Hoteliers have already set a task for the next government: stop ‘mercurants’ being big business

There are still four weeks until 29N and more time for the votes cast that day to form the government, whatever color it may be. None of this has stopped the hoteliers from giving the executive a to-do list that should, in theory, control the country’s destiny until 2030. The sector’s employers’ association sent them 30 proposals on 29 November which, they say, are key to its future. They include taxes, training, bureaucracy… and also (in a veiled way) bets on Mercadona and the rest of the supermarket chains. the merchant.

The notice is interesting both for what it says and what it implicitly suggests: though the merchant They are so young, they have already exerted so much pressure on the sector that their control has become a priority for hoteliers.

doing homework Hospitality in Spain boasts of being the sector’s main speaker and the “only business organization” representing more than 300,000 businesses nationwide that employ 1.85 million people and contribute 6.7% to national GDP. Relying on these figures and just a stone’s throw away with 29N, a few days ago he sent the parties a list of proposals related to the sector, ideas that, he stressed, the new executive must take into account.

Here are 30 tips that serve the rest of society for something else: understanding what hoteliers worry about. The text requests, for example, a reduced VAT of 10% in the hospitality industry, demanding the creation of a general directorate focused on the sector and lightening the bureaucracy endured by SMEs and the self-employed. They’re just three of their 30 proposals, including another idea that slips just as well or even more: the group calls for the same rules of the game for everyone.

What does this mean? In a statement posted on its website, the association slipped a few general ideas, but without naming specifics. It doesn’t even go into detail. Hoteliers limit themselves to “equal conditions of competition among those who run the same activity, equalize financial, health, labor and license requirements in different formats of gastronomic offer.” In other words: the same rules of the game for all businesses that sell food and beverages.

“Competitive Asymmetry”. In the documents sent to the parties (suggested the country) Employers are much sharper. Its focus is on businesses that compete with hoteliers “without economic equality or compliance with health regulations,” including those dedicated to serving their home-cooked meals, “practicing underground economy activities and seriously endangering the health and rights of citizens.” For good connoisseurs, words are unnecessary.

“Eating in food and drink places, open to the public and commercial spaces, attending clubs and associations, must comply with the same rules that require the same activities as bars and restaurants,” the group stressed after warning that it suffers “a clear competitive imbalance” that affects daily life in a sector that represents 6% of GDP.

It doesn’t matter… And when, which explains why Spain’s hospitality caveat is so relevant. The association not only decided to raise its voice on the eve of 29N, marking the path for the next government to follow; He did so months after publicly condemning the exercise competition the merchant. The complaint was more pointed then and verbalized directly by the president of the association, José Luis Álvarez Almeida.

“Now we have gas stations, stores, hypermarkets or supermarkets that want to be bars. This is unfair competition. What we tell them is that from an economic and competitive point of view, they can set up whatever they want, but we all have to play on equal terms and be equal before the law,” Alvarez Almeida argued in May, during the closing speech at the Spanity Hospital. There he heard her on the siteAmong others, the Minister of Tourism, Jordi Hereu.

Are they just warnings? no In Catalonia the sector went a step further and went to court, convinced of its controversial legal requirements the merchant. In June, Grémi de Restoración, the association representing Barcelona’s restaurants, bars and cafes, announced an administrative complaint against 30 Mercadona establishments that, it said, failed to comply with the rules and damaged traditional bars. The reason? An alleged violation of the Barcelona Ordinance that regulates exactly what (and how) can be done in a supermarket.

“They are catering spaces, granted and conditioned. And this is evidenced by the fact that they have an assortment: napkins, glasses, cutlery, buckets for separating waste and even microwaves. Some have up to 30 seats,” the association condemned. Mercadona claims it complies with the law (“it’s not a restaurant area, but a rest area”) and is doing nothing more than accommodating customers, but the lawsuit has intensified the controversy.

Toa Heftiba (Unsplash).

Why this concern? Because hoteliers in Spain no longer compete only with each other or, at most, with the big multinationals in the sector. Now they do the same with supermarkets which have seen a real boon in the preparation and sale of cooked food. In the last few years, chains such as Alcampo, Carrefour or Mercadona have started to create food that customers (and this is a great innovation) can eat inside the establishment, without leaving the premises, in areas reminiscent of dining rooms with tables and chairs.

Among them, customers find three advantages: a diverse offer, good prices and, above all, agile and fast service. No waiting for the three-course menu. Customers arrive, select and eat. And at very low prices that a neighborhood bar can hardly compete with. D the merchant They save us cooking, they prevent us from dealing with tuperes and they replace an increasingly expensive daily menu. The formula works so well that the expansion of this type of service has already caught the interest of analysts.

Figure: 700 million. There is another reason why Hostelería de España has devoted so much attention to the topic. Although the merchant They are relatively young, we are already spending hundreds of millions of euros on them, money that (large) traditional bars and restaurants stop earning. Mercadona alone has a turnover of around 700 million euros in 2025 through the ‘ready to eat’ category. This may not seem like much in terms of the global income that the chain manages (41,858 million euros), but two keys must be taken into account.

Firstly, ‘Ready to Eat’ is a very young category that started in 2018. Second, if we expand the ‘picture’ and include the sale of refrigerated, packaged and prepared foods such as creams, the turnover between Spain and Portugal would amount to 3,000 million. There are studies that also suggest we are increasingly interested in (and spend more on) prepared and ready-to-eat foods sold in supermarkets.

Given this information, hoteliers claim that if supermarkets are going to compete with them in the same field, they must adhere to the same rules with “equivalent conditions” at labor, financial and health levels.

Picture | Xataka and Toa Heftiba (Unsplash)

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