Our not so beloved Gastro Suisse

A swiss member of parliament has a decent idea, asking that restaurants clearly declare the use of convenience food – Article in the Tagi. Quite frankly this makes a lot of sense, since when you go to a restaurant you expect food which was prepared (not reheated) on premise. I’d even take it a step further, you need to meet certain standards to call yourself restaurant. Fresh, mostly on-premise made ingredients/components and table side service are some minimal aspects you’d have to fullfil. A fast food place or a chain “restaurant” would not qualify.

The director of the restaurant industry trade association (GastroSuisse) disapproves of the idea, since it introduces bureaucracy. Now if the goal of the restaurant industry trade association is to promote and foster the image & reputation of the restaurant industry, it’s unclear why you would want to take a stand against fresh products. Is the message here that the larges swiss restaurateurs organisation is saying come to our members, they’re too lazy to cook and will provide you re-heated products ? Does that match the customers expectations ? Then again if the director is actively promoting McDonalds in a rather clumsy and amateurish way, visting restaurants which do not belong to Gastro Suisse seems to be a good indicator of quality.