Hello everyone!

I am relatively new to mystery shopping and have just been assigned my first high end restaurant shope with A Closer Look.

I have what may be a silly question about reimbursement and gratuity. The assignment reads as below. Should I interpret this as the max reimbursement is $140 including the 18% gratuity? Or is gratuity inaddition to, so max reimbursement would be $160.20?

Max Reimbursement / Gratuity:
Meal/Bar: $140.00 / 18%
Valet/Parking: $12.00 / 15%

Thanks in advance to everyone willing to share their wisdom!

It should say somewhere in the guidelines. For A Closer Look, the $ amount is to include the % unless otherwise stated. Sometimes the guidelines even state that they do not expect the reimbursement to be enough to cover the meal plus tip.

In my experience I would interpret this as max reimbursement is $152. You will be reimbursed for what you actually spend up to $140 for the food/drink including tips and tax and another up to $12 for parking valet .
They do expect you to leave a tip in keeping with their policy so if you leave only $5 on a $140 charge they will probably get upset even if you are out of pocket for the tip part. There are a few shops that do not reimburse tips even if you have money left in the max but those are rare with ACL in my area.

I'm pretty sure the $140 is the max reimbursement for the food WITH tip included. So, to be fully reimbursed for food/drink/tip, you'd have to spend around $117 altogether on food/drink, and leave a $21 tip (about 18%), plus there would be tax (which might put you over the $140).

I think all of their Guidelines have this paragraph or something similar listed (taken from the Guidelines for one of my upcoming shops this month):

"Reimbursement: The reimbursement is only for food and beverage purchases. If you spend under the allotted reimbursement amount, 18% tip can be reimbursed UP TO the maximum reimbursement. All other expenses (parking, valet, etc.) will not be reimbursed unless otherwise indicated in the Event Notes."

Since your shop has valet reimbursement up to $12, I'd guess they'll reimburse you MAX $12 for the valet part (which would have to include any tip you leave). If your valet fee costs around $10-10.5, you could leave a $1.50 tip and be fully reimbursed for it, since that would be around $11.5-12.

Got it, thank you all for your assistance and the newbie question! Please rest assured I will tip well even if it goes above the max reimbursement, I just found the way it was presented a bit confusing

Hi ccartrette, you got the right answer. I had to email my scheduler on this very same question a few weeks ago, and the reimbursement amount is the max you will get. It includes tip. I resisted just a bit (kickback from previous not-so-professional schedulers), and the scheduler nicely pointed out that she, too, never makes any money on similar shops she does, but figures it's a free night out which otherwise wouldn't happen.

I dunno; I think getting paid for writing a great, well-edited report is a not-so-novel idea. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the current ACL labor dispute investigation.

After the last ACL shop--nice restaurant, great food, and I paid $35 out of pocket for the meal in order to leave a 20% tip and cover the entire shebang (appetizer, two cocktails, two entrees)--I decided that I was done with them. Looking forward to hear what happens with the investigation.

ACL is very tight with reimbursements. They lists order requirements, appetizer, 2 entrees, and dessert, .beverages, minimum of one alcoholic drink at table, no beer or margarita allowed. In addition, one signature cocktail is required at the bar. This alone costs $12-15 at the last listed mid-range fancy burger shop. ACL does not have high-end, just mid-range. They paid $5 parking, which was 2 hours. Service was slow, so parking was $7 total. They reimbursed only $5. The dinner with 18% tip was $32 out of pocket. I have not done much ACL since January because of this.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2019 03:16AM by ShopperFun99.

ACL has high end. There are $150-$180 restaurants. You may not be able to see them yet. They have some internal shopper rating system that we can't see.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2019 09:00PM by Niner.

I don't have access to the high end shops (yet, hopefully) but I think their reimbursements are fair, it's the lack of other payment that isn't fair. I had a straight $30 fee for a happy hour shop, where I spent less than $20. As with anything that has a reimbursement, I look at the online menu to see if it's going to cover it. I've checked some of the other shops in my area and they all seem to have reimbursements that will cover what is required.

