Survey: UniCafe customers appreciate friendly service, knowledgeable staff and good value for money

A customer survey conducted in late autumn 2024 shows broad satisfaction with UniCafe. In particular, customers are increasingly satisfied with the value for money of the meals. Customers consider UniCafe to be a reliable and responsible company that maintains high professional standards.

The survey identified UniCafe’s key strengths as reliability, professionalism, ethics and environmental friendliness. In contrast, aspects including UniCafe’s distinctiveness and leadership received lower ratings in terms of the customer experience.

Satisfaction with the friendliness of customer service and the staff’s product knowledge remained high, as in previous years. Satisfaction with the food increased for all parts of the meal.

Survey respondents frequently described UniCafe as affordable and offering a varied menu.

Reliability is our strength: increasing satisfaction with service development

Of the 3,160 respondents, 86 per cent considered UniCafe reliable. Over half (52 per cent) mentioned that ethical considerations affect their choice of lunch, and 64 per cent said they would opt for a vegan dish if it were more appealing than meat or fish options.

Overall, 32 per cent of respondents feel that UniCafe restaurants have improved over the past year, while 17 per cent believe they had declined. Compared to the previous survey, the proportion of respondents reporting a decline halved, whereas the amount of respondents who saw improvement nearly doubled over two years.

Guided by feedback

“We’re delighted with the excellent number of responses, which is a great sign of customer engagement. In addition to daily feedback, the more extensive customer survey conducted every second year or so is crucial for our ongoing improvement. “We review the feedback with each location, and based on it we introduce improvements that we hope will give our customers an even better experience,” says Anne Immonen, Business Director of Ylva’s restaurants.

Among the issues that customers mentioned was the discontinuation of trays in some UniCafe restaurants. Based on the feedback received, UniCafe Tähkä will trial placing cutlery directly on tables to facilitate trayless service. Additionally, UniCafe will consider new methods to streamline trayless service.

The reason for adopting the single-plate model, familiar from many lunch restaurants, is that it more effectively encourages customers to eat in accordance with the plate model, while also being easier on the environment by eliminating the need to produce and wash trays. Additionally, time saved from managing tray circulation can be more efficiently allocated to other restaurant tasks. As a rule, new or renovated restaurants no longer use trays.

The purpose of the customer survey was to assess satisfaction with UniCafe restaurants and gather proposals for further development. The survey was conducted via email and a public link in late autumn 2024. A total of 3,160 UniCafe customers responded to the survey 2,852; 2019: 1,979).

Additional information:

Anne Immonen
Business Director
+358 40 512 5008
anne.immonen@ylva.fi