The demand for restaurant franchises for the nine months of 2021 decreased by 39% compared to the same period in 2019, Kommersant reported, citing data from analysts at Franshiza.ru. Now 6% of potential franchisees are considering buying a franchise, in 2019 – 10-11%, at the peak of 2015-2016. – up to 20%.
Director of the Franchising Department of the Shokoladnitsa Group of Companies (manages cafes of the same name, Coffee House, Wabi Sabi, etc.) Maxim Trubnikov said that in January-September this year, the demand for opening cafes under a franchise dropped by 40%. The owner of the Meat & Fish restaurant chain Sergey Mironov confirmed the decrease in demand for the chain’s franchise. He said that during the pandemic, many establishments closed, and new ones appeared in their place without a franchise, because in such projects there are many requirements for the concept, design and area of the restaurant.
Anna Rozhdestvenskaya, an expert at the Franshiza.ru portal, noted that fast food easily adapts to the delivery format, while classic restaurants could not cover rental and employee salaries with income from delivery. The franchise segment requires investments from RUB 25 million. and more, but the share of investors willing to invest that kind of money is declining. To keep demand for franchises in place, some chains have begun offering discounts on lump-sum payments.
Igor Bukharov, President of the Federation of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs of Russia, added that brand owners themselves are afraid to sell franchises to inexperienced investors. The restaurant business is in a precarious position, a new establishment may be unsuccessful and close quickly, he said. Also, the tax authorities may regard the franchise as a fragmentation of the business and strengthen checks.
According to Rozhdestvenskaya, the interest in the development of the franchise will soon decrease among the restaurant chains themselves and they will prefer to open their own establishments, given the new tax breaks. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that exempts market participants with a turnover of up to 2 billion rubles. from the payment of VAT. Now the threshold is set at up to 200 million rubles.
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