Episode 7 Rip Off Britain

There's a lot we don't know about the food on our plates,

and the shops and labels don't always tell you the whole story.

Sometimes when you have these offers on in the supermarket,

you think you're getting a good deal.

But if you're actually throwing it away, it's not a good deal.

Whether you're staying in or going out,

you've told us you can feel ripped off by the promises made from

what you eat and what you pay for it.

What really winds me up, I suppose,

is the price of so-called healthy food

compared with the unhealthy stuff.

The unhealthy stuff seems to be so much cheaper.

From claims that don't stack up to the secrets behind the packaging,

we'll uncover the truth about Britain's food

so you can be sure you're getting what you expect

at the right price.

Your food, your money - this is Rip Off Britain.

Hello and welcome to Rip Off Britain,

where, for this series,

we're working our way through all the concerns,

questions and issues you have raised with us relating to food.

And today we're asking if we always get the right-sized helping.

Are some too small, or even too big?

The thing is, I think it's certainly tough to get that right,

and like many of you who have contacted us,

I'm not sure if I always like it if I'm confronted with a plate

that's practically overflowing with food

any more than I like one that's a bit too meagre.

So from the super-sized to the super-small,

we're going to be investigating why some portions fall short of

our expectations and others almost overwhelm us.

Of course, when you think about it,

portion size can feel very subjective.

And there are those who say the bigger, the better.

I know a few of those.

But while the amount you're served

isn't necessarily just about value for money,

by the end of the programme we hope you'll have the information

you need to ensure that your food is portioned perfectly just for you.

Coming up - why some of you find the whopping meals

served in some restaurants are hard to swallow.

I think very often the portions are too large for me.

I think you either have to ask for two starters or a child's.

And it's demeaning.

So which big names also serve up smaller sizes?

And how much filling should there be in your favourite pie?

You might be surprised by the answer.

This lot certainly were.

Really?

-Seriously?!

-And that's it?!

-That's it!

-It's small!

One in five of us eats a restaurant or takeaway meal every single week,

and while, of course, we love it when we get value for money,

not everyone wants the biggest possible helping,

with food piled so high and crammed onto the plate.

Those plates, by the way, have themselves been getting bigger.

Did you know that since the '50s,

the plates in our cupboards have

increased by three inches in diameter?

And research shows that the bigger the plate,

the more we're likely to eat,

which is true not just at home but in some restaurants as well.

That's fine for many people, of course.

But we know that for some of you,

our pub or restaurant meal can be a little spoiled if you're confronted

with an oversized portion that you just can't quite manage.

So if you fancy eating out but you don't want too much,

how easy is it to get a smaller helping

that might just cost a bit less?

People often say they have too much on their plates,

and although they don't usually mean it literally,

when it comes to eating, a lot of us really do.

We are said to polish off 16% more food than we need to.

And while the NHS offers some clear guidance on how much we should eat,

normal portion sizes can go out of the window at some restaurants,

where the helpings can be huge.

The NHS says that's contributing to the obesity epidemic,

and some of you would agree that in this case,

you CAN have too much of a good thing.

I don't like it if they put a lot of food on your plate because

it just completely puts me off,

and there have been times when I've said, "Excuse me,

"But can you take this back and just take half off?"

And they don't seem to want to do that.

They just seem to say,

"Well, what we can do is give you a doggy bag."

The only things that I notice in Britain that they give

very generous portions of chips.

Sometimes when I go out I feel like I have to eat it all because

I paid for it. And I don't want to leave any of it.

But it's so big. So then you're just a little bit, like,

"Oh, "that's a bit too much," and you walk away feeling a bit sick

because you've had too much.

Now, of course, we want to feel that we're getting value for money when

we eat out. So the point here is not that

you shouldn't be able to have a big, hearty helping,

if that's what you want,

but if you'd rather have a smaller main meal at a lower price,

that option is not always available.

I must say, it is something I have experienced myself when eating out,

because there are times I just feel

I can't wade my way through all the food

that's on the plate, and I find it very frustrating because,

first of all, I don't like waste

and I also don't like to be overwhelmed by

the sheer volume of food on a single plate.

And I know that it's something you feel very strongly about as well,

judging from your e-mails and letters.

Because, really, you seem to want

the choice of portion that you want to eat.

