The Ukrainian restaurant chain Salateira has shut down all of its locations after nearly 15 years in operation. The closure has also involved an equipment dispute: co-owner Iryna Dobrutskaya stated that equipment was not returned following the shutdown of one of their restaurants. A new establishment called Salaterra has since opened in its place at Kyiv’s River Mall shopping center, launched by the shopping center’s owners and the chain’s former brand chef. According to Dobrutskaya, this new venue is utilizing unreturned equipment from the former Salateira location, though representatives from Salaterra and River Mall have not yet addressed the allegations.
Financial challenges contributed to the chain’s closure. Due to ongoing air raid alerts, restaurants located in shopping centers experienced a 45% drop in revenue, and profit margins were cut in half. Forced downtime during alerts cost individual locations between 10,000 and 30,000 hryvnias per hour. The first Salateira restaurant opened in Kyiv in December 2011, and at its peak, the brand operated around 16 locations both in Ukraine and internationally.
Additionally, other Ukrainian food businesses are facing severe challenges. The specialized cheese retailer “Cheese Kingdom” announced the complete cessation of its operations and the closure of all its stores in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the gourmet market chain Winetime reported approximately 300 million hryvnias in losses after a Russian attack completely destroyed its primary logistics complex and a major portion of its inventory.
