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I Understand

#RebuildWithHGEM. No fees for the first month: Rebuild sales quickly and safely by auditing new processes and capturing what guests think. NEW: Track & Trace for hosted entry.

About Us

About Us

Introducing HGEM

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Our Story

The Mystery Dining company to HGEM

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.

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Laurence King

Laurence King

Software Engineer

I love working with this amazing team to create fantastic software.

Rebecca Mason

Rebecca Mason

Guest Community Coordinator

It’s great to be able to validate reports and gain a real insight into our mystery guests' experiences, but the most enjoyable part of my job, is managing the Diner Reward Scheme. Its lovely to be able to reward our mystery guests for their hard work and commitment.

Jenny Steele

Jenny Steele

Business Analyst

Helping the business to identify their goals and working effectively with IT and systems development to deliver them.

Mia Leak

Mia Leak

Mystery Guest Advisor

I enjoy reading about our mystery guests' experiences and supporting them by giving them advice. I’m glad that I am helping to improve hospitality whilst discovering new clients to visit myself.

Rebecca Moore

Rebecca Moore

Assessor Recruitment Coordinator

I care most about maintaining our high standards of quality, and ensuring each report gives useful insight to our clients.

Steven Pike

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.

Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis

Infrastructure Manager

I really enjoy identifying the scope for enabling greater innovation and collaboration for internal teams and our clients and working together to deliver new value.

Benedicte Adriaens

Benedicte Adriaens

Multilingual Report Validator

Being bilingual allows me to support our diners on both sides of the Channel. I enjoy ensuring the reports we send to our clients are of a high standard.

Amit Sawhney

Amit Sawhney

Software Engineer

Having fun and getting it done!

Pradnya Nimbalkar

Pradnya Nimbalkar

Software Engineer

I care about continuously improving the quality of my work in the organisation and delivery of well designed, easy to use software which is enjoyable and simplifies users' life.

Lauren Gould

Lauren Gould

Implementation Manager

I enjoy engaging with our clients and learning about what they are trying to achieve, then in partnership with them, building a solution that can support and help them reach their targets. I’m proud to work in such a fantastic industry.

Victoria Gray

Victoria Gray

Client Relationship Manager

I love being a third eye for my clients, helping to provide them with clear, true insight into the experience they are providing for their customers.

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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.

Learn more about what we do