And an e-mail from one viewer in particular especially stood out.

Pensioner Patricia Beeson contacted us to say that as she got older,

her appetite has changed,

and being faced with a huge

plate of food actually

puts her off her meal.

Well, Patricia is quite right in that many people need

fewer calories as they get older,

so hers is a complaint that Lucy Daniels,

a dietician and member of the British Dietetic Association,

has heard before.

'I find that older people want smaller portions.

So, yes, your appetite goes down, but you still need to have protein

and good quality food,

and many older people don't like waste,

so they'd rather not have something than waste that food.

But getting away from big portions isn't easy,

and the most recent report by the British Heart Foundation suggested

that this is a problem even when we're shopping.

Lucy says that's because manufacturers

have made available supersize packs

that sometimes we just can't resist.

What did that report show?

The report showed that the portion sizes of a lot of foods we eat

have gone up. For example, a lot of biscuits and bread -

they're maybe 10% bigger,

which doesn't sound a lot but if you eat a portion of all of those foods

every day for a year, it makes about a 3,000 calorie difference,

which is about a pound in weight that you would gain,

and if they're available in larger portions,

-we seem to eat more of them. Obviously.

-Give me an example.

-Let's say crisps.

-So, we used to eat a packet of crisps.

They were about 25g and about 130 calories.

Fine. Now we find many places have what we call a family package

of crisps. These weigh 150g.

The report showed that some people

would eat the whole bag in one sitting.

Another source of larger portions, according to Which Magazine,

is takeaways. A study by the consumer group

revealed some takeout meals can contain almost 1,500 calories,

which is three quarters of a woman's daily allowance.

Something like this is meant for two people,

but how many of us has munched

our way through a whole one of these?

And, of course, it's very difficult to know

exactly how many calories are in it.

Of course, it isn't just about calories,

even if there's growing concern about what too many are doing

to the nation's waistlines.

And to me, it seems obvious that if we have a choice on portion size,

we can save money and avoid waste by going for a smaller portion.

But there are some parts of the food industry that have taken notice

of this fact.

Andrew Crook is Vice President

of the National Federation of Fish Friers.

He's been offering smaller meals in his Lancashire fish and chip shop

for something like ten years.

By offering a smaller portion,

I think you don't alienate the people that don't want a lot to eat.

There's people that are hungry,

they like fish and chips but they don't want a full portion.

There's quite a lot of food volume in a portion of fish and chips.

So it just suits some people's needs.

Andrew's mini fish supper costs £3.80.

That's £1.75 less than a regular portion.

And as he knows it's popular, he's rarely left with any waste fish.

But he understands that places

with a more extensive menu may find smaller helpings

harder to deal with.

I think fish and chip shops are quite adaptable.

We're quite good at meeting the customer's needs.

But sometimes you've got to remember, we need to protect...

We need money coming in, so we've always got to have the turnover.

We've got bills to pay. But if you price your small portions right,

it can be done and it can work for both parties.

You can see how a place that specialises in one thing

can balance the books and still offer choice.

But how would a place where the menu changes cope with smaller portions?

Well, this pub in Chipstead in Kent serves meals all day long,

and it's very well-known for its excellent food,

everything cooked in the kitchen from fresh.

However, currently there isn't an option

of a smaller plate or helping,

but the boss says he's willing to have a look at it.

The owner of The George And Dragon, Benjamin James,

freely admits that for some of his diners, size does matter.

So have you noticed that people sometimes maybe ask for even less?

Because I know myself, if I get a plate that's just stacked,

it kind of puts me off before I start to eat.

Yeah, certainly at lunchtimes we find that happens.

We get a lot of people that come in and will request to have a starter

for lunchtime or they might want to share a dish between two of them.

Nobody really these days wants waste.

I think if we were to do a dish that was a half portion,

we could manage that.

I mean, if you take this piece of fish that we're using today,

by cutting that in half, I've got to pray that

someone else today comes in and has that other half of fish.

Otherwise it's going in the bin tonight

and that's a loss of money.

I might as well have just given them the whole portion for less money

and they'd thrown some of it in the bin themselves.

'So while he's all for broadening customer choice,

'Benjamin has real concerns that

'reducing his portions across the whole menu

'risks leaving him with wasted food,

'and that's not good news for anybody.'

