About 7,000 restaurants and cafes have closed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and more than 2,000 new establishments have opened, Olha Nasonova, co-founder of the National Restaurant Association of Ukraine, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“There are no exact statistics, because. it is simply not being carried out now, among these 7 thousand there are closed establishments and those about which there is no data (in the occupied territories, in shelling zones). The market shrank by about 25% compared to February 2022. In some regions, the market decline was more than 50% (Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporozhye, Lugansk regions), in Kyiv, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk regions – a drop of up to 30%,” Nasonova said.
At the same time, according to her, positive dynamics is observed in the western regions. In Lviv and the region, the number of restaurants and cafes increased by approximately 30%, in the Transcarpathian, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk regions, an increase of approximately 20% was noted.
“Bythe beginning of summer, the market decline was more significant. But since June, restaurants began to open in Kyiv, as well as in the western regions, in general, more than 2 thousand establishments. The restaurant market developed most intensively in Lviv – more than 500 new establishments in the region since the beginning of the war. Of all the cities in western Ukraine, Lviv is the most cosmopolitan and the busiest,” Nasonova said.
According to her, among the summer openings of Lviv were establishments of “promoted” chains: Bao Casual (owner Taras Seredyuk), “Ostannya Barrikada” (Dmitry Borisov), a number of franchising establishments.
At the same time, the expert noted that it is incorrect to talk about the “relocation” of restaurants. “In fact, truly displaced, i.e. those who transported equipment, furniture, etc., are few. More often the restaurant turned out to be simply destroyed, or in the occupied territory, and there was simply nothing to take out. Therefore, new restaurants were opened,” Nasonova said.
In her opinion, restaurant investors began to consider cities in Western Ukraine as more profitable for starting a new business. As for expansion abroad, there are still few such examples. “It is planned to open Chernomorka, institutions of Borisov, Sukhomlin. Countries – Poland and Germany, but more Poland. There are more Ukrainians there, and the mentality of the Poles is closer to ours,” the expert said.
Established in 2021, the National Restaurant Association of Ukraine (NRAU) for May 2022 unites more than 50 members, 450 restaurants and cafes.
The McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain is introducing a phased plan to reopen some restaurants in Kyiv and western Ukraine over the next few months, the chain’s press service reported.
“After lengthy consultations and discussions with Ukrainian officials, suppliers and security professionals, and in response to the request of our employees to return to work, we have decided to introduce a phased plan to reopen some restaurants in Kyiv and western Ukraine, where other businesses have safely resumed work,” Paul Pomeroy, Senior Vice President of McDonald’s International Markets Business Unit, is quoted in the message.
Over the next few months, the company’s team with partners will be working to restore food supply chains, prepare restaurants to serve customers, return the team and employees to the working environment, and implement enhanced procedures and protocols to ensure the safety of workers and customers, he said.
Pomroy pointed out that the Ukrainian market team headed by Yulia Badritdinova is working on the restoration tasks.
In Ukraine, the first McDonald’s restaurant was opened in Kyiv on May 24, 1997. Over 25 years, the company has invested about $350 million, transferred UAH 10 billion in taxes to the state budget, and donated UAH 124 million to charity.
To date, the network has 109 restaurants in 24 cities across the country.
Earlier it was reported that the restaurants of the network in Ukraine were closed on February 24 for security reasons. The company maintains a team of more than 10 thousand people, while continuing to pay wages. In addition, more than 700 tons of products were donated for humanitarian needs. Together with the Ronald McDonald House Foundation, McDonald’s initiated and implemented humanitarian aid programs to support Ukrainians. Ukrainian families have already received more than 75 thousand food packages, 26 hospitals have received assistance with equipment and medicines.
The network is being developed by FDI “McDonald’s Ukraine Ltd.”
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, MCD Europe Limited (100%, London, UK) is a FDI participant.
About 40% of public catering establishments have already restored work in Kyiv and Kyiv region, while most of the operating cafes are in the Transcarpathian region – 86% of the pre-war number, follows from a study by Poster.
