Let’s face it: when you go to eat in a place (restaurant, trattoria, pizzeria), you choose based on the “spend estimate”, that is, the price list of the menu to which a series of variables are added: the score of the sites specialized in reviews, the place (more or less “trendy”), the type of cuisine desired, the quality of the service, the type of welcome and a whole other series of criteria or occasional conveniences. The downside is obvious: if you want to pay little, you have to settle for what the convent costs and you will hardly eat top quality food. But, obviously, the exceptions confirm the rule: you can eat well even by spending relatively little (sacrificing a lot the quality of the service and the beauty of the place). Which also applies to the opposite reasoning: higher prices are not always a guarantee of top dishes. Which also applies to the opposite reasoning: higher prices are not always a guarantee of top dishes. It should also be added that today, when you eat out, you almost never choose all the courses on the menu, but only an appetizer plus a first course (or a second course) and sometimes a dessert to finish on a sweet note. With the necessary exceptions. In the last 20-30 years the way of eating out has changed: perhaps for the worse (unfortunately!).
In the restaurant dining room or in the kitchen, but in contact with the public
Sometimes we forget that work in the restaurant environment is in contact with the public (with us customers): interaction of the waiters, the sommeliers, the owner with the customers, but increasingly also of the chef (or cook) who does not he rarely approaches the table to immediately listen to whether the menu was liked or not. But often this is not the case at all and the customer is content to spend little and eat poorly, opting for a low and cheap quality of dishes. Without beating around the bush too much: this is the sad reality of a large part of Italian catering – we repeat – “low level and cheap” – with a few points of excellence definitely out of reach for the vast majority of Italians.
Therefore, if we analyze the customer side, there are objective mental difficulties in approaching medium-high quality catering or one that truly enhances the typical local products. On the restaurant owner side we often find approximation, superficiality, improvisation and unfortunately lack of professionalism in the various skills required to manage and run a restaurant.
Let’s start with technical skills. The basics are often missing, namely the ability to cook, prepare food and drinks, serve customers, use specific tools and equipment in the gastronomic sector. Relational skills, i.e. the ability to communicate and interact with the public (answering questions relating to the composition of the ordered dish), to work in a team, to manage stressful situations, are almost completely absent. What about linguistic skills, which are essential when working in tourist locations (and not only) where knowledge of other languages (first and foremost English) constitutes an indispensable asset?
Chronic staff shortage
A major mitigating factor that partially justifies the difficulties experienced by the restaurant industry is that in Italy there are approximately 51,000 table service workers missing, including waiters and other professionals in the sector (Unioncamere data).
Staff shortages are a serious problem affecting approximately one in three businesses, according to 2022 FIPE data. The most difficult professional figures to find on the market are pastry chefs and ice cream makers (-46%), chefs in hotels and restaurants (- 43%). A worrying situation that inevitably reflects on on the quality of the service (with longer waiting times and fewer tables available), increased workloads for employees already in service, difficulty for restaurant owners to keep up with demand (with the risk of losing customers and turnover).
Why has it become difficult to find restaurant workers? Among the causes of the chronic shortage of staff are very demanding working conditions (long and irregular hours, on holidays and weekends, until late in the evening and often under pressure), insufficient salaries, partly paid “under the table” , not in order or in any case not attractive (young people prefer not to work or look in different sectors), lack of professional recognition, difficulty in advancing a career, lack of adequate training.
Amateurs in jeopardy
The enormous percentage of improvisation in the sector is very widespread and serious, in my opinion. We often come across restaurant owners who come from completely different sectors and very far from the world of food, amateurs at risk who therefore line up a whole series of blue pencil errors: they don’t know the ingredients, they pass off as typical products which instead they are not at all while the chefs introduce risky or unlikely combinations into the menus that have nothing to do with the territory.
Quality of the products is not always up to par.
The quality of the food deserves a separate discussion: many customers report both the poor quality of the raw materials and deficiencies in the preparation of the dishes or in the presentation at the table. What about ingredients that do not correspond to those included in the menu, sometimes non-territorial or in any case second choice? An inconvenience that occurs often and becomes even more unpleasant when the customer is not even notified in advance of the changes, only to find out everything when the dish is presented.
The negative points of catering sector in Italy
Italian restaurant customers complain about several critical issues. The number one problem is the quality of table service which is often improvised, unprofessional, not very attentive, entrusted to staff paid “by the day”, unmotivated, often underpaid. Sometimes there is a clear lack of communication between those who work in the kitchen and the dining room staff. Result? Long waiting times for dishes, errors in orders, forgetfulness or disorganization.
