Alcohol Compliance Checks
for Mystery Shoppers

Alcohol compliance checks can be interesting mystery shopping assignments because they require you to pay close attention to your surroundings.

Depending on the assignment, you might visit a restaurant, bar, convenience store, or another business that sells alcohol. You may be asked to observe whether an employee checks your identification, follows the company's alcohol-service procedures, handles a transaction properly, or meets other specific requirements.

I've completed assignments where I sat at the bar, ordered a drink and food, recorded timings, and observed how the bartender handled my transaction.

The most important rule is simple:

Follow the assignment instructions rather than assuming you know what you're supposed to check.

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Want more help getting started? My book, Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!, walks you through finding assignments, completing shops, writing reports, and avoiding many of the mistakes new shoppers make.

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What Are Alcohol Compliance Checks?

Businesses use alcohol compliance checks for different reasons.

One assignment might focus primarily on whether employees follow the company's ID-checking procedures. Another might concentrate on cash handling, whether drinks are properly entered into the register, or whether bartenders follow company policies.

You might be asked to observe:

• Whether you were asked for identification
• How the employee examined your ID
• When you were greeted and served
• Whether drinks were entered into the register
• How cash or credit-card payments were handled
• Whether required receipts were provided
• Employee names or descriptions
• Cleanliness and customer service
• Other procedures specified by the client

You aren't there to confront an employee or announce that something was done incorrectly.

Your job is to observe what happened and accurately report it.

Read the Instructions Carefully

Alcohol-related assignments can have very specific requirements.

You might be instructed to sit at the bar rather than at a table because the client wants you to observe the bartender and register.

You may have to order a particular type of drink or make your purchase using a particular payment method.

The assignment might also specify exactly when you're permitted to visit.

Read everything before you leave home.

I've found these assignments become much easier when I know exactly what to watch for before walking through the door.

ID Checks May Be Part of the Assignment

Some alcohol compliance checks are specifically designed to evaluate age-verification procedures.

The instructions may tell you whether you're expected to present your ID only when asked or follow some other scenario. You could also be required to report whether the employee looked carefully at the identification or followed a particular company procedure.

Don't create your own test for the employee.

Follow the scenario exactly.

Alcohol laws and ID requirements vary by state and business type, and a company's policies may be stricter than the law requires. Your mystery shopping company should tell you what you're evaluating.

Cash Handling and Bartender Observations

I've also completed alcohol-related assignments where observing the bartender was an important part of the shop.

A business may want to know whether every drink is properly entered into the register and whether payments follow company policy.

For example, you might be asked whether you saw drinks being given away, drinks being remade, or cash being handled unexpectedly.

Report only what you actually observe.

If you see a bartender pour a drink but can't see what happened at the register, don't assume the drink wasn't entered.

That's an important principle for every mystery shop: observation is different from assumption.

Keep Track of Your Timings

Alcohol compliance assignments may require several timings.

You might need to record:

• When you entered
• When you were greeted
• When you placed your order
• When your drink or food arrived
• When you requested your check
• When you left

Don't rely entirely on your memory.

I like to know the required timings before beginning an assignment so I can concentrate on the experience instead of trying to reconstruct everything afterward.

Understand the Reimbursement

Many restaurant and bar assignments require you to buy food or drinks and be reimbursed up to a specified amount.

Read the reimbursement limit carefully.

If an assignment reimburses up to $30 and you spend $35, you shouldn't assume the additional $5 will be covered.

Also determine whether there's a separate shopper fee.

The reimbursement and shopper fee are two different things, something we've discussed elsewhere on MystShopper.com.

The Report Can Be Short—or Detailed

Don't assume every alcohol compliance assignment has a simple report.

Some questionnaires may contain mostly yes-or-no questions and a short narrative. Others may ask for detailed observations about the bartender, service, cleanliness, transactions, timings, and other areas.

Whenever possible, review the report requirements before accepting the assignment.

The more details you're required to observe, the more important good notes become.

Alcohol Compliance Checks Require Accuracy

I enjoy assignments like these because they give you something specific to observe while you're having a meal or sitting at a bar.

But don't let the surroundings make you forget that you're working.

Pay attention to your instructions. Keep track of your timings. Save your receipt. Observe carefully without drawing attention to yourself.

Most importantly, report exactly what happened.

With alcohol compliance checks, your job isn't to decide whether an employee should be disciplined or whether the business did something legally wrong.

Your job as a mystery shopper is much simpler:

Observe. Remember. Report.

Your Next Best Step

For additional reading, read my articles:

Mystery Shopping Lingo Explained

How to Take Better Notes During a Mystery Shop

How Mystery Shopping Reports Work

About the Author

I'm Mystery Don (Donald J. Servais, Jr.), and I've completed mystery shopping assignments for restaurants, hotels, apartment communities, automobile dealerships, new-home builders, and other businesses.

I created MystShopper.com to share what I've learned from my own experiences, help new shoppers avoid common mistakes, and explain how legitimate mystery shopping really works.

I'm also the author of Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!, which includes beginner-friendly advice, real-world mystery shopping experiences, and a directory of more than 150 mystery shopping companies.

Drawing on my 45-year career in television, I've also written 7 Keys to Success in a Changing Television Industry, a guide for people interested in building a career in television and video.

My goal is simple: honest guidance without the hype.

We're always looking for new faces to visit different places. 

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