We aren't forced to take the ACL jobs. Compared to Coyle five hour reports, ACL will let you take food home and the reports are about half the length. I would rather go without the $15. Most restaurant shops are reimbursement only, with the exceptions paying $5 or $10. This is not where the money is in mystery shopping if you want straight up cash.

I agree, and I've done plenty of Coyle shops that I've said no more but I am a glutton for punishment lol. I don't mind the reimbursement only shops from ACL, I was just stating that it wasn't fair as many have said as opposed to the reimbursement not being fair. I'm glad I tried out ACL,It forced me to try a place I hadn't been and have actually been back several times since.

Are you all still experiencing their bribe-a-shop tactics? LOL!

@Niner wrote:

ACL has high end. There are $150-$180 restaurants. You may not be able to see them yet. They have some internal shopper rating system that we can't see.

Yep, I've done a high end restaurant shop!!

@Madetoshop wrote:

Are you all still experiencing their bribe-a-shop tactics? LOL!

Yes.

I am shocked personally they are still getting away with that. I assumed the popular client was going to find out they were being used as bait. But, every month keeps happening.

What is available at ACL varies by geographic area. Right now I do not see really high end in my area. I don't think it is me as I have always gotten good reviews from them and used to see more expensive dining shops. Perhaps I am no longer on their high end list but there are mid range places. It is rare that they will not reimburse a tip at the places I do for them. But it is true here that you need to be careful to stay within the reimbursement limit. Most of the time it can be done but it is up to you to decide if you are willing to do the shop for the lower priced items on the menu or willing to go out of pocket for the higher priced items. IF either of those work for you then there are lots of shops out there with this company.
Tips to stay within budget
Make sure and look at an online menu with prices before applying for a new to you restaurant.

Find out if it works to go during happy hour so the bar drink part saves you some money.

Do not order more than the one required additional alcoholic drink at the table.

Order the least expensive appetizer...I usually ask if soup is okay and they have said yes in the past. The soup is much less expensive leaving you more wiggle room for a better entree.

The same for dessert. Just by chance I have found that some upscale restaurants will offer a scoop of ice cream for dessert. This item is not listed on the menu but is less expensive than the other desserts. If they have any desserts that have ice cream on top they often will sell you just a scoop.

For me the entree is the big thing and I don't really care what I have for the other requirements.

I just did a seafood restaurant in Florida. I had to purchase 2 drinks, one app or dessert, 2 entrees. I still didn't use the full 100.00. I also ordered a soup and a dessert. My entree was 29, my spouse who doesnt eat fish ordered a 12.00 chicken sandwich. We did this on vacation.

Sandy,
See of you see the high end places in large markets like FL.

Bribe-a-Shop tactics? How about 2 shops to "...….enjoy your dinner at...…." Well, the dinner is not free. We had to work for it. Take and upload tons of photos, and respond to countless questions and write essays to describe the service and dishes fully.....Then respond to countless questions from their editors.

It used to be one for one. Now, it is two shops no one is interested in doing for a nice fine dining one. No wonder I don't see them on the Job Log. They hold them hostage for doing their low end jobs. I don't mind doing their low end jobs, but their questionnaires and editors are so ridiculous. I would rather do the quick and easy MF ones or I have two other favorite MSC's. Never a problem, always a "10" score.

Hmm, there is a long list of places in Florida I never heard of and the reimbursement varied from one with a smallish gift card in payment to one place that used to have a location here but it closed several years ago. That one reimbursed $360. I would say that is high end. Here most of the dining is $25-75 or so right now. In this city $75 is definitely not high end.
Two drinks, an appetizer, dessert and 2 entrees would cost almost that much at any of the newish burger places if they had alcohol.

@Niner wrote:

Sandy,
See of you see the high end places in large markets like FL.

There is a $180 steakhouse. If you see that, you can see the shops.

@sandyf wrote:

Hmm, there is a long list of places in Florida I never heard of and the reimbursement varied from one with a smallish gift card in payment to one place that used to have a location here but it closed several years ago. That one reimbursed $360. I would say that is high end. Here most of the dining is $25-75 or so right now. In this city $75 is definitely not high end.
Two drinks, an appetizer, dessert and 2 entrees would cost almost that much at any of the newish burger places if they had alcohol.

