Kyiv life changes overnight because of coronavirus

On a regular day, the 250-seat Musafir restaurant in central Kyiv is jam-packed during lunch. 

But the afternoon of March 17 was nothing like that. On the first day of a major shutdown to hamper the spread of the novel coronavirus, the eatery’s front door was closed and couriers lined up outside of the back entrance. About one-fifth of Musafir’s regular staff was nervously hurrying to complete stacks of online orders. 

It was their first day working as a delivery-only restaurant.

“We don’t yet understand how this system works,” Oleksandra Havryliuk, a Musafir host who has now become a delivery manager, told the Kyiv Post. “It’s difficult.”

Musafir is one of many establishments that have had to accommodate a new quarantine that has transformed Kyiv virtually overnight.

In an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the Ukrainian government has placed major restrictions on the public’s social life by shutting down restaurants, cinemas, beauty salons, gyms, night clubs, shopping malls and entertainment centers.

The capital’s busiest streets and squares are now unusually empty and quiet, with few pedestrians and little traffic. The only public spaces that remain open are pharmacies, grocery and household stores, takeout points, banks and gas stations.

Some businesses that are unable to work online may not survive the crisis. Others that can adapt to the quarantine will likely preserve their innovations after it is over. All this may reshape markets and change Kyiv’s city life drastically.

Delivery resort

By the time the government decided to close eateries, the Kyiv restaurant scene had been experiencing a decline in attendance for several weeks. As the news about the pandemic’s spread in Europe hit Ukrainians, some started working from home and avoiding public places, and restaurants grew emptier.

“Our best day now is what used to be our worst day a couple of weeks ago,” Kemal Seitveliev, co-owner of the Musafir chain, which includes three restaurants, told the Kyiv Post.

Seitveliev says that, foreseeing further difficulties, the chain started negotiations with landlords and suppliers and reached agreements. Musafir will delay payments if it stops operating.

But the shutdown gave restaurants an option to continue providing takeout and delivery.

There are about 2,000 eateries in Kyiv. Many of them have been cooperating with delivery services like Uber Eats, Glovo and Raketa, before. Some, mostly big chains, do their own delivery.

An employee of the Musafir restaurant mops the floor of the empty eatery on March 17, 2020, the first day of the coronavirus quarantine in Kyiv. (Oleg Petrasiuk)

Only one of Musafir’s three restaurants offered delivery before the quarantine. It brought only about 15-20% of its revenue. One of the reasons for that was that prices for delivered dishes are the same as for dining in. However, 25% of the price for each order goes to the delivery services.

Still, in the face of a crisis, many eateries turned to delivery. Musafir was one of them. Their owners set up delivery in their two other restaurants. They kept 20% of their regular staff and were forced to send the rest on unpaid leave.

Seitveliev says that he doubts they will reach at least half of their regular revenue now because they are just starting to readjust operations. In addition, he says, people’s purchasing power is expected to decrease because food delivery “is not a cheap pleasure.”

“Delivery helps us lose a little less,” he says.

Seitveliev says that only the strongest market players will survive this crisis, just like what happened in 2014, when the country was in dire straits as a result of a political crisis, revolution and the start of Russia’s war in the Donbas. 

But Musafir’s co-owner predicts the current situation may be worse than in 2014.

Damage

Unlike restaurants, many other businesses were left with no options to continue operations during the quarantine. Cinemas, beauty salons, gyms and entertainment malls had to shut down indefinitely.

No matter the size of the player — whether it’s a company with hundreds of employees or a self-employed professional — everyone in the leisure and beauty industries is taking a huge hit.

Roman Romanchuk, CEO of one of the country’s biggest cinema chains, Multiplex, has recently asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to support companies like his, which do business legally. He asked Zelensky to give them interest-free loans so that they can pay over 1,000 employees, who are now forced to take unpaid leave.

