Background The Swedish Food Agency has recommendations for the population to follow, in order to prevent widespread diet and lifestyle related diseases and to keep a healthy life. Through the years the habit of having lunch out has increased and people have become more aware of the healthy choices, even though those options can vary. Studies showed that people tended to make better choices if the restaurants explicitly labelled the healthy options in their menus.
Objective The aim of this study was to find out how lunch restaurants plan their menus, what dietary recommendations and guidelines they rely on and how they make the choice of what dishes they will serve.
Method Qualitative interviews have been done with eleven different restaurant owners and that material then got transcribed, coded, categorized and analyzed.
Results The economy and the guests’ demands were in focus when the choice of dishes was made and the menu was planned. Firstly, the taste was more important than nutrition recommendations, and secondly, the variation, both on the plate and over time was prioritised. Another result was that the nutrition recommendations were not followed but concerning the origin, the fabrication and the quality of the products the restaurants followed the present dietary recommendations and guidelines.
Conclusion Guests demand, ingredients and its quality and price were central parts of the menu planning. The restaurant staff need more knowledge about the nutrition recommendations, since their opinions that taste and quality are reduced because of them are wrong. The responsibility of healthy choices lies in both the society and the restaurants.