The restaurant business is one of the most sensitive to social crises. Not all establishments were able to recover from the restrictions during the COVID19 pandemic, but the beginning of a full-scale war became a critical point in the activities of many Kyiv restaurants and public catering establishments.

Representatives of the restaurant business were often one of the active forces of the Ukrainian resistance movement. At the beginning of the war, many owners and employees of this business directed their efforts and resources to volunteering – they fed the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Teroborons, and helped refugees. This war has been going on for more than 100 days, Kyiv is slowly coming back to life and trying to return to normal life. And how does the restaurant business feel in such conditions?

At the beginning of June, the IMDATA research company conducted a study of the first 120 establishments of the city of Kyiv from the rating of the site Tripadvisor.com in order to find out how “alive » now this industry is in the city. We counted all chain establishments operating under the same brand as one business, taking into account the answers of establishments with the highest rating on the site.

According to the results of the survey, as of the first half of June, 70% of restaurants have resumed their work, almost all of them are in full mode (food in the establishment). Only a few of them are open several times a week. Also, during the survey, representatives of some of the restaurants that are not currently working in Kyiv declared their readiness to open in the near future.

Among the establishments currently operating in Kyiv, there are those that belong to big business, that is, owned by large restaurateurs, chain restaurants (or families of restaurants under different brands), and representatives of medium-sized businesses. That is, it cannot be claimed that the institutions of a particular branch suffered the most from the war. Among those that have not yet dared to open or are not available for communication now, there are often establishments with foreign owners (for example, French, Asian, Georgian).

Only 30% of Kyiv restaurants did not feel the consequences of the war at work after opening.

The majority had to adapt to new realities: change the menu, more often in the direction of shortening and simplifying it (39% of those who are currently working), raising prices (26%). Most of the time, the reason for the changes was significant logistical problems problems in the supply of products. Chain restaurants often resumed work only in part of their establishments in Kyiv.

So, in general, the restaurant business industry in Kyiv is quite steadily recovering and adapting to new realities. We hope that customers will have the opportunity to support her life activities.