Are they worth your while for the experience and reimbursed meals? Or is the return on your time not worth it?

I enjoy them. I am able to always get two other meals and the work is not too overwhelming.
The time out is better than cooking !

i view them with MY EYES :-P i don't know how you would view them any other way.

Your question is easy to answer. It depends on the MSC who is providing the work. Marketforce is one of the easier MSC that offer food options. So is Ipsos. Coyle and ACL are much more intense and require lengthy narratives.

If it is a place you like and you are getting paid, then how is it not worth your time with the easier MSC. If you are just trying to make $ and going to a place you don't like just for the $, then it's highly unlikely it is worth it unless heavily bonused.

I used to do tons, but I have had bad luck with restaurant shops taking way longer than I plan, so I don't do many anymore.

I won't go out to eat now that restaurants have gotten so expensive. We will go out to eat if there is a mystery shop. This month, I "spent" around $300 on restaurants that will all get reimbursed. When I did Coyle reports, I spent almost 12k one year eating out. It was wild. It"s out of my system at that level. This was also when other companies had more dining shops.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2023 09:26PM by Niner.

Me, no. Spaghetti at home is fine with me. And less time consuming.

I don't personally do reimbursement only shops. I will consider restaurant shops once fees get added, but even then, they're down my list due to length of time and the restrictions on what I can order. I might do 5-10 per year, tops. That could change if some of my favorite Mexican places started getting shopped, but I doubt they will.

I work for cash. Plus, I have food at home.

I cannot find many I like since the pandemic ended but I liked to do the sit down places. If I think about how much time it takes me to prepare dinner which might include a trip to the grocer for ingredients and washing the dishes at the end the two hours I often spent at a nice place is worth it. I would not do a long report job if all I am getting is a plate of spaghetti I can quickly prepare at home but a dinner of something more complicated made by a good chef is worth the time to me whether or not they thrown in a meager $3-10 fee. After IRS tax that fee becomes very small. For those who do not enjoy going out to eat and eating something different than their everyday humdrum recipes I think it is worth it.

I will do the ones that either pay well or are easy and are restaurants I will normally eat at.
I'm well past the point of wanting to spend 8 hours to write up a fine dining shop that I could have enjoyed without all the work.

I will do food shops, fast food shops, as long as what I'm required to purchase is completely covered by the reimbursement and there is enough payment to make it worth the time to do the shop and fill out the report. Not necessarily taking into account the time to get to the restaurant because I usually only take fast food shops that are on a route that I am already doing.

And I really do not like eating in a restaurant, I don't like being in a room full of people.

@morocco77 wrote:

Are they worth your while for the experience and reimbursed meals? Or is the return on your time not worth it?

Well it depends on the food I guess.

The four letter breakfast place? Nope. Never. Add in a payment on top of the reimbursement and we'll talk. The food is okay. The service I have encountered there can be best described as passive resistance.

The drive-ins? Yep. Easy money...minimal interaction with staff...and good pay-to-work ratio. Last month I did 3 of them on my route (wasn't even planning on eating there)...each paid $30 and reimbursed $10. I think all together I spent 1 hour at the restaurant combined. $100 profit and reimbursed for each meal. Yes please!

The Red/Yellow BBQ joint with the gas stalls? Yep. Low reimbursement but its a great place to sit and chill. I often will file my other shops on my laptop while doing a shop there. And the food isn't too shabby!!!!

Fine/High Dollar dining. Nope. Not in this day and age. Maybe it's just me but I am very risk adverse. The SONIC LTO shop...I think they may reject it because I ordered tea instead of a fountain drink. I haven't got the thumbs up yet from them and I've been waiting four days. Can you imagine having a $100+ dinner rejected on such a mis-step? So my having that much exposure for a mystery shop...I'll pass. Besides...if if I'm at Fogo or Kona, I don't want to have to pay that close attention to see if the waitress had her tattoos covered or if the hostess was chatty on the way to the table.

I like restaurant shops on the whole. Maybe I'm just old school but I like shops where you actually shop. I don't really like the mattress store shops (jut to name one) where they spend 30 minutes selling their butt off and you just walk out the door. I'm sure I'm proabably alone in this but it makes me feel bad to do that. The bartender, one may say, drove sales...I got a good meal...had some fun. The poor dude who memorized the gauge steel they use to make the box spring...not so much.

When I'm out doing shops over several hours, I gotta have lunch. So I try to add a restaurant shop, usually fast casual or grab and go, but sometimes fast food. I look for those that pay a fee plus reimbursement.

American restaurants tend to overfeed their customers, so I can usually get 2 or 3 meals out of one. I travel with small insulated bags for that reason.

@metro25782 wrote:

@morocco77
Maybe I'm just old school but I like shops where you actually shop. I don't really like the mattress store shops (jut to name one) where they spend 30 minutes selling their butt off and you just walk out the door. I'm sure I'm proabably alone in this but it makes me feel bad to do that. The bartender, one may say, drove sales...I got a good meal...had some fun. The poor dude who memorized the gauge steel they use to make the box spring...not so much.[/quote wrote:

I feel the same. When I have those sort of shops, I try to go during what I think will be a slow time. I’ve been lucky in that most of the time when I’ve had to do a shop like that (where I know I won’t be buying, even after they spend a good deal of time with me) there usually aren’t other customers. It happened once that another customer came in and since I’d already hit the minimum time and gotten all of the information for the report, I stated that I needed to get going so he could move on to the next customer (who might actually buy) within a couple minutes.

