An average café or restaurant business in Ukraine lasts about a year and a half

13,373 new sole proprietors working in the food service sector opened in Ukraine this year — 5% fewer than during the same period last year. September was the most active month, with 1,699 new businesses launched.

At the same time, 10,645 sole proprietors in the café and restaurant industry ceased operations. Overall, the net growth of new entrepreneurs in the sector this year amounted to +2,728 businesses, compared to 6,004 a year earlier.

The largest number of new sole proprietors in the HoReCa sector this year were registered in Kyiv (1,693), Dnipropetrovsk region (1,323), Lviv region (1,136), Odesa region (1,113), and Kyiv region (1,054).

The restaurant business in Ukraine is now mostly driven by women — 66% of new entrepreneurs in the HoReCa sector are women. In some regions, this share exceeds 70%, particularly in Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Zakarpattia, Cherkasy, and Rivne regions. In no region do men outnumber women in new business registrations.

Despite the slowdown in the growth of new establishments, data from the Ukrainian service Poster shows that the turnover of food service businesses increased by 6%, though it can hardly be called a major success. Visitor numbers fell by 9%, meaning that the growth is mostly due to rising prices rather than an increase in customers. The average bill in restaurants and cafés has grown by 11% since the beginning of the year.

«A 6% increase in turnover is not real profit — it’s just keeping up with inflation. The average bill rose because of higher food prices and increased operational expenses such as rent and payroll. The industry’s problems are worsened by the outflow of workers after legislative changes to the conscription age and by declining consumer purchasing power.

Despite these challenges, we at Poster are not seeing a mass exodus of clients — the number of operating venues and those preparing to open remains within the average range. The winter months are always a stress test for the industry — not everyone passes it successfully, but in spring, new venues open and the market renews itself»,

— commented Rodion Yeroshek, CEO and co-founder of the Ukrainian automation company Poster.

According to Poster, visitor traffic decreased across Ukraine this year. Looking at the top five major cities, the decline appears as follows:

• Lviv — -8%
• Odesa — -6%
• Kyiv — -13%
• Dnipro — -11%
• Kharkiv — -7%