Fast Food Quick Service Restaurants
Fast food quick service restaurants is an area of mystery shopping that needs new people to participate all the time. There are a lot of assignments to choose from and many assignments can't be shopped by the same person within 3 - 6 months at a time.
The emphasis for the majority of the fast food Quick service restaurants is cleanliness, fast service, friendliness and upsells. Upsells are critical to a restaurant's success. Employees are expected to ask customers to upgrade a drink or make the meal a combo. Many fail to do so. That's why mystery shoppers are out there to make sure they do.
Some of these assignments are quick to perform and submit a report. I've had many assignments where I enter the drive-through and place an order. These were the items I usually had to record for the report:
- cleanliness of the exterior of the building.
- If there was a line, record the time I entered and how many vehicles were ahead of me.
- Record the time I reached the menu board.
- Rate the friendliness of the speaker attendant (Did they offer an upsell?)
- Record the time I received the order.
- Rate the friendliness of the person at the window. (Did they give you a nice greeting or did they say nothing?)
- Record the time you received the order.
- Stop at a place out of view of the restaurant and eat the meal.
- Rate the food and if you received everything you asked for. (Did you get napkins, a straw, salt and pepper, or plasticware?)
Fast Food Quick Service Restaurants Receipts
You have to make you get the receipt. That will have to be scanned and placed in your report. After you enter the information for your report, you submit it to the mystery shopping company. They will review it to make sure you followed all of the directions. If the report is good, you'll be paid for the assignment. If you ordered a milk shake when the directions told you not to, you will not be paid or reimbursed for the assignment.
I had to go a step further with a few of these fast food quick service restaurants. I had to print scorecards and take them with me. I had to listen for a specific upsell from either the speaker attendant or the person at the window. If one of them offered the upsell, I would go back in the store after I finished the meal and reveal myself as a mystery shopper. I would present the manager on duty with a good scorecard. If I wasn't offered an upsell, the bad card would be given. Those were the teachable moments for employees of fast food quick service restaurants.
The same process would apply for going in the restaurant. You would check out the cleanliness inside the store, including the restroom.
Cash Awards For Employees
I've had assignments for fast food quick service restaurants where I would award cash to people who gave the correct upsell. This applies to both drive-through and dine in visits. It’s usually either $5 or $10. The money comes out of the mystery shopper's pocket initially. Once your report is submitted, that money will be reimbursed. (Unless you don't follow directions correctly.) In nearly every case where I had an assignment like this, I was reimbursed within days of the mystery shop. I would get the rest of the payment later.
I had one assignment where I had to award everyone on staff $10 for a proper upsell. The cashier gave me the proper upsell and I had to pay the entire staff. There were only 3 people working at the time (which was normal for that time).
I received two payments for this assignment. The reimbursement of the cash award was direct deposited to my checking account two days after my report was accepted. I received the payment for the assignment on the regular pay schedule, which was two weeks later.
I find personal joy in awarding people a monetary prize for doing their job. It's part of what makes these assignments fun to work.
Of course, I would have had no problem not giving them any money if I was not given a proper upsell. Fast food quick service restaurants must have employees properly trained to always give an upsell. The employees would learn about the missed opportunity later when the mystery shop report was shown to them.
Learn how you can start your own Mystery Shopping Business by reading my book (and eBook) "Take This Job And Mystery Shop It!"
Mystery shopping is legal, but beware of the fake check scam.
