Mystery shopping provides you with a fun way to make money doing what you love – whether that’s watching movies, shopping, or the great American past-time of eating out! While many shoppers are more than thrilled to make money shopping at retail stores, others may be delighted to know they can earn extra cash while they eat at their favorite restaurants. But before you set off to do a restaurant shop, there are some things you need to know.
Limited Choices. You can find a restaurant mystery shop for all types of eateries. You can enjoy everything from a coffee shop or snack shop in the mall, to fast food or fine dining at a posh restaurant. However, just as with shopping in a store, there are specific requirements you have to meet. With a restaurant shop, more often than not you will be required to order certain menu items. Unfortunately, you rarely have the option to order anything you want. The requirement may range from the simple guideline of “Order an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert” to requiring you to choose only between the two options of the Sea Bass and the Filet. Some fast food restaurants require that you shop alone, but order two entrees. Since all of your costs may not reimbursed, you may be required to order food you cannot possibly fully eat and may end up throwing away if you can’t find a doggy-bag to take it home in. So know what you are getting into before you jump into a restaurant shop.
The reason behind this is simple – those restaurants want to ensure that certain members of their kitchen staff are doing satisfactory work, or that items being served to you are the proper temperature and are received in a timely manner.
Bring A Dinner Guest? Many restaurant shops have very specific requirements in terms of who you can bring with you on your shop. Some may require that you come alone while others require that you must bring at least one or two other people with you. If the requirement is to bring a friend or two along, be sure that they are available on the date and time you need to do the shop and that they understand the importance of not cancelling on you at the last minute. If they can’t show up for some reason and you can’t find someone to fill their chair at the restaurant, you won’t be able to meet all of the shop requirements.
On the other hand, if you must dine alone, be sure you are comfortable eating in a restaurant solo. While some people are more than happy to go to a fast food or sit-down restaurant and spend thirty minutes to an hour people-watching and eating their meal, this makes other people very uncomfortable.
Fatten Your Wallet, Not Your Waistline. There is increasing coverage in the media lately about how even seemingly healthy menu items at restaurants, such as salads or wraps, can be surprisingly heavy on calories, carbs, and fat. While everyone enjoys dining out from time to time, dining out regularly is a surefire way to pack on the pounds. So be sureto space out your restaurant shops. Or if you must do several restaurant shops in a short period of time, try your hardest to make healthy choices. Skip the fatty dressings and sauces, fried foods, and sugary desserts, and try to find the healthy items on the menu.
Restaurant shops can be a lot of fun, and a great way to break up the same old routine of grocery store shops and clothing store shops. So enjoy a delicious meal on your provider, but keep these tips in mind as you shop and eat.