STATE OF THE RESTAURANT ECONOMY OF UKRAINE DURING THE WAR

Abstract

The restaurant business is one of the most profitable vectors of economic development in every country. The modern realities of doing business in Ukraine are complicated by the beginning of the military aggression of the Russian Federation at the end of February 2022. In recent years, the restaurant business has been focused on satisfying the needs of fast food with an average check of up to UAH 200. Most of the restaurant establishments that were located in the war zone, or found themselves in the temporarily occupied territories, completely or partially stopped their activities. As a result of these actions, the productivity of the main food crops decreased, which led to an increase in inflation, and the time of product deliveries increased. In order to restore their capacities, some entrepreneurs had to relocate their establishments to other regions of Ukraine and even to EU countries, or wait for the liberation of the territory. The possibility of introducing investor support, which could go to entrepreneurs, was considered, but it was suspended. A drop in profitability indicators in institutions was revealed, due to a decrease in profit, an increase in the cost of raw materials, rent of premises. The main trends of the HoReCa market, which were updated after the start of hostilities, are presented. In order to get out of certain crisis phenomena in the restaurant industry, the management links have been revised. Most establishments transfer administrators, managers, supervisors to the service line, and for chefs, the conditions of contract activity are changed. Changes in the management of institutions caused by the reduced profitability of institutions and low solvency of consumers. The article also establishes a certain distribution of restaurant enterprises by zones, as during the quarantine with COVID-19, where Ukraine can be divided into three zones: gray, yellow, and green. This gradation is possible with an up-to-date battle map. The general trend of development consists in the possibility to invite to work certain cooks, administrators who were employed in another institution before the war. There is an opportunity to develop and form agreements with other market players, with management on the ground, in locations, in products, in financial models, etc. Currently, at this time, strong players have the opportunity to survive, strengthen and earn a good business reputation, which will confirm the positive market value of the institution (goodwill). For small enterprises, this is represented by changes in certain production technologies, other products, while not reducing the quality of the services provided. The main thing for each of the market players is to save human resources.