Tetiana Dzhyherei, a 38-year-old nail technician who works at her own home studio in Kyiv, had to cut her only source of income because of the restrictions. She would normally have from 15 to 20 customers a week, with her schedule packed for weeks in advance.

Now, she and her two kids are moving to her mother’s house in the Kyiv suburbs to weather the storm together. They have enough savings to provide for about a month of quarantine.

“We only spend money on food now,” Dzhyherei told the Kyiv Post.

If the quarantine is prolonged, the family doesn’t have a plan. 

“We still don’t fully realize it.”

Even enterprises that are legally allowed to keep working are being hit hard. Hotels, technically allowed to keep operating, are witnessing a crisis like never before.

According to Jesper Henriksen, a hospitality and tourism consultant based in Kyiv, spring is usually the high season for business travel, which is the main driver of travel to Ukraine in general.

Henriksen, who used to serve as the general manager of the Radisson Ukraine group of hotels, says that, after flights were canceled, “hotels have a severe decline in occupancy” — about 80-90% down. 

“The loss here is tremendous,” he told the Kyiv Post.

He says that some Kyiv hotels might consider closing indefinitely, following the example of their counterparts throughout Europe.

According to Henriksen, after the 2003 outbreak of SARS — another coronavirus — in China, it took the hotel market 6 months to recover. Now, the consequences will be “much more severe.” He says that it’s hard to predict when travelers will be able to afford to travel again.

Just like other businesses affected by the crisis, hotels desperately need state support like tax holidays, he says.

In the United Kingdom, for instance, the government provided companies with grants, tax breaks and a three-month mortgage holiday.

Ukraine has adopted several laws meant to support business, but legal experts say the legislation could have little impact on companies. Although there are no penalties for not paying March and April taxes, payments for February, which are coming due now, are still in force.

Couriers of the delivery service Glovo wait for their orders at a Kyiv branch of fast-food restaurants McDonald’s next to the Lva Tolstoho Square metro station on March 17, 2020. (Volodymyr Petrov)

Groundbreakers 

A crisis imposes danger, but it also provides opportunities — and some Kyiv businesses are taking them.

Takava Coffee Buffet, a four-cafe chain that served up to 500 customers daily at its busiest location, can’t deliver its main product, coffee, which gets cold minutes after it’s made. So Takava came up with a solution. 

It continues to offer takeout, but with a new option: to order a thermos with several liters of filter coffee. That allows customers to reduce the number of trips they make for coffee or to provide the caffeinated beverage to their whole family or group of friends or colleagues. That approach also allows Takava to increase its chances of making some income.

Another business that was left with few options is Like a Local’s, a three-piece chain of wine bars. Its versatile list of Ukrainian wines cannot be sold through food delivery services, while its minimalist choice of appetizers just won’t be worth the hassle.

The bar chain, however, found another way to try to sustain itself by launching an online store of Ukrainian wine.

“We hope it will help us keep our heads above the water,” co-owner Serhiy Klimov told the Kyiv Post. “Some people will have rest at home and they will need entertainment or relief. And we’re ready to come to their rescue and deliver a bottle of wine,” he said.

Another business that was fast to react to the new challenges is the fitness club Smartass.

Hundreds of their regular clients, who work out at least several times a week, now have nowhere to train. So the club’s coaches live-stream bodyweight trainings which don’t require any equipment. Clients can follow them at home.

Smartass offers functional trainings, as well as stretching, barre, yoga and dancing. They cost three times less than the gym’s regular ones, or Hr 100 ($4) per class. 

One of the club’s coaches, Andriy Nesimoka, says that, when they found out about the quarantine, no one panicked. Instead, they drew up a plan, published advertisements and got to work.

“We’re still testing,” Nesimoka told the Kyiv Post. “If there’s demand, we will get all the team involved.”

Although the club is navigating uncharted waters, Nesimoka says they focus on optimistic scenarios.

“We will cross the bridge when we come to it,” he said.