No time for feasts: restaurateurs explained the fall in income and visitors

Yekaterina Maksimova

Focus Technologies provided data on a decrease in the number of orders in Moscow restaurants by almost 30%. Following Kommersant, citing experts, it also reports that companies have already begun to massively cancel New Year's festivities. The "banquet" segment will shrink due to the fact that 70% of organizations that planned New Year's corporate parties "cancelled them due to the untimeliness of entertainment events".

Novye Izvestia reported that the revenue of very expensive establishments in Moscow for the period from September 19 to October 2, according to Focus Technologies, decreased by 30%. Inexpensive restaurants are also not doing well, with revenue down 8% compared to the same period in 2021. It turns out that the restaurant market sank during the period when partial mobilization was announced in Russia.

Restaurateur, co-owner of the HURMA Group of Companies Dmitry Levitsky notes that the average drop in the market was about 20%, and it is difficult to predict what will happen next. “Now, unfortunately, we can only guess how society will react to the current events. There is hope that it was some kind of emotional leap. And little by little we will somehow recover from the negative news that affects society. But who knows what will happen next, how the situation with the SVO will develop, what will be the situation", - Dmitry Levitsky assesses the future prospects of the restaurant market.

Restaurant marketer Tamara Pospelova agrees with Levitsky . "There is a recession, but at the level of 15-20%. We expected a much worse scenario. Especially against the background when the fashion market sank by 50-60%, the jewelry market - by 80%. In addition, restaurateurs traditionally face some recession in autumn This is a normal seasonal factor," Tamara Pospelova believes.

President of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, publisher of the magazine "Vinomania" Igor Bukharov draws attention to the fact that a sharp reduction - almost 30% - is recorded only by premium-class restaurants.

"That's how many such restaurants - exactly the premium class? In the expensive segment it has decreased, in the cheap one it has risen," Igor Bukharov notes and also emphasizes: from the end of August, in September and in early October, attendance in restaurants traditionally decreases.

Igor Bukharov is also skeptical about the premature forecast that the segment of New Year's corporate parties will "collapse" in December. “Corporate events are just talk so far. The planning horizon for today is 2-3 weeks at most. Because today no one understands what is happening. And the general information background affects everyone: both the consumer and the entrepreneur", - argues restaurateur.

Igor Bukharov also recalls that in recent years, many companies have already begun to change the format of holding collective holidays. "How they celebrate today: a large number of people hold corporate parties at their work. They order food or cooks, hire a separate waiter. They turned on the music column, celebrated and took out the trash. That's it. This is not a new trend - to celebrate in the office, and not in the banquet hall of the restaurant It started back in 2014", - Bukharov summed up.

Meanwhile, experts cited by Kommersant claim that "the situation does not stimulate New Year's bookings at all." According to the director of hotel consulting NF Group Natalia Rosenblum, against the backdrop of uncertainty, companies are trying to cut costs.

At the same time, experts unanimously agree that the situation will largely depend on the future foreign policy situation.