But with such a clear demand from customers,

Benjamin has agreed to serve up some smaller helpings of this meal

as an experiment, and I'm very keen to see

how it goes down with a group of lunch lovers

that we've got together.

How are you all? Thank you very much indeed for joining us today.

At least you're going to get a good tasting lunch today.

Well, I'm not cooking!

So, I'll start with Sheila at the end there.

How do you feel about portions and food in general

when you're out and about?

I think very often the portions are too large for me,

and I have said, "Can I have a smaller portion?"

or, "Can I even have a child's portion?" sometimes.

But then the child's... They sometimes say,

"No, the child's menu is entirely separate."

And is that as you've got that tad older,

that you just don't want that much food?

I'm sure I could have scoffed it long years ago but not now.

-What about the rest?

-Yeah, I agree with that.

I think you have to either ask for two starters or a child's.

And it's demeaning, really. This is the thing.

You just want to enjoy your meal,

you don't want to leave loads because it doesn't look nice.

I'm going to be devil's advocate here.

Some people might say, "But it's simple.

"Just eat what you want off the plate.

"If you're prepared to pay for it,

"eat what you want and leave the rest."

I don't think it looks nice when you've left half of the meal.

It could be a packed restaurant and they must think,

"Oh, that meal's not very good.

"Look, the woman hasn't eaten it."

But hopefully, none of that will be the case with a smaller-sized meal

of baked fish that Benjamin's chef has prepared for us today.

Ah, lunch is served. How fantastic.

-Lovely.

-Ooh, that looks nice.

-Very nice.

-It looks very nicely presented.

'For comparison,

'we've put the standard sized helping of the meal

'on the table as well, which comes on a bigger plate.

'At full price, it usually costs £14.'

I instantly like the smaller plate because I don't feel

as if I'm being cheated with this plate.

I'm not looking at it, thinking, "It's a small plate,

"it's not quite the same, it's a kid's portion."

And bearing in mind that this is lunchtime,

it's not the main dinner...

So as I look at this before I even taste it,

I would say this is more than enough for lunch.

Bon appetit, everybody.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, lovely.

'So on our quest to find more manageable portions,

'we asked some well-known high street chains

'whether any of their meals are available in smaller helpings.'

And there was definitely some good news

for those with lighter appetites.

Prezzo lets you order smaller versions

of several of its main courses.

Wetherspoon offers mini servings

of its standard mains on the kid's menu,

which anyone is welcome to order from,

as well as smaller options on its main menu.

Bella Italia's menu includes half-sized pizzas

and a range of lighter meals.

Meanwhile, TGI Friday's may be famed

for its gut-busting servings,

like a 30oz rump steak with fries, mushrooms,

onion rings and sauce,

but even this chain offers many of its dishes

in a variety of portion sizes,

and customers can swap elements of their meal for less filling options

- for example, like swapping chips for salad.

Beautiful.

'And back at the George and Dragon,

'our experiment with reduced sized helpings appears to have gone down

'rather well.'

Well, now. If I had cooked this meal,

I would be thrilled with the empty plates, because we've absolutely cleared the lot.

Now, I find that more than adequate because it's lunchtime.

I think if it was my main meal in the evening,

I think I would have wanted a little more fish.

For me, that was a perfect size.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I feel nice and comfortable.

It was absolutely delicious and I did enjoy that.

If this was my main meal,

I would probably have liked a little more,

but I feel now I could eat a dessert,

whereas often, eating out, I'd love a dessert.

I'm tempted by the menu but I know I won't eat it.

So it's a bit of a plus, then, to have a smaller, leaner plate.

'So it's a big tick from the customers.

'But let's see if the boss is equally chuffed.'

Here comes Ben.

Ben, I know you're busy but stay

-where you are just for a minute...

-OK.

..because you must be very pleased with all these clean plates.

Six empty plates - always good news.

'But will those empty plates and his diners' approval be enough to tempt

'Ben into offering smaller portions on his menu permanently?'

So, have you thought any more about it over the morning?

I think if we were to have a light lunch section and to have

one or two dishes in there, I think that would be

the best way to try it to start with.

And would you be prepared to start to try it?

I think certainly with dishes that I know are popular,

so, for example, today's dish with cod, pea puree and potatoes,

you know that every day someone is going to want a piece of fish,

so I think something like that would work very well.

