Differences between real and perceived quality among users of school catering – survey on 40 Italian schools

Summary

This report investigates how food quality is perceived in school canteens and to what extent this perception, influencing public opinion about the catering service quality, reflects the real quality of served meals. The objective of this work is therefore to investigate the relationships between real and perceived quality of meals in the sustainable school catering sector.
The study has been built upon a survey made over a sample of 7.500 catering service users (about 6.500 pupils and 1.000 adults) concerning the knowledge of quality/sustainability of canteen products, non-food aspects of the service (e.g.: staff management, canteen environment), the satisfaction level and possible/necessary improvements.
In the present work it emerges a satisfactory knowledge level towards both taste aspects of canteen food and added-value food quality components (organic, short chain, seasonal, fair-trade, food miles). Nevertheless there is a significant lack of information exchange causing a unfruitful gap between service management and service users; as users are not enough aware of the key characteristics of the canteen service, educational programs and a participatory approach management should be implemented.