Hello!

I applied to a few high end restaurant /bar combo shops for an upcoming vacation and to my surprise was assigned three over the course of four nights. Yikes. I don't want to spend the whole vacation writing reports, so I am trying to get as prepared as possible to get through them quickly.

I will be reading the guidelines over and over, printing everything so I don't have to keep scrolling to review the questions when writing the narratives, and I will start google docs with the sample reports as templates.

I am hoping veterans will share their experiences to help all of us in the trenches with Coyle! Thanks in advance.

Also, in general for bar sit shops, what do you do if the bar is packed and there is no way to get a bar stool?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2023 01:29PM by bradkcrew.

Wow! Good luck to you - I would not take on that many restaurant shops on a vacation, but to each their own. It sounds like you are doing everything I would do to be prepared. Just remember that no matter how thorough you 'think' you are, 99% of the time, the editors will contact you again with some asinine clarification. Have shopped with Coyle for 5 years and I'm just about done. Not worth my time. Best of luck!

Have fun spending the majority of your vacation writing reports for Coyle. I would not recommend this.

I just did three in a row while on a vacation. The reports did not take up the “majority” of my vacation although it helped that one was a casual dining location that did not want heavy narrative. By the end you will likely have the formula down so well that the report will take well under an hour. If you want to get a head start you can make the reservation calls from home and write those narratives. Have fun!

@NinS wrote:

I just did three in a row while on a vacation. The reports did not take up the “majority” of my vacation although it helped that one was a casual dining location that did not want heavy narrative. By the end you will likely have the formula down so well that the report will take well under an hour. If you want to get a head start you can make the reservation calls from home and write those narratives. Have fun!

Thank you! I also have one that is less intensive and I will be able to do that one on the flight home anyway.
The other two are identical and beasts, so I am trying to get a plan together. I will absolutely make the calls and write those narratives before I go. As I mentioned I plan to put together a template doc and then customize it. Thanks for the encouragement. Do you use a particular strategy?

@Niner wrote:

Have fun spending the majority of your vacation writing reports for Coyle. I would not recommend this.

I did on my last vacation and vowed never again, so that is why I am getting better prepared!

@Luv2Travel123 wrote:

Wow! Good luck to you - I would not take on that many restaurant shops on a vacation, but to each their own. It sounds like you are doing everything I would do to be prepared. Just remember that no matter how thorough you 'think' you are, 99% of the time, the editors will contact you again with some asinine clarification. Have shopped with Coyle for 5 years and I'm just about done. Not worth my time. Best of luck!

Oh believe me, I know...the stories I could tell...and I have only done 4 shops for them so far, lol!

Yes, write your reservation/call narratives beforehand. You have no alternative other than squeeze yourself in to order your drinks and to hang with the crowd in order to note the required observations. Annoying yes, but the majority of the time people will leave and you will get to sit. I think you already know everything else. Once you do a few, you will hopefully be able to do them in your sleep.

Definitely save the third narrative for the flight home!...ad here are my tips for getting through a lot of these reports while traveling:

1. Bar; You can usually visit the bar after dinner if it's a zoo. To keep it simple and have less writing, you can also visit the bar alone. Pay with exact change to keep the narrative shorter. If you both go to the bar, nurse your drinks and bring them to the table with you to limit table narratives. Order wine or beer at the bar and you can just request a refill at the table when your drink runs low.
2. Put your guest to work paying for their meal. They should be doing restroom checks and getting names/descriptions of staff while you focus on timings.
3. Take a photo of each food item as it arrives. That will give you timings and job your memory for the food section when writing the narrative. It's completely normal these days to photograph your food at upscale dining outlets.
4. Don't make special requests or ask too many questions. That just extends your narrative. Ask a pertinent question for each course of ordering, and then put in a full and complete order. You don't need a long dialog with the server to test their knowledge. Just a simple, "Which one of these wines is sweeter?", or "is the salad large enough for two to split?"

My MO for dining narratives when I have a bunch in a row is to enjoy the dinner, gather up all of my information (photos and receipts) and put everything in a folder on my computer before I go to bed. I then get up and write the narrative over coffee in the AM. You are going to be filled with a nice meal and potentially a glass of wine or two after dinner, so don't bother trying to write it at night. Write the narrative chronologically and then move the host components into it's own section. Add the facility section with your guest's help and look over your pictures to jog your memory for food presentation, then take a break. I can usually do all of that in 60 minutes or less, but I had probably done 100 or so before it got it down to an hour.

Come back refreshed and proof your narrate against the online standards (adding in anything you may have missed), then fill out the checklist and final commentary, and submit. Keep a copy of all narratives in the folder with the photos and receipts, and you can reference that if/when you get any questions back from editorial.

I took a two year break from MSing and am just getting back into it, but seems to me the Coyle editors are less picky than in the past, and don't pepper me with silly questions as much.

Thanks for the response. My dining partner is also a Coyle shopper so he will be a huge help. Taking pics of the drinks and food even when not required is a great idea to help with the food narrative, and also for time stamps-good tip! 100 shops, wow!!