And if introduced onto his menu,

he would cut the price of that smaller dish as well.

It would cost a fiver less than the full-size version,

so a great saving for those with a smaller appetite,

'and if it helps to reduce food waste as well,

'I have a feeling the adult mini meal could, you know, catch on.'

Still to come - the top-end burger joints that have sprung up

on the high street. Are they delivering quite as much meat

as you would expect for the sometimes pricey prices?

We've done a test to find out.

So, three sesame seeded buns, one glazed bun...

There's a whole different set of

sizes and heights and shapes going on here.

Now, here's a great statistic.

Three quarters of us here in the UK

will eat at least one pie every month.

But I'm afraid it seems that some of the most commonly available

meat varieties can fall far short of what you might call "pie-fection".

Sorry about that(!) Indeed,

quite a few of you have contacted us

to complain about the very same thing,

that when you cut into your pie,

it turned out to be all pastry and no filling.

So how much meat SHOULD a pie contain?

Well, it was certainly a lot less than I was expecting.

So as we lift the lid on the pie industry,

get ready for a few surprises.

Pies. We love to make them, bake them and, above all, eat them.

Savoury pastries are a red-hot market

worth a cool £1 billion a year,

and in return for our cash, we expect our pies to deliver.

But some Rip Off Britain viewers have been left rather unfulfilled

by their pies. And they have, I have to say,

been surprised that they have been remarkably empty.

For example, Teri Penn wrote to say that she was very unhappy that the

pie that she cut into contained only half an inch of chicken

and no vegetables.

Similarly, Chris Carr contacted us to say that her pie

had barely a dessert spoonful of filling,

and all she was really paying for was the pastry

and the gravy.

And the issue has caused a storm on social media,

where unimpressed punters regularly post pictures

of their less-than-perfect pies.

Martin Tarbuck from Wigan is such a fan that he has written

several books on the subject,

travelling the length and breadth of the UK on a pie pilgrimage,

tasting the very best and worst that Britain has to offer.

So who better to tell us what makes the perfect pie?

Can I have a meat and potato pie, please?

Yeah, that's £1.55, then, please.

I would find it difficult to put a figure on how many pies I have eaten

but it's a bit of a Saturday tradition since I've been

a small boy, and I'm forty...

three!

Most importantly, I want to see them well filled.

A pie should be a meal in itself. We don't want any spare space in there.

I like to see a good shortcrust pastry that you can bite into.

I like to see a good quality of filling as well,

so a really good quality of meat.

But the pies that some of you have contacted us about

are the cheaper ones

that you might find on sale in supermarkets.

They may not be handcrafted or individually baked,

but we do still expect them to be packed with a decent filling.

But, as Martin knows better than most, that's not always the case.

I have often found that when you bite into the pies,

there is not the level of meat content that you would expect

from a pie and there's lots of vegetables

or other things to pad it out.

I do occasionally get complaints coming in from people

who bought a pie from a supermarket

and it is not as described. There's nothing in it.

Very often it comes down to the content and the taste and the price

and value for money and all those factors.

I think the level of meat content is always a constant bugbear

with people.

So if a pie expert and our viewers

rate the filling as the most important thing

to get right, who sets the standards for pie producers to meet?

If you thought it was individual manufacturers who decided what went

into their pie fillings, I'm afraid you would be wrong.

It's actually the responsibility of a government department, Defra -

the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs -

who make that decision.

And they've got some pretty precise guidelines on what should actually

be going into the fillings.

And you might be surprised to hear that a pie

that contains only meat must contain just 10 to 12.5% of meat.

And if you buy meat and something else,

like chicken and vegetable, or meat and potato,

then the pie only has to be made up of 7% meat

to be within the regulations.

So I have come to Wolverhampton,

a city with a proud pie-making tradition,

to see if people here know how little meat is required inside, say,

a chicken and vegetable pie.

-Do you eat pies?

-Yes, Angela.

What type of pies?

I eat chicken pies. I eat steak and kidney pies.

So you're an expert?

-Yes.

-Right, OK.

Would you put in that little pot how much chicken you would expect to get

in a pie if it came in a little pot that size?

Yes, I will.

OK, off you go, then. Would you put in there for me, from there,

how much chicken you would like there to be in your pie, please?

