Prep Matters for Your Restaurant Mystery Shop Checklist

A restaurant mystery shop checklist can be used to evaluate your establishment, staff, menu, and competitive advantage. Then, hiring a mystery shopper to use your checklist can help you get an unbiased view of your business from the perspective of your diners.

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Restaurant owners, executives, and franchisers like you who recognize the competitive nature of the food service industry typically want to gain an edge against their rivals. An ideal starting place is creating a restaurant mystery shop checklist to use for your evaluation questionnaire. Specifically, craft a mindfully-structured checklist to review several key aspects of your restaurant, from first impressions to staff performance. Of course, these questions should support the goals of your evaluation and give you direction on moving forward.

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Let’s begin this “mise en place” and examine the steps required to cook up a successful restaurant mystery shop checklist.

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Secret Ingredients for a Fruitful DIY Restaurant Mystery Shop

As mentioned, a restaurant mystery shop checklist creates a foundation for a successful restaurant evaluation. As such, utilizing a checklist to prepare your restaurant mystery shop can help you understand the state of your dining experience.

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This feedback is critical for gaining a clear grasp of what you do well and what needs refinement—so you can deliver the best experience for your diners. Specifically, you can use this opportunity to discover customer preferences and teaching moments or to boost service opportunities.

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Here are the top three ways a restaurant mystery shop benefits your restaurant:

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1. Anonymous feedback: The anonymity of mystery shoppers allows for more authentic insights. Servers, waitstaff, and cooks are more likely to behave naturally when unaware that they are being observed, leading to more accurate evaluations.
   
   
2. Objective insights: A comprehensive checklist offers feedback grounded in actual experiences and facts, rather than subjective opinions or emotions. This provides a clear and unbiased view of your restaurant’s performance.
   
   
3. Consistent evaluation: Eliminate personal bias by utilizing a well-organized checklist. This ensures every aspect of your establishment—from dining ambiance to final impressions—is assessed using uniform criteria.

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Finally, with a clear perception of how a restaurant mystery shop checklist helps you develop a questionnaire, we can delve into some options to consider.

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Mix It Up and Prepare Your Restaurant Mystery Shop Checklist

As you prepare your restaurant mystery shop checklist, your first step should be defining your main goal. This requires you to cement the purpose of your evaluation, whether it’s for improving or refining your restaurant or to better understand your diner's preferences. 

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As soon as you outline your goals and supporting objectives, it’s time to outline your questionnaire. While you might think a long, detailed evaluation can help you get better results, the opposite is actually true. Choosing a concise format to increase participation and get detailed feedback will typically give you better insights. So pick a few key questions that support your objectives and leave out unnecessary filler questions.

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For example, when looking to understand the dining or takeout experience, only choose questions that are relevant to that process. Alternatively, select a few questions from each of the below categories to get a glimpse of the overall experience.

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Analyzing First Impressions with a Restaurant Mystery Shop Checklist

Starting in this section, we’ll look at how your patrons feel in the first few moments they experience your restaurant. As you might know, first impressions are well known for being the make-or-break for any interaction. In fact, these impressions are formed very quickly, and it can take several positive encounters to reverse the negative impact of a single poor interaction.

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The first impression of your restaurant can include several aspects:

• Parking lot
• Signage
• Window signage or displayed promotions
• Landscaping (if any)
• Initial greeting (whether over the phone or in person)

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Consider several questions for your restaurant mystery shop checklist:

• Was the restaurant’s exterior clean and well maintained?
• Was the entrance to the restaurant easy to find and accessible?
• Were you greeted promptly upon entering the restaurant?
• Were you informed of the wait time, if applicable?
• Was the entryway and waiting area clean and organized?

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Reviewing the Restaurant Interior for Your Mystery Shop Checklist

Next, let’s cover the interior of your restaurant. This includes the overall appearance, atmosphere, and condition of your establishment. Whether your diners will be seated for an entire meal or step inside to pick up their order, a positive experience is vital. Specifically, uncleanliness or poor atmosphere might deter future visits—or worse, spark a health violation inspection.

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The interior of your restaurant covers a few details:

• Cleanliness
• Lighting
• Food or product display
• Menu or signage
• Atmosphere

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Therefore, you might consider several different questions to get your necessary insights:

• Was the temperature of the restaurant comfortable upon entry?
• Were there any unpleasant odors present in the dining area?
• Was there enough space between tables for easy movement and privacy?
• Were the menus clean and free of stains or damage?
• Did staff follow visible sanitation protocols (e.g., handwashing, wearing gloves)?

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Customer Service Interactions of Staff Members

Let’s cover customer service and how engaging your employees are to prepare your restaurant mystery shop checklist. This can include waitstaff, bartenders, chefs or line cooks, janitors, and any other vital role filled by one of your staff. Evaluating your employees can help you understand how they interact with your diners—and determine if there are any training opportunities to incorporate into your hiring or continued education processes.

