- It is important to check the amount of calories and sodium contained in the food you eat -

The fast food market, which is largely based on user convenience, standardized taste, and affordable prices, is growing rapidly* as a dominant eating out trend.

* Market size: 13 trillion won (2012) (Source: Report of the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency: http://www.kofair.or.kr/hp/inf/inforRead.do)

The Korea Consumer Agency(www.kca.go.kr) has published a survey on the five leading fast food businesses (in terms of sales) with the focus on the quality of their service and the nutritional ingredients of the foods served by them.

The results of the survey show that McDonald’s (3.60 out of 5.0) is slightly ahead of its rivals in terms of customer satisfaction with the service, followed by BURGER KING (3.59), and KFC (3.56). The average score of the five leading businesses is 3.54.

Regarding food quality and customers’ overall degree of satisfaction, BURGER KING appears to lead the way, while Lotteria gained the highest score for its interior and atmosphere, and KFC scored highly for its affordable prices.

Customers expressed the greatest level of satisfaction with McDonald’s in three areas, namely, user convenience, service quality, and service management, out of the six areas surveyed.

【The Level of Customer Satisfaction with Fast Food Businesses】

(Unit : Score)

* Businesses covered by the survey: The five leading fast food businesses

* The survey was conducted on 1,000 people who have used a fast food restaurant within the past year (as of December, 2013).

* Survey details: Online questionnaire-based survey conducted on December 5-6, 2013; 5-point Likert scale; reliability level of 95%; sampling error: ±3.1%; Overall level of satisfaction: weighted average applied for each sector.

The Korea Consumer Agency also examined the calorific and sodium content of the leading set menu of each fast food business in consideration of the fact that more than 70% of customers purchase the set menus provided by the businesses.

* Materials provided by the relevant businesses concerning leading/bestselling items

As regards the leading and bestselling items of the businesses, the product with the highest calorific content appears to be BURGER KING’s Whopper (763g), which contains 1,122Kcal vs. Dietary Reference Intake for male adult Koreans (2,200~2,600kcal a day).

The product with the highest sodium content is KFC’s Zinger Burger set (678g), which contains 1,447.2mg vs. a daily adequate intake for male adults (1,400~1,500mg) as announced by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). This was followed by McDonald’s Big Mac set (637g; 1,212mg) and the MCSpicy Shanghai Burger set (652g; 1,098mg).

         【Comparison of Calorific and Sodium Contents of Burger Set Menus】

※ Source : Materials provided by the relevant businesses concerning leading/bestselling items; relevant businesses’ home pages concerning calorific and sodium content

【Recommended Daily Intake of Calories and Sodium】

1) Sources: Korean Nutrient Society (2010), “Dietary Reference Intake for Koreans”

2) Sources: Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) (2013), “Standards for Food Labeling”

The Korea Consumer Agency advised that consumers should check the nutrient contents (calories, protein, sugar, sodium, saturated fat, etc.) meticulously to ensure they consume healthy meals, as a burger set menu contains a considerable amount of calories and sodium.

※ For detailed information on the service quality of fast food businesses, please check the Smart Consumer home page (www.smartconsumer.go.kr) provided by the Fair Trade Commission.