OK. Does this include all the gravy?

No, just the chicken. How much chicken you would like in your pie.

You've got a healthy appetite.

I would say that much and the pastry covers the top.

Over the top. So, what would you think if I told you that, actually,

all the chicken you need is...

Oh! What is that?!

What do you reckon to that, then?

It's small!

Really? Seriously?!

-And that's it?!

-That's it!

-What do you reckon?

-I think I could get ten pies out of that!

'Each of them put in at least four times more chicken than

'the legal minimum for a chicken and vegetable pie.

'Now, of course, some manufacturers do add more than the minimum.

'But certainly, when it comes to the most widely available,

'commercially-produced pies,

'you would be hard pushed to find a meat and veg product with more than

'25% meat in the filling.

'Dr David Jukes is an expert on food laws

'and a senior lecturer at Reading University.

'He has agreed to talk us through the regulations that govern

'what goes into our pies.'

You can have all sorts of different meat contents and that is

the complication for the consumer,

that the meat content is very variable.

So the question is,

how low can it go before it stops being a meat pie?

And, well, there's legislation on that,

because it's designed to protect the consumer

from somebody claiming that it's a meat pie and then actually

putting a very small amount in.

Now, of course, the label on the packaging does make clear

how much meat to expect in your pie.

But would you be right to assume that the more you pay,

the more meat you get?

'Well, to find out, we're challenging David to see if he can guess whether

'a pie is gourmet or budget, based just on its ingredients.'

Well, I'm going to ask you

if you can have a look at

-the ingredients that go into three separate pies?

-Right.

One is very high-end,

one of them is middle-of-the-range, and one is quite inexpensive.

-OK, I hope I can tell.

-Would you be able to tell?

I'll have a look. So, this one has got chicken breast - 10%.

It has also got some vegetables in it - carrot and peas.

A bit further down there is some chicken stock, but basically

the meat content, on average, will be about 10%.

-So I'm guessing...

-HE KNOCKS TABLE

I'm saying that that one is probably the bottom, the cheapest.

This one has some roast chicken at 10%,

it's also got some extra chicken, 6%.

So that adds up to 16%.

There's also some vegetables, some onion and so on.

So let's say, OK, that's better than the first one you showed me.

This one - wow, British chicken breast, 25%.

And then it's got some butter and double cream and some other

very interesting ingredients, so I'm saying that that's the top end,

that's the one. So that's the top one,

the one I saw first at the 10%

is at the bottom and this one is in the middle,

if I'm right.

You are right, actually, yes.

And, indeed, the first one is four in a pack for £1.

So they're...what? They're 25p each.

Indeed. Now, you might say that that's providing a product for

-a certain market.

-And the other end of the scale...

-At the other end of the scale...

-..it's over £3 for ONE pie.

'Easy as pie for David, who's got it bang on.

'And based on this small selection, it does seem that the more you pay,

'the more meat you get.

'But even at the higher end,

'you should still generally only expect a quarter of your filling

'to be meat, making that pricier pie way more expensive.

'But David says that's OK,

'as long as shoppers are able to make an informed choice.'

You know what the price is when you look on the shelf.

You can pick up the product. You can look at the ingredients list.

And so, as a consumer,

that's what the labelling legislation is actually providing.

It's ensuring that you as a consumer are given the information

that's needed to make that choice.

'But how much meat there is in your pie

'isn't the only concern you've told us about.

'Alan Maling got in touch with an entirely different complaint,

'and this one can't be answered by a look at the label.

'Alan says whenever he opens up one of his precious pastries,

'a lot of what he finds inside is quite literally hot air.

'So I was keen to get a closer look at how some manufacturers are able

'to produce pies in bulk but without comprising on quality.

'Packing them with filling and not, as Alan found, too much air.'

Here in Britain we produce literally

hundreds of millions of pies every year.

Many of them are made in buildings like this one behind me.

This is an award-winning pie factory that's based in Wolverhampton,

where every day they make thousands of pies from scratch,

which then go out to farm shops

and quality food outlets all over the country.

What they don't know about pie-making isn't worth knowing.

And they're about to give me a masterclass

in how to produce the perfect pie.

In this one factory alone,

around 190,000 pies a month roll off this production line.

Mike has worked here for a number of years,

and he'll be my guide around the factory floor.

