Restaurants in Spain apparently have to offer a "menu del día" (fixed,
low-price menu) by law. When was this practice decided upon, and who
by? I'm looking specifically at Madrid, and I can read Spanish.

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Request for Question Clarification by tisme-ga on 27 Nov 2002 23:51 PST

Hello hollyisa, 

Apparently the law was designed to attract tourists in the 1960s, the
thinking being that if food prices were low, then the tourists would
come.

"All but the swanky restaurants are required by law to serve an
economical fixed-price menú (not to be confused with the menu, which
is la carta) at lunchtime – usually consisting of a starter, main
course, dessert, bread and a fairly prosaic half-bottle of vino. The
idea is to provide a cheaper meal than you would have if you ate the
same items à la carte, and while it can be a real bargain, it is not
by any means a taster menu or a showcase for the chef's greatest
hits."
Source: "Time Out"
http://www.timeout.com/barcelona/rest.xml

I was unable to find more information than this, but I have contacted
two Spanish Embassies and they might take the time to reply. I will
post any reply that I receive here if it comes. In the meantime,
please let me know if you are willing to accept the information
provided as an answer? I will still post any correspondence that I
receive from the Spanish Embassies.

tisme-ga

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Clarification of Question by hollyisa-ga on 28 Nov 2002 12:38 PST

Dear tisme-ga and crabcakes:

Many thanks. I will indeed accept that as a reply, even though it
doesn't go far beyond what I already knew. Please do send me any
embassy info that might turn up, even if it is is 2010 - that's the
information I really need!

Best,

hollyisa

Thanks hollyisa,

I have emailed some more people (professors at my University) who
might be able to give you some more information about this and will
surely let you know when I receive a reply.

tisme-ga


Search Strategy used so far was:

law OR laws food fixed madrid spain price OR prices
://www.google.ca/search?q=law+OR+laws+food+fixed+madrid+spain+price+OR+prices&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

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Clarification of Answer by tisme-ga on 04 Dec 2002 09:03 PST

I just received a reply from the Office of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food at the US Embassy of Spain:

Dear Sir/Madam,
 
Many, but not all, restaurants in Spain offer a "menu del día," or
daily specials, in order to lower production costs, especially for
lunchtime, by preparing large quantities of a set number of dishes.
The prices of those menus are not fixed, and vary greatly depending on
the restaurant, type of menu, etc. We are not aware of the existance
of any legislation that mandates restaurants to offer a daily special,
or fixing the prices for those specials. In addition, the restaurant
industry is under the jurisdiction of the 17 regional governments, or
Autonomous Communities (similar to the provincial governments in
Canada), so there is no country-wide standard regarding menus or
prices.
 
We hope this information has been helpful.
 
Sincerely,
 
Office of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Embassy of Spain
2375 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20037 
http://www.mapausa.org

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Clarification of Answer by tisme-ga on 04 Dec 2002 18:21 PST

Just received another email that confirms the one from the embassy:

Dear __________,
Thank you for your interest in Spain.
All the restaurants in Spain like in Madrid  are not obliged to offer
a "menu del día" that is just something some do to attract customers
as regulars by means of providing a variety of fresh choices which
often correspond to the freshest and best products  on the market for
that particular day.
 
Sincerely,
Tourist Office of Spain

hollyisa, 

I was unable to find any reference to the law and "El menú del día"
after considerable searching in English and Spanish. I commend
tisme-ga for finding what he did!

While I didn't know the "menu of the day" was mandated by law, I
certainly took advantage of it when I was last in Spain. I also took
advantage of the wonderful and huge shrimp widely available. And the
paella, and the flan.......
I did think at the time that the menu of the day was the equivalent to
the American "Daily special".

When searching in Spanish, reference to this joke appeared each time I
entered "menú del día" , I finally clicked on it: Here's the joke in
Spanish:

Esto es un hombre que entra a un restaurante y le pide a un camarero
el menu del dia. El camarero le entrega la hoja, en donde se puede ver
que es un menu algo caro (2500 pts). Al leer aquello, le pregunta al
camarero:
-- Oiga, y no aqui no hacen descuento a los colegas?
-- ¿Pero usted tambien es camarero?
-- No, pero soy ladron.
In English:

A man enters a restaurant and asks the waiter for the Menu of the Day.
The waiter complies, handing him the menu. Upon scanning the menu, the
man asks the waiter "Listen, don't you give your colleagues a
discount?"  "Oh" says the waiter, "Are you a waiter also?"
"No" says the man, " But I am a robber" 

(It translates to English a bit weak)

I did find that every restaurant in Spain must keep a complaint log
according to the law in Spain!
http://www.menorca-net.co.uk/menorca/restaurant-town.htm

A simple reference to “The menu of the day”
http://www.btinternet.com/~ultrablade/faq.html

regards,
crabcakes