Cheesecake Factory is falling apart). In N Out shops all their locations religiously even though they have a very high success rate on their shops. They feel doing every location several times per month is worth it to make sure their operations run in the best possible way.
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February 05, 2026 05:42PM
Yes, same as before.

@sandyf wrote:

@gigishopper wrote:

Blaze has been shopped in my area for over a year now. They stopped a few years ago and are back. This time, no requirement to get every employees name.
That is interesting and encouraging. Is it the same company that did them before? They are franchised however so it may be that a franchise owner in your local area is ordering the shops. I will keep my fingers crossed they start doing them here although there is only one left nearby except for the college campus ones.
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February 05, 2026 10:45PM
Sending you a DM
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February 06, 2026 10:31PM
I just picked one up on their regular MSC. The $65 gift card one with $4 payment (I get three orders out of that gift card, including an alcoholic drink, since I go on a day and time when I can combine happy hour specials with the daily meal special).
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February 07, 2026 05:24PM
i think i'm going to use my excess GC to fund the SB spread. I could get cheaper pizzas from Papa Johns or Pizza Hut, but why spend money out of my pocket when I have excess GC from BJ's brewhouse? they have a "game day" special with pizza and wings for $55. You can add 2 more pizzas at $15 each which seems like an decent value overall when seeing the total cost by what is received. It's too bad I can't figure out how to order more pizzas at $15 from them. I need 5 pizzas, but I don't need another meal deal cuz I don't want 60 wings (instead of 30).
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February 07, 2026 05:39PM
Maybe just call the local place and see if they'll let you add on a couple extra at $15? I know I went one time and I had a "free appetizer" coupon, and it didn't explicitly exclude their brand new brewhouse bites sampler, but, the system also wouldn't accept the coupon for it, so they gave me the app for free, and didn't even use my coupon, and I promised them I wouldn't use the coupon later (which I didn't because, karma). Maybe they'd be willing to throw in a couple more pizzas for you.
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February 07, 2026 06:39PM
So promo means a potential switch of MSC for sites? I am unfamiliar with this promo wording. Is it listed in the actual posting of the shop?
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February 07, 2026 08:30PM
@big_sky_thunder wrote:

So promo means a potential switch of MSC for sites? I am unfamiliar with this promo wording. Is it listed in the actual posting of the shop?

It was on the listing of the shop with the potential new company. The listing also explicitly said something about it being a potential new customer of the new company. This is the same MSC with the "Pocket" shops. By the way, pocket shops still take every bit as much work as their regular shops. A minimum of 8 sentences to explain that the pizza was neatly presented and the box was clean?
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