Just briefly talk me through the process.

-What happens?

-Well, the pastry guys will do various mixes.

They will then hand-cut every lid for whatever size pie we're making

on the day. You've got our meat fillings,

which are being cooked at the same time.

They will literally come onto this machine, which you see here.

It's a semi-automated line.

When they're making handmade products, they'll fill the pie.

They work to a specification.

With a set of scales behind them,

they will check the weight of every pie they are manufacturing.

If it's underweight, which I very much doubt it,

it will not go through to the cook area.

Next, it's that all-important filling,

which here has above-average levels for meat -

up to 32% of the pie.

How do you maintain a level of meat to vegetable,

fruit or whatever it is you're putting in them?

The calculations will be automatically calculated

for what carrots we have to put in,

onions, swede, parsnips...

It's all done automatically.

The girls will then work to that recipe.

The operators on the machines here -

if they notice that the fill hasn't gone into the pie properly,

the pie is removed.

By insisting that each and every product is checked by hand,

Mike is also keeping a lid on the quality,

which is why he is confident that the pies produced here won't have

the sort of problems that you've been contacting us about.

We've had people write to us to tell us that they bought pies in a shop

and there's just a tiny bit of filling in the bottom and the rest

of it is air. How does that happen?

You'll probably find that some of these larger-scale manufacturers,

they don't have the amount of staff operating

these very, very modern machines.

So you literally may only get one person on a machine that's

half a mile long. Pies can probably slip through the system.

They're automatically packed by the machine as well.

Well, in this case, the proof of the pudding is very much in the filling.

Time to crack open one of the pies produced here to see

if it does live up to Mike's promises.

That's a steak and potato.

That's steak and kidney.

There's no air at all, there, is there?

-Next to nothing.

-There's no room at all between the pastry and the top.

There has been a little bit of shrinkage, but it's full to the top.

And there's loads of meat in there.

And here you have it - a lovely meat and potato pie, all finished,

ready to be packed and then sent off to be enjoyed - who knows? -

perhaps even by you.

Sadly, though, not all pies are quite so well-filled,

so to be sure you're getting what you expect,

keep an eye on the labels and even the name because,

as pie expert Martin says, you'll find examples where things

have ended up rather the wrong way round.

You'll notice that a lot of pies now are called potato and meat

rather than meat and potato.

But if that's what we're paying for,

then that's what we should be getting in our pie.

Now, when did you last have a burger and what kind of burger was it?

A plain old no-nonsense one or one of those posh ones that have

started appearing on menus all over the country?

Adding all those fancy fillings

and speciality sauces certainly transforms

the meal, but it also adds to the price.

And not all of you are convinced it's worth it.

In fact, one disgruntled viewer got in touch

to say that a big-name outfit served him more bun than burger,

and there wasn't as much meat as was promised on the menu.

So we went to see for ourselves if the posh burger

really is the real deal.

It remains a brilliantly simple idea.

Beef patty, cheese and salad,

parcelled up with ketchup in a toasted bun.

Providing, for many of us, a real meaty treat.

I do like burgers in restaurants.

I like the taste of burgers.

Well, they're thick and juicy, aren't they?

Originating in America,

the first burgers are thought to have sizzled onto the food scene

in the late 19th century.

The hamburger, like so many American foods,

is a result of immigration and different influences coming in.

You have some street stalls being set up by the ports to cater for

the German sailors. So what they were doing is doing the food that

the German sailors knew and loved, and Hamburg steak was one of those.

Through the second half of the 1800s,

what happens is that the Hamburg steak

starts to be put between some bread and a bun

and immediately that becomes much closer to the hamburger

that we know.

Those juicy patties made their way across the pond in the 1950s,

and in 1974 we got our first McDonald's, selling burgers for 15p.

Since then, their popularity has grown year-on-year,

and the UK burger industry is now worth over £3 billion,

growing by 22% in the last five years alone.

The hamburger has been around for hundreds of years

but now it's really enjoying

a different moment of popularity across the country.

It's tapping into an appeal that people want to have things

which are quite simple, quite rustic, quite honest,

not too fancy.

That's very much the mood in food

at the moment and the burger can promise that

and also promise really high-quality ingredients.

Well, that's certainly the selling point

for the raft of upscale burger chains

that have opened up on British high streets.

