12 Insights from Restaurant Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping programs offer restaurant operators and managers a unique opportunity to see their business through a guest’s eyes. 

This powerful tool provides an unbiased perspective on your operations, revealing insights that might otherwise slip through the cracks and uncovering hidden improvement opportunities.

In this blog post, we’ll explore 12 key insights you can get from restaurant mystery shopping and how they can help you create a memorable guest experience.

1. First Impressions
2. Food Quality 
3. Adherence to Brand Standards 
4. Standard Operating Procedures
5. Drive-Thru Experience 
6. Cleanliness 
7. Effectiveness of Employee Training Programs 
8. Friendliness and Customer Satisfaction 
9. Competitive Benchmarking 
10. Suggestive Selling 
11. Signage 
12. Promotional Insights

First impressions

The moment a customer arrives at a restaurant—whether they’re driving through, walking in, or just looking for a quick, tasty meal—those first impressions can make or break their decision to stay.

Key elements like curb appeal play an important role in shaping these impressions. A well-kept exterior and clear signage can attract customers. If they’re hungry and see a quick-serve restaurant (QSR) that looks inviting, they’re more likely to stop by.

The greeting is another crucial aspect. A warm, friendly welcome can instantly make customers feel good about being there. The initial environment inside the restaurant also matters—cleanliness, lighting, and ambiance influence how customers perceive their experience.

That’s where mystery shopping comes in. It helps capture unbiased feedback on these first impressions, evaluating everything from the exterior to the greeting. This feedback gives restaurants actionable insights to improve their first impressions, making sure they start on the right foot with every customer.

In one of our recent surveys on QSR physical design, we discovered that 36% of customers would choose a different restaurant if the drive-thru area had dim lighting. This shows just how much first impressions can impact customer choices.

Food Quality

Food quality is a critical component of the customer experience, covering aspects like taste, temperature, portion size, and presentation. Of all these factors, temperature often makes the biggest impact. 

In fact, ‘food quality’ was found to be 35% higher when the food was served hot compared to when it was not, according to our 2023 Drive-Thru Study. 

High food quality not only boosts customer satisfaction but also plays a vital role in encouraging repeat business. When customers consistently receive tasty, hot, and well-presented meals, they're more likely to return and even recommend the restaurant to others.

Mystery shoppers evaluate the food, noting temperature, taste, portion size, and presentation. Their feedback helps brands understand where they excel and where improvements are needed, ensuring they consistently deliver high-quality food across locations.

Adherence to Brand Standards

Whether you are running a small restaurant chain or a global franchise, consistency helps build trust and loyalty among customers. They want to know they’ll receive the same great experience no matter which location they visit.

By providing real-world insights, mystery shopping helps restaurant decision-makers identify whether every location is living up to the brand’s promises. This is especially important for franchises and multi-location businesses, where maintaining consistency can be challenging.

Take one of our recent success stories as an example. A global CPG company that distributes its products through numerous retailers and distribution partners struggled to control how its brand was presented across various retailers. 

By using mystery shopping services, they gathered valuable insights into pricing and brand experiences, allowing them to better understand real-world brand presentation, make targeted strategic changes, and take specific actions to improve brand control.

Dive into the full case study: “How Intouch Boosts Retail Merchandising For a Global CPG Brand.”

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Beyond just ensuring adherence to brand standards, mystery shopping provides a clear, unbiased view of whether staff are following SOPs correctly in their day-to-day operations.

For instance, in a recent interview with a major QSR chain, they revealed that they used mystery shopping to get insights into performance during late-night hours. 

They found that some managers were closing early, turning off lights, and setting up chairs on tables earlier than they should. By using a mystery shopping program to monitor late-night operations, they were able to increase store revenue by 40% in some markets during those hours.

Drive-Thru Experience

The drive-thru is a key touchpoint for many QSRs, and it comes with its own unique set of challenges. Speed, order accuracy, and customer experience are crucial elements that can make or break the drive-thru experience. 

Mystery shopping gives decision-makers an honest, firsthand look at how well these critical elements are executed. Mystery shoppers can time how long it takes to get through the drive-thru, check for order accuracy, and assess the friendliness of the interaction.

Check out our Annual Drive-Thru Study and uncover the insights from 10 of the top QSRs.

Cleanliness

Beyond the quality of the food, guests pay close attention to the cleanliness of restaurants. They expect clean tables, spotless floors, and well-maintained restrooms.