“In Kyiv, 40% of small and medium-sized establishments operate in comparison with the figure on February 23, in the Kyiv region – 41%. The number of open establishments began to grow rapidly after the north of Ukraine was completely liberated from the invaders in early April. For comparison, in At the end of March, only 18% of establishments worked in Kyiv, and 16% in the Kyiv region,” the company said.
According to the study, the most operating establishments are in Zakarpattia (86%), Chernivtsi (81%) and Lviv regions (79%).
The largest increase in open establishments in April compared to March was shown by Chernihiv (from 1% to 20%) and Sumy (from 16% to 49%) regions. In addition, the number of open cafes in the Zhytomyr region increased by 23% (up to 63%), by 21% – in the Volyn region (up to 77%), by 20% – in the Kirovohrad region (up to 78%).
At the same time, the least operating establishments are in the east of Ukraine: in the Kharkiv region – 9% of the pre-war number, in the Donetsk region – 5%, in the Luhansk region – 0%.
As reported, the Poster cafe and restaurant automation service permanently disconnected 10,000 customers in Russia and Belarus from its services.
The number of restaurants and cafes in Ukraine has decreased by almost 4,000 establishments – from 18,600 at the beginning of 2020 to 14,700 in January 2021, General Director of Restaurant Consulting company Olha Nasonova told Interfax-Ukraine.
“According to the negative scenario, in March last year it was predicted that the number of establishments would almost halve. As you can see, our market showed relative stability. In monetary terms, the decrease in the number of establishments gave a decrease in the market volume by almost 30%, to UAH 14.1 billion. This is the result of the closure for several lockdowns, as well as the lack of foreign tourists,” she said.
The expert predicts that the impact of the current lockdown on the market will be minimal. “Only those who planned to close will be closed. Most of them have already worked out the optimal work format,” Nasonova said.
According to her, this year the restaurant market will begin to revive. “Many interesting locations have become vacant, plus their rent has decreased. Hybrid formats – shops-cafes, shops-bars – are in great demand now,” Nasonova said.
The enterprise with foreign investment (FDI) McDonald’s Ukraine Ltd. (Kyiv), which is developing the U.S. fast food chain McDonald’s in Ukraine, plans to expand a pilot program for sorting waste in restaurant halls to the entire chain in Ukraine by the end of 2021.
According to the company’s press release, the pilot program was launched in September 2020 at 16 restaurants in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Kyiv region. Special sorting stations were installed in the restaurant halls to separate waste by type. The sorted waste was sent for recycling of raw materials.
According to the company, in four months of the pilot program, more than 80 tonnes of packaging were sorted and transferred for processing. In general, more than 2.6 million Ukrainians have joined the program.
In addition, earlier in September 2020, the company replaced plastic containers for salads with paper packaging, in June it replaced plastic cups for cold drinks with cellulose cups recyclable in Ukraine, the press service recalls.
“By 2025, McDonald’s globally plans to completely switch to the production of all packaging materials from renewable certified raw materials, as well as raw materials that can be reused. Thus, polyethylene and plastic can be used to make garbage bags, and other waste will get a second life after recycling,” the press service said.
The first McDonald’s in Ukraine was opened in Kyiv on May 24, 1997. The McDonald’s restaurant chain in Ukraine has 96 restaurants in 20 cities.
According to many nutritional experts, eating fast food can lead to health problems, watch an expert review of the topic on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
The share of vacant space of street retail in Khreschatyk Street and the Pasazh buildings in Kyiv is falling and reached 6% in May 2019, which is lower than a year and two years ago. According to a study of Colliers International, growth in the number of cafe and restaurant operators is seen in this area: as of May 2019 their share is 27% (32 operators) of the total number of retailers in Khreschatyk Street, while the number of fashion operators has not significantly changed in the past two years (31%).
The number of other operators grew: banks, pharmacies, jewelry stores, children stores, food and souvenir stores, reaching 36% of the total number of retailers.
According to Colliers, the highest rent on main retail streets in Q1 2019 did not change compared with the same periods of the previous two years, being $83 per square meter a month.