There are four big names that dominate the market -

Byron, Five Guys,

Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Handmade Burger Co.

But the journey from budget to gourmet

has been matched by a similar evolution in pricing,

so now you could pay around £12

for a burger in some of the specialist chains,

a figure which got a mixed reaction from these shoppers in Manchester.

I wouldn't pay £12.50 for a burger.

I do think that's a bit extortionate.

The small business one might, for example,

give you more value for your money and it might be cheaper.

Well, I'm happy to pay extra if I feel it's a good quality burger that

I'm paying for in a restaurant.

I wouldn't pay £12.50 for a burger because you can buy a pack of four

in a good supermarket for £3.

For me, it's really important to get good value for money.

Especially in this day and age, where every penny counts.

And it's that issue which prompted

Harvey Davis to contact Rip Off Britain.

He's got a beef with one of

the leading burger restaurants, Byron,

which, over the last ten years,

has opened more than 70 branches across the UK.

Harvey isn't convinced that a recent visit got him value for money,

and it's all about the size of the burger itself.

He chose a 6oz one that set him back £9.50.

But when it arrived he didn't think it matched the weight

stated on the menu, so he's asked us to look into it.

And to help, we've drafted in a burger expert

who has a passion for the subject.

So what do I love about burgers?

It's my favourite food.

So obsessed is Nick Andrews with burgers that

he's created a special blog about them

with over 400 reviews to choose from.

'I was trained in a French restaurant

'so I always had a love of food.

'The burger is the go-to item I always eat on a menu.'

It's kind of comforting. It's something that you always know what

you're going to get. And, yeah,

I just really enjoy putting together

the love of food and writing about burgers.

Well, we've sent Nick on a mission to find out if the burgers

served at Byron and, indeed,

the other gourmet joints on the high street

are the size promised on the menu.

Are you really getting the amount of meat you're paying for?

To find out, Nick's first task is one he's well used to -

buying the burgers.

But this time, instead of eating them, he'll be inspecting them.

Nick's going for the biggest burgers on the menus

of the four main chains.

Starting with this bacon cheeseburger

from the America-based chain Five Guys,

competitively priced at £9.50.

So, this is the Five Guys burger.

It's got a bit of a squish on.

Next, a double cheese and bacon burger from the Handmade Burger Co,

which makes all its burgers using only Scottish beef.

This is a big one. Look at that!

In fact, with two of what's

advertised as 7oz patties,

this double cheese and bacon burger is the biggest of all

today's offerings and it'll set you back £12.50.

We've got Byron here. Get that out.

Of course, the pickle.

For the same price,

Byron's offering is the double bacon cheeseburger boasting

two 6oz patties.

Finally, we've got

the Gourmet Burger Kitchen burger.

This is the Mighty one. It's also

a double bacon cheeseburger.

The GBK burger is again sold as two 6oz patties and although Nick

bought it for £12.45, the price has since gone up to £12.60,

making it the priciest of the burgers he's chosen.

So, three sesame seeded buns,

one glazed bun.

There's a whole different set of

sizes and heights and shapes going here.

Remember, Nick's seen a lot of burgers in his time.

So what does he make of these,

taking into account both size and overall value for money?

So, recognising this isn't the most scientific of tests,

the biggest burger that's come out

today is the Gourmet Burger Kitchen burger.

It's got the most height,

it's got the thickest patties and the broadest width.

If you are asking me which one my favourite is,

actually I think from a visual perspective

and what looks like would give

me the most satisfaction...

It would be the Byron hamburger.

I just think it... For me, with the American cheese,

the fact the meat is broader and wider than the bun,

it just looks like it's going to

deliver the biggest bang for buck.

So which one's the best value for money?

I mean, I actually think these

three - £12.45, £12.50, £12.50...

They're all pretty good value for money.

I actually think the Five Guys for £9.50 looks a bit disappointing.

Still, that's three out of four burgers which get

Nick's stamp of approval.

But the question Rip Off Britain viewer Harvey put to us remains.

Do these beefy treats have as much meat as is claimed on the menus?

Well, there is a key piece of information

anyone looking at the advertised weight of meat

needs to bear in mind, as David Underwood,

who's chef and part-owner of the Steak & Honour restaurant

in Cambridge, explains.

