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Why Do Restaurants do Mystery shopper Visits

Over the past 25 plus  odd years in the Hospitality, l have realised how the industry has revolved :

I have seen Brands branching /splitting, have seen some disappear and then reappear with a new name. Some have stuck it and are still existing : However the influx of International brands is set to have an impact on the brands who are not changing with the times :

In this little letter – l want to share with a little secret – on at least ‘” how to survive”

Main step:

Take Care of your Customers :- First Internal Customers and then your External customers :

Use the mystery shopping audits for the following:

  • To improve
  • To reflect
  • To train ,coach and or mentor
  • To motivate
  • To assess staff ability to build rapport with the customer s and also to assess if the customer is given Value for money options.

Please balance them up : For an example if your restaurant is doing 600k per month 1 mystery shopper visit won’t give you the best synopsis : 1 customer out of a 6000 estimated spend per head R100 …. Ask yourself what then happens once the audit is carried out during the first week of the month and the results given:- Complacency  creeps in and 5999 Customers are subjected to bad service:

Have you realised that your restaurant does well in Mystery shopper audits but has a lot of customer complaints : –

Mystery shopper audits are not for :

  • Disciplinary issues
  • For punishment
  • Focusing on only them but are meant to ensure that every customer is treated as an Auditor
  • A weapon to dismiss staff

Remember the following :

  1. A mystery shopper is his own person:_ he/she brings own preferences, habits and expectations :
  2. It’s one dimensional ( about one person view and not how all types of customers rate service)
  3. Mystery shopper is completely subjective
  4. In most cases it is a Singular experience and there might be factors (operational factors) which might play a role on that visit: e.g. busy day /time /period or short staff, etc. . . .
  5. If competitor information is not collected as well for comparison – then we might not be making full use of the Mystery shopper audit

Want to improve your Customer service Contact us for solutions : What answers :- we here for your business

In Hospitality Spirit

Kind Regards
Sales Team

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