There IS such a thing as a free lunch!
AMELIA MURRAY never pays to eat out. She’s an undercover diner — there to dish the dirt on poor food and service — proving ...
‘What is it we have to do again?’ my friend whispers loudly as a waiter passes our table. ‘Shhhh,’ I hiss. ‘You’ll give me away.’
to anyone watching we just look like two friends enjoying a meal out at a Mexican restaurant in Central London.
When I take photographs of my dinner, they will probably assume I’m updating my Instagram account like any other millennial.
But we won’t be paying for this meal. In fact, I am a ‘mystery diner’ hired to assess the venue’s food and service.
the pictures I take will not be posted online but submitted, with a comprehensive feedback form, at 9am the next day.
Lots of restaurants today employ mystery shopping agencies to make sure their customer service is up to scratch and that staff have remembered their training.
the agencies, in turn, recruit a team of reliable reviewers they can send out to venues up and down the country — which I have been doing now for six years.
It is our job to report on everything, from how quickly we are seated to whether waiters offer helpful suggestions or recommend side dishes and desserts.
In return, mystery diners are rewarded with a free meal and drinks out for two.
In my case, it began as something of a family side-hustle, as my sister Georgina, 35, and mother hilda also reviewed restaurants.
Mum had referred my sister when Georgina was at university. She went on to refer her friend Fiona, who eventually referred me.
Fiona told the agency in Surrey that I was a good writer who would provide plenty of detail in reports. and the glowing reference worked — I got my first assignment in 2013 and have completed one or two jobs every month since.
Once you have agreed to review a venue on a particular date, you are emailed instructions, such as what time you must arrive and how much you can spend — usually about £40. You can choose whatever you like but may be required to order specific courses, such as starters or a dessert or coffee.
the instruction note will also usually include a reminder to take photographs and provide detailed comments in the feedback. Full sentences and good grammar are a must.
You must also be accurate, as some restaurants may even check CCtV to ensure that you arrived at the time you said you did.
Some notes can give you a sense of what other cheeky visitors are trying to get away with.
For example, instructions sent before a recent visit to a Neapolitan pizza restaurant reminded me not to order extra food to take away and eat later. It warned that any visitors caught over-ordering would be immediately removed from the database.
It must be said that the perks have dwindled over the years. When my mum began at the age of 18, it was more of a job than just a way to bag a free meal.
after signing up to several promotions agencies, she was paid an hourly rate plus petrol to visit all manner of shops, cafes and restaurants in shopping centres near her home in Sussex. She had to rate the customer service, such as whether staff greeted her with a smile.
If they performed well, she would give them a smiley face sticker which they could take to the shopping centre office and trade for a £10 bonus.
She was also paid £20 to visit popular pub chains in hastings, Worthing, Brighton, hove and Eastbourne, plus 50p a mile — as well as a free meal for two, including drinks.
My sister used to get £15 a pop when she was at university about15 years ago. the payment then went down to £5 before disappearing entirely. Now you are unlikely to be paid or receive travel expenses — you’ll just get the free meal.
For my sister this wasn’t enough to justify the 20 to 30 minutes it takes to write the report, so she retired her fork.
But I don’t find the reviews too much trouble and even as a homeowner in my 30s, I’m still not one to turn down a free meal. It’s also fun to treat a friend, and in my years as a mystery diner I’ve only had a few bad experiences. Once I was left forgotten at a table under a leaky ceiling by the toilets — they didn’t even bring me a glass of water, even though I asked three times. It wasn’t the end of the world but my review really upset the restaurant, which offered me a complimentary meal — although the agency wouldn’t let me accept, for fear it would give me away as a mystery shopper. On one visit to a new restaurant in trendy East London, I was told they had run out of the fish — the one thing on the menu I could eat, as a pescetarian who doesn’t eat cheese. I politely explained the issue to the staff but there was nothing they could do. I ended up ordering some vegetarian side dishes and a portion of chips. another time, the only vegetarian option at a burger chain was a Portobello mushroom stuffed with cheese. When I asked if I could have it without, I was told no — the mushrooms came pre-stuffed. that meal involved a lot of scraping. there was also the time I referred a friend who ended up forgetting to fill out the form and is probably now blacklisted. all in all, I’d recommend mystery dining to anyone. Provided they remember the free lunch comes with a side-dish of form filling.