A clean environment not only ensures health and safety compliance but also plays a big role in guests choosing a restaurant. 

In one of our recent market studies evaluating grocery store chains, we found that overall satisfaction was 17% higher when the cleanliness of the store was rated excellent as opposed to average.

Mystery shopping offers valuable insights into cleanliness standards, helping restaurant operators spot areas that need improvement. By using this feedback, brands can fine-tune their cleaning processes and keep cleanliness a top priority.

One way to consistently uphold high cleanliness standards is by using digital checklists. These can automate routine cleaning tasks, making sure nothing gets missed and that the restaurant remains clean at all times.

Effectiveness of Employee Training Programs

Employee training is essential for delivering a great customer experience, but how do you know if your training programs are really working? 

Through mystery shopping, you can evaluate how well employees apply their training in real-life situations. Are they greeting customers warmly, handling requests efficiently, and following SOPs correctly? 

This feedback helps identify whether employees are meeting expectations and highlights areas where additional training or improvements might be needed.

By using these insights, restaurants can fine-tune their training programs to address any gaps and ensure that all staff are fully prepared to deliver excellent service across all locations. 

Friendliness and Customer Satisfaction 

Friendly service makes customers feel welcomed, leading to higher satisfaction and more frequent visits. When staff go the extra mile to create a memorable guest experience, it enhances overall satisfaction and can turn first-time visitors into loyal customers.

The 2023 Annual Drive-Thru Study revealed that brands with friendlier service performed better across key restaurant metrics: service time, order accuracy, and satisfaction, as shown below.

Competitive Benchmarking

Understanding how your restaurant stacks up against competitors is essential for staying ahead. 

Mystery shopping at competitor locations provides valuable insights into their strengths and weaknesses. By observing their operations, technology, and customer service, you can see what’s working well and what might be missing in your restaurant's experience.

For example, during our latest “Designing the Perfect Drive-Thru" webinar, Peter Hong, Global Director of Operations, Engineering, & Innovations at KFC, shared how a global mystery shopping program helped KFC gather data on technology across different markets. 

These mystery shopping insights revealed opportunities for improvement and innovation. “We (KFC) have the opportunity to set the bar, infuse the technology, and change the game in those regions,” he said.

By using competitive benchmarking and insights from mystery shopping, you can make strategic improvements to enhance your restaurant’s performance and maintain a competitive edge.

Suggestive Selling

Using mystery shopping to assess suggestive selling helps identify how effectively staff recommend additional items or upgrades to customers during their visit.

Successful suggestive selling can increase revenue. By making relevant recommendations, staff can increase average order value and enhance customer experience. 

For example, the 2023 Drive-Thru Study found that 56% of shoppers were offered a suggestive sale. This shows that suggestive selling is commonly used but also highlights room for improvement.

Signage

Clear and effective signage helps customers navigate the restaurant easily and enhances their overall perception of the service.

People generally dislike uncertainty, so good signage can guide customers on what to do and where to go, reducing any discomfort, especially when they're trying something new, like picking up a mobile order.

Mystery shopping is a great way to evaluate how well your signage is working. By assessing the clarity and placement of signs, you can determine if they’re effectively guiding guests across different touchpoints and stages of their journey.

Good signage has a big impact on customer satisfaction. In our 2023 Emerging Experiences Study, satisfaction with the pickup experience was 12% higher in restaurants where clear signage indicated where customers should pick up their orders. 

Using mystery shopping to review your signage can help you make necessary adjustments and ensure it’s enhancing rather than hindering the customer experience.

Promotional Insights

Mystery shopping helps assess various aspects of promotions and Limited-Time Offers (LTOs).

When a QSR chain launches a new menu item as part of an LTO, mystery shopping can help evaluate how well the signage works, how visible the promotional materials are, and how customers experience the new item.

If the mystery shopping program uncovers issues like poor signage, low stock, or staff unpreparedness, the brand can make quick adjustments to address these problems. This ensures the LTO launch is smooth and successful, maximizing its impact and profit.

Conclusion

Restaurant mystery shopping offers valuable insights that can significantly enhance both operations and customer experience. 

By examining aspects like first impressions, food quality, adherence to brand standards, and more, restaurant mystery shopping programs help identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Ready to see how mystery shopping can benefit your restaurant? Explore our Restaurant Mystery Shopping Services to learn more and get started.