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.
Owners of the restaurant holding, uniting a chain of restaurants under the MAFIA, CASTA, BAO, NĂM, Georgia, Brilliant Bar and Yakitoriya, Oksana and Taras Serediuk plan to open 200 new restaurants in two or three years. “We have the desire and intention to open 200 restaurants under our brands under franchising contracts in two or three years. Not only in Ukraine,” Oksana Serediuk said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. She said that the company intends to actively develop the business through franchising. “We will open our own restaurants, but globally we want to go in the direction of franchising and working with partners,” she said.
According to Serediuk, six restaurants under the brands MAFIA, CASTA and Georgia are already being prepared for opening in 2019.
“Three restaurants will be opened in Moldova next year. A restaurant is being built in Volnovakha, a large two-story restaurant is located 15 kilometers from the front line… MAFIA with karaoke and a children’s room will be located in a large two-story room,” the restaurateur said.
She said that the company seeks to enter the international market. So, negotiations are underway regarding the opening of a BAO restaurant outside Ukraine. As of December 2018, the holding includes three franchise restaurants in Moldova.
