Power outages and staff crisis: why restaurateurs are selling their businesses
3 October 2024 15:40
ANALYSIS
Staff shortages and unscheduled power outages. Alina Zhukalyuk, a consultant on starting and organising a business and owner of the docx service for obtaining permits, names these as possible reasons for the boom in café and restaurant sales on the OLX platform. However, this trend has not changed recently and has nothing to do with a particular period, the expert says. "Komersant Ukrainian" found out what is really happening to the restaurant business and what difficulties restaurateurs are facing.
Alina Zhukalyuk, who has been in the industry for more than a decade, explains the primary reasons for the trend of increasing the number of advertisements for the sale of catering establishments:
“Power outages. This greatly affected the financial performance in the heat of summer, which has brought many businesses to a standstill. Another challenge is the catastrophic shortage of team personnel.”
Alina Zhukalyuk
The lack of electricity had a catastrophic impact on the budget of the institutions, adds Zhukalyuk. In order to ensure a continuous process, it is necessary to purchase a generator, which also has its own nuances. In particular, neighbours often don’t really want a generator operating nearby.
“Buying a high-quality generator is also a big quest. You need to have nerves of steel to install it. I only know of a permit for emissions of pollutants into the air, but not a special permit for the placement of a generator as a summer playground, for example.”
Alina Zhukalyuk
However, the expert says, one should not draw conclusions from the OLX platform alone. Such a surge in sales may be due to the fact that OLX is the platform where the restaurant business is best sold, or to the correct marketing strategy of OLX. The trend in sales and purchases has remained at the same level in recent years, says Alina Zhukalyuk.
At the same time, there are more global problems. According to the consultant on starting and organising businesses, the process of constantly opening and closing new establishments is associated with a great romanticisation of this business.
“For some reason, people here think that this is a very good story, and there are many people who want to open this or that establishment. However, the lack of sufficient knowledge of the management of this business is evident.”
Alina Zhukalyuk
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Is the restaurant business changing today?
Despite the rampant robotisation of large chain restaurants, there is still a demand for good service and live communication. Alina Zhukalyuk doesn’t see a global trend towards staff reduction and automation.
“On the contrary, people go to a restaurant for service, for communication, for a pleasant atmosphere.”
I would add that, according to the Poster restaurant automation company, only two segments of the restaurant business in Ukraine showed growth during the full-scale war: coffee shops and fast food:
- The number of coffee shops in Ukraine increased by 35% in April 2024 compared to December 2021.
- The number of fast food outlets is 15% higher than before the full-scale war.
- The number of restaurants decreased by 17%, delivery-only establishments by 17%, pubs by 16%, and cafes by 13%.
- The biggest drops were in hookah bars (-35%), confectioneries (-34%) and bars (-32%).
However, despite the extremely difficult times for Ukrainian business, entrepreneurs have managed to adapt, continue to operate, employ people and pay taxes.
In 2023, restaurant turnover in some regions of Ukraine even exceeded pre-war levels, as evidenced by Poster’s statistics. However, this growth is very disproportionate and is not without problems.
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Author: Anastasia Fedor
