New Service

See your restaurant through the guests' eyes.

An anonymous dining audit scored against your brand standards, reviewed by a James Beard veteran, and delivered with the exact fixes that print money.

Book an Audit — $750 How It Works

One meal, 7 phases, every leak exposed.

An evaluator dines anonymously. Every touchpoint gets scored. The report starts with the money number: what it cost you last month.

Pre-visit

Reservation, phone, website, wait time

Arrival

Greeting, seating, host, cleanliness

Service

Menu knowledge, upselling, pacing, table maintenance

Food

Presentation, temperature, accuracy, timing

Bar

Drink quality, suggestive sell, wait time

Departure

Check presentation, farewell, manager presence

Post-visit

Follow-up, loyalty, review solicitation

Cornell found that the top 3 things people remember are the bathroom, the bread, and the coffee.

Number one is bathroom cleanliness. Not the entree. Not the server. Not the ambiance. Your bathroom is telling guests more about your operation than your menu does. A secret shopper audit catches what nobody on your staff will tell you.

42% of restaurants weren't profitable last year. Food costs up 34% vs pre-pandemic. Single digit of operators know their free cash flow. The operators winning right now are the ones who obsess over every detail of the guest experience. You can't fix what you don't see.

Pricing

Single Audit

$750

1 anonymous visit
Full scored report
Top 3 fixes
1-hour debrief call

Quarterly Program

$1,800 /yr

4 visits per year
Trend tracking
Benchmark reports
Quarterly coaching call

Monthly Program

$4,800 /yr

12 visits per year
Monthly scorecards
Staff coaching sessions
Priority debrief

Multi-unit pricing available. Custom scoped per location.

Who gets this report?

Dave Eselgroth. 25 years in James Beard, Michelin, and Forbes Travel Guide properties. He writes the debrief. He flags what will actually move your numbers. Not a generic CX scorecard from a vendor who's never worked a dinner rush.

The report ends with a clear next step. Either the secret shopper was a one-time diagnostic, or it leads into a deeper engagement. Systems before heroics. Training before technology. People before everything.