Cover Story: 2015 Mystery Shop Data

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Another year, another record-high average score for the chains studied in the CSP/Service Intelligence Mystery Shop.

In 2012, the average overall score for mystery-shop participants was 85.2%. In 2013, that average jumped to 90.8%. It was 91.9% in 2014. The 2015 average rose to 92.5%.

The reason is hardly a mystery. As foodservice becomes a tenet of the industry, the channel must up its game to compete not just with other c-stores, but also the wider net of competitors for foodservice dollars. This means an overall improved customer experience, whether it’s the attractiveness of sandwiches, the cleanliness of the restrooms or the state of trash cans at the pumps.

And this year’s retailers did just that, improving on 2014’s high scores:

• Exterior cleanliness: 94.8% average score, compared to 92.7% in 2014
• General interior: 92.2% vs. 90.9%
• Restrooms: 93.9% vs 91.5%

(It is worth noting that many of the chains in the mystery shop change year over year.)

When it came to excelling in the individual categories, retailers really excelled. From KwikTrip’s 98.6% exterior-cleanliness score to Cumberland Farms’ 97.8% sandwich-cooler average, near-perfect ratings showed up for a number of retailers. Both Cumberland, last year’s winner, and QuikTrip earned 100% in the employee section.

Ask any retailer about the importance of excellence in a given section and the answer will likely lead back to the obvious: foodservice.

“When you go out to eat and the floor isn’t clean, or you go into the restroom and the restroom is not clean, or the outside’s not clean, your perception may be: How clean is the kitchen? How good is the food?” says Don Zietlow, CEO of Kwik Trip Inc., La Crosse, Wis., which finished second overall thanks to a strong performance in restrooms and exterior cleanliness. “That’s important to me. And it’s also a source of pride with our co-workers.”

For others, there were more sources of pride. “A clean and attractive coffee area is very important to [our] business,” says senior communications manager Ashleigh Womack of RaceTrac’s leading 97.6% coffee score. “Not only does it reinforce that our coffee offering is high-quality, but that positive halo extends to our overall food offer.”

It’s one thing for senior management to understand this. But to succeed day by day, store by store, this sentiment must resonate with store-level employees.

“We have to be able to go out there every day and ... work with them, and show them we’re good at the hows and whats,” says Ian Johnstone, general manager of Cenex Zip Trip, Spokane, Wash., which garnered a 94.5% overall score. “We’ve got to be better at the whys: why it’s important to make sure these things are done correctly, whether it’s the food bar, the temperature of the hot dogs, making sure the bathroom is stocked 100%.

“From top to bottom, our role is to have ordinary people do extraordinary things.”

CSP/Service Intelligence Mystery Shop Results

The 2015 Mystery Shop audits were conducted from April 22, 2015, to May 27, 2015. These audits took place between 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., any day of the week. Following each visit, mystery shoppers completed a survey in which each response received equal value. Here are the chains that were shopped and how often each chain was visited during the course of the mystery shop.

Overall Brand Performance

In the most competitive, high-scoring mystery shop to date, QuikTrip took top honors, edging out Kwik Trip by two-tenths of a point.

Brands Shopped

CONTINUED: Cleanliness, Dairy Coolers & Fountain

Exterior Cleanliness

CHET CADIEUX, QuikTrip:“There are positive or negative merchandise or food cues all over the place, whether it’s inside or outside. It’s faulty to suggest that the outside doesn’t matter just because the food isn’t out there.”

Were the pump island and its pumps clean?

Was the pump island properly supplied?

Was the parking lot and store entrance free of garbage and debris?

Interior Cleanliness

DON ZIETLOW, Kwik Trip:“[Customers] want to come to a clean, friendly environment. They want to be appreciated. There’s no better way than to have a clean bathroom.”

Were the floors inside the store clean?

Were all the lights you saw in the store working?

Was the restroom clean?

Dairy Cooler

IAN JOHNSTONE, Cenex Zip Trip:“What’s the hardest part of the store to keep clean? Absolutely stocking the coolers and keeping them organized. When you talk about everything that goes into our stores, there are so many products coming out, so much pressure from vendors. Do we have these products represented?”

Was the dairy cooler clean?

Were the products in the dairy cooler within their expiration date?

Was the temperature within the range of 32º F to 41º F (0º C to 5º C)?

Fountain Drinks

IAN JOHNSTONE, Cenex Zip Trip:“When we started remodeling our stores, we were going to have a consistent fountain offer. Yes, we knew there were limitations, but we needed to start [to] develop a program that we were proud of and that was consistent.”

Was the fountain drink area fully stocked with supplies?

Were all flavors on the fountain-drink machine operational?

CONTINUED: Coffee, Sandwich Presentation & Employees

Coffee

ASHLEIGH WOMACK, RaceTrac: “RaceTrac’s coffee equipment has timers and gauges that help our associates monitor the freshness and amount of coffee in each urn. This allows us to provide a quality full-service coffee offering to our guests.”

Was the coffee area clean?

Was all coffee equipment operational?

BEN WILSON, regional retail operations manager, Kwik Trip: “This is one of those environments where we constantly have to check everything because it takes one guest to do something to make a huge impact. The coffee bar is constant because of the volume we do there. The condiment bar is constant because we sell a lot of food. As soon as it gets messy, it’s a huge turnoff.”

Did the location have a working thermometer to test the temperature of the coffee?

Sandwich Cooler

JAMES HILL, customer experience manager, Cumberland Farms: “It is important to not only offer a wide variety of foodservice items, but to also make certain that the product and the equipment that the product is being displayed in are appealing. As consumers ourselves, each of us knows that we shop with our eyes; eye appeal is buy appeal.”

Did the sandwiches have expiration/made-on dates?

Were the sandwiches within their expiration date?

Did the sandwiches look appealing (fresh and attractively presented)?

Was the temperature in the sandwich cooler/bunker within the range of 32º F to 41º F (0º C to 5º C)?

Employees

JAMES HILL, Cumberland Farms: “The face of our company is our store team members, who represent our brand to our everyday guests. Each one of them takes pride in their appearance and understands that they are our brand ambassadors.”

Were all on-duty employees wearing a uniform, including a nametag?

Were all on-duty employees well groomed?

NEXT: Cenex Zip Trip's Progress Report

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