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Smunch International Business Lunch Index

First invented by American labor unions in the 1800s, the nine to five workday has been a mainstream phenomenon since the 1920s. Today, all around the world, office employees can be found on the same treadmill - from the glimmering glass towers of London’s Canary Wharf, to the thriving financial scene of Tokyo’s Marunouchi precinct.

At Smunch, we believe in the importance of a healthy lunch as this is an essential part of the working day. That’s why we decided to uncover the cities around the world with the most expensive and least expensive business lunches. We also analyzed the most affordable business lunches relative to the average income and living costs.

The study analyzed the average salary, living costs and central business precinct lunch prices for the 35 capital cities of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. By looking at the average lunch prices across five major cuisines – Local, Bistro, Italian/French, Asian and American – and then determining the disposable income of the city’s residents, the study also calculated the number of business lunches people could afford per week.

The following table reveals how expensive business lunches are around the world as well as the number of business lunches employees can afford every month across the 35 capital cities of the OECD:

Overview of Business Lunch Prices


OECD Countries

Capital City

Av. Business Lunch

Local Cuisine

Bistro

Italian/ French

Asian

American
Business Lunches per Week Monthly Net Income Monthly Living Costs
1 Japan Tokyo $26.50 $39.42 $34.47 $24.31 $23.20 $11.10 1 $2.453,12 $2.744,79
2 Switzerland Bern $26.44 $43.81 $22.61 $23.33 $22.69 $19.77 8 $3.084,39 $3.029,96
3 Spain Madrid $26.17 $43.55 $28.12 $20.68 $24.97 $13.54 5 $1.975,72 $2.229,07
4 Australia Canberra $22.06 $40.07 $18.40 $16.31 $24.69 $10.85 11 $2.696,88 $1.278,65
5 United Kingdom London $21.84 $36.60 $20.16 $15.54 $18.78 $18.14 -8 $2.363,96 $1.495,23
6 Iceland Reykjavik $21.38 $26.15 $14.52 $17.18 $31.37 $17.69 6 $2.631,27 $1.125,95
7 Norway Oslo $20.92 $21.28 $21.67 $22.51 $19.73 $19.39 16 $2.941,06 $1.221,96
8 France Paris $19.29 $34.15 $17.30 $15.05 $12.79 $17.14 -1 $2.577,10 $1.051,23
9 Netherlands Amsterdam $18.82 $28.80 $20.04 $21.12 $12.18 $11.98 3 $2.414,84 $1.395,90
10 South Korea Seoul $18.82 $22.54 $12.48 $27.64 $16.23 $15.21 9 $1.801,44 $811,75
11 Israel Jerusalem $18.76 $16.92 $17.03 $25.66 $18.43 $15.75 -2 $1.379,49 $1.568,68
12 Luxembourg Luxembourg $18.70 $25.71 $16.55 $15.65 $18.31 $17.29 9 $3.232,41 $1.562,20
13 United States Washington, D.C. $18.38 $16.68 $19.20 $25.11 $16.22 $14.70 13 $3.728,01 $2.192,85
14 Denmark Copenhagen $17.90 $20.21 $15.02 $23.88 $14.15 $16.24 12 $2.437,31 $826,31
15 Sweden Stockholm $17.33 $16.81 $14.88 $14.45 $29.82 $10.68 19 $2.575,70 $2.575,35
16 Ireland Dublin $16.86 $20.52 $23.43 $17.49 $12.88 $10.00 -8 $2.083,65 $869,55
17 Austria Vienna $16.54 $20.29 $11.70 $30.27 $9.74 $10.70 19 $2.761,26 $963,19
18 Finland Helsinki $16.52 $23.31 $17.57 $16.08 $14.36 $11.28 8 $2.465,06 $2.305,92
19 New Zealand Wellington $15.86 $15.84 $22.05 $16.91 $13.40 $11.09 8 $2.077,74 $1.659,11
20 Belgium Brussels $15.08 $25.90 $14.32 $10.49 $12.21 $12.51 16 $2.499,72 $1.516,07
21 Portugal Lisbon $14.94 $19.76 $14.42 $14.53 $18.32 $7.69 6 $1.745,54 $2.626,64
22 Italy Rome $14.89 $17.26 $12.21 $14.12 $17.54 $13.32 9 $2.188,86 $2.084,80
23 Lithuania Vilnius $14.82 $20.89 $18.09 $15.47 $8.36 $11.30 4 $1.108,23 $628,59
24 Germany Berlin $14.37 $16.74 $10.72 $18.81 $9.90 $15.66 21 $2.823,25 $1.031,88
25 Estonia Tallinn $13.44 $16.66 $16.95 $14.88 $10.25 $8.44 11 $1.621,56 $1.610,48
26 Greece Athens $12.96 $16.50 $14.64 $10.38 $12.47 $10.81 8 $1.457,15 $2.670,55
27 Slovenia Ljubljana $12.91 $21.39 $8.05 $7.37 $12.88 $14.86 10 $1.714,01 $1.931,58
28 Slovakia Bratislava $12.76 $16.80 $9.42 $9.74 $21.84 $6.02 12 $1.685,52 $1.038,48
29 Canada Ottawa $12.27 $13.81 $13.09 $12.77 $11.05 $10.64 24 $2.540,06 $1.606,52
30 Hungary Budapest $10.95 $11.12 $13.16 $12.78 $8.90 $8.82 20 $1.523,01 $849,63
31 Latvia Riga $10.38 $12.07 $9.37 $12.67 $10.39 $7.40 9 $1.339,84 $849,68
32 Chile Santiago $9.80 $8.78 $10.96 $11.28 $8.47 $9.50 11 $1.291,82 $1.359,39
33 Czech Republic Prague $8.87 $5.82 $8.18 $11.73 $8.31 $10.28 26 $1.766,12 $1.535,41
34 Poland Warsaw $8.27 $9.27 $7.40 $11.99 $5.81 $6.90 25 $1.631,19 $1.474,73
35 Mexico Mexico City $7.54 $5.06 $6.53 $7.15 $8.89 $10.09 -2 $776,18 $1.724,79
Smunch background