In my experience there have been few upscale, fine dining restaurant shops where i can say I've truly enjoyed the meal. One we enjoyed tremendously was Roots. I think it's a local place with chains in NJ. Service was excellent. Food was outstanding. Pay was ok, but with my hubby, we always go over because he gets what he wants. I also did The Chart House overlooking Manhattan several years ago and it is one of my favorite places to go to even now on my own. Ruths Chris... meh. Flemmings,.. meh. Upscale casual..meh..I did one for Coyle and it was my last for them ever. Took me all day on the report for a hamburger and glass of wine. It was a really good hamburger, but so not worth the time. Panda Express is disgusting to me. Five Guys I'll do for the fee and a burger. I also used to do a Mexican chain for the nice company that is no longer in business. That was enjoyable. There are so many wonderful local pizza places where I live, I won't do a chain. Oh and BJ's is pretty good too as well as TRH. When I go out to eat these days, it's usually to enjoy myself and not have to worry about a report, plus as others have said, going much less frequently nowadays.

Happy Sunday everyone

I am only a part-time shopper, so restaurants are most of what I do. I have other side gigs, so I do deduct the mileage on taxes. I have mostly done the burger and Asian places, but I recently have done a few steakhouses which have been well worth it, also. YMMV.

@morocco77 wrote:

Are they worth your while for the experience and reimbursed meals? Or is the return on your time not worth it?

1. NO, the time I spend working for free could be used for jobs that pay my bills.
2.Yes, for the same reason. I prefer to get paid real money and use that money to eat where I can afford.

As we know, all shoppers do shops for unique reasons. In my previous life I was pretty fortunate business-wise so for instance - Capital Grille or Ruths' Chris was considered going out to dinner - just because. NowadaysI do go to Ruth's - albeit less frequently but when I'm there -I want to be totally, completely, erotically connected with the food so while the $200 perk is tempting - no thanks, I'd rather be left alone to enjoy. I do many Five Guys shops- - there too I enjoy the food but I dont feel the shop aspect takes away from my food pleasures. When I started this - I really wanted Ruth's, Red Lobster, etc and now I decided the opposite - nope, not for me. I am curious to find out who does Panda Express. If the requirements aren't too complicated I'd try that, and I'd also like to try Jersey Mike's if the distance is conducive.

They are pretty much the only ones I do. You get a free meal and money on top of it. It's definitely worth it to me, as long as you are not spending too much on gas/transit.

Panda Express is easy and not so cheap and restrictive as when it was with the old MSC.

But don't even THINK about getting a drink with the entree.

I do a lot of restaurant shops, mostly fast food and fast casual. My goal is to save on my grocery bill as well as get out of the house (recently retired from a long career). I can feed 2 out of a Panda plate and still make a few bucks. For Sonic, I order the large double cheeseburger with a large drink and we split it. I still make $8-$9 and more if it is extra bonused. At Canes, I get the Caniac Combo and usually have to spend about $3 bucks but can feed 2. At full service restaurants, I always bring home leftovers. We eat at 5 GUYS a lot, but always order the small burgers and one small fry. It is a give-and-take. Last week, I did 14 shops for approximately 28 meals (as described) and still made $92. My health care costs are killing me so I have to make it up somewhere. I have cut back on fine dining with lengthy narratives, but it is always an option if I need it.

Restaurants generally do not pay enough to make them worthwhile. For me to do them, the fee has to be X times more than the reimbursement. I have only found that occasionally with MF and with Coyle, not with any other MSC. Counting the reimbursement as income is, to me, perverse. Its not income its reimbursement of a meal that one consumes in order to earn the fee. And the meal is generally food one would not order at a restaurant that one would not visit and its certainly not enjoyable to eat while tracking guidelines and making mental, written, or electronic notes. Besides, I would never eat in an enclosed location given current health concerns.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2023 04:48AM by Rousseau.

I typically don't do reimbursement only, but it depends.

If I'm out on a route I might do one if I like or am curious about the food.

Personally, I don't think the higher-end jobs are worth the amount of work, even though there is reimbursement + a bit of pay.

@Rousseau wrote:

Restaurants generally do not pay enough to make them worthwhile. For me to do them, the fee has to be X times more than the reimbursement. I have only found that occasionally with MF and with Coyle, not with any other MSC. Counting the reimbursement as income is, to me, perverse. Its not income its reimbursement of a meal that one consumes in order to earn the fee. And the meal is generally food one would not order at a restaurant that one would not visit and its certainly not enjoyable to eat while tracking guidelines and making mental, written, or electronic notes. Besides, I would never eat in an enclosed location given current health concerns.

Well said!

@morocco77 wrote:

Are they worth your while for the experience and reimbursed meals? Or is the return on your time not worth it?

I presumed that your questions referred to sit-down or fine dining restaurants, which are not worth the time or usual miniscule fee paid. However, fast food establishments (aka Sonic, JIB, Panda, El Pollo Loco, etc.) can be worthwhile if they are not out of the way of the rest of your route. Even with a drive-thru fast food shop, you have to idle your car in the heat of summer and waste gas while waiting in line. . . unless your car is EV or hybrid.

I only shop for food. It is just about the only time I eat out.

My first dining assignment in 2003, was Longhorn Steakhouse. I thought it was great to eat out on the MSC and be paid, in that case, $10. A guest was not required, so the entire $30 meal was mine. In addition, the shop window was seven days, the report was 30 minutes tops and there were not any order requirements.

Those were the days, but alas that was yesteryear.

I just read that one of my all-time favorites, Steak N Ale, is coming back after 14 years. I shopped them a long time ago and I believe it was $35 for 2 people. Loved their 1000 Island dressing.

Fine dining is about all i do these days. Most high end retail shops i used to do are no longer. I refuse to do a retail fee shop; don't want or need the money, a $100+ item reimbursement with no fee made it so much fun. I do like highly paid financial shops that don't involve a physical visit.