High prices are a sore point in mass catering and beyond. Large and small entrepreneurs in the sector easily blame the Covid period: more or less three years in which the sector had to stop completely or slow down, with loss of jobs or permanent closure of many premises and consequently lack of takings: the economic crisis of the entire catering sector is undeniable, which only started up again at full capacity last year. Thus, to recover the lost revenue, many (even in mass catering) have increased the prices of dishes and wines by 20 and 30%. In short, there are those who have exaggerated and not by a little.
Those who pay the increasingly high cost today are customers who are increasingly dissatisfied with the quality-price ratio, with the feeling of having paid too much for the food or service received. Who hasn’t found themselves with a wrong or opaque account or with unexpected charges? And do we want to talk about the cost of the cover charge or the excessive table service compared to the service itself received? How many times have we left a restaurant promising ourselves never to return? And what can we say about places located in historic centers where it is practically impossible to find parking or there is even a ban on access to limited traffic areas? These are just some of the difficulties complained about by Italian re
The numbers of catering (restaurant work) in Italy
The catering sector in Italy has around 400 million customers, generates a turnover of 82 billion euros and employs one and a half million people (source: Fipe data processed by Coldiretti). According to the reservations specialist site Plateform, around 30% of customers of an Italian restaurant are regulars and that each of these spends an average of 1,650 euros a year (estimate by My Business Plan). According to Confesercenti 82% of the Italian population between 14 and 79 years old regularly frequents restaurants, trattorias and pizzerias. Catering in shopping centers is also growing and, alone, recorded a turnover of 5.6 billion euros in 2023, with a growth of 1% compared to 2022 (Source: Italian Stock Exchange).
Federalimentare estimates that in 2022 the number of meals consumed outside the home in Italy was around 6.5 billion, with an average of around 105 meals per capita.
But ultimately, how much does the average Italian restaurant customer spend? According to Fipe, in 2023 he spent an average of 21 euros; just over 23 euros, according to the Catering Observatory (Osservatorio della Ristorazione). A very minimal difference. As can be seen by making a comparison with the following paragraph, this is the reality of mass catering in Italy: 97% of customers spend an average of 23 euros to eat.
A planet apart: luxury catering and starred restaurants.
A separate “planet” is that of luxury and starred restaurants in Italy. How much do they weigh on the total catering in the BelPaese? There is no official estimate of the number of regulars in Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy compared to the total number of customers who usually frequent the restaurants However, there is some data: according to the Nielsen 2023 report, around 2% of Italian consumers have frequented at least one Michelin-starred restaurant in the last year.
According to the Osservatorio della Ristorazione (Catering Observatory), approximately 3% of meals consumed outside the home in Italy (in 2022) took place in starred restaurants with a turnover representing 0.5% of the total Italian restaurant sector (source: Federalimentare). Practically a drop in the ocean.
Numbers that leaves no doubt as to what the chosen (or almost obligatory) type of cuisine is for the majority of the population. The truth is that at least 97% of customers do not sit or have never sat in a top restaurant where they pay on average 200 euros per person for each meal (excluding wines) with obviously higher peaks. The average expenditure per capita in a starred restaurant in Italy is around 100-150 euros, without wine (Source: Money.it). The price of a tasting menu can vary from 150 to 500 euros per person, depending on the restaurant and the number of courses.
In the most renowned starred restaurants the cost of a complete meal can exceed 500 euros per person, excluding wines.
Going to eat in a starred or luxury category restaurant is today considered a “gastronomic experience” worth talking about, but for the vast majority of the population (and tourists) it is impossible: it is a chimera, a mirage for objective reasons, above all cheap. Or perhaps, also because 97% of restaurant customers are “satisfied” or consider it “not primary” to choose a Top restaurant, considering personal or family spending priorities to be very different.
Breaking a spear in favor of starred restaurants would be all too easy. For three reasons, in particular: it promotes the image of Italian culinary excellence in the world; attracts foreign tourists with high purchasing power; stimulates innovation and creativity in the restaurant sector.
To conclude, here are the five typical profiles of customers of starred restaurants in Italy, according to a Nielsen survey:
- Food lovers and connoisseurs: they are people with a deep passion for gastronomy and a refined knowledge of cooking. They appreciate the high quality of the ingredients, the mastery of the preparations and the culinary innovation.
- High-income professionals: managers, entrepreneurs, established professionals and personalities from the entertainment world who are willing to spend considerable sums for an excellent culinary experience.
- International travellers: wealthy foreign tourists who include starred restaurants in their travel itineraries, attracted by the reputation and uniqueness of the gastronomic offer.
- Passionate about food and wine:strong are lovers of wine and local gastronomic excellence, always looking for new sensory experiences and unusual combinations.
- Young foodies: the new generations of gourmets intrigued by haute cuisine and eager to discover new culinary trends.