A FEW MINUTES MORE
Livsmedelsmyndigheten (Swedish Food Authority) · QSR
Challenge
Behaviour change — Swedish urban workers aged 25-45 who habitually eat lunch at fast food restaurants out of time pressure rather than genuine preference, and who feel a latent guilt about their dietary choices but perceive no viable alternative within their daily routine.
Insight
In Sweden's hyper-efficient work culture, fast food isn't chosen for taste — it's chosen because the speed of service eliminates the 'decision window' where people might reconsider what they're eating. The transaction is over before the guilt arrives.
Idea
Install a functioning government-branded fast food counter inside real QSR food courts that deliberately served meals at an agonisingly slow pace, forcing people to experience the full length of time it actually takes to prepare a healthy meal — and proving that the difference was only a few minutes.
Execution
The Swedish Food Authority opened pop-up 'Slow Counters' in high-traffic food courts in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö during peak lunch hours. Designed to mimic the visual language of a standard QSR outlet — illuminated menu boards, tray-lined counters, numbered tickets — the counters served freshly prepared balanced meals. But the key mechanic was a large digital clock mounted above the counter that counted the actual wait time in real time. When orders arrived, typically only three to four minutes after the neighbouring fast food chains, a printed receipt showed the exact time difference alongside the nutritional comparison. The tagline read: 'A few minutes more. A few years more.' Staff wore uniforms styled like QSR workers but in the authority's institutional green. Print ads in Metro and City newspapers the following week reproduced the receipts as full-page advertisements.