Portugal
Questionnaires inspired from the 2009 and 2010 surveys, called the FOOD barometers, are launched every year since 2012 to monitor on the evolution of the habits and opinions of both target groups about balanced nutrition.
Portugal launched its first FOOD barometers in 2015. Due to a low number of answers in 2015, the results of the restaurants were not taken into account in this analysis.
Employees
In 2019, 77% of Portuguese employees have lunch on a daily basis (they were 82% in 2016). This figure has slightly decreased in 4 years.
In 2019, Portuguese workers mostly eat home-made food (58%) or a dish/a complete meal (27%). These figures have remained stable since 2015.
When choosing a restaurant, Portuguese workers considered important or very important practical criteria linked to working life constraints such as a quick the service (80%) and the location of the restaurant, close to the workplace (82%).
80% of Portuguese employees consider important or very important the nutritional quality of the meals served when choosing a place to have lunch. It is close to the European average (78%).
In 2019, Portuguese employees employees mainly choose what they want to eat at lunchtime according to the balance of the dish (30%).
The price (18%) only comes in third position, after the answer "What I want at the present time".
Portuguese employees truly pay attention to the balance of the dish.
Restaurants
In 2019, 47% of Portuguese restaurants declare having a medium level of knowledge on balance nutrition (whereas 52% of them declared having a low level of knowledge in 2016).
In 2019, 56% of Portuguese restaurants notice an increased demand for balanced/healthy meals. It is higher than the European average (31%).
Portuguese restaurants are well aware of the increasing demand from their consumers.
Half (47%) of Portuguese restaurants do not believe it takes more time to cook healthy meals.
Almost the same share (44%) do not believe that it is more costly to prepare healthy meals.
And 68% of restaurants believe that balanced meals taste as good as healthy options.
Conclusions
The connection between the Offer and the Demand for balanced food offer is very good in Portugal. Portuguese employees give a great importance to the balance of their dish at lunch time. It is widely reflected into the restaurants’ side as more than 70% of them notice an increased demand for balanced meals. Even though a high share of them were neutral on the statements about healthy cooking, figures show that Portuguese restaurants have however a growing positive opinion about preparing healthy meals.