Forcing customers to dine within two hours. Can restaurants in Luxembourg do it?

In Luxembourg, some restaurants have begun imposing time limits on customers, as is already the case in neighbouring countries.

For example, one all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant in Schifflange has set a maximum time of two hours on busy days to ensure customer turnover.

The practice is not widespread in Luxembourg but is enforced by some establishments in busy areas with lots of footfall, for example at “peak times”, said Steve Martellini, the secretary general of the Horesca federation, the lobby group for hotels, cafés and restaurants.

“It remains an exception and a decision for each restaurant,” he told Contacto.

From a legal point of view, David Poushanchi, a lawyer at the country’s consumer union, Union Luxembourgeoise des Consommateurs (ULC), said that “there is no legal provision that sets a maximum duration for a meal” and that in this type of case common contract law applies, observing the principles of good faith.

“Likewise, going several hours without consuming can be considered an abuse of the service,” he said, adding that for this reason, a restaurant can invite the customer to free the table. In extreme cases, if the customer refuses to leave, they could be considered to be creating “a public order problem”.

However, the time limitation at the table must be clearly communicated in advance, either on the restaurant’s website, at the time of booking or in the establishment itself. If this is not done, Poushanchi said it could be considered “a misleading commercial practice”, as it prevents the consumer from giving fully informed consent.

If a customer is not informed and is asked to leave early, they can refuse, as long as they continue to consume as normal. In more serious cases, if the restaurant insists on the time limit without prior warning, “it violates contractual obligations based on good faith and can be held civilly liable”, explained Poushanchi, referring to article 1134 of Luxembourg’s civil code.

Official directives or guidelines

Horesca is also urging restaurants which impose such a rule to be transparent and also show respect for the customer, “so as not to jeopardise the dining experience or create a sense of haste. If the rules are clear and communicated in a balanced way, most customers will understand,” said Martellini.

For the time being, the federation that represents restaurants is not planning to issue any official directives or formal guidelines to its members on this matter. But if the practice grows in popularity, Martellini said, “sectoral recommendations are planned to harmonise practices and preserve the image of the sector”.

The ULC, meanwhile, said that it has so far not received any formal complaints about this issue and has no data to confirm whether the practice is on the rise in the country.

(This article was originally published by Contacto. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by John Monaghan.)