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You might consider several angles of your customer service and how it could be evaluated:

• Availability of employees
• Attentiveness and professionalism
• Knowledge of the menu, ingredients (allergens), and cooking process
• Problem-solving skills and resolution
• Accuracy

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Consider these questions to help you create an effective restaurant mystery shop questionnaire:

• Was the staff friendly, polite, and professional throughout the dining experience?
• Did the server repeat the order to ensure accuracy?
• Were dietary preferences or special requests accommodated without issue?
• Did the server offer recommendations or suggestions when asked?
• Did the staff handle any issues or complaints (e.g., incorrect order, food quality) promptly and professionally?

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Evaluation of the Dining or Takeout Experience

One of the most common reasons to conduct a restaurant mystery shop is to evaluate the diner’s meal experience in person or if they placed a takeout order. That way, you can ensure your dishes directly reflect your brand image and values. An evaluation can help you maintain and improve customer satisfaction, boost brand loyalty, and stay competitive. 

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Knowing this, consider how your meal will be evaluated in several details:

• Layout of the establishment
• Service (and expectations)
• Meal quality and portions
• Cost
• Promotions

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Consider the following questions when crafting your evaluation checklist:

• Was the entire order correct, including all items, sides, and condiments?
• Were you offered dessert or additional beverages in a timely manner after your meal?
• Was the food served at the correct temperature (hot dishes hot, cold dishes cold)?
• Were you able to easily find the pickup area for your takeout meal?
• Was the process of placing a takeout order easy, either online, by phone, or in person?

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Closing Impressions to Include in Your Restaurant Mystery Shop Checklist

Finally, the closing process after a diner’s experience has ended is another key area to evaluate. A secure and smooth checkout process leaves a successful, lasting impression.

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Some closing impressions for your questionnaire can evaluate a few details:

• Paying the check
• Final interactions
• Likelihood to recommend others to visit

There are a few questions you can consider adding to your mystery shop evaluation:

• Was the payment process simple and easy to follow?
• Were there multiple payment options?
• Did the staff thank you for dining at the restaurant before you left?
• Was the service provided consistent throughout the meal, from start to finish?
• Did the server express any interest in your satisfaction or ask for feedback on the meal?

Define Your Restaurant Mystery Shop Checklist

With your goals in mind for your restaurant mystery shop and your questionnaire created, the next step is implementation. You should seek a qualified restaurant evaluator and hire them to complete the mystery shop. Keep in mind that if your staff knows who this person is, they might be suspicious—so choose an anonymous evaluator to obtain precise data.

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If you feel inclined, you could give your evaluator some guidance on how you prefer them to complete their evaluation. For example, share how you want them to finalize the report, or when your preferred timing of the analysis is. Thereafter, once the evaluator has completed their review, you’ll analyze the results, develop the implementation plans, and complete the changes.

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The process is fairly simple. Here’s a short step-by-step guide on how to create and use a restaurant mystery shop checklist:

1. Organize and complete the strategy for your mystery shop with goals and objectives.
2. Construct the questionnaire with validating questions.
3. Hire your restaurant mystery shopper to evaluate your establishment.
4. Have your shopper conduct an evaluation with questions from your restaurant mystery shop checklist.
5. Receive the feedback from your shopper after the evaluation is complete. 
6. Analyze the results and start strategizing follow-up plans with the data in mind.
7. Finally, implement the improvements and plan to reevaluate your restaurant soon.

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DIY Can Be Overwhelming—So Hire an Agency of Experts

It’s no secret that a restaurant mystery shop checklist can provide your evaluation with critical data to increase long-term success. Nevertheless, completing this on your own could be a formidable undertaking. Consider an alternative like CustomerOptix’s CX on Demand, which gives you the benefits of big business CX solutions at an affordable rate.

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Interested in how it works? The program can be set up in as little as 10 minutes for one or more of your restaurant locations.

1. To start, use the program to generate a custom evaluation based on your industry.
2. Then, tailor your questionnaire with five additional questions.
3. Finally, fill out the contact information and address for each location you want evaluated.

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Afterward, you’ll receive a report within 72 hours of your evaluation after a quality assurance (QA) team reviews it. That way, you'll get all the benefits of a mystery shop without the hassle of setting it up yourself. Plus, it's flexible—so you can schedule a shop whenever you need one, add more as you grow, or set up a recurring calendar. Either way, you'll find valuable insights with actionable recommendations for your restaurants.

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Get Tasty Insights with a Restaurant Mystery Shop Checklist

As we’ve seen, a restaurant mystery shop checklist is a valuable tool to assess various aspects of your business, including staff performance, menu quality, and overall customer experience. Therefore, by employing a mystery shopper to follow your tailored checklist, you can gain an impartial perspective on how your restaurant operates from the eyes of your guests. Then, you can make actionable improvements and optimize your offerings. 

Start laying the groundwork for success by developing a thoughtful and effective restaurant mystery shop checklist.