The daily menu in Spain increased on average by 1.5% in bars and restaurants, reaching 14.2 euros, according to data from the report prepared by Hospitality of Spain in collaboration with Edenred.
This was reported by the general secretary of the Spanish hotel industry, Emilio Gallego Europa Pressclaims that the increase is rather a “stagnation” of the price of the daily menu. The reason is that the increase in food and drink prices is well above 1.5%. Even the salary costs of employees in the hotel sector, as he defended.
The report reveals that 40% of restaurants increased their price between 2% and 3%, while 30% said they did not increase it, compared to 20% who increased it by 1% and 10% who said they increased it by more than 4%.
By autonomous community, the cheapest daily menu is found in the Canary Islands, which has an average price of 13 euros, followed by Asturias (13.2 euros) and Andalusia and Murcia, with 13.4 euros.
While the Balearic Islands, with an average price of 16 euros, are the region where eating the menu of the day is most expensive, followed by the Basque Country (15.8 euros) and Catalonia (15.4 euros), while Madrid is at 14.5 euros.
However, the report shows that the Balearic Islands (16 euros), Extremadura (13.7 euros) and the Basque Country (15.8 euros) have not increased the price of the daily menu compared to the previous year.
The general secretary of Spanish Hospitality has warned that establishments “oriented towards the menu of the day must look closely”. “They are in a moment where they need to apply management to move forward with confidence,” he explained.
Gallego underlined that the typology of places with daily menus is “very diversified” at a national level, since it was previously intended for resident consumption, but in tourist areas this proposal has adapted and has become an “interesting opportunity” for tourists, who bet on it.
In this way, bars and restaurants are also adapting to the current consumption context. So they are adapting their culinary offer with proposals such as the half menu, on the rise in recent years, or by changing products, since there are menus in which the sirloins have disappeared for more affordable pieces.
“This restructuring of the product offering itself is part of the cost resolution mechanism, but there are also venues in some peripheral areas or neighborhoods of large cities and towns that are closing. Bars in the suburbs of Madrid and Barcelona are closing,” he warned, reiterating his concern about the lack of qualified staff in the hospitality sector.
For this reason, hoteliers do not hide their “concern” about the evolution that the menu of the day may have in the coming years, given that restaurants focus heavily on fresh products and on the increase in costs of both food and drinks.
The commitment to the dishes prepared
The General Secretary of Hospitality of Spain has recognized that in Spain people cook less and less and more importance is given to ready meals, a proposal which supermarkets have joined with an increase in these dishes and with spaces to consume them in their own spaces.
“We are moving towards a society that will stop cooking and shopping, where solutions for prepared meals can be a problem for the hospitality industry. We are open to competition, but we play by the same rules. If meals are served and consumed regularly, they must have the same type of licenses,” Gallego assured.
Thus, the director of the hotel association explained that one “thing is the tasting counters” as there may be in pastry shops and another is that there are “tables and chairs for lunch and dinner” as seen in some ‘supers’. “We are open to competition, but peer businesses must have parallel requirements and obligations,” he urged.
Upload the ‘Restaurant Ticket’?
For his part, the general director of Endered in Spain, Stanislas de Bourgues, underlined that the increase in the price of the menu of the day this year has been “more controlled” and hoteliers recognize that customers have returned to restaurants, which is why he asks to bet on the “Restaurant Ticket” and increase it, since 60% of hoteliers believe that this brings them business.
In this way, they believe that the time has come to update the daily exemption limit, currently set at 11 euros, so that this proposal continues to generate value, since its price has remained stable since 2018, when it was last updated, going from 9 euros to the current 11 euros.
Endered then reiterated that this measure, supported by unions and employers, benefits professionals, hoteliers and also the Public Administration, since it “contributes to improving work conciliation, deseasonalizing demand and supporting workplace well-being and food health policies”, as explained by the director of Public Affairs of Edenred Spain, Cristina Afán.