People need to be aware that the chances are they're paying for

the uncooked weight of the meat, and that can be wildly different to the

cooked weight of the meat, depending on what that meat is and what

the cut of the meat is and how long it's cooked for.

So, if we stipulate a weight on the menu it will always be uncooked.

The meat patty will shrink on the grill because of...the blood will,

in effect, head off into the ether. Some of the fat will also.

It will render down and the fat will hopefully keep the patty moist,

but ultimately you are hitting

a piece of raw protein with an awful lot of heat

and that will gradually become a perfectly cooked patty,

and, with it, it will lose its weight.

To see exactly what that means,

the burgers we bought are on their way to the University of West London

for a weigh-in. This time,

we're not including the one from Five Guys because that chain doesn't

state the weight of its burgers on the menu.

But the other three do,

so how much of the initial uncooked weight has now been lost?

It will be really interesting to see

how much weight is lost from cooking

a raw beef patty to what you actually get in your burger.

Nick is meeting culinary arts lecturer Nathan Vasanthan.

So how much would you expect a normal burger

to shrink by in the cooking process?

To start with, shrinkage is inevitable,

so any burger will shrink when you cook.

A good quality burger should be

shrinking in the region of 20 to 25%.

Of course, all Nathan's interested in is the meat itself.

So all other bits of the burger need to go.

So, we are going to be removing the toppings and the buns,

and we are going to be weighing the cooked burgers,

and we are going to be comparing that with

the announced weight on the menu.

So that way, we'll have an idea of the shrinkage.

Nathan will also take into account other variables which could affect

our burgers' shrinkage.

For example, the time that's elapsed since they were cooked,

which may lead to an extra loss of moisture.

So, this is the Gourmet Burger Kitchen burger.

On their menu it says this is a 6oz patty,

so let's weigh it and see how it's doing.

Absolutely.

OK, this comes out as 4.3, 4.4oz.

This is slightly over the threshold we discussed initially.

Considering that it's cold now and it's been sitting with the buns for

some time here, I think it would probably be within the threshold

when it was fresh.

So, that's a thumbs up for GBK.

Next, how much is left of the 7oz patty

from the Handmade Burger Company?

OK, so this is 4.9oz.

The loss is slightly more than 25%.

To be honest, considering the other variables,

it's OK to have this kind of loss, considering all the variables.

Last on the scales is the one from Byron,

the restaurant from which a similar-size burger

prompted our viewer Harvey's initial query.

-This is a 6oz burger on their menu.

-OK.

-Let's take a look.

-Yeah.

This burger weighs 5.2oz.

So on this showing,

the Byron burger actually lost the least weight during cooking,

just 13.3%, which suggests that if this happened on Harvey's visit,

the reduction in the size of his burger was more likely to be down to

the cooking process rather than being short-changed.

When we contacted the four top burger chains,

they all said that they prided themselves

on the quality of the beef they used

and the high standards they employed to serve their customers

the best burgers, and it seems even

the blogger who thought he knew everything

about burgers has had some food for thought.

It's quite surprising to find out how much burgers do shrink

when they're being cooked. And naturally,

with a 100% burger there is big threshold for moisture and fat loss

that you get through the cooking process.

So altogether, very interesting.

-ANGELA:

-If you feel short-changed by any of the products

you buy or you've got a story

you would like us to investigate,

do get in touch via our Facebook page,

BBC Rip Off Britain, our website,

bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain...

..or e-mail us at...

Or if you'd rather send a letter, then our address is...

I must say, I was delighted to see the pub I was in earlier is only

too happy to try out smaller portions of food

if that's what customers want.

And you know, that just reinforces what I've always believed -

if you're not getting what you want, do make your voice heard.

We certainly do and it certainly has an impact.

And of course, when places listen to what customers have to say,

there can be a real benefit to that company as well.

So, as consumers, we really do have a lot more power than you might

sometimes think. And in the end,

it's the power to take our business elsewhere that can be

a very persuasive argument.

You bet. But that's where we have to leave it for now.

You've had your full helping of us for one day.

But keep all your stories and comments coming.

They really do determine what we investigate on future programmes.

And we will be back to investigate more of them very soon.

Thanks for watching, and until the next time from

-all of us, goodbye.

-Goodbye.

-Bye-bye.