Insula - bun substitute question

I have done several menu board shops with the bun substitute question. Very few employees know whether the new buns are allowed to be substituted. When they do say "yes," I have not found one who knows whether there is an upcharge or not.

It's such a pointless exercise in futility.

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All of mine said it could be substituted. 80% said for free, the remainder giving a price ranging from $0.15 to $0.30.

This is exactly why it is NOT a pointless exercise in futility: you will be providing the company with
urgent and important info, i.e., their training program isn't working!

cease

The point of the shop is to collect pricing data, not gauge customer service. An "I don't know" doesn't help.

I'm pretty sure that there was no evaluation of training or customer service intended by the question, that these are competitor shops, and they're considering their own substitution pricing by comparison and contrast.

As MS'ers, we are paid to ask questions all the time whether or not them seem relevant to us. If they pay me enough money, I will ask whatever questions they want me to ask.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”
~ Jimi Hendrix

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain

“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

There are a few I don't think they could pay me enough to ask, although I have been surprised before.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

They are competitor shops and it is easy to figure out the client. They even check Panera in some areas.

I just signed up with this MSC. These audits look like a lot of work, plus photos, for $11. Is it easier and less time consuming that it looks on paper?

Easy. 3-5 minutes on site. 12-25 minutes on the report, depending on the particular FF chain and how many missing menu items there are.

Regarding their menu board pictures and pricing audit, I'm wondering if shoppers are able to fill out the price audit sheets from their photos or not. Instructions say not to rely on the photos, but I can't imagine taking the drive thru menu board photos and trying to jot down prices during the lunch rush at any FF place.

Elcarev68 - can you advise, please?

I always rely on my photos but I use pro camera equipment with a very good glass zoom lens. I doubt that someone with a point-n-shoot or camera phone would get the same reliable results.

I am considering one of these. I have never done one. There is one for a FF place that does not serve breakfast near my office (Therefore the menu board on the drive-thru won't change later in the day). Is there any reason I couldn't go in the morning and get the drive-thru pictures on my way to work when no one is around and do the inside portion for the prices at lunchtime?

I rely entirely on my photos to enter the prices from home. I set my point-and-shoot digital camera to its highest photo resolution (8 M) and simply snap 6 pictures (2 of each required view) while I'm placing my order. After food pickup, I pull into a parking spot, photograph the receipt, quickly make sure the three required views have 1 each that's not blurry, circle the store for any required extra signage photos, and I'm on my way. If there are no other cars in line, I can be in and out in less than three minutes.
I rename the photos at home, and then run them through PixResizer (less than a minute total per location). I use the original large version to zoom in for prices as I enter the data, then submit the smaller version with the report.

Thanks! I no longer have pro cameras - I was a professional stock photographer back in the days of film - but I might do a run through with my point and shoot and see how many of the prices I can read before accepting a shop.

@nhgirl1970
There is no inside portion as far as I know.
You do need a receipt, though, so even if the drive-through board has the lunch menu on it early morning for you to photograph, you'll still have to stop back for a small purchase.

the new canon point and shoots that just came out have nice zooms
for a point and shoot and are reasonably priced.

= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +
There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

Ah ok I thought you actually had to copy the prices from inside the restaurant (I don't have guidelines so this was a guess). I have no issue with going back later for a receipt. Thanks for the feedback!

I have used a 12.1 megapixel point-and-shoot camera for years on these shops. It works nicely and is easy to conceal. I pull out my DSLR professional camera on occasion. Sometimes the menu board is on the same side as the window, and I have to take photos after I make the purchase. This is when a DSLR comes in handy, but it is not necessary.

Also, a time saving tip that helps at home is to have your browser store the pricing data you enter. After you have entered a few shops, you will have most of the price options you need already stored within the browser. Simply go down the form, double click, and price options come up. Selecting the price, rather than entering them over-and-over, saves so much time. I usually pick up around 80-100 of these shops, so it really helps over time.

That's an awesome tip! What is the process of having the browser store the pricing data?

vabvol Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Also, a time saving tip that helps at home is to
> have your browser store the pricing data you
> enter. After you have entered a few shops, you
> will have most of the price options you need
> already stored within the browser. Simply go down
> the form, double click, and price options come up.
> Selecting the price, rather than entering them
> over-and-over, saves so much time.

CAUTION: The majority of my locations (even within the same brand) have different pricing on many of the items. You can not rely on the previous prices being accurate. But the browser can be a time saver if you just pay attention to the different prices.

Shop2LiveinFL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> CAUTION: The majority of my locations (even within
> the same brand) have different pricing on many of
> the items. You can not rely on the previous
> prices being accurate. But the browser can be a
> time saver if you just pay attention to the
> different prices.

Yes, that is why I say that you must enter several shops before this time-saving tip works. That way you have several options to choose from. Even so, you will likely have to enter a few prices for each shop. Two chains in particular have very different prices between locations, while two other chains often have nearly identical prices at every shop.

elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's an awesome tip! What is the process of
> having the browser store the pricing data?

My browser saves the data automatically. I use Chrome. You may have to enable the Autofill function under "Advanced Settings."

Thanks!

I did a set of these but haven't heard any feedback about them yet...fingers crossed.

Getting good pictures quickly enough to not cause trouble in the line is challenging. My phone camera is just barely good enough to make this work.

I was excited to do them because they don't care who else is in the car with you.

As long as you could read the prices from the photos, you should be good. There have been times in the past where I was concerned about a shop because one or two prices were not clear in my photos, but none have been returned to me for this reason.

A cell phone camera would be tough, so I'm impressed you were able to juggle it while ordering. Sometimes, I barely have enough time to take them with my point-and-shoot. If I run out of time on occasion, I have to come back around, park, jump out of the car, snap a couple of photos, and race back to the car. Whatever gets the job done!

khc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did a set of these but haven't heard any
> feedback about them yet...fingers crossed.
>
> Getting good pictures quickly enough to not cause
> trouble in the line is challenging. My phone
> camera is just barely good enough to make this
> work.
>
> I was excited to do them because they don't care
> who else is in the car with you.

@ khc ~ What type of camera phone did you use? Some MSC/projects allow cell phone photos; some don't. With the menuboard audits, detail is very important.

And this MSC/project does not give feedback. I'm sure they will contact you if there is a problem though.

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Insula - bun substitute question

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