@SteveSoCal wrote:

Definitely save the third narrative for the flight home!...ad here are my tips for getting through a lot of these reports while traveling:

1. Bar; You can usually visit the bar after dinner if it's a zoo. To keep it simple and have less writing, you can also visit the bar alone. Pay with exact change to keep the narrative shorter. If you both go to the bar, nurse your drinks and bring them to the table with you to limit table narratives. Order wine or beer at the bar and you can just request a refill at the table when your drink runs low.
2. Put your guest to work paying for their meal. They should be doing restroom checks and getting names/descriptions of staff while you focus on timings.
3. Take a photo of each food item as it arrives. That will give you timings and job your memory for the food section when writing the narrative. It's completely normal these days to photograph your food at upscale dining outlets.
4. Don't make special requests or ask too many questions. That just extends your narrative. Ask a pertinent question for each course of ordering, and then put in a full and complete order. You don't need a long dialog with the server to test their knowledge. Just a simple, "Which one of these wines is sweeter?", or "is the salad large enough for two to split?"

My MO for dining narratives when I have a bunch in a row is to enjoy the dinner, gather up all of my information (photos and receipts) and put everything in a folder on my computer before I go to bed. I then get up and write the narrative over coffee in the AM. You are going to be filled with a nice meal and potentially a glass of wine or two after dinner, so don't bother trying to write it at night. Write the narrative chronologically and then move the host components into it's own section. Add the facility section with your guest's help and look over your pictures to jog your memory for food presentation, then take a break. I can usually do all of that in 60 minutes or less, but I had probably done 100 or so before it got it down to an hour.

Come back refreshed and proof your narrate against the online standards (adding in anything you may have missed), then fill out the checklist and final commentary, and submit. Keep a copy of all narratives in the folder with the photos and receipts, and you can reference that if/when you get any questions back from editorial.

I took a two year break from MSing and am just getting back into it, but seems to me the Coyle editors are less picky than in the past, and don't pepper me with silly questions as much.

Do you have a timing app? If not, I think that helps an amazing amount with the writing. Just send it to yourself and flesh out the timeline.

If you need to comment on the different dishes and drinks - I like to make a little template (presentation, temperature, flavor, value, etc.) and do a voice to text about each dish while looking at the template so that part is ready to go. I usually do this on the way home from the restaurant.

Even with that it tends to take me 1-2 hrs to do the report. If photos are needed, I just upload them directly from my phone rather than downloading to my computer.

Welcome back, SteveSoCal! Looking forward to more of your high-end shopping adventure stories!

@olympia tennenbaum wrote:

Do you have a timing app? If not, I think that helps an amazing amount with the writing. Just send it to yourself and flesh out the timeline.

If you need to comment on the different dishes and drinks - I like to make a little template (presentation, temperature, flavor, value, etc.) and do a voice to text about each dish while looking at the template so that part is ready to go. I usually do this on the way home from the restaurant.

Even with that it tends to take me 1-2 hrs to do the report. If photos are needed, I just upload them directly from my phone rather than downloading to my computer.

@bradkcrew wrote:

@olympia tennenbaum wrote:

Do you have a timing app? If not, I think that helps an amazing amount with the writing. Just send it to yourself and flesh out the timeline.

If you need to comment on the different dishes and drinks - I like to make a little template (presentation, temperature, flavor, value, etc.) and do a voice to text about each dish while looking at the template so that part is ready to go. I usually do this on the way home from the restaurant.

Even with that it tends to take me 1-2 hrs to do the report. If photos are needed, I just upload them directly from my phone rather than downloading to my computer.

No, I don't have a timing app. I have been texting my dinner partner and using the text times. Would an app be better somehow, or does it serve the same purpose?

The timestamp camera app will not only take a photo, it will also include the time, date, and location. This helps keep up with timings--you can take a photo of the floor or anything insignificant to cue you on when the timing actually begins, and as SteveSoCal mentioned if you take a photo of each drink/dish/check as it arrives, you will have exact timings. The free timestamp camera app is available in Android and (I think) in iphone.

@bradkcrew wrote:

@bradkcrew wrote:

@olympia tennenbaum wrote:

Do you have a timing app? If not, I think that helps an amazing amount with the writing. Just send it to yourself and flesh out the timeline.

If you need to comment on the different dishes and drinks - I like to make a little template (presentation, temperature, flavor, value, etc.) and do a voice to text about each dish while looking at the template so that part is ready to go. I usually do this on the way home from the restaurant.

Even with that it tends to take me 1-2 hrs to do the report. If photos are needed, I just upload them directly from my phone rather than downloading to my computer.

No, I don't have a timing app. I have been texting my dinner partner and using the text times. Would an app be better somehow, or does it serve the same purpose?

An app is better because it's all kept as a long log. So, at the end of the shop you can email it to yourself with the timestamps and a part of your report is already done. Just flesh it out.

Copy and paste is your friend if you are double dipping with Coyle.