Average Food Price - Europe

Way too low--in a major EU city, I budget to spend at least $16 for breakfast(continental) $30 for lunch, and up to $45 for dinner. Euro equivalents are +/-12,23, and 30. In London, I'd add another 50%. I don't know about others, but a glass or wine or beer with meals is custom in most places I call on--it's not like the US where one never drinks at lunch anymore(if they want an order).

Wow, I haven't been all over Europe, but I wonder if prices depend on what country you're in. And then, what cities.

Here's what we usually do when we travel to Germany/Austria: We try to stay in family-run pensions or B&Bs, where breakfast is usually included in the room price. On our upcoming trip, however, some hotels are charging extra for the breakfast buffet (8 Euros at our Berlin hotel). Breakfast in Germany is a wonderful adventure so we eat as much as we possibly can and then skip lunch. Then around 2:30 in the afternoon we stop somewhere for cake and coffee. Dinner is another story, but we found that when we eat this way we come out cheaper than eating 3 square meals per day (and of course, we get to try a different torte each day). :)

Jerry's prices are right on, in my experience. In Paris last December I spent 10 Euros for breakfast (at my hotel), and an average of 20 Euros for lunch and 30 for dinner. And, that was in "inexpensive" restaurants. If you want a really good meal, figure on 40 to 50 Euros for dinner.

Of course, you can save money by buying stuff to eat at a supermarket or corner grocery. These prices are average for "sit down" restaurants.

My experience has been similar to Alexandra's. In 52 days in Germany/Austria in the last 5 years, I have NEVER stayed in a B&B or hotel that did not provide breakfast with the room, so breakfast is not one of my "meal" expenses.

My average expense for those 52 days, for lunch, dinner, drinks, and tip has been just under €20. Now of the 52 days, I have to admit that only 7 days have been in major metropolitan areas (Munich 6 days, Mainz 1), so if you only stay in big cities, your expenses will be more than mine; I'm sure London and Paris would be a lot more. I almost always have at least one sit down meal a day, often two. Sometimes I am out during the day and have a big lunch, followed by a lighter dinner. Sometimes I am on the go at lunch and just grab a sandwich and bottled drink at the Bahnhof, then have a bigger dinner. It averages out, I spend about 30% each on lunch, dinner, and drinks, 10% on tips.

One way to keep expenses down is to eat like a European. Enjoy the local specialties. In Germany, pork is the usual fare; pork schnitzel is tasty and economical. Steak is expensive. Sausage (Wurst) is common for your lighter meal.

I think this is feasible, though depending on how long you are going to be gone, you may want to build in a little nicer dinner once in a while. We rarely spend more than this per day, and some days we spend less. We always almost always stay in B&Bs and eat as much as we can at breakfast. We rarely eat lunch -- we might get a small snack, but usually just have a balance bar. We do a lot of take out and picnics for dinner. I don't think it's that hard to economize on food in Europe, even in big cities.

depending on how you eat, you could spend x or 10x, so it's pretty hard to come up with a decent answer.

Our family of 5 tries to eat cheaply in Europe and we get by on about $90 a day for the 5 of us (call it 4 with children's portions). But that includes a lot of sandwiches and a lot of making our own hot meals in rentals. We almost never eat at a full-blown restaurant.

If I would have to pick a price out of thin air, I would say $12 breakfast (unless it is covered by the accomodation), $20 for lunch, $30 for dinner. That recognizes that you could spend a lot more than that for dinner, for example, but you could just as easily fill up on breakfast and skip lunch. So it evens out, I think.

I think that your US prices are low for many, many places in the US. In NYC you can't get breakfast for less than $20. Lunch is between $20 and $30. Even when I eat in bars and pretty basic spots you can't get dinner for less than $30 and it is very easy to hit $50 without being exorbitant. So, it really comes down to whether or not your staff will be in cities or in smaller towns and villages. Your current budget is a fast food budget and likely not to be very healthy. Granted, breakfast is often part of the hotel bill, the rest of these prices are low. Pam

I agree. I thought the US prices were low unless eating at McDonalds. You would need to at least double your US prices as has been suggested.

You can look up the US State Department's allowances here:
http://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp

Woah, unless you go out to a sit-down restaurant, $20 for breakfast is not reasonable. You can get a coffee and pastry at a bakery for $6. $12 for lunch sounds about right. $20-25 for dinner with drink. And Seattle may not be the most expensive city in the country, but it ain't cheap.

I guess I have to agree with Nancy on this. What I spend is irrelevant to what your employees should be spending. My objective is to see the country and meet the people. I tend to stay in small town and eat in local restaurants, without English menus, and with local cuisine. I spend about $27/day, lunch and dinner, drink, and tips. When I traveled on business, they put us up in 3-star (or better) hotels, because very few of us spoke the local language, and we ate, usually, at the hotel, and we spent a lot more.

You probably do business in mostly large cities and expect your employees to stay there. I noticed that Munich is almost twice as expensive for food as Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is still a resort area and more expensive than other rural areas.

If you are only going to have one per diam amount, it should be based on the large cities, and let the employees live the life of Reilly in small towns, rather than base it on small towns and force them to dumpster dive in cities.

That said, I think the State Dept. per diam is too generous. Maybe multply your proposal by three (?).

One way to help the per diam go farther is to teach them to tip like a European. I used to round the bill up to the nearest Euro and add one Euro. When I told my hostess in Germany that, she was aghast. She told me, scoldingly, that I should only round it up to the nearest Euro. I can't bring myself to leave €13 for a €12,90 bill (10 Cent tip), so now I add 50 Cent and round up.

In order to take the exchange rate out of the equation and not penalize you employees when the dollar drops, you might consider giving the per diam in Euro, Pounds, Swiss Franc, etc. Or recalculate the per diam monthly like the State Dept does.

As you can see, it depends a lot on where you go. In some countries, it's customary to get breakfast at your B&B or hotel, others it's not included. Big cities are definitely going to be more expensive for sit-down meals, but you can also find lots of take-away places that are more reasonable (and not like McDonalds, I'm talking fish and chips/doner kabob/wurst and bread).

I like doing what others have said, eat big at breakfast at the B&B, pick up some bread/cheese/fruit/chocolate at a shop for a picnic lunch, and then have a reasonable dinner, maybe one splurge. Eat where the locals eat and you'll save more on dinner.

I would agree that your are more low end than mid range. It does depend greatly where and what you eat, you can do breakfast for less, hold lunch at about that, then plan more for dinner if you do a sit down. For me, in the US, I would probably double the dinner cost, bringing the total to $50 US, then in Europe, I just plan on that being 50 Euro. Many days that could be less, but I do like to eat good food, and a great meal can easily be 50 Euro itself. A little heavier budget also allows for a few drinks and snacks and it is always better to err on the heavy side rather than force yourself into a tight budget.

As Jeff said, since the OP is referring to business per diems, she is best advised to use the international per diem rates established by the government. Whether or not individual travelers can do it cheaper, either here or abroad, she is asking about business travel, and the per diem rates should be in line with what the IRS accepts as appropriate costs.

I am a little shocked - Pamela, where are you eating that you can't get breakfast in NYC for under $20? I think $8 for b-fast, $12 for lunch and $15 for dinner sounds about right (maybe more for dinner). I eat lunch out in Manhattan every day and never spend more than $12.