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Restaurant Mystery Shopper

executive housekeeping checking rooms

Do you Know How your Customers See You? Are you Achieving Your Brand Quality and Standard Goals? Are you Getting a Good Return on Investment? Are Your Staff Members Treating Your Customers Well?

 

Our Mystery Shopping Services Has Helped Many Restaurant Operators Identify Proplems, Improve Customer Experience & Increase ROI Exponentially!

Our Restaurant Mystery Shopping

The restaurant industry is highly competitive. As a restaurant owner, one of your biggest concerns should be to improve the quality of your service to your customers. If your customers do not get good value for money, they will switch to your competitor. You want to be head and shoulders above your competitors to get a higher market share and ROI. Hiring mystery shopping agencies remains the best way to find out better on how your restaurant is performing. 

 

We understand that it may be a challenge to find out exactly why your business is not giving you a higher ROI. Relying only on customer feedback and your team feedback may not always give you a clear picture of what is going on and where to improve. That is why, at Sam Hospitality, we have developed our mystery shopper programme, which works for every restaurant business. 

 

We will evaluate your current quality of service and give you a detailed report that will help you make an informed decision and take your business to greater heights. Our experienced assessors will give you myster shopper reports that will help you identify problem areas and recommendations that will help you eliminate problems and get a good ROI. 

 

How Does It Work?

First, let's look at what a mystery shopper is. A mystery guest or mystery shopper is a person employed to visit businesses and evaluate the quality of service. They come undercover, the staff members deal with them just like any other customer, not knowing that they are evaluating everything. This enables the mystery shopper to experience every aspect of your value proposition through the customer's eyes.

 

We work discreetly with you as the restaurant owner to ensure that we get the best results. By law, you are supposed to let your team know that there will be a mystery shopper however, during the audit, we don't blow the cover. 

 

So, Which Aspects Does the Restaurant Mystery Shopping Programme Cover?

Our restaurant shopping programme covers the following aspects:

  • Reservations - This is where the mystery shopper process starts
  • Welcoming - The meet, greet and seat procedure
  • The waitron
  • The restaurant/ floor manager
  • Ambience
  • Product knowledge
  • Food service
  • Beverage service
  • Service in general
  • Farewell 

 

Whether you are running a chain of restaurants, or you are running an independent restaurant, we work with you to find the best ways to get to the bottom of what the problem is. We book any of our experienced professionals and they evaluate everything, from the time of making the reservation, to how they were welcomed to the restaurant and ushered to their table, the overall cleanliness of the restaurant, including bathrooms, staff uniform and professionalism, the waitron's product knowledge, upselling skills, food & beverage standards and customer service standards in general. 

 

After our 'mystery shopping' has experienced your restaurant's offerings, we compile detailed reports as well as our recommendations which will help you get to the bottom of the issue and make an informed decision. We report without fear or favour.

 

Do you Need to Hire a Mystery Shopping Agency? 

One of the questions we get asked a lt is, "Why do I need a mystery shopping agency when I get reviews from my customers?" or " We are doing well in our customer service score, so we don't need mystery shopping!". Congratulations on that, however, you will be shocked to learn that only 1% of your customers review your restaurant. Now, what happens to the 99%? There is a lot happening that as the restaurant manager, you may no know about, hence mystery shopping is not a luxury. 

 

Who Needs Mystery Shopping?

Our mystery shopper programme is suitable for all restaurants including:

  • Fine Dining Restaurants
  • Independent Restaurants
  • Franchise Restaurants
  • Casual Restaurants
  • Formal Restaurants
  • Family Restaurants
  • Cafés
  • Bistros

 

Whether you are running a group of restaurants, a franchise or you are running your own independent restaurant, this programme will work for you. We deliver our mystery shopping service in establishments in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. 

 

Reservations

Our restaurant mystery shopper programme starts from reservations. We call your restaurant to make a booking. We call your reservations department at different times. We also test how your reservations team handle themselves on the telephone, including professionalism, how they represent your brand, how they handle bookings during the busy or sold out period, etc. 

 

If you have other services, e.g. conferences, events, weddings, etc. we also test how your reservations team handle those bookings.  

 

Welcoming

Upon arriving at your restaurant, we will evaluate the general look of the entrance and how customers are welcomed. This includes how the host ushers the customers to the tables, how the waitron was introduced, whether the table was clean or not, etc. We also give a feedback on the overall ambience. 

 

The Server

We then analyze the server's attitude, presentation and service. This includes how they introduce themselves and welcome the customers, how they are wearing their uniform, name tag, etc. We also check how knowledgeable they are with the menu and drinks. We also check if they are willing to upsell or suggest specials, specialty meals and drinks. We also check how they deal with situations and complaints. 

 

Restaurant / Floor Manager

We evaluate how the restaurant/ floor manager handles the service flow, how they check on tables, how they handle complaints, etc.

 

Product Knowledge

Lack of product knowledge is one of the reasons your restaurant is not making money. If service staff do not have an intimate knowledge of the food and beverages on offer, then it is difficult for them to upsell or offer alternatives. We test if your servers have an intimate knowledge of the food menu, drinks and wine list. 

 

Food Service

Based on what we ordered, we will give you an honest feedback about the food service. This includes the time it took to get the meal after it was ordered, the presentation, taste, accompaniments and condiments, etc. 

 

Drink Service

We will give you a feedback on your restaurant drink service, including presentation, duration, wine service, whether your servers know how to serve wines. 

 

Service in General

Our mystery shopping also covers service in general, giving you a feedback and recommendations on the overall service offered. We look at the service flow and how the general service is. We check how the front-of-house staff handle themselves around customers. If there's anything worth noting, we advise on that. 

 

Farewell and Facilities

We also report on the farewell and on other facilities. We believe that the farewell is as important as the welcome. A great farewell will determine of whether your customers will come back and/ or refer other customers to your restaurant. We also check your other facilities, as advised by you. 

 

What are the Benefits of Mystery Shopping?

As the restaurant owner, you will be able to use our reports to provide you with all the problem areas and proper recourse. The main purpose is to find solutions to help you increase your ROI. You will know exactly what you need to focus on and focus on it without delay. Our restaurant mystery shopping reports will help you:

  • identify issues that lead to poor service
  • identify employees that deliver exceptional customer experience and those who need assistance
  • identify skills gap and proper training needed to address those issues
  • identify what works for your restaurant and what doesn't
  • benchmark your restaurant against your competitors
  • identify which stores are doing well and which need assistance (multiple properties)
  • improve your customer experience

 

How Much is The Restaurant Mystery Shopper Audit?

Our mystery shopper programme is offered to restaurants in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Cape Town. We charge from R1 200 per audit/ store for restaurants. We charge extra for travel to restaurants in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Cape Town. The restaurant reimburses us for purchases made during the audits. After our audit, you receive reports within a week. In order to maximize efficiency, we highly recommend at least 1 mystery shopper audit every month. 

 

The success of any business depends highly on its brand reputation. Brand reputation comes as a result of exceptional 'WOW' customer service and the overall experience offered to your guests.

 

Mystery Shopper Audits from R1 200 per Audit/ Store.