Spanien
Two sets 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 (employees and restaurants) about balanced nutrition.
Employees
In 2019, 69% of Spanish employees have lunch on a daily basis. This figure is quite low, and below the European average (71%).
In 2019, Spanish employees generally eat a dish/a complete meal (47%) or home-made food (41%).
When choosing a restaurant, in 2019, Spanish workers consider practical criteria linked to working life constraints such as a quick service and the location of the restaurant, close to the workplace.
In 2019 87% of Spanish employees considered important or very important the nutritional quality of the meals served when choosing a place to have lunch. It is a steady figure.
It is higher than the European average (78%).
In 2019, 68% of Spanish workers choose a meal according to the balance of the dish. It is 20 points more than the EU average (47%)
Moreover, this figure has remained very high over the years, showing that Spanish employees do pay attention to the balance of their meal.
Restaurants
In 2019, 57% of Spanish restaurants report they have a medium level of knowledge on balanced nutrition, and that they could learn some more.
EU average: 53%
In 2019, 76% 68% of Spanish restaurants noticed an increased demand for balanced/healthy meals (they were 68% in 2016).
It is much higher than the EU average (31%).
This figure is constantly increasing year after year.
In 2019, restaurants in Spain have positive opinions about balanced nutrition.
Almost half of them (47%) do not believe it takes more time to cook healthy/balanced meals.
And 40% of them do not believe it is more costly.
Conclusions
The connection between the Offer and the Demand for balanced food offer in Spain is rather good. Spanish employees give a great importance to the balance of their dish and it is reflected to a good extent in the perception of restaurants of their customers. Still, even though Spanish restaurants have positive opinions about healthy cooking, they tend to have stronger prejudices about balanced nutrition than before.