The case for running a lunch menu you don't profit from
Three operators on how they structure midday service, who it brings in, and what it builds that dinner service can't.
None of the three restaurants featured in this piece are running lunch to make money at noon. One hasn't calculated a break-even. Two say outright they don't expect profit. What they do have is a room that isn't empty in the middle of the day, staff who eat well, and a specific kind of regular that dinner service doesn't build. The crowds are different too, in some cases almost entirely different people, with different expectations, different price sensitivity, and a different relationship to the place. Understanding who comes for lunch, and why the kitchen bothers, turns out to say something useful about how these operations think about what they're actually for.
We spoke separately to Benjamin Hofer, co-founder of XO Grill (Vienna); Dávid Kautezky of Gettó Gulyás (Budapest); and Marius Tudosiei, owner of Băcănia Veche Delicatese și Grădină (Bucharest). The questions were largely the same.
The restaurants
What began as a Covid-era pop-up has grown into a brand with three locations across the city. The formula sounds obvious until you see how few people execute it this well: high-quality beef from old Austrian dairy cows via the parent company XO Beef, clean branding, and the discipline of doing one thing properly. Prices are ambitious (a classic smash burger runs €14.90) but that hasn't stopped XO from becoming one of Vienna's most recognizable upscale burger operations.
A classic Hungarian restaurant in the old Jewish ghetto, near the Dohány Street Synagogue, in one of the city's most tourist-saturated neighbourhoods. Like a lot of places in the area it exists largely for visitors, but with more honesty and competence than most. The menu is unapologetically traditional: gulyás, stews, paprikás dishes, classic desserts, without trying to reinvent any of it. Usually packed at dinner; reservations are a good idea. Gault Millau Hungary awarded it one hat.
Băcănia Veche Delicatese și Grădină — Bucharest
Opened in July 2021 in downtown Bucharest, part of a larger catering and grocer's company owned by former journalist Marius Tudosiei. It sits on Dacia Boulevard, one of the city's oldest commercial streets, close to Piața Romană, with a sunny walled garden and a reputation for seasonal, farm-to-table cooking. The menu leans on nostalgia - storceag (fish and sour cream soup), pork stews, borscht - but with a more urban sensibility. Prices are in line with what a bistro should charge. It draws both Romanians who know Tudosiei's work on heirloom recipes and local producers, and tourists looking for Romanian food that is authentic without being a caricature.
Why did you decide to offer a lunch menu?
XO Grill, Vienna — Benjamin Hofer
The decision came after the opening of a second branch in the 7th district, one of Vienna's more competitive dining areas. "We are definitely on the more expensive side," Hofer says. "So at some point we realised we had to fit within the area, where right next door you can get a really good pizza for less than €10." The lunch menu, at €12.50, is a deliberate concession to context.
Getto Gulyás, Budapest — Dávid Kautezky
Two reasons, in Kautezky's telling, and neither is primarily revenue. The first is marketing: keeping the room full, attracting Hungarian locals alongside tourists, and generating energy from midday. The second is practical: staff can eat, the chef can eat, and food sometimes goes home. "We don't really make money on it," he says. "It's not typical that someone who comes for lunch returns in the evening for à la carte dining, maybe one or two examples at most. It's a different audience."
Băcănia Veche, Bucharest — Marius Tudosiei
Before the pandemic, the company ran a separate lunch bistro in Bucharest's northern business district. When the restaurant opened in 2021, continuing a midday offer made sense. With one deliberate distinction: they don't call it a lunch menu. The reason is structural: in Romania, lunch tickets (a common employee benefit) are capped by law at around €9. Calling it a "lunch menu" sets a price expectation the restaurant can't meet. So they don't.
How is the menu structured, and how often does it change?