ANALYSIS OF THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS MARKET IN UKRAINЕ

Abstract

The restaurant business market in Ukraine is one of the most dynamic and therefore always arouses the interest of many scientists. At the same time, it is almost impossible to find complete information about the current state of its development at the moment, which is due to the devastating impact of such crisis phenomena as the Covid-2019 pandemic and the full-scale invasion of russia on the territory of Ukraine. An important task today is a clear understanding of the presence of restaurant establishments in a specific region of the country, the identification of the most viable concepts and formats of restaurant business entities. That is why the purpose of the article is to study the number of restaurant establishments in the regions of Ukraine and analyze the saturation level of establishments in each region separately at the beginning of the war. The dynamic structure of restaurant business enterprises is determined. It has been established that fast food, bakeries, coffee shops (almost 40%) constitute the largest segment of restaurant establishments today, and the latest statistical data allow us to follow a steady trend towards the further growth of this segment. The results of a study on determining the key influencing factors on the level of consumer spending in restaurant business establishments have been published. From the results of our research, it follows that an important aspect in the decision to visit institutions by clients is the type of occupation - teachers spend the most (5.7% of the average monthly income), employees (6.3%), students (5.3%) and entrepreneurs (5.9%). During communication with this category of employees, it was found that business meetings, meals, and less often recreation with colleagues and friends are the reasons for choosing establishments. Pensioners and housewives (unemployed) are much less likely to visit institutions due to their unsatisfactory financial situation. The factors that have the greatest negative impact on restaurant business establishments are analyzed, in particular, a decrease in turnover due to a decrease in the ability of guests to pay, an intensive outflow of professional personnel, a curfew and constant long-term air alarms, etc. It was revealed that the restaurant business market in Ukraine is currently in the survival phase, which, according to experts' forecasts, will last until the end of hostilities. However, according to the conviction of the majority of Ukrainian restaurateurs, after the end of the war, Ukraine will become the number one tourist destination, and accordingly, foreign investors - the largest restaurant companies - will enter Ukraine. Ukraine will receive billions of investments for recovery, including for the hospitality industry, in particular the restaurant business.