Source: CONSUMER EROSKI
Translation: Euroidiomas, Lima - Perú 

Although most of the times (six out of ten families) parents and children in Spain have lunch together in their homes at midday, the trend is quite the opposite: people eat more and more frequently out of home. The Consumer Barometer 2004 of Eroski Foundation showed that in 20% of the families, the father usually eats out during the week; in 7% of the families, the mother eats out; and in 16% of the families, one or more children eat out. Every day millions of citizens that can not go home eat at restaurants and canteens or dining halls. 

With the purpose of finding out about the service quality at restaurants in our country, principally in terms of nutritional dietary features of the dishes included in their set meals (based on the meals most frequently chosen by those people who usually eat out), CONSUMER EROSKI sent their specialists to 318 restaurants located downtown in 18 cities: A Corunna, Alicante, Almeria, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cordoba, Granada, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Pamplona, San Sebastian, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria, and Saragossa. 

The specialists of this magazine booked a table in each of these restaurants and chose one of the alternatives of the set meals. They ate the dishes, paid the bill, and finally, asked for the complaint form (just to verify if it was available for the public). With the information given by these fictitious clients, nutritional experts evaluated the composition of each set meal (appetizer -when included, entree, main course, accompaniment, and also dessert) and assessed its variety and dietary value. On the other hand, the service quality of each place was analyzed by the observation in situ of 70 items such as variety and presentation of the dishes, quick service, atmosphere and service quality, and restroom conditions. 

Double and main conclusion

Results showed that 30% of the set meals lack the appropriate dietary quality, although the service quality is satisfactory despite the failure to comply with the regulations in force; for instance, almost 10% of restaurants did not have the obligatory complaint forms at the public's disposal, and 14% of restaurants did not display the set meals' list of prices.

On the other hand, results showed that prices vary from one restaurant to another, from 5 to 17 euros, being 8,9 the average price. This average price was nearly 15% higher than in 2001, when CONSUMER EROSKI elaborated a similar report showing that the number of set meals that failed the evaluation (43%) was superior to the number reported now, five yeas later. 

The set meals failed the dietary exam because they did not offer the possibility of choosing salad or vegetables, legumes or fish, as it is convenient in any healthy and well-balanced set meal. Other set meals were disqualified because they included protein and high-calorie foods in entrees but lacked varied accompaniments in main courses and fruit in desserts.

Results by cities varied significantly: the best qualifications were given to the set meals in San Sebastian and Vitoria (only 7% failed), Granada and Madrid (14% failed), and Bilbao (16% failed); whereas the worst qualification was to the set meals in Almeria (64% failed), Valencia and A Corunna (around 50% failed), Alicante and Cordova (44% failed) in terms of dietary quality. 

Although service quality and customer service was quite acceptable within the average restaurants under analysis, only the variety of dishes, the possibility of having different alternatives for soups, salads, main courses, drinks, and desserts can be significantly improved. Moreover, it is important to correct the failure - minority but relevant - to comply with the applicable regulations; that is to say, the obligation to have complaint forms for the public and to display the set meal's list of prices as well as the information about the variety of dishes (17% of restaurants fail to comply with this regulation).

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