Methodology

In order to calculate the average cost of a business lunch, we looked at the city capitals of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. For each city capital, we reviewed business lunches within business and financial precinct. In total, three business menus from five different cuisines per city were researched. The cuisines are: Asian, Local, Bistro, Italian/French, American. Then, the average business lunch price was calculated by taking three business lunch prices per menu and calculating the average price.

Note: Ankara, the capital of Turkey has been excluded from the study due to a lack of available online menus.

Definitions

Business District

A business precinct is defined as an area where the majority of businesses, organizations and restaurants are located, that offer a lunch menu. This was researched on Wikipedia, Wikitravel, Conbiz.

Location

The location of the business precinct and restaurants. This was researched on Google Maps.

Cost of Menu

In order to obtain the cost of a business lunch, we analyzed the official websites of each restaurant, reviewed the menus and listed the price for a business lunch dish in the local currency. When no menu was labeled as lunch menu, the average price of three main dishes were calculated instead (see Business Lunch Index Table). All business lunch prices have been converted from the local currency to US-Dollars (currency converted in August 2019).

Monthly Gross Income

The monthly gross salary was researched through WorldData.info.

Net Income of a household

The amount of money that a household earns each month after tax deduction. The source used for this is the data bank of OECD.

The cost of living

The average amount of net income that is spent on important factors such as rent, transportation, utilities, internet and healthcare.

  • Rent

    The average monthly rent for an apartment in each city was researched on Numbeo, Expatistan and Statista.

  • Transportation

    The monthly costs to use public transportation in each city was researched on Numbeo and Expatistan.

  • Utilities

    The basic monthly costs that cover water, electricity and gas were researched on Numbeo and Expatistan.

  • Internet

    The monthly costs for a 60 Mbps internet connection were researched on Numbeo and Expatistan

  • Care

    Cost of health care for a private appointment at the doctors and personal care products (shampoo, medicine, hairdressers visit) were both researched through Expatistan.

Calculations

Average Spend in %

The average amount of income after tax deduction that is spent on crucial factors e.g. rent and food was accounted through the following formula:

Average Spending Money

The average amount of money in Euro that is left after living expenses are deducted and that can be spent is calculated with this formula:

Number of Business Lunches per Month

The amount of Business Lunches that a person can afford is calculated as follows:

Number of Business Lunches per Week

The amount of Business Lunches that a person can afford per week is calculated as follows:

Who are we?

So here’s what we do in a nutshell: We deliver delicious lunches to companies all over town so that office people can enjoy their breaks to the fullest. So if your office was a hotel, we’d be room service.

Our food is super fresh and healthy, and as we have dozens of partner restaurants that take turns preparing it, we can offer a huge variety. Basically, it’s like eating out in a different part of the city every day.

Most of the companies we cater for choose us as their everyday lunch program. Why? Our food can be subsidized through meal allowances, saving the employer not only the costs of running a canteen, but also taxes and social security payments.