Fine dining restaurants typically accept reservations, and a mystery shop of a fine dining restaurant will include questions about the reservation process. But why is it that so many other restaurants do not accept reservations? If you have ever tried to get a table at a popular casual dining restaurant on a Saturday night, you know that the wait can be looooonnnnng. So why do they not take reservations? Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if they eliminated the wait?
Although fine dining restaurants can often accommodate walk-ins outside of peak times, taking reservations allows them to better plan. Meals at fine dining restaurants often last longer than a typical casual dining experience. At a casual dining restaurant, we may be in and out in 45 minutes to an hour, while a fine dining meal could easily be twice that long. Reservations help to ensure that tables are available when required and makes it easier for staff to properly serve customers.Continue Reading
This is a humorous work of fiction that was inspired by an actual experience of overly-attentive staff. I am sharing it here with the writer’s permission. No mystery shoppers were harmed in the making of this story.
As mystery shoppers, we know that employees are expected to say certain things and ask certain questions when they interact with customers. For example, they may ask questions to lead to suggestive selling, such as, “Would you like to make that a combo?” or questions about preferences, such as the kind of bread you want in your sandwich.
Fine dining restaurants typically have high standards for service. If you have ever done a fine dining restaurant mystery shop, you know how detailed the questions can be.
Have you ever gotten one of those notices on your receipt to call a toll-free number and answer a few questions about your experience at a store or restaurant? Often the business “bribes” customers to participate by providing a coupon good for a discount on their next visit, or by entering them in a drawing for cash and other prizes.
As mystery shoppers, we are in the business of evaluating the service provided by waiters and other service providers.
, a new book by someone called “The Waiter,” (but since publication, identified as Steve Dublanica) tells the other side of the story: what happens behind the scenes at a restaurant and what waiters really think of the customers.