Many Kyiv restaurants won’t survive coronavirus quarantine

Twice a week, Kyiv resident Alina Olshanska walks four kilometers one-way to order to-go coffee and snacks from Masha Cake cafe, her favorite eatery in the city. 

As a freelancer, Olshanska, 25, used to spend her days sitting and working in the cafe. But that was before the coronavirus. 

After the Ukrainian government shuttered restaurants and cafes across the country to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Olshanska had to change her routine. 

She’s not the only one. The nationwide quarantine has proven to be a disaster for Ukraine’s restaurants. Eight weeks into the lockdown, the Ukrainian food service industry has seen a five-fold decrease in income, as well as salary cuts and mass layoffs. 

Despite these difficulties, restaurants and bars are trying to weather the crisis. Some Kyiv eateries have decided to halt operations completely, waiting for the lockdown to end. Others have decided to invest in delivery and support their employees. 

All of them hope the quarantine will end soon and say they are grateful for loyal clients who have stuck with them.

Olshanska is one of those clients. She believes it is important to support restaurants and their employees.

“They have treated us well before the quarantine,” Olshanska says. “It’s our turn to treat them well now.”

Made it

According to OpenDataBot platform, out of 50,000 new eateries opened in Ukraine during the past year, 30,000 are currently not operating because of the restrictions. Nearly 160,000 Ukrainians working in the restaurant business have lost their jobs amid the quarantine.

And the losses continue to grow every week. 

According to Ukrainian restaurant expert Olga Nasonova, nearly 100 restaurants out of roughly 2,000 in Kyiv will not resume work after the quarantine ends. More will close several months later, as the crisis drags on.

One of the reasons quarantine hit restaurants so hard was that they never saw it coming. 

“We weren’t ready, couldn’t believe it was true and had absolutely no idea what to do,” says Anton Dykhnich, the co-founder of Lion Coffee, a chain of five coffee shops that has been operating in Kyiv since 2016.

When the government imposed restrictions, Lion Coffee had to close up shop and send its employees on unpaid leave.

For several weeks, all of Lion Coffee’s venues were closed. No delivery or takeout was available. Only on April 13 did the founders announce that their company would reopen two coffee shops.

“I thought we had lost it all,” Dykhnich says. “Luckily, I was wrong.” 

Dykhnich and his business partner didn’t waste their time during the quarantine. They decided to rethink their business and start over.

“We realized the quarantine was not going to end in May and decided to act,” Dykhnich says. 

To resume operations, Lion Coffee had to implement protective measures. It purchased hand sanitizer, required employees to wear masks and gloves and planned to only hand out orders outside the coffee shops. 

Four weeks after their coffee shops resumed work, they are earning nearly 15-30% of their previous revenue. 

“It’s not much,” Dykhnich says. “But it’s enough to pay salaries to some employees and keep in touch with our guests.” 

Still, Lion Coffee was forced to send 19 out of 23 employees on unpaid leave.

A woman stands near Lion Coffee, a chain of coffee shops in Kyiv, on May 5, 2020. (Oleg Petrasiuk)

Other Kyiv restaurants had an easier time adjusting to the new reality.

Kyiv fast food outlet Furgoneta, for instance, closed four out of five of its restaurants when the quarantine started. But the one that remained open has become a real hit in the capital.

Furgoneta’s burgers are highly suitable for delivery. The eatery’s managing director, Oleg Kurylenko, says that, at first, the number of delivery orders decreased by 90%. 

But everything changed when the team improved the menu, making it more suitable for delivery, and lowered the prices. They also reduced the preparation time and changed the packaging. 

Eventually, the number of delivery and takeout orders grew by up to 300%, according to Kurylenko. 

“Quarantine improved our delivery,” he says. 

Demand for delivery will likely decrease after the quarantine. For this reason, both chains have different plans for when restrictions are lifted.

Lion Coffee plans to open all of its venues as soon as the restrictions are canceled. Furgoneta wants to resume work gradually, opening its venues one by one. 

“Although (business) has fallen like a house of cards, we made it work again,” Kurylenko says. 

Tough times

Not all Kyiv restaurants have managed to adjust to the new reality. 

For Ukrainian restaurateur Igor Sukhomlyn, 2019 was a good year. He opened several new restaurants in the capital and had plans for more. 

But the crisis hit Ukrainian fine dining hard. These restaurants generated 61% less revenue over the first four weeks of quarantine. Sukhomlyn had to close 14 out of his 23 restaurants in Ukraine. 

These included two of his new eateries, seafood restaurant Fishkultura and wine bistro Forever Young. The dishes offered at these restaurants simply weren’t suitable for delivery, Sukhomlyn says. 

He has yet to decide whether to reopen either restaurant after the quarantine. 

“Our restaurants haven’t adjusted to quarantine. No restaurants can adjust to it,” Sukhomlyn says. 

Although the restaurateur has launched the delivery of burgers, sushi, pizza, coffee and Asian food from his Bro Market eatery, he says this can only cover the salary expenses for some employees. 

“It’s impossible to compare the regular work of restaurants with delivery,” he says. 

According to Nasonova, in some cases, delivery is just not an option. Some foods, particularly from fine dining restaurants, aren’t suitable for delivery. Moreover, delivery is often unprofitable, with 25% of the price of each order going to the delivery service.

An employee of Kyiv fast food restaurant Furgoneta gives an order to a courier from the Glovo food delivery service on April 29, 2020. (Oleg Petrasiuk)

Stay optimistic 

Even when the quarantine ends, restaurants will still feel the effects of the pandemic. Protective measures and social distancing will remain. The number of guests will also decrease.

In spite of it all, many in the industry are still optimistic.

Wine Love was one Kyiv restaurant that could not adapt to delivery and had to suspend operations. Having opened just three months before quarantine, it had no savings for such an emergency.

But Wine Love is eager to reopen once quarantine ends. Its chef has even developed a new menu and the restaurant plans to make some changes in its concept as well.

Even expert Nasonova feels optimistic. She says only 5-7% of restaurants in Ukraine will not survive the quarantine, a relatively small number.

Strong market players will survive, she says. Restaurateurs have invested a lot in their businesses. They will do everything to avoid losing their whole investment due to two months of material losses.

“Eateries that will close soon are those that were experiencing hard times before the quarantine,” Nasonova says. 

She hopes the summer season will be profitable for restaurants. After all, with most Ukrainians unable to travel abroad for summer vacation, they will spend their money in Ukraine.

In promising news, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has recently agreed to allow restaurants to offer table service on outdoor terraces and provide takeout service starting on May 11. According to Nasonova, it’s just a small step forward in battling the crisis. 

“Most people are missing their favorite venues,” Nasonova says. “Allow them to come and they will come immediately, no matter what.”