DEVELOPMENT OF THE “FINE DINING” FORMAT IN THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS OF UKRAINE

Abstract

Since the 20th century and in the 21st century, the community of elite restaurants has been grouped into a separate VIP rating “Michelin Star Fine Dining Restaurants”. It is a niche of gastronomic culture with its own strict canons of service and rules of etiquette and dress code. However, today the demand for fine cuisine far exceeds the total number of seats in Michelin Red Guide establishments. The market niche of restaurants in the high price segment shows a constant upward trend every year. In recent decades, the “fine dining” format in the restaurant business has been actively diversifying financially – from a limited VIP group for the wealthiest gourmets to an all-encompassing network of non-Michelin establishments, but no less luxurious. The ever-increasing consumer demands encourage restaurateurs to open financially affordable establishments, adhering to the standards of “fine dining” in terms of cooking and customer service. The article outlines the development trend of gastronomic establishments of the “fine dining” format in Ukraine in the current crisis realities. The conducted research gives reasons for the authors to state: despite the fact that there are still no establishments in the “Michelin Star Fine Dining Restaurants” segment in the country, the popular international rating platforms (Tripadvisor, etc.), Google search and mobile booking applications record the growth of the “Fine Dining Restaurants” market niche in Ukraine. According to wartime statistics, naturally, in 2022, more than 7,000 restaurant establishments were closed in Ukraine. At the same time, restaurateurs do not capitulate; there is a partial relocation of business and a bold implementation of new business ideas both in the capital and in the regions. Dozens of new fine-dining restaurants have announced their opening in 2022 in Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv. Well-known Ukrainian brand-chefs continue to actively build the national fine-dining identity. This article presents the facts and summarizes the trend of the dynamic introduction of fashionable elements of “fine dining” by restaurants in the capital and regional centers of Ukraine. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the ratings on Tripadvisor, the authors concluded that the centers of gastronomic tourism of Ukraine (Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa) even in the crisis realities of the war period, in terms of standard evaluation criteria, aesthetics and creativity of fine cuisine are not inferior to anything (and in some cases stand out favorably) to competitors in the region of Central and Eastern Europe.