België

In 2019, 70% of Belgian employees have lunch on a daily basis, and this figure has remained quite constant over the years. It is close to the European average (71%).

Most of them (62%) usually eat home-made food. We notice an increase in the consumption of home-made food over the years.

In 2019, Belgian workers consider important the having a restaurant close to their workplace (80%) and a quick service (83%), when having lunch. They also favor restaurants offering locally produced food (65%).

In 2019, 74% of Belgian employees consider important or very important the nutritional quality of the meals served when choosing a place to have lunch.This figure is close to the European average (78)%. This figure has remained quite constant over the past 7 years.

In 2019, half of Belgian employees (49%) declare that the balance of the dish affects their decision on what to have at lunch. This criterion is the third most chosen and comes right after ’what I want at the present time’ (70%) and ’the price of the meal’ (53%).

The share of Belgian employees declaring that the balance of the dish affected their decision-making on what to have at lunch had never been as high as in 2018, therefore highlighting an increasing interest for balanced.

In 2019, only 23% of Belgian restaurants declare having a high level of knowledge on balanced nutrition. This figure is slightly below the EU average (33%).
72% of Belgian restaurants have a low to medium level of knowledge on balanced nutrition and would like to learn more.

In 2019, 34% of Belgian restaurants notice an increased demand for balanced/healthy meals. This figure is increasing in the country over the years.

47% of Belgian restaurant owners do not believe it is more difficult to prepare healthy/balanced meals (32% in 2016).