Methodology: from briefing to repeat audit

Step 1. Briefing

The first conversation takes 30-40 minutes. We ask what concerns you right now: complaints about slow service, a new reception team, falling wine sales, questions about the night shift. We clarify which formats, shifts and channels matter: dining room, terrace, banquets, calls, messenger enquiries. Above all: do you have your own service standard, and how well does the team know it?

Step 2. Checklist

If you have a standard, we transfer it into the checklist and keep your wording. If not, we take a base standard and adapt it to the format: a restaurant in central Yerevan and a guesthouse in Dilijan are judged by different rules. Every item has a wording, a weight and clear answer options, so two mystery guests would score the same situation the same way. For example, the item 'Waiter offered dessert' might carry a weight of 2 and three answers: offered with a specific recommendation, offered with a generic phrase, not offered. Such wording leaves no room for the inspector's mood.

The checklist version you approve is fixed. A visit is always scored against the version in force on the audit day. Add an item a month later, and earlier reports are not recalculated, so comparisons stay fair.

Writing a standard from scratch is a separate job: see the Service standards page.

Step 3. Scenario and schedule

Together we choose the days, times and visit scenario. A couple without a booking on Friday evening, a weekday business lunch for two, a family with a child at a late hotel breakfast, a guest asking for a wine to go with khorovats. The scenario ensures we check what matters to you, not random situations. Only you know the visit dates; staff do not.

Step 4. Visit

The mystery guest comes as an ordinary guest: orders, asks the questions a guest would ask, and pays. Evidence is gathered during the visit: time of key stages, the receipt, photos of dishes, table setting and the receipt. Written observations follow straight after, while details are fresh. The task is to see the shift's normal work, so the mystery guest creates no difficulties beyond the scenario and does not rush staff.

On paid audits the mystery guest pays for the order like any guest, and you reimburse this cost against the receipt, separately from the service fee. The amount is agreed in advance, based on the scenario.

Step 5. Methodologist review

No report reaches the client without a methodologist. They match every score to an episode, time and photos, check that the right checklist version was used, and mark items that did not apply on this visit. If the materials conflict, for example a serving time differs from the time on a photo, the methodologist clarifies with the mystery guest before the report goes out. Then they write recommendations: what to change, by whom and in what order.

Step 6. Report

The report arrives within 72 hours of the visit, in Russian, or in English on request. It contains the overall score and blocks, timed visit episodes, a timeline, photos, recommendations and an action plan. Every remark is tied to a moment of the visit, so the manager can go through it with a specific employee and shift. An illustrative sample report shows what this looks like.

Step 7. Repeat audit

A repeat audit shows what has changed after the debrief with your team. We use the same scenario and compare results item by item, not just the total. That shows whether a new rule has stuck or only worked for one evening. A repeat visit is usually planned once the team has put the recommendations into practice, not the day after a staff meeting.

How to challenge a score

Any item in the report can be challenged. Tell us which score you dispute and why: say, the waiter is sure they offered dessert, but the report scores zero. The methodologist reviews the disputed item against the visit materials: times, receipt, photos and the mystery guest's observations.

Only the methodologist can change a score, and each change is logged in the report with the reason. If the materials support the original score, the methodologist explains what it rests on. The manager and the team are left with one version of the visit to work with.

Frequently asked questions