How to become a mystery diner: eat for free at local restaurants

Getting paid to eat? It may sound too good to be true, but that’s essentially what mystery dining is. If you’re a foodie and a lover of freebies, it’s probably right up your alley. Read on to discover how to become a mystery diner, make a little extra money, and find new places to eat in your area.

What is mystery dining?

A mystery diner is someone who evaluates the food and service at a restaurant or café in exchange for a paid meal. As the name suggests, you’re acting secretly, so part of what you’re paid and reimbursed for is your discretion.

If you’re familiar with mystery shopping, you might have an idea of what’s involved. You’ll pick up assignments for local places to eat; this could be a simple sandwich shop, a new café, or an upscale restaurant.

Most of the time you’ll visit as a normal customer, order, and assess the atmosphere, service, and quality of food. Sometimes, you’ll be given a specific item to order or questions to ask staff to see how knowledgeable they are.

Not only do mystery diners benefit from free food, but local food businesses can learn how to improve. It’s obvious to see why people would want to try it, but there is a bit more involved than just getting free food. So what else do you need to consider?

How to become a mystery diner

There are a few steps involved in signing up. Not everyone gets accepted, so to give you the best chances, we’ve outlined what you need to know to get started.

1. Register with a site or agency

Mystery dining is done via an agency for anonymity reasons. Some agencies are specific to dining but most are general mystery shopping sites. If you’d rather keep it just to mystery dining, you can indicate that when you set up your profile.

HGEM

HGEM is the only agency from the following that is specific to mystery dining. You’ll need to submit a short writing sample in your application and answer very basic quiz questions. Once accepted, download the app to book visits.

iShopFor Ipsos

iShopFor Ipsos is a popular mystery shopping site that features mystery dining tasks. Zoom in on the map task board to see assignments in your area, which are pretty spread out nationwide.

 Tipps

We found Tipps had a very easy sign-up process. You’ll need WhatsApp to be able to apply, receive booking details, and submit your photos and questions after a visit. It’s easy to book on their site, although there’s no way to filter by location and most assignments are in London and Newcastle. 

Market Force

Market Force’s assignment board makes it easy to tick the boxes to display only food-related jobs and narrow them down to your home area. Assignments are displayed on a map; click each one to view details such as payment and reimbursement, visit times, questionnaire, and assignment notes. You’ll be able to see exactly what you need to do for the assignment before you accept and can usually expect around £3–£5 payment.

Service Scan

You’ll find Service Scan and iShopFor Ipsos have very similar site layouts and job boards. The sign-up process is straightforward and a complete profile can help more assignments become available, although every time we checked, there were none.

Tern

Tern is a popular agency for mystery shopping assignments. Check the jobs board using your address to filter by distance. Most of the jobs were for Tesco, FarmFoods, and 3 Mobile when we looked and we didn’t find any mystery dining opportunities.

2. Book a visit

Once you’ve signed up for the sites you want and filled out your profile, take a look through their mystery dining assignments. If there’s one you like the look of, book it! 

3. Attend the restaurant

Check the details of your assignment like address, date, and time if it’s specifically indicated. You want to make sure you know when and where you’re going so you’re not late or have to cancel, which can affect future assignments.

As soon as you arrive, start making mental notes about your experience. You’ll usually have to provide feedback on how you’re welcomed and seated, the service you receive, ambience, cleanliness, and quality of food.

You may be given a specific dish to order or questions to pose to the staff to test their knowledge. You might have some freedom with your order, with the exception of how much you’ll be reimbursed for.

After your meal, make sure you keep the receipt as proof – you’ll need this to get paid.

4. Create a report

Your report should contain as much detail and information as possible, so it’s best to do it when it’s fresh in your mind. Some agencies may have a deadline for submitting your report; HGEM’s is 12pm the day after the visit and Market Force require it within 24 hours of your visit.

Each agency will have a different system for reporting; some will have predetermined questions and others will give you the freedom to write your own notes based on each field (service, food, cleanliness etc).

Receipts are usually uploaded digitally, but it’s always a good idea to keep both physical and digital copies.

5. Get paid

With mystery dining, you always get paid after your assignment, never before. This can be within a few days or a few weeks after the visit, via PayPal or bank transfer.

