€19.44 spent in restaurants: Lidl's coffee is the summer hit

€19.44 spent dining out: the €0.72 coffee as an answer

There is one figure that doesn't fit with a summer of spending: €19.44 spent in restaurants throughout the whole of August. Presented as a saving achievement, the figure hides a meticulously planned operation: a Lidl espresso at €0.72, a roll-your-own cigarette and a 12-kilometre drive to get it.

The logic is nothing new. Faced with rising prices, some people have decided that café coffee is a luxury and eating out an exercise in masochism. The argument is reinforced by the complaints circulating these days: table service charged separately on the coast, two euros for a napkin, €15 burgers that fill neither the palate nor the wallet.

The abuse of extra charges

Those who criticise the restaurant industry are not speaking in the abstract. They point out that if you don't spend €50 per person, the quality drops to levels that are hard to justify. The alternative, they say, is not the restaurant: it is the all-inclusive option, which for a fixed price eliminates the napkin surcharge and the disappointment of the bill.

The underlying debate is who can afford to eat out. When supermarket coffee becomes a 12-kilometre ritual, it is clear that the threshold of luxury has shifted. And it is not a question of poverty, but of perceived value.

The question remains whether the hospitality sector will understand that its customers will no longer accept any price without complaint. For now, some are responding with €19.44 and a 72-cent coffee. It is not an anecdote: it is a symptom.