Madrid's €14 Set Lunch: Salad and Frozen Fingers

The set lunch is getting expensive: €20 daily against a €1,100 salary

Eating out has become a luxury the middle class can no longer afford. A €14 set lunch in Madrid starts with salad and second courses of frozen chicken fingers; a serving of alioli potatoes costs €8 and fits on a tiny plate. Yet, the terraces remain packed. The paradox is not that the set lunch prices are rising, but that someone earning €1,100 a month pays €20 for a single meal, and the establishment doesn't empty.

Why is an €18 set lunch so expensive and still busy?

The calculation is brutal. Twenty euros for a single meal, repeated over a month, totals €600 against a €1,100 salary: more than half the paycheck just for lunch. That is the floor below which there is no choice but pre-cooked food. The low price is paid for in quality, to the point where below a certain figure, the second course is frozen product and the first course is salad.

Some argue that the debate is misplaced. The problem lies not with the menu price, but with the salary paying for it: with €1,100 a month, any menu above €10 breaks the budget, whether it's salad or stew. The full breakdown leaves a monthly margin that can be counted on your fingers.

The alternative: supermarkets and takeaway

The set menu is losing ground to the pre-cooked meals from supermarkets. You can eat for €5, and dessert is a thermos of coffee with milk brought from home. Various chains have been offering microwave and takeaway sections for years; the format only gained popularity when a major distributor made it its own section. Meanwhile, street food and delivery services are reaping the benefits.

How much must the set lunch increase for the terraces to stop being full?