Restaurant owners in Switzerland: what the rules ask of your menu, and where Menyu stops

The price-indication ordinance (OIP) names restaurants and hotels explicitly: the price actually payable in Swiss francs must be shown at all times. Public taxes and non-optional surcharges, for booking or service for instance, are included in the price; only tourist taxes may be shown separately.²

Displayed prices and price lists must be easy to consult and legible. For a drink, the price states the quantity it refers to, except for hot drinks, cocktails and drinks made with water or ice.²

Tips are either included in the price or clearly stated as a figure. “Tip included” is allowed; “tip not included” without an amount is banned, as is asking for a tip on top.²

For the Swiss food safety office (FSVO), a dish served in a restaurant or takeaway counts as food sold loose. Allergens are in principle declared in writing; they may be given orally if a clearly visible written notice says so, and if staff have the information in writing or a trained person can give it straight away.^3,4

Annex 6 of the food information ordinance (OIDAl) lists 14 groups: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soy, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin and molluscs. Written information can go on the menu or on a sign.⁴

For food sold unpackaged, the origin of meat and fish must always be stated in writing; what counts is the country where the animal was raised, put on most of its weight or spent most of its life. The FSVO adds the country where bread and fine bakery goods were produced, including sliced bread served in restaurants and the bread of sandwiches, burgers or kebabs.^3,4

In Basel, au violon’s lunch menu does it dish by dish: “Wildschwein-Terrine (AT)”, “Geschnetzeltes Rindfleisch (IRL)”, “Knurrhahnfilet (NL)”, with the line “Preise in CHF inkl. MWST”.⁵

Since 1 January 2024 the standard VAT rate has been 8.1%, the reduced rate 2.6% and the special accommodation rate 3.8%. Food is taxed at the reduced rate, but not when it is served: restaurant service pays the standard rate whenever the business prepares or serves dishes for guests, or provides facilities to eat on the premises.^6,7

For takeaway or delivery, food other than alcoholic drinks goes to the reduced rate if organisational measures keep these sales apart from restaurant service; otherwise the standard rate applies.⁷

Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. More than 60% of people have German as their main language, spoken as dialects known as Swiss German; French dominates in French-speaking Switzerland, Italian in Ticino and part of Graubünden. Four cantons, Bern, Fribourg, Valais and Graubünden, and the city of Biel/Bienne are officially multilingual.^8,9

Among foreign languages, English, Portuguese and Albanian are the most widely spoken in the country.⁹