Italia
A new set of questionnaires inspired from the 2009 and 2010 surveys, called the FOOD barometers, have been launched every year since 2012 to monitor the evolution of the habits and opinions of both target groups about balanced nutrition.
Employees
In 2019, 80% of Italian employees have lunch on a daily basis. This figure has increased over the years: only 71% of employees took a daily lunch break in 2016.
Half of Italian workers usually eat a dish/a complete meal for lunch in 2019. This has remained the most common choice over the years.
When choosing a restaurant Italian workers consider important or very important practical criteria linked to working life constraints such as a quick service (90%). They also pay attention to local/seasonal food served (80%).
In 2019, 85% of Italian employees consider important or very important the nutritional quality of the meals served when choosing a place to have lunch. This figure is higher than the European average (78%).
Italian workers pay attention to the balance of their dish when eating in a restaurant (57%). It is the second most chosen criterion (first "What I want at the present time"), and 10 points higher than the price (47%).
Restaurants
In 2019, 58% of Italian restaurants have a medium level of knowledge about balanced nutrition, and could learn some more. It is higher than the European average (53%). 31% think that they have a high level of knowledge. These figures have remained quite constant over the past 5 years.
In 2019, 37% of Italian restaurants notice an increased demand for balanced/healthy meals. This figure has been increasing over the 5 years, reflecting a growing demand for balanced meals options.
3 years ago, restaurants in Italy did not value a lot balanced nutrition in comparison with the European results.
23% of them believed that is was more expensive to prepare balanced meals, and 22% thought it took more time to prepare healthy meals.
In 2019, 42% of Italian restaurants believe that is is not more difficult to prepare healthy/balanced meals.
And 57% of them believe that their customers would notice and appreciate the offer of balanced/healthy meals.
Conclusions
The connection between the Offer and the Demand for balanced food offer is rather good in Italy. Italian employees give a growing importance to the balance of their dish and it is reflected to a good extent in the restaurants’ perception of their customers. But even though Italian restaurants still have quite positive opinions about healthy cooking, they used to have less prejudices before.