MYSTERY DINERS NEEDED Long Island, NJ Shore

[INVISION CONSULTING]

Invision Consulting's Mystery Dining Program is recruiting reviewers for New Jersey (Jersey Shore: Spring Lake/Belmar/Ocean Grove) and Long Island (Mineola / Carle Place / Westbury).  Requirements are dining savy, excellent observation and writing skills, internet access and software capabilities, and a passion for dining out!  Dinner and Bar Expenses (including tax and tip) are reimbursed in exchange for the dining evaluation write-up. Typical write ups require 1-2 hours of time. Please reply by email to GLECODY@aol.com

[Rosie]

Could you let us know exactly what is required? What type of report and how much time is involved? Do you pay for the dinner, tax, tip and wine/drinks? Do you pay a fee and if so how much?

[rozrapp]

"Dinner and Bar Expenses (including tax and tip) are reimbursed in exchange for the dining evaluation write-up. Typical write ups require 1-2 hours of time."

Rosie, They do answer most of your questions in their post.  The write-ups could be typical restaurant reviews.  Or, perhaps, there is a long form to fill out.  (I know some people who do something similar to this for a company that works for restaurants like Red Lobster.  They want to know how well things are going in these restaurants.  Dinner is paid for, but not drinks.  And there's a questionnaire to be filled out.)  Since there is no mention made here of any additional fees paid, I would suppose there won't be.  But then, again, you never know.  

My questions would be, who are they working for and what exactly are they going to do with these reviews?  Will they be published somewhere, perhaps on a website?

Since the NJ locations are not far from me, I may contact them and see what's what.

[Rachel Perlow]

I did a shop at a restaurant last year (for a different company). It was more concerned with the details of service and cleanliness of the restaurant than the food itself. Actually it was concerned about the temperature of the food (was it property hot or cold or not), but they didn't want your opinion of the dish. Much more concerned with timeliness of the servers. I had to keep a time log of every interaction we had with the staff. It was interesting, but I wouldn't want to do it for every meal out.

[Rosie]

I do not know anything about this company or even where they are located. If you contact them  please be sure to get everything in writing. I cannot endorse a company I have never worked for and know nothing about. If you do work for them let us know how it all works out. I still want to know how much they are paying.

[rozrapp]

Invision saw my post where I indicated a possible interest, and so they privately e-mailed me this additional info about their "Mystery Dining Program":

"We train all of our reviewers in review methodology (a 2 hour class is required) and will conduct a class in the New Jersey Shore area we are recruiting in (Avon, Belmar,Spring Lake area).  Evaluations cover all front-of-the-house areas--reception, reservations,bar and table service, food--full evaluation, and cleanliness. Focus is also on hospitality and staff selling skills. Reimbursements range from $75 to $225, and include bar and dining expenses.  We review primarily mid tier boutique restaurants (not large chains) with an average total reimbursements of $50 to $100.  For more, please email me personally at GLECODY@aol.com.  Sorry our web site is under construction."

To answer Rosie's question about what they are paying, it appears obvious that they are not paying anything above and beyond reimbursement for bar and food expenses.  And there is nothing about payment for the 2-hr. training class.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, this now sounds very much like what Rachel described in her post, as well as the program my friends occasionally participate in, except that they tend to go to chain restaurants while this firm deals with privately owned places.  Obviously, the consulting company is working for the owners who want to find out how well their restaurants are operating and where improvements need to be made.  Thus, it is not restaurant reviewing in the traditional sense, that is, reviews for the public.

Since I was originally intrigued by the possibility of writing traditional reviews, and this is not what I had in mind, I remain undecided about contacting them.  But if I do, I will post about it.

[tommy]

restaurants might save a nice penny if they just came to this site and asked about their places, cutting out the middleman.

[glenn]

Flowers (now AZ) used a company for internal evaluation purposes on a regular basis.  They were very helpful - the crtitiques helped with many different aspects of concern to any restaurant.  The writers were very observant and prolific [dang, wish I could remember the name of the company].  Their procedure was to have one half of the mystery couple, generally the guy, spend about 30 minutes or so at the bar.  He observed everything about the bartender, i.e., whether sales rung up on register/computer, personality, pours (big or small), cleanliness, etc.  He/she would also observe other aspects of the restaurant, i.e., how the hostess was handling her job, all around cleanliness of the restaurant, bathrooms, etc.  Then the other half of the couple would join the other, and they'd sit down at a table for dinner.  They did an excellent critique on the food and service.  The cost to the restaurant was in the area of $200 plus we reimbursed the company for food and drinks.  The mystery couple received no compensation, just reimbursement for what they spent at the restaurant.

It was well worth it.  The report we received was very detailed and as I said, very prolific.  The critique of the food and service was on the par of any professional restaurant critic.  We caught many problems, including bartenders stealing, and were able to improve many areas.  There are lots of these companies and it is not unusual for a restaurant to utilize their services.