Our Story

HGEM has always been a pioneer, being the first to coin the term ‘mystery dining’ back in 2003 when the company was originally founded as the Mystery Dining Company in Bath, England.

The firm was born from a conversation with well-known restaurant owner who was losing track of what was going on in his restaurants. He had a mystery shopping company working for him that was unreliable and failing to get results back quickly. We knew we could do better than that and so he gave us six restaurants as a trial to see what we could do.

We were able to complete visits and provide detailed feedback in near ‘real time’ which enabled him to implement changes and quickly see improvement. After this initial success, we won the contract for the whole estate and the rest is history.

Since then we have continued to seek innovative ways to empower hospitality operators in a competitive and rapidly changing market, and today work internationally with over 10,000 restaurants, pubs, hotels, cinemas and caterers including many well-known brands such as wagamama, Greene King, Malmaison, Empire Cinemas, Royal Ascot, Sodexo, and local high street institutions Pret a Manger, Lounges and EAT.

Today our mission is to establish ‘Guest Experience Management’ as a core discipline for hospitality businesses, providing award-winning tools and support to help operators monitor their performance and generate a culture of continuous improvement for teams.

Our People

Many of our people have joined us having worked in the hospitality industry and so it truly has shaped who we are and the way we behave. We understand the pressures and challenges of your teams because we have been there, and we’re passionate about supporting you to deliver a great guest experience every time. We have also been crowned Employer of the Year at the Bath Live Business Awards.

⠀

Amie Jackman

Implementation Coordinator

I enjoy creating bespoke questionnaires and visits that are tailored to our client’s style of service. Its satisfying to then see them create data that allows our clients to really drill into their guest’s experience.

Zoe Robinson

Client Relationship Manager

I enjoy building strong relationships with my clients whilst supporting them in achieving excellence!

Paul Watts

Technical Lead

Leading the technical team to design and build fantastic software to help our clients have the very best insight into their business.

Ghervana Tanzarella

Mystery Guest Advisor

I’m very lucky to be part of a team that is supportive, kind and consistently working hard to help push the standard of hospitality.

Brian Mitchell

Test Engineer

I feel very lucky I get to create great technology to a high standard with some brilliant forward thinking people.

Samantha Grimes

Operations Team Leader

I love working in such a friendly positive team and speaking with our mystery guests about their dining experiences.

James Whitehouse

Client Insight & Relationship Manager

Using my experience in the industry to ensure my clients are getting the most from their schemes.

Rory McFarlane

Senior Software Engineer

I care about delivering reliable, working software that people enjoy using and will help individuals work better.

Steven Pike

Managing Director

It's really important to me that we put our clients in the driving seat and coordinate all our resources in pursuit of your objectives.

Keit Vende

Marketing Manager

I wish I had tools like The Hub when I helped manage a bar 10 years ago. My mission now is to get the word out there about how hospitality tech can help.

Ash Sharpe

Client Relationship Manager

I enjoy partnering with clients to support and elevate them to the best they can be through the ownership of their guests experience.

Jason Horn

Head of Client Success

I love being part of the HGEM team, seeing the customer journey and road mapping with our clients what’s important to their guests' experiences. I want to make every customer interaction entertaining and memorable building loyal brand advocates as an extension of the marketing team.

Our Mystery Guests

At HGEM we are fortunate to have a fantastic community of mystery guests that we try hard to nurture and support as stakeholders in 'empowering hospitality'. In return, they go the extra mile to provide detailed and practical feedback on their experiences.

If you are interested in becoming one of our mystery guests, please go to mysterydining.net.

About Us