Restaurant closures and food delivery growth threaten Arkhangelsk

The Russian public catering market is going through one of its most challenging periods in recent years. Large restaurant chains, coffee shops, and bars have begun to massively wind down their businesses or reduce their presence. Well-known players such as Shokoladnitsa (remember when it opened and closed in Arkhangelsk?), Rostiks, Yakitoriya, and Menza are leaving the market or optimizing.

At the end of the year, the number of liquidated catering establishments grew by 10% and reached 35.4 thousand. Analysts link this trend to the slowing growth of the industry, rising operating costs, the tax burden, and the increasing gap between opening new outlets and closing existing ones.

At the same time, experts note that this is not just a temporary downturn, but a deep transformation of the market. Pressure from the state, changing consumer habits, rising prices for products, logistics, and personnel are leading to the classical restaurant model increasingly giving way to alternative formats — delivery and so-called dark kitchens (ready-made food factories that then supply delivery services).

Our colleagues at MSK1.RU spoke with chef and TV presenter Vasily Emelyanenko about the reasons for what is happening, regulatory mistakes, and the future of the restaurant business.

— Why have restaurant closures taken on such a massive scale right now?

— It«s not that simple. As soon as you start officially registering employees, you immediately face a huge tax burden: insurance contributions, VAT, and other obligations at such percentages that it becomes unprofitable to keep people on staff. Therefore, very few employees in restaurants work officially — most are under contracts, agreements, or hire.

The problem is that laws are created by people who have no relation to the restaurant business. We have been saying for many years: let business participate in developing the rules. Because those who write them don«t know the inner workings of the market, haven»t worked in restaurants, and don«t understand how everything works from the inside.

The same goes for sanitary norms. For years we had to prove that many requirements are simply irrelevant: the world has changed, technologies are different, products are different. But it feels like they are constantly looking for something to fine the catering industry for. Meanwhile, the industry as a whole is interested in quality and safety — most chefs and restaurateurs are truly for doing things well and in a modern way.

— It«s often said that restaurants close due to the inefficiency of the owners themselves. Do you agree?

— Partly yes, but that has always been the case. There has always been a category of people who made money and decided: «Let»s open a restaurant.« They don»t understand that this is a special business. They quickly enter, get burned, keep pouring money in for six months to a year, realize it«s a black hole, and close.

It«s just that no one wrote about it before. And now they started talking about it because new tax measures and the VAT increase have shaken up the market. But it»s primarily the inexperienced players who are closing. Experienced ones still find ways to adapt — how to navigate between the requirements so that the business survives and everything is formally correct.

This is a market transformation. But I believe that new tax measures have never in history stabilized the market — they have destructured it. That is my conviction.

— And how does the drop in consumer demand affect catering? It«s clear that for many, going not only to a restaurant but even to a cafe is already an unaffordable luxury.

— The stratum of truly rich people in our country has always been narrow. Yes, visually it seems there are many rich people: lots of cars, lots of restaurants. The rich continue to go to restaurants, but even they adequately react to the sharp price increase.

Food prices are rising, gasoline is getting more expensive — all this automatically ends up on your plate. Even if a person has money, when yesterday a tartare cost 1,500 rubles (15 USD), and today it«s 1,900 (19 USD), it raises questions. Not because there»s no money, but because the jump is too sharp. As a result, people start going to restaurants less often. But they don«t stop eating. And that means the audience is flowing into other formats.

— They order ready-made food at home?

— Yes. Dark kitchens are really snatching a piece of the restaurant business now. Because a restaurant is an emotion, an impression, you don«t go there every day. And at home, people want familiar home-style dishes, basic types of soups, salads.

We, for example, launched a line of my signature dishes in Samokat. In December, 160 thousand portions were sold. And that«s despite the project just launching and the range being limited. People buy because they understand: if the dark kitchen has poor quality, tomorrow they simply won»t buy from you.

At the same time, dark kitchens can«t make »cheap low-quality food« either. Yes, somewhere there»s more potatoes, less meat, but they also suffer from price increases. Meat, vegetables, logistics — everything is getting more expensive. There is a constant struggle for cost price between the factory-kitchens and the delivery services.

— Well, what is your forecast for this, for the coming years: will delivery completely displace restaurants? Just like marketplaces buried shopping malls and offline retail in general.

— No, completely — no, it won«t displace. They are different products. But delivery will grow very quickly. According to various data, over the last 3–5 years, the dark kitchen market has grown by 1000–1600%. And the trend is such that in the next 10 years, growth could be another 2000%. That is, 20 times.

People simply value convenience. Why cook, wash containers, if you can order quality food? They get an amazing borscht with cherries and porcini mushrooms or an amazing ukha (fish soup) with smoked pollock and seaweed for 350 rubles (about 4 USD). And a restaurant is expensive for them.

What businesses are closing and being sold in Arkhangelsk

Earlier in the city, a home goods store in the Alexander Shopping Center stopped working, and some time later, Sunny Labyrinth on Obvodny closed. The Komfort shoe salon on Troitsky Avenue will soon cease operations as well.

Besides this, a grocery store on the first floor of the Atrium closed. We went there on the sale day — 50% discounts and huge lines.

In Arkhangelsk, the Zolotitsa restaurant has also been put up for sale. Information about this appeared on the Avito website. They are also selling the building of a large construction store.

Online, there are ads looking for new owners for the Exclusive night club and the Chocolate cafe, which operates in the Europe Park trade and entertainment complex.

Another catering establishment put up for sale is the Almond cafe-bar. It also closed in 2025.

Also, the Paratov restaurant closed in the city, which was previously put up for sale for 100 million rubles (approximately 1 million USD at current rates).