The relationship between price and quality, understand each other once and for all

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 19:13

To train your brain in slow awakening from vacation hibernation, today I propose a topic as hot as the dark onion of chef Salvatore Tassa: the price / happiness ratio, more conventionally known as quality / price. Follow me, you will not regret it.

Some time ago I had the good fortune to attend a heated discussion between two friends who are passionate about wine, Mr Tale and Mr Bano. The cause of the dispute, still far from being resolved today, is a bottle of wine worth € 500, whose quality / price ratio was judged convenient by one and disadvantageous by the other.

Mr Tale argued that, given the requirements, a € 500 bottle of wine can undoubtedly be excellent value for money. Mr Bano vigorously objected, stating that for that amount making Q / P speeches is rather ridiculous. And with sharp emphasis he declared: the relationship between these two parameters, so dear to copyrighters and marketing managers, is considered from the point of view of low cost and (presumed) quality of goods, not as a label for luxury products. A bottle of € 500 wine, however superb it may be, is alas very far from being a commodity of everyday life and for this reason it makes no sense to talk about value for money. At best of a good deal.

But what does "quality" mean? According to the editors of the ISO 9000 standard of 2005 (Fundamentals and Terminology) the correct definition is this: "Quality is the degree to which a set of intrinsic characteristics satisfy the requirements". Based on expectations, I would add. And when is it possible to talk about a good Q / P ratio? To clarify our ideas a little, let's make some examples:

- In 2010, during the "Taste Weeks" sponsored by Slow Food and aimed at young people under 26 (because-us-thirty-five-year-olds-without-a-lira-nobody-thinks about it), they could eat 6 dishes cooked by Heinz Beck at the prestigious Pergola of the Rome Cavalieri for only € 100, when normally the menu with the same number of courses costs € 190. For some, this would have been an experience with a very high Q / P ratio.

- A McDonald's hamburger costs 1 € on offer. Quality is what we expect. Can we talk about a good Q / P ratio?

- I believe that, spending around € 25 at Tonda, a new cult pizzeria opened by the owners of Sforno in the Montesacro area of Rome, in exchange for an excellent pizza, trapizzini on the plate (yes those of 00100), a wide range of craft beers and supplì to scream, is undoubtedly an experience with a very advantageous Q / P ratio. But for those who eat pizza and beer at the San Lorenzo Formula 1 for € 9, maybe not.

- A liter of ROI extra virgin olive oil obtained from the first cold pressing with millstones costs € 9.50. Carapelli, Monini, De Cecco and other medium-level GDOs, around € 6. Which product has the best Q / P ratio?

And so on.

Can we definitively explain what is meant by quality / price ratio and on what occasions is it right to take this value into account? Come on, can we?