Depending on the agency you’re with, you’ll receive reimbursement for your meal (up to a limit) and sometimes even a little extra fee on top.

What do you need to become a mystery diner?

If you’re still interested in signing up, you’ll need to make sure you meet these requirements first. The first four are obligatory while the rest are recommended attributes to be successful and gain access to more jobs.

At least 18 years old

Internet access

Camera/camera phone

Good English

 Attention to detail

Reliable memory

 Honesty

Professionalism

Discretion

 Punctuality

Benefits of mystery dining

Free food is obviously one of the main reasons people sign up for mystery shopping. As long as you stick to your budget you’ll get your meal paid for, and who doesn’t love a free dinner?

Find new places to eat in your area. You can stick close to home or widen your parameters, but either way, you’re likely to discover places to eat you may not have tried before. If you’re adventurous with food (which is usually a good attribute to have as a mystery diner), this is a real bonus.

Get paid to eat. Okay, not all of the assignments will give you extra money on top, but for those that do, it’s usually up to £5. While it’s certainly not a viable way to make extra cash on a regular basis, it’s a nice boost every now and then.

It’s fun! We certainly think so, anyway. If what you’ve read so far isn’t ticking your boxes, it’s probably not for you.

You might bag upscale restaurant assignments. This may be one of our favourite reasons to give it a go. A lot of the jobs we saw were for small fast-food chains or sandwich shops, but if you check daily or sign up for email alerts, you might find a posh place every once in a while.

You’re improving local restaurants with your feedback. The whole point of mystery dining is to conduct anonymous research into the service, cleanliness, and quality of food at restaurants and cafes. Mystery diners provide honest feedback so restaurants can assess and adapt as needed to maintain good standards of business.

Refer a friend for a bonus with HGEM, Market Force, Tern, and iShopFor Ipsos. You’ll earn a bonus or award once your friend signs up and completes their first restaurant visit. Most of them have no limit for referrals.

Tips to get started

Now that you know how to become a mystery diner and what’s involved, there are a few last points to consider so you can make the most of it.

 Stick to the budget

There’s little point in seeking out free food if you spend beyond your budget. Each assignment will clearly state what your reimbursement limit will be, so if you spend over that, you won’t get it expensed.

The money can take a while

You don’t get paid in advance, so make sure you have money to pay for your meal. We found a payment processing time of anywhere between five business days and two weeks.

Be flexible with food

There’s no requirement to eat certain foods, but you’ll be more open for opportunities than those with allergies or dietary restrictions.

It’s not a money-making business

Mystery shopping in general is a good side hustle, but don’t expect to make a ton of money. Each site is different; some pay and some don’t. You’ll always get your meal paid for if you do everything as requested, but getting paid is a bonus.

The more you do, the more you’ll get

Once you get a booking or two under your belt, you’ll see more opportunities spring up. Completing restaurant visits successfully shows you’re a reliable mystery shopper and you’ll be more likely to get more assignments.

Fill out your profile

Those with complete profiles are more likely to get assignments, too. Mystery shopping assignments are often based on certain demographic elements, which means you could qualify for particular jobs based on your circumstances. Some of the questions can venture into financial or personal territories, which might mean you want to leave them blank.

Sign up for multiple agencies

Increase your chances of finding more opportunities by signing up to more than one agency. Make sure you read any small print or contracts you enter into; some may want to know if you’re working with other agencies.

Read all the advice

Each of the sites linked above includes plenty of info on the exact process and expectations. Read up on all the FAQs or advice pages you can so you know everything you need to be prepared for your first visit. This can include things like how to cancel a visit, how important receipts are, how you should behave, and what the deadlines are.

Try it for yourself

If you’ve been looking into mystery dining, we hope this guide has been useful in helping you understand how it all works. Whether it’s simply for a hobby or a small income boost and some free food, make sure you have fun on your new venture.

You might also decide to branch out into mystery shopping, which involves undertaking similar tasks at shops, on trains, in gyms, hotels, and more. This could be particularly lucrative if you live in a big city where there are more opportunities for all sorts of mystery shopping tasks.