2025 Cafeteria Survey
Findings Overview and Suggested Improvements
What do students and staff appreciate about UZH catering services, and where would they like to see improvements? The 2025 cafeteria survey reveals a high and stable level of satisfaction, buoyed by improved operating processes and outstanding staff performance.
The 2025 survey showed that people using the University of Zurich (UZH) catering facilities are overall satisfied with what’s on offer: overall satisfaction was 69 index points (on a scale from 0 to 100), the same as in the last survey in 2022. Students rated the offering more positively than staff, with 71 points compared to 66 points.
Catering facilities given positive overall ratings
Unsurprisingly, the Irchel and Zentrum cafeterias are the most frequently visited, with only minimal changes in the frequency of visits since 2022.
The Green Kitchen Lab (86 points) and Platte 14 (80 points) achieved the highest scores. The large cafeterias Zentrum (73 points) and Irchel (70 points) also performed well, achieving solid ratings. The satisfaction ratings for the Animal Hospital (62 points) and Binzmühle (59 points) cafeterias proved more concerning.
Good ratings for the food on offer
The results for hot food offerings are also encouraging. Taste and presentation were rated more highly than in 2022, with a solid score of 69 points (2022: 68 points). Value for money was also perceived more positively (72 points) than in the last survey (69 points). It is nice to see that for the first time, students also gave a positive assessment of the value for money ratio.
The variety of offerings, the salad buffet (65 points each), and the sandwich selection (63 points) received lower ratings than in the previous survey.
Impressive staff and organization
The excellent ratings for the staff (84 points) are particularly pleasing. Friendliness and competence are key pillars of satisfaction. The organization of cafeteria services (79 points compared to 77 points in 2022) and the cafeteria furniture and tableware (77 points vs. 76 points) also saw improved results.
Users were more critical of the catering premises (64 points), although these remained stable compared to the 2022 survey, particularly with regard to noise levels.
Better quality and regional products in demand
The top three wishes to improve the cafeterias’ offerings include more regional products (34 percent), better overall quality of food (33 percent) and meat from species-appropriate animal husbandry (29 percent).
A total of 4,647 people took part in the online survey in November 2025. Almost half of respondents (48 percent) visit a cafeteria more than twice a week. The results were based on specific questions, taking individual comments into account.
Turning insights into action
Various measures to improve the catering situation are in the pipeline or are already under way. All measures are available at the following link (PDF, 1 MB) (German only).