Just curious about Bestmark dining shops. How are the reports? I see them sitting on the job board.

Depends on the client. If it's the burger place I'm thinking of, just restate the questions back to them in the answers and you'll be fine. Don't forget it's reimburse-only.

Just be straightforward and answer what the questions ask for. Some of their dining shops require more timing than others but they are not difficult at all. Just read the shop instructions and make sure you get the names, descriptions, etc.

As jrich said, they mostly are reimbursement only.

The burger place tends to stay on the board. The fine dining ones get taken up quickly. Thanks! I'll try it since hubby likes the burger place.

I haven't seen the burger shops in awhile but did the fine dining ones. The fine dining ones get posted up weeks in advance so you may want to check each day for the shops.

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll look for it.

BestMark reports are not to bad for dining, except for upscale. Be careful with up scale dining, read what you have to order (alcohol, salad, soup, entree, dessert for two and they have to be different items); then go to the restaurant website and check the menu and prices. Then compare that to reimbursement. I only did one and the client requirements for everything that had to be purchased did not come close to what was reimbursed - that is where I learned my lesson.

Check to make sure if you have to order from a specific section of the menu - that happens when the restaurant adds new entree's.

Mostly with all Bestmark reports: get your times (how long the wait before being seated, how long before they take your order, how long was the wait for the food, how long was the wait for your check and then how long before they brought your credit card receipt back for signature. Also, make great notes about names and physical descriptions (age, gender, height, build, hair color, hair texture, hair if straight/curly and if it is short, shoulder length, long; facial hair, glasses - on everyone you interact with.

Sounds like a lot - but after you have done their shops, you get used to it and helps you to be more attentive and better with other shops. I very much enjoy doing shops for Bestmark and my relationships with their schedulers.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2019 02:43AM by FrostyBubbles.

For any dining or FF shop I always check the prices on the web to make sure I am covered by reimbursement unless I don't mind paying a little extra for something that I want. In other words a good place and a good meal is worth a tad bit extra. I also look at the online reviews to make sure it's a decent place.

Frosty Bubbles...hair texture? I have never seen that as a requirement. I do not work for this msc though. Whatever do they want you to say about texture? Thick strands, thin, greasy, dry?

I just did my first restaurant shop for Bestmark and though we drank water and ordered the cheaper entrees, we still could not stay under reimbursement. I find this stingy since there is no shopper pay either. This wasn't a restaurant I'd visit again so at least it's a way to learn which restaurants to avoid when most of the outlay is ours.

I think BestMark dining shops are pretty easy, especially compared to other dining shops. Even the fine dining shop I do for them takes a lot less time than other companies I do fine dining for.

It depends on which restaurant you do frorm them. For the ones I did, the reimbursement was either covered or I paid a few dollars out of pocket for two people. One of the restaurants was water and the other was with drinks. These were good restaurants. Agree that their reports are easier than some other companies.

LOL ...they want to know curly or straight

Sandyf,

I used the term texture - but I do not think BestMark uses that specific term. Sorry about the confusion. What they are wanting to know is if hair is straight, wavy, curly, the length, color. Sorry again

@sandyf wrote:

Frosty Bubbles...hair texture? I have never seen that as a requirement. I do not work for this msc though. Whatever do they want you to say about texture? Thick strands, thin, greasy, dry?

Frosty it is okay. I was just curious. i always considered those things to be part of hair length and style. I have not worked for Bestmark so it was new to me.

I just took one of the burger shops. It was not posted on the board, a scheduler emailed me to offer it. I then checked the board and it was not there and when I wrote back and asked if it was still available, she said that not all shops are posted on the website (odd). Maybe I got offered it because I did a TV shop they were having trouble filling (offered at $12, eventually bonused to $20 so I took it). Otherwise not sure why it had not been offered previously. Certainly a step up from the usual burger shops at MF.

I used to LOVE Bestmark, they had the greatest places in NYC. But the reports were due by 10 AM the next day. Getting home around midnight and having to do the report right away were not fun. I even asked the scheduler for an extension. No dice.