Tag: mystery shopping

Elaine Buxton, president, participated as a speaker at the Independent Mystery Shoppers’ Conference (IMSC), held at the Melia Hotel in Atlanta, GA on May 30th – June 1st, 2013.  The IMSC is a mystery shopper support organization working to improve the industry by providing educational information. The conference focused on ways to complete mystery shopping […]

After visiting the store, many browsing customers go online to purchase the same item rather than making the purchase in the store. Even with efforts from trained associates, selling to these customers is difficult at best. Despite this phenomenon (called showrooming), the importance of human touch in retail environments lives on. In fact, 82% of retailers in a recent survey said that the role of employees in the workforce toward building better service has become even more important over the past three years.

When you think about trends that impact food service, it’s overwhelming: Older baby boomers dine out more often; social media restaurant conversations and feedback travel instantaneously; more customers choose smaller portions or snacks outside traditional meal times; and quick serve restaurants compete with fast casuals by adding trendy ingredients. Just as managers change menus and strategies as they adjust to these new trends, they should also fine tune restaurant mystery shopping goals to measure how well they meet demands produced by these trends. 

As companies plan for a more profitable 2013, customer service dominates the playing field. Organizations in industries that typically receive bad press about their customer service, such as the airline industry, are even more poised to make inroads to improve customer service. For example,

What kind of an impact will the new health care laws have on customer dining out experiences?

As restaurants adjust to new laws on healthcare for employees who work more than 30 hours per week, managers will juggle employee schedules and budgets even more so than in the past. The restaurant industry's reliance on part time workers ensures that the industry will feel a big impact when the new law comes into play in 2014. Some restaurants, such as Darden Restaurants, whose concepts includes Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, will reassess the number of employees who will receive health benefits within the law and determine ways to manage the increased benefits costs . Other restaurants, such as Panera, say that for now, they have no plans to adjust employee hours because of the new law. Still others worry about the ability to afford good people in order to provide good service at their restaurants.

Several restaurants are preparing now. Darden Restaurants is currently testing the limiting of staff hours at some locations. No doubt, management will evaluate