Smunch International Business Lunch Index 2019

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

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.

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).

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.

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.