Restaurant business in Russia in 2021
Pandemic of coronavirus influenced all spheres of business, including restaurants and cafes. The last one suffers losses more than the others. Despite this fact, the average daily turnover of the industry will grow by about 6%.
Restaurant trends are changing rapidly, especially due to the introduction of quarantine measures. If earlier delivery from the restaurant was not very popular, now most of the revenue is accounted for by orders for delivery and with yourself.
But what happen to restaurant business in Russia in 2021? Read our article to know all details.
Delivery and takeaway food
Delivery of food from a restaurant is the most important and relevant trend of recent years, which will only increase in 2021 due to quarantine restrictions. Especially if you are planning to open a sushi bar or pizzeria, this option is just a “musthave”. Without it, it will be extremely difficult to compete and, accordingly, quickly reach a payback. And the use of an automation system for a sushi bar or pizzeria with an integrated delivery module will be a significant plus when launching this option in an institution.
In addition to delivery from ordinary establishments, the number of orders from “virtual” restaurants that do not accept offline guests and prepare exclusively for delivery is growing. One of the new ideas on the market is “hubs” for virtual establishments: kitchens of different restaurants under one roof, between which autonomous cars run, picking up orders and delivering them to customers. This reduces the costs of establishments and makes delivery more accessible to visitors.
Casual segment and healthy nutrition
Fast-casual restaurants are opening more and more, a popular format for those who like healthy food, but do not like to wait long. In such establishments, guests receive food that is close in quality to expensive restaurants for little money, and the service here is slightly better than in fast food.
Franchises
More establishments opened under the franchise. Novice entrepreneurs do not want to risk their project, so starting a business on a successful and stable model looks much more tempting, which is confirmed by the statistics of open catering establishments.
Monoproduct
There are fewer universal restaurants “sushi-pizza-hookah-karaoke”. Guests increasingly prefer more narrowly focused cafes, pizzerias or hookah bars to such establishments — places where their favorite dishes are really delicious.
Fewer and fewer people are willing to settle for average quality in such supermarket restaurants, often for the same money as in cozy, atmospheric establishments. Hence the conclusion that it is worth focusing on single products: burgers, pizzerias, etc.
Pastries and sweets
More bakeries and pastry shops. Fresh pastries are in demand all year round, and you can place such establishments both in residential areas and on central streets with high traffic.
Craft drinks and dishes
An interesting and fresh trend of “crafting” in everything: dishes, glasses and drinks. This is not only a fashionable phenomenon, but also a creative approach to reduce costs. Prices for imported products in Russia and Ukraine are constantly growing, and by the end of 2020 the difference has already become almost 3 times. A couple of years ago, restaurateurs who wanted to stay on the market revised their menu options and tried to switch to those products that they could afford in the new conditions.
The fall of national currencies led to an internal reorganization of restaurants and an active reworking of the menu. But it also became the reason for the transition to local products, not only in the economy, but also in the premium segment.
National and regional cuisine
A trend that has firmly “settled” in our country. In many cities of Russia and Ukraine, restaurants of national and local cuisine are opening in quite interesting interpretations: a coffee shop, a pub, a pastry shop and fast food.
Georgian cuisine is particularly popular. Almost every second restaurant of national cuisine opened in 2020 is Georgian. Khachapuri, khinkali, suluguni in lavash, dolma, lobio, khinkali and kharcho — all this is very tasty, understandable to the guest and easy to prepare from local products in our countries.
Now is a good time to open a small family and soulful restaurants with delicious food. For example, how a family from a small town in Kazakhstan did it-the story of the opening of The Beze cafe. Due to competition and increased rent, fashionable “designer” restaurants are gradually leaving the market, where interior designers, not chefs, made their names. At a time when investors were still able to pay for it. Now, people are no longer ready to take such risks.
Personalization and loyalty programs in apps
Marketing activities and loyalty programs are increasingly going into apps. At the end of 2018, McDonald’s and Starbucks for the first time launched promotions only for applications, and Burger King also tied them to geolocation: the network distributed free sandwiches to anyone who downloaded their application, standing within 200 meters from the main competitor — McDonald’s. The promotion made the Burger King app the most downloaded free app in the App Store in the first days of the promotion.
These are the main trends in restaurant business in 2021. If you need a help with a promotion of your restaurant chain in Russia, just contact us, and we will propose you the best marketing strategy!