@Niner wrote:

Sandy,
See of you see the high end places in large markets like FL.

$360 for dinner?

Sandy, where do you live?

I live in LA, as in Los Angeles. Niner I was opening things that looked like restaurants quickly and not really looking at all the details. That particular one at $360 might have been some specialty dinner as I did not look. I know when they have wine tasting dinners etc they are more expensive. When they had the restaurant near me the business lunch which was an in and out quickly lunch reimbursed $60 and that was a few years ago. Dinner as I recall was prob around $150 at the time or possibly more.
Restaurants around here are starting to raise prices. I just got an email from one high end one telling us how they tried to keep prices the same but due to rising wage prices(min wage has gone up and still rising here) and also prices for other restaurant items not specifically mentioning tariffs but I bet some of their equipment and shipping fees are included they had to raise all their menu prices. I wonder if the msc will raise the reimbursements, at least in the cities with rising minimum wages. Our servers earn $13+ an hour now as a minimum going to $15 and many places pay over the minimum wage to their servers. The reimbursements here are the same across the country for some restaurant chains. Even here prices vary depending on what neighborhood of LA the chain is in. A few months ago my local store of the pizza chain that is no longer raised prices to where I could only get a pizza for the reimbursement. I used to be able to get a brownie with it and previous to that I could get a soda but for the past year I could only get one pizza to stay within the reimbursement. The other store a few miles away was less expensive. Same reimbursement. It is not just ACL. I see this in other ms companies as well.

True. Burger, drink, and fries cost $14.35 but you get $12.75 reimbursement. This is for another MSC.

@sandyf wrote:

I live in LA, as in Los Angeles. Niner I was opening things that looked like restaurants quickly and not really looking at all the details. That particular one at $360 might have been some specialty dinner as I did not look. I know when they have wine tasting dinners etc they are more expensive. When they had the restaurant near me the business lunch which was an in and out quickly lunch reimbursed $60 and that was a few years ago. Dinner as I recall was prob around $150 at the time or possibly more.
Restaurants around here are starting to raise prices. I just got an email from one high end one telling us how they tried to keep prices the same but due to rising wage prices(min wage has gone up and still rising here) and also prices for other restaurant items not specifically mentioning tariffs but I bet some of their equipment and shipping fees are included they had to raise all their menu prices. I wonder if the msc will raise the reimbursements, at least in the cities with rising minimum wages. Our servers earn $13+ an hour now as a minimum going to $15 and many places pay over the minimum wage to their servers. The reimbursements here are the same across the country for some restaurant chains. Even here prices vary depending on what neighborhood of LA the chain is in. A few months ago my local store of the pizza chain that is no longer raised prices to where I could only get a pizza for the reimbursement. I used to be able to get a brownie with it and previous to that I could get a soda but for the past year I could only get one pizza to stay within the reimbursement. The other store a few miles away was less expensive. Same reimbursement. It is not just ACL. I see this in other ms companies as well.

a


I'm in LA too, well Santa Clarita. I try to take a closer look shops when I travel because there are some restaurants in other states that we don't have here. I also did a texas road house shop in Naples, FL because the closest location to me is Bakersfield.

Don't forget the employees making 15 bucks an hour, but then they tell you to " start your order at the kiosk". This is the sign up at every single McDonald's in my town.

I've never succumbed to the bribe-a-shop tactics and haven't seen that ploy in a very long time.

I never eat at McD so I have not seen the kiosks yet but have no doubt they are coming. One of the mystery shops I do has kiosk restaurant shops but they are all on the east coast. It's a burger joint 5x as expensive as McD.

@sandyf wrote:

I never eat at McD so I have not seen the kiosks yet but have no doubt they are coming. One of the mystery shops I do has kiosk restaurant shops but they are all on the east coast. It's a burger joint 5x as expensive as McD.

I actually don't eat there either, but I do go in for the 1.00 sodas.